Hotpot Shabu Shabu

Wow! My brother teaches English in China and when he and his GF came home they brought hot pot! I did not know what it was but when I ate the sauce with all the different vegs and meat it was amazing! I have to drop them at the airport in San Fran and thought we could get something similar like they brought home. We’ll we found it! They have all u can eat and drink for 25 bucks! Thought that the drinks would just be soda and tea but it was not, u could get bud products and cold or hot sake! That’s unheard of eat amazing food and get good beers and walk out for 25bucks! If u r looking for amazing food great service and friendly people u have found a diamond in the ruff!!!

Hot pot in the Marina? Who would’ve thought! It’s refreshing to finally see some diversity.
Great selection of hot pot ingredients and friendly service. Perfect place if you have a big group and want some affordable all-​you-​can-​eat-​and-​drink.

«Food was ok. staff was just lazy or inexperianced… And yes the carpet is gross. I should have drove to 32^nd and Judah for bomb hot pot instead of being lazy.»

Love this place! It’s definitely a whole in the wall in the Marina. But that’s what the Marina needs is more Asian! Not fru fru fusion Chinese or Japanese but some real Asian food.
The service is great! The prices are reasonable.
I will definitely come back over and over again.

Anything with all you can drink is a win in my book. Yes I’m gross. The overall food was meh but add in the fact that it’s all you can eat AND drink for around $ 25, and I’m sold!
Meat balls: Typical store bought flavorless Asian meatballs.
Beef: Dried/​frozen Chinese hotpot beef.
Pork: Same as beef.
Tendon: HUGE hard chunks. I had to let these cook for like an hour before they were edible. So sad, cause I love tendon.
Gyoza: Meh, store bought, flavorless.
The veggies were pretty fresh actually. Oh AND clean. Wow. They washed them. That is so not AzN of them.
Side note: This place was empty all night! Just for the fact that it’s all you can drink for $ 25, I’ll be back. Extra thirsty.

Deal Alert: For their 1 year anniversary, Hit Pot marked down their AYCE prices for the month of July…
AYCE food only $ 14.95
AYCE food and beer/​sake/​soda $ 19.95
The rib-​eye was nice and thin and nicely marbled meaning it cooked well in the hot pot. They have an excellent selection of meats, veggies, seafood, and even broths. The location is not where you’d expect to find a hot pot restaurant but it works for them. They have a small private room in the rear for karaōke too.
One suggestion for them though is update their playlist in the main dining area. I don’t think many patrons in that area will appreciate the Chinese opera songs!

*3.5 Stars*
Bottom line: All you can eat shabu and all you can drink beer (bud light) and sake for $ 25. That my friends, is VALUE. Now on to the review…
This is a great place to go to have a great time with friends, fill up your stomach and gut and be merry. The shabu may not be the best in town (it’s not) but it does the trick. The restaurant is a little dirty, grimy but if you know what to expect you won’t be disappointed. There is a 2 hour limit on the all you can eat/​drink which is PLENTY time to get hammered from sake bombs and be more than full from the wide assortments of meats, veges and everything else you can check off.
Albeit a minor detail, the shitty run down carpet really makes this place more run down than it should be. Other than that, the staff was attentive, friendly and more than accommodating. I recommend Hitpot for small groups of friends, large gatherings (but not the best date spot in town)

Let me begin–
Came here with a group of 12. The waitress was ready for us and the table was set. This was a plus. I like to start with the positives before I write about the rest of my experience. The place is VERY dirty. All of the corners of the room were filled with dust and the bathroom equal to something you would see at a train station in Europe.
Now for the staff– Drunk, out of it, lazy, and just plan off. Our waiter was taking shots of sake (if you can call it that, they served us the sake out of a pitcher so I was not sure what I was drinking) while he was serving customers. I am sorry, but there has to be some law against this kind of behavior.
The waiter then proceeded to pour more broth into our hotpot and jokes, «This just came out of the sewer» not the best thing to say when you are eating the broth.
Let’s just say I was a vegetarian for the night, afraid I was going to get food poising.

The price is reasonable, the food is delicious. Love this restaurant. Unlimited wine & Shabu Shabu for $ 25 per person a great find. I had the spicy flavor hotpot.Yummm.

We discovered this little gem a few months back! Amazing 25 $ all you can eat Shabu Shabu with beer & Saki? Great Food & Drink! It’s the type of place you can stroll into with your Uggs on a cold rainy night with your BFF, GF or BF & be comfortable to set in for a long winters food fest!

My boyfriend and I desperately tried to give this place a shot. Three times.
The first time was mediocre. It had real potential because the food was pretty tasty, and the beef was lean like I like it. The broth was super spicy and delicious. We were told at 11:00 that the kitchen was shutting down so we had to order everything at the moment we sat down.
The atmosphere, not so awesome. Dirty floors, and the entire time the employees were drinking and playing games a few tables down. They were so loud that we couldn’t even hear each other at our own table. It was frustrating, but we were feeling lenient because it was late and we were their only customers.
All of the times that we’ve gone, it’s been a little later… between 10 – 11:00pm because we usually go rock climbing before. Supposedly this restaurant is open until 12:00am so we were excited about that.
The next time we went, we had a group of friends and we were all seriously craving shabu shabu. We wanted this place to be a new tradition. We got there at 10:00, and they regretfully told us that they were closing early and gave us a $ 10 coupon off for the next meal. Our hearts and stomachs were extremely disappointed.
The third time was also after rock climbing. It was just me and my boyfriend, and he had called ahead literally 5 minutes before, to make sure that they were going to be open when we got there. Once it was confirmed that they would be open, we rushed over and AGAIN were turned away at the door. It was 10:30. This time the guy was not as sorry, and just told us that since it was a slow night they weren’t going to have hot pot but we could order something to go if we wanted.
I understand that it was a slow night. I understand that they might have trouble having customers so late, but I find it extremely unprofessional for them to post actual hours until midnight if they are never going to stay open that late. Especially to get a call 5 minutes before hand and to say they are going to be open. We are done wasting our time here! Time to find a new late night joint.

2.5 STARS
Hitpot is a place that I can imagine the DATE FROM HELL taking place.
You know, the one where your date made no prior arrangements beforehand and you’re left wandering aimlessly around on a Saturday night trying to find a place that will take the both of you without a reservation and/​or less than an 2 hour wait. You then end up at some no name restaurant where the décor is just as cheezy as your date’s «CAUTION: I like to get drunk and hump things» t-​shirt. Instead of lovely jazz music playing in the background, you have one of the waiters djing on the karaōke system going between Jay Sean, Wonder Girls and Avril Lavigne (Circa 2002). Being an Alpha Sigma Rho, Chico State Alum your date opts for the all-​you-​can-​drink option. Before you know it, there’s a pyramid of empty beer cans on your table. He starts getting all googly-​eyed and thinks he’s Jay Chou holding the ladle as a mic… except he’s not even Chinese. #BLINDDATEFAIL
I had a very similar situation as the aforementioned happen to me in a different shabu house. Let it be lesson to NEVER be a sloppy drunk on a date… not on your first date at least. Please.
In a very unlikely location lies Hitpot, a hotpot/​shabu shabu place in the Marina? WTF? Yah, my thoughts exactly.
For $ 19.99, it’s AYCE and for just another $ 5 more for AYCD soda, beer, and sake. There’s a 2-​hour limit.
F O O D
*BROTH: Chicken, pork bone, spicy (+$ 1 for half/​half)
We opted for the pork bone (bland) and spicy («spicy» was an understatement).
*MEAT (everything is FROZEN):
**Supreme Beef
**Chicken
**Pork
**Lamb
**Beef Intestines
**Beef Tendons
I would stick with the supreme beef which was mediocre in quality but still the best of the bunch. The beef tendons were gummy and tasted freeze dried.
*MEATBALLS
Also frozen, the balls were mediocre. I normally love my fobby fish balls with the crab roe filling but the one at Hitpot tasted odd and the crab roe was slimy.
*DUMPLINGS
Frozen and store bought, the wontons were pretty solid; just don’t forget to fish them out of the broth as they sank to the bottom.
*VEGGIES
We got spinach, cabbage (never came), and pea spouts. This was the only thing that seemed «fresh» on the menu.
*SAUCES
NO ponzu sauce and NO sesame sauce. The only condiments were soy sauce, satay sauce, garlic (from a can), scallions, and cilantro. There was no chili sauce but there was Tapatio Hot Sauce? Very strange.
S E R V I C E
Slow and inattentive. Our waiter was MIA most of the night while the other one was too busy trying to spin on the karaōke system. Uhh, seriously homey?
My water glass was empty and our waiter took off somewhere so I had to physically go to the counter and refill my own water glass.
A M B I A N C E /​D E C O R
CHEEZY. From the baby blue walls, the faux tree branches, the Tchotchkes stolen from the Grammy Awards and the blaring Chinese, Korean, and American karaōke music, I just didn’t get it; neither would Chef Robert Irvine if Hitpot was ever was on Food Network’s «Restaurant: Impossible».
P A R K I N G
Metered street parking.
Hitpot doesn’t hold a candle to the hotpot/​shabu places in The Sunset and The Richmond like G Cube, Shabu House, or Hotpot Garden but hey for less than $ 20 in the Marina (and less than $ 25 to get full and sloshed), what do you expect?

(and YES, that’s the ENTIRE restaurant singing Adele and toasting bud lights and hot sake) there is nothing quite like this place… especially in the Marina.
(if you STILL wonder why we are here with a group of 12 – 20 like clockwork every weekend since last year, then Hitpot just isn’t for you)

Shabu in the Marina? Yeah, that’s pretty much what everyone asked.
Upon walking in, there was one table of 2, and there were three younger Asian guys who were in the kitchen. No one came out to greet us. In fact, they didn’t hear us or see us until a few of us tried waving and yelling at them to make our presence known. Luckily they put our tables together pretty quickly and we were seated.
With our group of 11, we pretty much occupied 75% of the back portion of the restaurant on Monday night. I’ve never seen this place more than half full, and it’s probably due to a few reasons: 1) it’s located on Lombard, away from trendy Chestnut St. and too far from the «popping» spots on Union, and 2) people in the Marina probably have no idea what Shabu Shabu is. No offense, but when was the last time you saw a group of Marina-​esque people trekking to the Sunset or Richmond to have hot pot?
Our group consisted of seasoned shabu/​hot pot eaters (including hawt fellow Unilocalers Cherylynn N. and Sara P.), and for the money ($ 19.99/person for AYCE, $ 24.99/person for AYCE and AYCD sake and beer) it wasn’t bad. They did have a 2-​hour limit for AYCE, though I’m not sure what they’d do to enforce that. Would we have to finish all our food in the last 5 minutes? Would we be charged another $ 20 a person if we were 8 minutes over the 2-​hour mark?
Choices of broth included chicken, pork bone, spicy, or half/​half. The meats were pretty fresh, and they had chicken breast, which was a new one for me. We pretty much tried everything on the menu, and I liked the fish balls and the beef tendons. However, the dumplings were pretty dismal (choice of fish or shrimp), as was the fish egg dumpling (one word: ew).
The spicy broth had a really nice, strong kick, though it’s not the spiciest I’ve had. Their pork bone broth was meh and lacked flavor in general. Other gripes: 1) they didn’t have a very good selection of dipping sauces, so I ended up with soy sauce and minced garlic, and 2) they didn’t bring us several things that we’d checked off on the menu — were they out? Thanks for letting us know.
3 – 3.5 stars for the actual food. Of course this place can’t compare to the ones in the Richmond and Sunset, but for the Marina, it’s not bad.
1 star for the (lack of) service. In fact, I’d give it less than 1 star if possible, because our waiter was pretty much nonexistent. We ended up having to get up and find our own water because our glasses sat empty for such a long time, and no one even showed up to check on us.

Kind of an odd joint. It was about half-​full on a Saturday night, was painted a strange aquamarine blue color, and was a touch sketchy. They were incredibly nice: our large group bought the all you can eat option and warned them that we were there to feast, and they brought out plate after plate of beef, lamb, shrimp balls, noodles, bok choy, squid, octopus, tripe, and crab. All of it was good, if not mouth-​wateringly so. The hot sauce was excellent however.
The big gripe was that despite how nice the staff was, there were just a bunch of little things that were off. They were out of sake (a big no-​no for a shabu place), served us cans of Bud Light from a 30-​rack on the floor, and the gas on the hotpots didn’t get the broth hot enough most of the time. While I don’t expect or want Per Se service at a hotpot place, I do expect and want copious sake.

It’s a small place but it’s really great! $ 19.99 for all you can eat hotpot, with a 2 hour limit. And the best part was that because as a group we spent over $ 60, they gave us free crab too! The server was great and very nice. They played random K-​Pop, J-​Pop, and C-​Pop too so it was nice. We were starving and we definitely ate a lot to satisfy our bellies. If I come back to San Francisco, I’m hitting up this place again!

i dont kno about anyone else, but i thought it was SUPER YUMMY: D
good service + good price too

Just got back from a nice AYCE dinner at Hitpot.
We were among the first to order the AYCE hotpot tonight. It’s $ 19.99 per person. If you’d like to have the all-​you-​can-​eat-​and-​drink option, it’s $ 24.99, but that includes unlimited soda, beer, or sake! Go for it!
Our server, Edison, was very attentive and courteous. That fourth star goes to you! Not only did you get everything right, you also surprised us with a free lobster! There were three of us tonight, so our bill would be around $ 65. Later Edison explained to us that if you spend over $ 50, you get a free lobster — a new promotion which we weren’t aware of!
Everything tastes great. If I have to list my favorite three items, they would be the lamb, the wontons, and the TEA! Most of the Chinese restaurants we’ve been to serve generic green tea or black tea. This place serves black (red) tea with dried rose buds. Although you don’t see the rose buds in the teapot, you can definitely taste it.
There isn’t much else to say except for the food is tasty, and the service is better than any other AYCE hotpot restaurants we’ve been to.
And come on, free lobster, it doesn’t get better than this!!!

Ah… holding my tummy out the door. Overall, it was just O-​K.
Upon entering the restaurant, the person standing at the counter seemed confused I was there to enjoy hot pot. He then pointed towards the in-​side and said sit. A man comes up and explains the service. He quickly sells the side menus and of course… I didn’t want any… because I was there for the all you CAN EAT!
After settling down, I ordered some favorite dishes. I don’t think everything came… the plate of beef was tiny (probably under 10 slice), the side of enoki mushroom… is 3.95 if you don’t order the all you can eat (now… for that tiny amount you get. I think you can go to a grocery store and get LOTS of enoki mushroom) so after round 1 I was not yet satisfy… the nice girl nicely asked if we are all done, I said. I would like the menu to order some more. and so she very nicely gave me the menu. my food quickly came. A BIG PLATE of beef, this time with 30 piece all nicely rolled up (WOW) I was no. i don’t need that much… (the girl nicely brought it back to the kitchen, and gave me a smaller serving.
Overall, there was not enough varieties of food, there were no hot sauce, no raw egg to mix in my sauce. The gas was not strong enough, therefore, soup base was warm, tea was warm, therefore, quite disappointing.
The décor was painted blue… its a very dim place to be– and quite frankly… not exactly set up for HOT POT style… (sorry to say)
So. yeah… I would give it 3.5 stars for the superior friendly service of the girl… but there is not .5… so 3 is the total…