Bao Little Hotpot

Came here a long while ago when they first opened and I remembered it being okay. Not that bad. It’s been a long while since that day. Today, my bf and I were in the area and starving so we decided to give this place a go since it was alright last time.
Big mistake.
Walked in and was «pointed» to a table by a waitress behind the counter. There were only 2 other tables at the time. We sat ourselves and another waitress came with the menus. Kid you not, 30secs later another waitress came and asked if we were ready. Um, no? Anyway, we both decided to order the Thai hot pot. I asked for no cilantro in mine and the lady barely spoke any English and was dumbfounded by what I was saying. It’s fine. I let it go, I’ll just fish them out if she ends up putting them in. Yuck! My boyfriend tried to order a couple of items (boba, passion fruit smoothie, and one other item I can’t recall) off the menu to which they didn’t have…
Shortly after, the food came and I noticed everything in my hot pot minus the soup were straight frozen and had msg sprinkled on top (see pic). That’s fine, sometimes we buy frozen food too when we eat at home anyway. Wrong! Should have been a red flag already. I tried to fish out the cilantro that they ended up putting in there while the soup was heating up. I dumped my vermicelli in there hoping to at least eat that first while the other items defrost. Well, when I went in to pick up my noodles I saw a long blonde hair-​type of thin string. EW. I asked my bf to look at it and he decided to call the waitress over. Guess what her reaction was??? Wait for it… She said, «that’s not hair.» And stared at me blankly. Um, are you serious!!! Hair or not, it didn’t belong in my food. I was heated by that time. She then walks over to the table near the kitchen where all the waitresses were kickin it and asked them to look.
They probably didn’t realize I spoke FLUENT mandarin and were talking straight smack about the situation. One of the waitresses told her to tell me it’s part of an ingredient. She then had the balls to come back to me with a bucket of cut up lemongrass and proceeded to tell me it was that. SHE TOUCHED THE WHOLE BUCKET WITH HER BARE HANDS!!! I hope they didn’t serve anyone else that later on. I looked at it and told her politely in English that it clearly wasn’t that. She then went back to her coworkers and literally needed to have a staff meeting between the 3 – 4 of them for minutes before she came back and asked if I wanted a new one.
Honestly, I would have left if we didn’t just get our food and I wanted my bf to be able to eat his. Oh yea, remember how I said I had just dumped the noodles in when I noticed the hair? Well, when I got my new hot pot, I asked for another order of the noodles since it came with the meal. She went and got it for me and the waitresses sitting at the table yelled to her asking why she did it. She told them it was because I had put it in my last hot pot. Guess what the ride home girl said? «DAMN, OUR FENGSHUI SUCKS TODAY.» As if it was my problem. They then proceeded to talk crap about other coworkers…
Finally, right before we were done. Another table came in and I was able to hear them asking for things and the waitress telling them that they didn’t have this and that… Shows a lot about a restaurant when you don’t have a bunch of stuff that you advertise on your menu!
Oh yea, the cherry on the top of this story was when we tried to pay. She looked frantic and couldn’t figure out something. I was nervous she was double, triple charging us when she came over and said the paper wasn’t coming out of the machine and that we needed to wait. I was about to flip out and just go to town in mandarin. Lol. She then gets a phone call from the other waitresses who had left the restaurant during our dining time (the ones kickin it at the table) and walked her through it. Honestly I wouldn’t have tipped if I didn’t feel bad for getting the second hot pot. But to be fair, it wasn’t my fault and service was horrible!!! I paid $ 15 for a pot full of cabbage, a few slices of thin, thin meat, a couple fish balls and they’re a couple because they’ve been cut in half, 2 slices of tomato, 2 frozen shrimp, one clam, one baby octopus, one bowl of noodles.
Never will we return and seeing how low the reviews are, this place will probably go bye bye soon any way!
Please fix your attitude, Bao House.

Food is good, but service should improve… we went there with a large group, they seems hard to remember everyone’s order.

Pros:
— Fish and lamb pot is tasty, especially the lamb.
— A sauce station.
— Food is more than I thought. Couldn’t finish one.
Cons:
— Sauce is too salty.
— Milk tea is overpriced.

Self Served dipping sauce station!
Hot pots on adjustable heating are always a plus!
Curry hot pot — its alright, wished there was more coconut for flavor and thickness
Earl Grey milk tea — tea flavor wasn’t strong enough for me…

Not bad of a hot pot place. It seemed really empty when I got there, but over the course of the night, it got super busy! The Korean soup I got was a little too salty for me, but the pork slices were quite generous along with all the fishcakes and other things inside the soup. Not the best hot pot I’ve had in the bay area, but it’s decent. I believe it’s the same owner of the Chinese restaurant next door (which I like way better). As for the lamb hot pots my friends got, they said the meat was sliced too thinly and that it basically disintegrated whenever they started cooking the meat in the soup. Not bad but not amazing.

The broth is tasty. I think it had some MSG in it, which was OK for me. They have a sauce bar which I found really convenient. The portions were about the same size as other hot pot places in the area. The place was also pretty chill and not as busy as other places. That’s a big thing for me since I like to sit and enjoy my food without 100 people walking past me.
Now the downside, only one of the employees there spoke English (kind of). So things may be slow if you want to ask questions to your server.
Definitely going back.

I ate here again yesterday. Haven’t been eating here for a month so i decided to come back.
Tried to order the Beijing style on the menu, was told the food is unavailable. Okay. Then i switched to the sea food hotpot.
After i had a taste, man, i wish i could go back in time and stop myself from entering this place. Every clams in my pot have sand in them. That’s fine, i understand, can’t blame those clams. After i tried a big shell clam in my pot, dang, that crxp taste like the worst i ever had in a while, that big shell is so un-​fresh, left a bad taste in my mouth for a long time that i had to keep drinking the black tea they provided.
The two star is for any other pots they have. I like them. I tried majority of them before and I enjoy coming here because of those pots.
0 star for seafood hotpot.

This place is actually a great alternative if all the other Hot Pot places are closed /​busy. We came here because Wuji was closed and surprisingly it wasn’t too bad.
I tried their beef soup with pork and asked for extra sliced beed on the side — and it was more than enough. The meat are sliced thinly, so it looks like a lot. However, since they’re cut so thin, they stick and clumped together when you throw ‘em all in. Still good though!
Their corn isn’t that great. Not sure if it’s old. or overcooked, but we all thought the corn tasted like plastic.
Not sure how this place is during weekends or lunch hours, but it’s pretty empty on a weeknight. Service wasn’t too bad; it was a slow night and our waitress was sitting down but was easy to flag her down and ask for stuff.
I would probably come back here if other places are closed /​busy. Def hit the spot and would love to try other broths.

Don’t tell me I can replace the pork intestine with anything the same price range (sliced beef, pork, etc), then tell me you can’t once I try to order it. Then you tell me the only thing you can do is to take the intestine away. Lol less food ok.
Been here numerous times before, they used to be really nice and able to switch things around for us, this time they changed once again.
They need to stop changing things around here. Honestly imo the sauce station is the only thing going for them.
Also, why did they remodel the inside like a Shabu place, yet they don’t even use the grills?

Meh… Good service and thats it… I wanted to like this place but the broth is really oily and bland…

First of all, place was clean, modern furniture and neutral colors on wall, and waitress English was fine, I explained how I’ve never been to a sit down shabu-​Shabu like place. I found out at lunch, they serve it ready to eat, as normally people at lunch don’t have time for the shabu shabu (dip your goodies in broth) so when you order, it arrives bubbling in a pot over a wooden box with a hole to hold the metal bowl. You still can’t use the burner stoves table. However she said at dinner, they do bring out heating stoves (I think like in Korean restaurants)
BUT BUT BUT… Don’t go there if you have a time restricted lunch. We got there and two tables of two guests and six on the other. By the time order was placed it took 23 minutes for first bowl to arrive. There was only one waitress so she had to go back and bring it out one by one. Just inhaled two spoonfuls of broth and had to ask for it to be packaged in a to-​go container.
The soups were just ok, but I think you can «Schuzz» it up with there sauce bar in the back (house sauce, soy sauce, green onions, cilantro, sesame oil etc…)
Your soups do come with iced black tea or iced green tea for free.
Soups were $ 12.99 at lunch for Thai style soup and seafood soup. I thought they were average, but haven’t tested against other types like this. So many m open.
Maybe I’ll be back… But long wait (with minimal guests) was very irritating when you want to eat and go…

2.5 Stars.
Pros:
— It comes with free green tea.
— They have a good sauce counter.
— Good portion of food for the price.
— Clean atmosphere.
Cons:
— None of the employees knows how to speak english. (For example: I asked for the bill and they didn’t understand me)
— Customer service sucks.
— Service was super slow.

Decent place! Downside is that their workers don’t speak english so there is a large language barrier. The place looks nice inside but smells like gasoline. Their hotpot is a good size. I ordered a number 9 which was Thai Spicy I believe and it was great! Only downfall was that there was a lot of cabbage in my pot. They have a sauce bar towards the back where you can grab cilantro, green onions, sesame oil, satay, etc. The Thai Spicy wasn’t super spicy so don’t feel intimidated. They also have a large menu of tea drinks to select from as well.

Service is good!
We missied boiling point in SoCal so we came here. Better than what expected!

Not bad at all! I think most of the reviews scared me a bit before coming to Bao Little Hotpot so I made sure to be prepared. To be honest, I only came to Bao today because H.I.T. was closed.
My coworker arrived around 11:45pm today and there was only 1 table seated. Thanks to Jarleen V.‘s review, I decided on the Szuchuan Hot Pot and my coworker got the Combo hot pot. I opted for my hot pot without the pork blood + vermicelli instead of rice. Our order came out about 7 minutes later but the flame wasn’t on for our hots. It seems like they brought it to boil in the back then put the flame out when the bring the order out. I found the Szuchuan broth to be tasty! It wasn’t bland at all and you could easily eat it without the sauce. The house sauce was also better than my personal concoction. My coworker thought his combo hot pot was ok but not as flavorful as mine. I managed to only finish half of my hotpot and took the rest to-​go. Unlike most reviews, my hotpot had lots of meats and proteins in it! There was a great amount of cabbage too but I like it so I don’t mind. Everything seemed portionable for me.
Our server was really nice but you can tell that her English is weak. The décor is modern and clean so it isn’t cramped like Wuji’s. Lunch orders get complimentary black or green tea. The menus say that lunch orders are $ 9.99 for 1 – 5 but it is now $ 12.99. I found it very discomforting that they didn’t mention or change it on their menu.
Would I come back? Yes if I was in the area and wanted hot pot.
Would I go out of my way and crave it? Probably not. The whole experience was very anticlimactic for me from the service to the food. I think I was pleasantly pleased because I had such low expectations for it.
What should you order? The Szuchuan Hot Pot if you want a flavorful broth!

3.5 stars Bao Little Hotpot is a fast food Hot pot shop. The menu consists of about of about 10 different flavors of mini hot pots with a price range of $ 11 to $ 13. Everything is already cooking in one pot when it comes out. We ordered the Szchuan and the Stinky tofu pots. Both tasted good.
Service was good. Very reasonable prices. Lots of tea and smoothie drinks available.
Minus stars for 30 min wait for the Kitchen to get food out.
Plenty of parking in the strip mall.

First of all, this is my first hot pot so I don’t if I am knowledgeable enough.
However, it hit the spot for me. I came on an extremely stormy day hungry and cold.
I picked the seafood hot pot. The customer service was nonexistent but the only reason why I loved it so much was because the of the sauce bar.
I love sauces and making my own sauce to my taste. I also like the idea of getting my own individual hot pot which allows me to get what I want and how I want it.
I love seafood, spicy flavors, extremely garlic and cilantro so I just made my soup just the way I like it.
My friend that came with me did not mind it so much but I have to come back to get some more!

This location’s sign is: Bao House so do not go looking for Bao Little Hotpot lol. Entering the plaza, it will be to your far left corner. It is located in a plaza with multiple Indian to-​go/​stores and vietnamese restaurants like Ta Restaurant, Da Kao Sandwiches 2.
Craving for something soupy. came in during lunch time with my sisters with only one table served during that time. so no wait for us, yay! We were seated I believe by the owner and she was super friendly.
Interior: super spacious, clean, nice décor.
Menu: Variety of different soup bases, not too overwhelming to be indecisive of what you want.
Complementary green/​black tea on the house. Don’t expect it to be amazing. it is just regular unsweetened tea.
We ordered the Lamb & Szechuan Pot. It came with your choice of rice or clear vermicelli for each pot. We got the best of both worlds. Our food came out within 10 – 15 minutes. On your table, there is this device that has buttons on it. *Order, Drinks, Service, Check and Cancel* Simply click the button for your needs and they would come right out to your table! Awesome!
During lunch, $ 12 for each pot. Pots were filled with mostly cabbage and all else like meat, fish balls, roe balls, were good. The pot consisted of a reasonable amount of items swimming in the pot. I did not really enjoy the Lamb base too much. It was salty and sour. there is a sauce bar located in the back by the counters. tried adding garlic sauce and the house special sauce it spice things up a bit but that definitely did not do justice.
I preferred and enjoyed the Szechuan base better. not too salty, a great amount of kick to the spices and it was not too overwhelming. spicay the way I like it ;)
If needed small bowls or spoons, it is located right by the sauce bar. so feel free to grab them because that is what I did haha. I thought the owner was going to bring them out for us, but I did not mind grabbing them either lol. As for the sauce bar, there wasn’t a sauce that really stood out and made me rave about it. all the sauces were alright. even the house special sauce.
For 3 ladies and 2 pots. it was a more than good amount of food for us. Overall, I thought this place was ok. The concept was good, but I would probably go out of my way for another hotpot joint.

YAY for Bao Hotpot’s stamp card.
Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be returning any time soon. The food was good, but with so many other hotpot places in San Jose, I think this place is just okay.
My friend and I met up here for dinner. I ordered their tomyum hotpot, and my friend got their Szechuan style hotpot. We got our sauces while we waited for the food to come out. Fortunately they were pretty fast with our hotpots and the servers were nice the entire time.
I thought the price was reasonable for the personal size hotpots and the amount of seafood and veggies. However my tomyum broth wasn’t sour enough to my liking. My friend said her Szechuan hot pot was just okay also, but I actually liked it better than my tomyum.

Honestly, I wouldn’t even be writing this if it wasn’t interrupting my day so much! I had dinner here with my girlfriends last night and 5 out of 6 of us are not feeling so hot after our hotpot experience. Not to mention I think I still smell like the smelly tofu from their «smelly pot» that my girlfriend was eating.
I really liked this place back in April (5 stars), I liked the one pot concept, the sauce bar and the price.
Man. this place went downhill, I can’t believe I was raving about this place months ago. Everything was so salty last night, I have been drinking water non stop since last night, I am a very moody and bloated girl right now… stay away. this is what happens when you have too much salt!