Hot Pot Palace Buffet

Decent, cheap and unique.
Looks like they are going out of biz, as I went past there other day and it was being remodeled into something else.
That’s the 2^nd or 3^rd place to fold there in the past couple of years.

Didn’t even make it home. Had to pull over on 280 and believe me, it was not a pretty sight. I will NEVER go back to this place. In fact, if anyplace needs a health department inspection, this is it!
Learned an important lesson here… if it stinks, walk away. Fast!

Updated because this time they had LAMB! Last time I went they didn’t have lamb and I was disappointed.
You can’t really go wrong here. It’s all you can eat and the only thing you can complain about would have to be service or the broth of the hot pot. It’s pretty plain and simple, you get seated by the hostess, the server asks what soup you want, (I love #7 Thai Tom Yum & #8 Vietnamese style) for lunch it’s $ 14.99 on a weekend. I came on Sunday.
There’s a large selection of veggies, noodles, and meat such as Lamb, Chicken, Beef, and Pork. They also have seafood items like mussles and fish balls. Heck they just added sushi! I didn’t par take in it though. Dim sum is average. Not the best but satisfactory for first timers.
Overall, $ 16 including tax for three people. Not too shabby considering it as a buffet.

There are quite a few Asian buffets in the area, so why does this one stand out?
1) Hot pot AND bbq at your table.
2) Discounted meals after a certain hour.
3) Make your own shave ice dessert!
It’s not the most Asian or awesome or beautiful hot pot restaurant, but they’re well stocked, in a good location, and fairly priced. Good enough! :)

If you are the type of person to like a buffet with mediocre food but with a wide selection which includes dim sum and hotpot then this is your place.
I didn’t feel the quality of food is great, but can’t expect much from these type of asian buffets. They do have other little desserts and for those of you who love shaved ice, this is would be the go-​to place for you!
The service however was pretty good. The wait staff was all super friendly and catering to what you needed. 2 stars more so for the food quality.

Came here last week with my boyfriend and I loved the experience a lot! They have little hotpot that is one small pot per person, which is nice and clean. They offer fresh food for hotpot and cooked food like crawfish, crab, rice, noodle — you name it!
The most amazing thing is, they have fresh made dim-​sum too! Good dim-​sum, not the other old ones we always get in some cheap buffet place.
The customer service was awesome too; all waiters are very nice and polite.
We brought in a bottle of red wine, they only charged us $ 5 for the corking.
I will definitely come back here again with my parents; I am sure they’ll love it!

It’s actually sub-​par quality food and difficult to enjoy if you don’t know how to do hot pot (which I don’t really), and I imagine that if you DO understand hot pot, you know how bad it is compared to other places. The dim sum is actually not terrible, it’s just that there are a lot of the cheaper, veggie-​filled ones.
Two big shocks that detract stars: they don’t serve har gow (!!) and they charge for tea — which are cheapy bags that the servers don’t change. They simply pour more hot water in your cup, diluting it. Desserts weren’t very good, with the exception of the shaved Ice option with lots of different syrups and toppings. I guess it’s a decent enough price to try this place at least once.

Hot Pot Palace is mediocre at best. I tried their mini spicy hot pot and it was neither spicy nor hot. For some reason, the restaurant uses a candle to heat up the pot. It takes about ten minutes before the soup base comes to a boil. A little slow in my opinion.
As for the food, they have only a small selection of meat, seafood, and vegetables for your hot pot eating pleasure. They also serve dim sum and cooked food on the side, but neither is very good.
I don’t think I will go back there again, especially since there are other hot pot choices in the South Bay.

Empty Chinese restaurant on a Sunday lunch usually spells disaster. I should have gone with my instincts, but with three other people, I just went with the flow.
This place is a big change aesthetically from the previous dim sum restaurant, but sadly to say, the food did not match the ambiance. Each person gets their own hot pot of broth, and you can choose amongst seven flavors. I choose Thai Tom Yum and it was pretty good. Pick your ingredients from the buffet table, dunk in the broth, and let it cook away.
I wish there were more raw selections to choose from for the hot pot. They also have a hot table with cooked items, but that was pretty weak too. I’ve been to other places that load up on ingredients and charge a lot less, but alas, I was pretty disappointed. Nice place, but I expected more.

My first time at this restaurant was actually an accident. I was under the impression that it was a regular Asian buffet with dim sum. Keep in mind that I was not very familiar with the hot pot concept prior to this, but I was hungry so we all decided to stay.
The selection of dim sum and food was decent. I love love love those baked BBQ pork buns, so I was really happy that they had those.
Cooking my own food was pretty fun. I went safe when choosing which soup so I chose the #1 House Special Soup (?). It kinda sucks that you can’t choose different soups to see which one you like because they’ll charge you extra. But other than that, my very first experience with hot potting was a pleasant one.

I’ve been wondering about this place for months after passing by it every other day of the week. I finally gave in after I saw that they are running some sort of anniversary promotion for 10% off and free drinks with dinner. Dinner for three came out to be about $ 53.
I liked how they served each person their own individual pots, so you are allowed to order any broth you want since you don’t have to share with other people. They have about nine different soup bases to choose from. The tom yum broth and the chinese herbal broth tasted pretty good. Broths were good, but food was subpar.
They offer beef, lamb and pork slices as well as a variety of seafood items. The beef was extremely chewy because the beef was very lean. It was the chewiest beef I have ever eaten at hot pot places. On the other hand, the lamb was good. The tough beef slices ruined the whole hot pot experience though.
I’ve never seen a hot pot place that offer dim sum at the same time. Their hot pot was not so great, but their dim sum was actually pretty decent. I ended up eating a good amount of dim sum after getting sick of eating a few small plates of lamb. They also offer some hot food dishes and sushi.
There’s a good variety of food served here for a cheap price, but they need to improve on their hot pot offerings if they call themselves a hot pot place. They definitely need better meat and more vegetables. This is definitely not my place of choice for hot pot.

Pretty good price for a hot pot joint. about 18 bucks gets you all you can eat with a variety of different broths. I had the spicy broth and was kind of disappointed there was only one level of hotness and it was pretty hot. I would have liked to see maybe a medium thrown in for people that aren’t going to extremes. Also the fact that they charge for more broth kind of makes me think they use the broth to force people to finish their meal if they don’t want to pay more. It also is of note that their beef and pork runs out really fast if the place is even moderately busy so while you wait for it your broth boils down relentlessly.
so plusses:
–pretty good price.
–all you can eat (to a point).
minuses:
–no flame control for downtime.
–no spicy levels for the spicy broth.
–service sometimes ignores you.
–meat runs out fairly quickly, forcing downtime.
I think I’d still come back here though because hot pot is always an enjoyable experience with friends.

It’s my first and last time at Hot Pot Palace. Came here for lunch today and it was a good thing that I was famished because it would be hard for me to eat here otherwise. Dim sum + hot pot? Good idea to begin with! But if you’re going to serve luke warm dim sum that has been dried out, forget about it. Their selection of meat and veggies for the hot pot was sad and their dessert section was even worse.
I commend them for their variety of broth. I had the Vietnamese hot and sour soup. I liked it. Their sauce table was fun. There were about 8 different kinds and you can create your own. Nothing else positive to say about this place. Sorry!

When I drove by to visit my friend in San Jose, saw the sign All you can eat dim sum… I decided to eat here along with my friends. Its a little misleading when u look at the price menu they display in the front desk. Its a small sign and they display prices for weekday/​weekend lunch and dinner buffet for Adults and kids. I looked at the kids weekend dinner price and said OMG its so cheap lol. but later realized its $ 17.99 when we received the bill after devouring the hot pot selections =) It was worth it. Each person gets their own hot pot and they have like 7 different soup base to chose from.
We went with Thai Tom yum soup and it was perfect. The refill is not thai soup though (???). The lamb/​beef meat clears very fast and you have to wait until they refill it. They have variety of noodles to choose which i liked the most unlike in other hot pot places they have 3 variety maximum. For all the variety they have, its worth $ 18.

My family walked in to an empty restaurant, then again my family eats dinner at 5 PM. All the waiters were attentive and seated us quickly, they didn’t explain much and took our drink and broth orders. Our waiter quickly told us they had sushi rolls and hot foods.
The dim sum was pretty decent, the other foods like noodles and crispy chicken I could’ve done without– too greasy and was heavy to eat.
I think the Thai Tom Yum soup was perfect with my food, it was tangy and slightly sweet which I liked. It had a little amount of heat to it, due to the whole chili peppers in the soup which you can also remove.
The beef and chicken were really tender and didn’t take long to cook at all, I think the quality is pretty good. The only vegetable I had was the napa cabbage and I enjoyed the shrimp and egg noodles in my soup as well.
For dessert they have shaved ice with syrups and usual sweet beans and jello. As well as those buffet style cakes and cookies, eat the egg custard tarts! They’re yummy!
The waiters were also very attentive taking away dishes, refilling our waters and most of them were attracted to sharing conversation with my father.
Dinner was $ 15.99, keep in mind that changing broth is $ 1.99 and refilling the fuel is like 50 cents. I’d like to come here during lunch time and try the others broths!

As a «welcome back» treat to one of my best friends, thought I’d try this place with her for lunch. Before going, I first read some of the reviews and they were all very intriguing. So I had to try it.
After being seated, we were asked what drinks and what broth we prefer. They have eight types of broth listed. I didn’t want to try the spicy one since I’ve read that it was really over-​the-​border spicy. I’ve read several recommendations of the Thai Tom Yum broth so that was what I had. It actually reminded me of a very light version of my favorite Filipino stew, Sinigang (Tamarind stew). I liked it.
The buffet table had five sides: (1) several types of noodles, raw meat and seafood, (2) raw vegetables, (3) dimsum, (4) cooked Chinese dishes and (5) desserts. Their raw meat consisted of beef, chicken and lamb. The seafood had raw tiger prawns, squid, fish fillet, fish balls.
I just took the beef since I got used to Phở. The fish balls were abundant and those were one of my favorites. The Bok Choy leaves and Mongo Sprouts were also my choices together with button mushrooms and seaweeds. I also got a few of the yellow noodles. The Tom Yum broth definitely embraced all the ingredients with its flavor. A little bit of soy sauce and Sriracha sauce made it a little bit fancy.
The dimsum section didn’t have a lot of choices. I got the pork, shrimp and I think a vegetarian siomai. I was kind of disappointed since they all tasted the same. Bland. I had to drown them in soy sauce and sriracha to have a little kick out of it. The egg rolls were okay. The fried rice? Well, I’ve had better ones. I didn’t try their desserts because I was already full and I’m not really into sweets.
It was $ 15 per person including refillable sodas for lunch and taxes. I read that they charge more for dinner. It was an okay experience for me. Friendly service and quite attentive. Just be sure to eat everything you get and cook, because they will definitely charge you extra $ 5 for leftovers. I guess it sounded a bit tacky, but if you really think about it, it’s better to have that rule to avoid wasting food inside a buffet place.
I’m not saying that I won’t go back here, but I have experienced better Hot Pot places in the past. Having more food choices would make this place better. Their buffet selection just didn’t reach the real hot pot standard for my taste. However, it’s a nearby place to stop my hot pot cravings. It would at least do.

I went on a Sunday, January 16, for lunch. We arrived around 1:15pm and this place was still busy. We had a party of five and were placed in a small square table. The table was way too small for our party since everyone had their own hot pot soup base and lots of dishes. Someone needs to think about round tables or larger tables for parties of 5.
The soup bases were good. I ordered the mushroom base. My hubby had the herbal base.
The selections were not bad. It was not the same status as Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot (in Union City and San Mateo).
Vegetables: Large Pea Sprouts, Mushrooms, Bean Sprouts, Yams, etc.
Meats: Chicken, Beef, Lamb, Pork
Seafood: Shrimp, Fish balls, Squid, White Fish (I would avoid), etc.
Other: Tofu, Egg, Various noodles
Desserts: Fruits, Shaved Ice, Almond Cookies
Dim Sum: Various. Apparently you can’t take the bamboo steamers with you. All of the dim sum pieces have to be on the plate. Dim sum was okay. Maybe it was because the stuff was sitting out too long.
Sauces: Garlic, oyster sauce, hot sauce, etc.
Service was okay. The waiters didn’t pick up the plates as frequently as they should have. In addition, our table was still dirty when we first sat down. Kind of gross.
If I’m craving hot pot, I would come back since it is close to home. Prices are reasonable.
Prices:
M-​F Lunch: $ 11.99
M-​F Dinner: $ 14.99
Sat & Sun Lunch: $ 13.99
Sat & Sun Dinner: $ 16.99

***************** REVIEW 371 ******************
The place is clean, organized, and quick service if you come before 6PM. For less than $ 16.95 weekend per person, and kids under 8 yrs is $ 7.95, not bad. Service was quick and efficient for a buffet place!
The different on this hot pot, is you got to choose 7 choices of broth & here is some that we tried:
— Original — probably my FAV, then you can mix other spices in if you want.
— Original Spicy
— Szechuan Chinese spicy — lot of sesame oil & dried pepper, the broth was nice but too OILY for my taste.
— Thai — Sour soup like Tom Yum.
— Mushroom & Tofu — This is for vegan people!
— Vietnamese — sweet & sour, my mom thought it was good.
Choices of raw meats & seafood: lamb, chicken, beef, shrimp, fish, crabs. Raw veggies offer about 10 options for you. 8 choices of fresh fruits & desserts.
Other cooked dishes such as mussel, clam, deep fried shrimp, and other typical Chinese stir-​fired dishes. 10 choices of Dim Sum as well.
Please come here when you are hungry or a big group of out-​of-​town relatives! I got food coma after this dinner!

$ 13.99 all you can eat lunch Dim Sum & Hot Pot. It’s rare to find both dim sum and hot pot buffet all together.
The hot pot comes with 7 different broths each individual person gets to choose from. I went with Spicy Sechuan and my friend got Thai Tom-​Kha, but they somehow mixed it up with Chinese herbal (which was horrible and tasted like old person cabbage).
The bowls you use to eat are way too small also. But the meat selection is solid. Fresh lamb, beef, pork, calimari (my favorite), fish balls, and a large selection of toppings and noodles. The waiters came by to give new plates and water often too.
As for dim sum, you can’t go wrong. They had about 15 dishes total, and they were 80% top restaurant quality. The su mai and all those main dishes were tasty, but the bread and meat dim sum dishes you could tell were probably frozen or overcooked, a bit hard and not the best quality.
The dessert bar is lacking, basically Chinese gelaton shaved ice with 20 toppings and Chinese yogurts with all the beans but nothing else. It’s not bare, maybe just nothing I liked that much.
$ 40 after tip and tax for 2 people for dim sum and hot pot buffet, I’d go back for a large group.
And it’s clean and sanitary too!

Came here for dinner Friday night. I heard about this place from some friends who spent 3 hours eating here! We only spent 2 hours…
The dimsum was surprisingly good for a buffet restaurant. Big shiu mais and their fried turnip cake wasn’t soggy like in most buffet restaurants. It was still crispy and tasty. The chicken feet was everyone’s favorite! They have crawfish, oysters, and the yummiest fried rice! The hotpot portion was not too bad either. Whatever you do, DO NOT get the schezhuan soup base. I like spicy and everything, but it was more herbaly than spicy. The herbal soup base (#6) however, was not herbaly at all! But the Tom-​Yum soup base was reaaaaaaaaallly good! The lady recommended #6 and 7. I recommend the Tom Yum Soup and #6. They didn’t have a lot of food variety but they have all the basics, which is enough. The only sucky thing about it is that it takes them a really long time to get their food out! :(
Oh, they also have a dessert and shaved ice section. One word: WEAK!
I like this place and I probably will be back, but I don’t think it’s worth the $ 17/​person (Friday/​weekend dinner price). So if anything, I’ll come back for lunch.