Seapot Lau Oc Hai San

Will definitely be returning. a great place for my parents to come to for vegeterian viet food and for us meat loving kids to also enjoy!

I ordered all the shell fish dishes, the flavors were all wrong, very plain. The menu was over priced, bathroom next to kitchen where food was prepared. The waiter spilled hot soup on the table, almost got on me and my girlfriend, bad service. Health department needs to visit this place, seasoning food on the floor.

The food was good. I ordered the ban can. However they were extremely stingy when it came to just about everything. There wasn’t enough crab, enough noodles, and I ordered the clams, but it turned out there was more clam shell than the actual nest. They were even stinger when it came to napkins! Don’t plan on going again. The service was pretty bad as well.

I love the hot pot and the special dishes here. Try out everything. They are all taste very good!

When I walked in, it smelled like seafood heaven. The aroma of coconut snails was amazing. Sadly, I was there to pick up my Banh Canh Cua togo and didn’t get a chance to try the other seafood offerings.
Banh Canh Cua was really flavorful but it was very oily. The bowl offered 3 crab claws, 2 small shrimps, and 5 pieces of pork belly. The soup base was pork flavored and pretty excellent but it was oily that I didn’t feel too good after eating it. The shrimps could’ve been bigger! Pork belly was flavorful but added to the oiliness which didn’t help!
Although I was a disappointed in the BCC, I do want to go back to try the hot pot and other seafood dishes. Seriously, the coconut snails smelled really good so I will definitely be back to try those!

SERVICE SUCKS! Go figures. The guys are always trying to take away my food when I clearly haven’t started on my dish yet, so annoying! My hubs BBH was bland (he did not enjoy his bowl) and all the appetizers were salty as Fck! I had to ask for water refills 3x throughout our meal. :(
But I gave them an average score because I have yet found a place in San Jose that actually tastes like real Banh Canh cua! I LOVED THE BANH CANH CUA here! It came in a small pot with a big price but the toppings, broth and all was on point!
So I will only be coming back for its savory Banh Canh!

This rating would have been 3 stars had it not been for the excruciating hour wait for our food. It’s inconceivable why lau should take this long — after all, it’s just broth and raw ingredients.
Don’t order the clams in steamed lemongrass dish. Very dry, salty, and you can probably make something better at home.

Came at 9:50, 10 minutes before closing on a Monday night. Luckily they were nice enough to seat us. My boyfriend and I ordered the Thai sea food and beef hot pot. We got a choice of noodles and how spicy we wanted the broth. The mildly spicy one was just right. I also recommend getting the clear noodles. The seafood included scallop, mussels, squid, shrimp, and fish balls. It had quite a variety, which I appreciated a lot. Overall the broth had a sweetness that was very similar to Vietnamese canh chua. I recommend this place for someone’s first time eating hotpot. The overall price was $ 26. Not bad for dinner for two. Will definitely be coming back!

I rarely write reviews but this place deserves one. Food is excellent. The dishes that stood out were the Thai hot pot, buttered chicken, and avocado smoothie. Beer was only $ 3 as well!
Wait wasn’t long but you might want to come early if you have a larger party. Definitely will be back.

I got back from Vietnam about three weeks ago and after eating there for 2 weeks at all the great restaurants, it’s been depressing eating the food here. I’ve eaten at 7 – 8 different Vietnamese restaurants including Vung Tau and there is nothing even remotely comparable. Tonight I finally found someplace. I started with the mango salad with shrimp and squid. It was done perfectly. Exactly like the restaurants in Vietnam. The squid and shrimp were fresh and it has all the right spices. Next I had the seafood and Thai spicy beef hot pot. All the seafood was fresh. The spice level and greens were just right. Also had the skewered prawns. That was the only item that was better than the ones I had in Vietnam. The passion fruit juice was awesome as well. I will be coming here a lot

My brother’s been telling me to come here. He told the hotpot in this location is very good and I should try it since we’re a huge fan of hotpot.
My gf and I went on a Saturday night around 8pm. I Unilocal this place and they close at 11pm… pretty good hours. It was hard to find parking though so we had to park at Target which was not a far walk.
We ordered a medium size with seafood. We wanted to start off with mild, just to get used to how the sauce tasted. The pot was pretty small for a medium, but lucky we were not as hungry. We thought the sauce was very delicious and had great combination of seafood. Only downside, the service really sucked and they don’t really understand English well, but I have nothing against that.
Overall, great delicious hotpot and I would love to come here again.

Thai seafood and beef hot pot was accurate on the level of spice requested. Just the texture of the broth really threw me off. It’s texture was between creamy and grainy.
The goi bo tai Chanh was yummy from beginning to end. I enjoyed the varies vegetable choice brought together to create this dish. Note to those who like their extra sour: ask for extra lemon.
Escargot with butter and green onion was an interesting dish for me tonight. It was served with peanuts and placed on a hot plate. Tasty and perfect amount of softness and chewiness ratio.
Service was quick and friendly. It was cold outside today and there was only one table available. The server had us seated there while we were going over the menu and quickly had us seated at a booth furthest away from the door. Yippie!

Delicious Thai hotpot! Around $ 23 for Medium size and was good enough for 2 people. We didn’t even finish our egg noodles.
Our waitress didn’t know much English but she was nice. Came here around 6 and was so much empty tables.

********************* 1250 **********************
From the former owner of Bo De Vegetarian restaurant, they still offer the vegetarian menu with about 10 popular dishes from before such as Vegetarian BUN BO HUE, Spring Rolls, BUN RIEU, etc.
Their new menu offers plenty of Vietnamese delicate dishes to the American diners, but it’s a hit for Vietnamese immigrants like myself. Seafood street food that love by many in Vietnam. The food that you eat when you social and drink beer with your friends. These dishes are very popular at late night on the streets.
— Shrimp, Pork, Squid Combination Salad was very fresh and good.
— Oc Len Xao Dua — Snails stirred in coconut sauce, coriander, lemongrass, 1 of the most popular street food dishes. The sauce was very tasty, on the sweeter side, a bit spicy and flavorful with coriander RAU RAM, you got to suck it very hard to get the snail out of its shelf. It takes some practice but I love this dish here.
— Tamarind sautéed clams — a sweet and sour dish, over manila claim, it was tasty too.
— Chem Chép — Mussels with Butter Green Onion was also tasty.
— Oc Mong Tay — Razor Clam in English, but literally means Finger nail snail in Vietnamese, Seapot Lau Oc Hai San listed on the menu as Razor Snail which is incorrect name for this seafood dish. Stirred in sweet spicy sauce, topped with roast peanuts, green onion, quite nice.
— Beef & seafood Kimchi hotpot — only $ 12 for 1 person pot but it’s such a GENEROUS portion, to feed 2 people.
— Vegetarian BUN BO HUE — was as good as before.
The price is reasonable for this area, the Paloma Plaza is full of Vietnamese restaurants to complete with. I think Seapot Lau Oc Hai San is such a good addition to this plaza and neighborhood. I’ll be frequent here when I need my Vegetarian BUN BO HUE and the seafood dishes fix!

I came here with my Vietnamese lunch dining companion because I learn so much about new Vietnamese foods to eat from her.
This place used to be Bo De, a Vietnamese vegetarian restaurant that I ate at with her over a year ago. The owners revamped the place and made it a Vietnamese Hot Pot place. New paint and décor, too.
I love Hot Pot foods, like Shabu Shabu and Yosenabe from Japan, or Mongolian Hot Pot, etc. It is always fun to eat hot food with family and friends, to share and enjoy. That is why nearly every Asian culture, which are all big on food and family together, have their own Hot Pot dish.
I enjoyed the food (and of course the great company!) here and I should be coming back.
Cam on Em! Ngon Qua!

Came back here for the second time and wasn’t as pleased as before.
Ordered the spring rolls which I thought tasted ok. Came out with two rolls in an order and had a side of hot peanut sauce. Cost $ 3.50
My boyfriend ordered the bun bo hue which was a disappointment. It came out in a clay pot but was a decent size to fill you up. Only issue with it was that the broth was veryyyy bland. We had to add in extra chili in order to get some flavor. Cost about $ 7
We also ordered the snails in coconut broth. Came out in another clay pot and had a good amount of snails. It was my first time trying this and it was worth a try. Personally, I could not eat more than 4 of them lol. But it’s a good item to share

Came here because Lau Hai San was closed.
My bf and I tried the Thai beef and seafood hot pot w/​bun. Broth was pretty good, however, the beer and seafood that came with it was a very small portion. Wish they had more sides w it. Not much of a variety, which is something they should consider since Lau Hai San is right down the street!
There was only one waiter and he was nice and attentive. It got a bit busier when dinner time started coming around, but he was still able to handle everything.
Overall, it was pretty flavorful and probably be back later on to try the banh Canh.

My friends and I came here during their grand opening week. I have to say we were pretty impressed since it was similar to Lau Hai San on Senter. We were saying how we prefer this place over the other one because there’s more parking spots here.
The first time impressed us so much that the boyfriend and i decided to come here a few more times. All 3 times we were here we got the Spicy Thai soup base. We noticed that the med size was definitely NOT for 3 – 4 people — it’s more like for 2. and the large size was definitely NOT for 4 – 6 people –it’s more like for 3. We had to order extras — popping fishballs with roe, beef, egg noodles, and bun — pretty expensive. I think it was $ 3 for an extra 6 and $ 5 for 10 balls. we were pretty disappointed in the portion. Each time we come here we noticed that the Thai soup base gets sweeter and sweeter.
Service here is pretty slow since they are low in staff. We waited for over 45 mins on a Friday night (almost near closing) when we were told the wait for 3 was 20 mins. We ordered our food but it didn’t come out for another 30+ mins.
Pros
— lots of parking even though you probably will have to fight for a spot.
— in a plaza where you can walk to another restaurant if the wait is unbearable
— soup base is good if you enjoy Tom Yum Soup
Cons
— portions is not big enough. I recommend getting a med for 2 people and a large for 3 people.

If you like to have hot pot in soup that taste like instant noodle soup base, then give this a shot.
I like the people who work there. Hope they can turn it around.

I was pretty stoked when I found out that a hot pot restaurant opened up in the paloma plaza! Finally, a hot pot restaurant I don’t have to drive half an hour to get to!
First off, my friend and I ordered the medium mongolian beef and sea food hot pot in mild which was perfect for two people and a really good deal for only $ 23! Initially I thought that the broth was lacking in flavor but it’s nothing a little chili paste and hoisin sauce can’t fix! I’ll probably order my hot pot spicy instead of mild next time to really bring out the flavor. My server Kelvin, who was super nice and helpful also recommended that I try their jasmine milktea and it was actually pretty good! I will definitely be back soon for the friendly staff’s awesome service and to try their other hot pot flavors! :-)