Ben Ben Hot Pot — Restaurant in Berkeley

Super affordable AYCE hot pot with a mom and pop style business! The folks here were super polite to us explaining how to order and where we can find the self serve dishes. Most of the people working here are native Chinese speakers but even if you don't speak any Mandarin no worries because they speak English as well!

Each person gets their own individual pot and the dinner price is $28.99 per pot which is very competitive compared to a lot of other AYCE hot pot spots. They have (if I recall correctly) 6 meat options which are effectively an assortment of things like beef, lamb, pork, goat, etc.

They have a huge selection of self serve dishes like crab, fish, fish tofu, quail eggs, various veggies, carbs, and much more! The meat dishes you can order via a QR code but the self serve bar was super convenient! There are also appetizers like smashed cucumbers by the entrance along with a sauce bar

Overall quality was good and the best part was the variety in soup options. The soup options differ from your traditional hot spot places (would highly recommend taking a look at their menu). Service was top notch and they even have a larger room in the back where you can karaoke if you have a larger group

Overall, great spot to visit for AYCE hot pot and will likely be back the next time I'm...

Absolutely incredible and delicious hot pot. For those of you that don’t know how hot pot works, it’s all you can eat. Each person selects a soup base, and what ingredients they want to put in their soup (meats, veggies, noodles, etc) on the menu with a little marker.

Then you go to the sauce bar and get additional sauces for your base if you want. Things like sesame oil, chili oil, sou sauce and others. They also have extra garnishes like garlic, cilantro, scallions, etc.

Next they bring you the soup base and everything you ordered, and you cook it on the table in front of you! It’s a really cool experience and always delicious since you get to pick exactly how you want it :)

Be mindful not to order everything on the menu because it’s a LOT of food. I skipped lunch and still couldn’t finish everything they gave me.

Also for the plant-based crowd, there are vegan friendly soup bases and it’s very easy to get all vegetables + tofu (if you don’t eat meat like me). Lots of different mushroom options which is my personal preference.

The staff was very friendly and attentive. Very reasonable prices as well. If you come, you better...

Thoughts on owner’s reply: they are basically saying that they will continue charging the full price despite 90% of the items on the menu being unavailable for an AYCE experience. Mind blowing. ——————————————————————- We went to this place tonight. They had a severe shortage of food: people are lining up in front of the fridge to get a few items they were able to offer, which is only enough for 2-3 tables each time they refill the fridge.

If you order any food, it will take 1 hour+. Yes, you heard it right, and that’s the fastest item to arrive from the server except for the soup itself. We immediately told the server we’ve had enough and don’t want the beef tripe anymore. The server apologized and said this situation is extremely rare. We are not buying it: if you have a severe shortage of food supply for an AYCE place, you should at least warn your customers before they come it. They chose to not disclose the obvious food shortage and let customers in anyway and still had the audacity to charge the full price....