XIFU HOTPOT喜福火锅 — Restaurant in Fremont

It was my first time trying this type of hot pot, and I was pretty excited. I love hot pot so adding a different type of experience is great.

Since we had never been here, when we were seated the host told us how everything works. The concept is pretty simple, you go to the refrigerated area and grab all the skewers and trays that you like to eat, then bring it back to your table and start cooking. Each stick costs $0.50, and some items have two sticks in them. It was mostly the meat items that had two sticks.

There are also other items on trays such as noodles, innards, mushrooms, vegetables, and other items. You definitely need to pay attention to the color of the tray, as there are different price points when it comes to the trays.

They also have a sauce bar and other appetizer type items available. I think my favorite item on the appetizer bar were their seasoned peanuts.

Overall, I think this is a great concept and the cost is not too bad. I honestly think if you stick to getting only sticks and not a ton of items on trays your price point will definitely not be too bad. You are also able to order some things through that app.

Service is okay, I wasn't too sure on who you could ask for refills of water. Most of the experience is do it yourself so you don't really need anyone...

I’ve already visited this restaurant twice during its soft opening, and I have to say, it’s off to a promising start! The space is modern, clean, and well-maintained, making for a comfortable dining experience.

One standout feature is their snack bar, which I find comparable to HDL—but with the bonus of offering unique snacks that HDL doesn’t have. I really appreciate this variety, as it adds a fun and distinctive touch to the meal.

I visited on both a slow and a busy day, and the difference in service speed was noticeable. Dishes arrived much quicker when the restaurant wasn’t crowded, whereas during peak hours, the wait time increased significantly—likely due to staffing shortages. Hopefully, as they settle in, they’ll be able to streamline their service.

As for the food, the meat quality is excellent—fresh and flavorful. One item that really stood out to me was the celtuce bamboo, a rare find at most hot pot spots. I highly recommend giving it a try if you’re looking for something unique!

Overall, while the restaurant is still working through some growing pains, it has a lot of potential. I’m excited to see...

I had a blast dining here! It was my first time trying skewer hot pot and I would totally come back. The place fills up so we came at opening to avoid the wait.

You order the broth base with the server and grab what you want to put into your hot pot from the fridge. A note on the spiciness level, the mild here is quite spicy. It feels like the equivalent of hot or very hot in most other places. You can get veggies, meats and other food to add to your hot pot from the fridge. The prices are based on the color of the containers. Skewers are in the fridge too and they're $0.50 each. Some skewers have 2 sticks so that's $1.00 each.

You can also order more meat and other food options from the server or through the app but we didn't find it necessary for the most part. We did order the rice cake dessert which was wonderful.

I think it's so cool how they calculate the number of skewers for the bill. They take a pic and software counts it instead of a human, makes sense!

I highly recommend coming here, and with a big group so you can try...