Boiling Point — Restaurant in Gardena

Christmas 2017 - Wife and I are wrapping up our visit to the greater L.A. area. Just happened to catch this place while coming out of another restaurant located in the same plaza at lunch time. We walked by and there were like several people waiting outside to get a table. The dishes rotating on the window monitor definitely looked appealing, and emphasized a Taiwanese hot pot cuisine, so I made a mental note to check it out for dinner that evening.

Some background: I’ve eaten a few different hot pots before, as it’s my Asian wife’s favorite kind of food, so I kind of get the concept - You choose a savory broth (such as spicy hot pepper, sweet & spicy, miso, or other curry), and they bring out a pot on a gas burner, to which you add various ingredients yourself at the table -including vegetables, seafood or other meats, like “shabu shabu”. Or they just bring it out to you mixed all together -ala to Korean stew or Vietnamese pho style. Here it was the latter.

First thing I noticed was that the place was packed, and the restaurant is a bit on the small side. We waited about 15-20 minutes after checking into the electronic kiosk to get a ticket number. Upon entering, Atmosphere was so-so - it was a bit on the dark side, but not so much that we couldn’t see others around us. I could hear contemporary Asian pop music playing in the background. After sitting down, we got our menus. Our server seemed a bit young and impatient, but the food was really what counted. I ordered the #4 (beef hot pot) at mild spice level; my wife the Korean bean paste hot pot with sliced beef, medium spicy.

The meal came out piping hot right on a gas burner, one for both of us. The presentation, freshness, and quality of the food were very good. The portions of meat and vegetables were satisfying, and the broth really stood out as excellent - very rich, complex, savory and flavorful - mine was slightly sweet and spicy. My stew included sliced angus beef, napa cabbage, fermented tofu, straw mushrooms, imitation crab, fish cake, a meat ball, rice vermicelli noodles, and a piece of fresh corn, among a few other things. On the side, they had various optional dipping sauces. I only tried the garlic-bean paste, which was fantastic.

The spice level was just right for us as well. Having eaten at many restaurants, the price was definitely fair ($14/each) for the quality and quantity of food, at dinner. We got a small refreshing lemon/lime boba at the end. Overall, my experience was great, and I believe it to be very good value. My wife agreed, and she has pretty high standards for Asian food. Mind you, it's not fine dining -The atmosphere and service particularly are somewhat wanting, but the food is well worth it. As some others have written, this is a definitely a step above the average pho or soon-dubu place.

Overall Food quality & taste 5/5 Presentation 5/5 Portion size 4.5 /5 Price/value 4/5 Atmosphere 3.5 / 5 Service 3/5 Cleanliness 4 / 5

Mean rating: 4.1 of 5 -...

Food was pretty standard for hot pot, my experience however, was not hot at all. Took my family of 4 to go eat here and the waiter was lowkey rude from the get go, rushing us to order (keep in mind the restaurant was NOT packed at the time). After ordering, our order was messed up along with 3 other tables’ orders. They gave my mom the other tables soup with the wrong base, and told us it was the exact same order as ours (it wasn’t). They tried to pull the same stunt with the other table, but the lady had specifically requested the omission of certain ingredients because of an existing allergy so they made her a new soup (imagine if they gave her the wrong one anyways 💀). Once the orders were all fixed, waiter returned ONCE (singular, uno time) to refill waters, spilled the whole ocean on the table, didn’t clean it up so I had to use my only napkin to clean it and he never came back after that so I couldn’t even ask for more napkins. I was hoping to have a better experience, but the only thing I learned was to go elsewhere next time. This was super disappointing as it was a birthday dinner for my sister. I ended up getting the Beef soup. It was alright and the spice level was decent. Would not come here again, unless I feel like being ignored and gaslit at a restaurant. 0/10 service, mid/10 food.

This makes me wonder if I did something wrong upon entering, but I’ve never been treated like this anywhere. I was appalled, truly befuddled! As someone who’s worked in the service industry, I’m always sure to be understanding especially during the holiday season, but my experience here was absurd. As if my very existence, no- my mere precence was enoguh to solicit unwarranted hatred by my server. Everyone else was super nice though, especially the Lady who was trying to fix everything. The guy with the burnt bleached hair though… anyways hope you enjoyed...

Well, I like hot pot and the food here is very nice. It is a good place to go. Ignore my complaints if you just for the food.

One star for the lunch tea. They do provide straw but no lid. It could easily spill out. And too sweet to me.

One star for the server's proficiency. She held 4 cups WITHOUT lids and gave us 2 of them. I'm not surprised the drink spilled all over the table (well... half of the table but still, the drink spilled out and because it's a lunch special free drink they don't fill up the spill part)

One star for the fire. They use solid ethyl for the hot pot. I like hot pot but having issue with the fog on my glasses. That's why I wear my contact lenses to the eatery. BUT they don't regulate the fire, they just put like a large spoon of solid ethyl on a plate in their hand hold block under the pot. Sometimes the ethyl sparks, and I can actually see "fireflies" raising up. And sometimes the fire is too big, over the pot edge, that kind of big. I was worried about the fire will suddenly melt my lenses and make me blind. It would be nice if they can improve their fire issue more safely.

I was gonna reduce 3 stars but when I checked out, I decided to reduce one more star for their language. The table next to us is a large table. One of them left his wallet. When one server wanted to confirm who lost the wallet before chasing out, a server told him "they just left, some Asian guy's ". It could be nothing just I personally feel offensed because they describe people by their color. Wouldn't it be normal to describe a person with his/her appearal? Like "that tall man with leather jacket" or " the lady with dress"...something like that? "Some Asian guy" is vague and sounds offensive to me.

Again, the food is very good. You can just ignore my complaints, just some personal...