Grand HotPot — Restaurant in Pacifica

Grand Hotpot is your all-you-can-eat (AYCE) late-night (open til 11pm some nights even til midnight) hotpot stop in the Bay Area! What sets them apart from other AYCE hotpot establishments are it's appetizer offerings as well as their all-you-can-drink options (with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic canned selections). The restaurant has plenty of seating in the main dining room for parties of all sizes, and upstairs they have their VIP rooms with also comes with the option to have karaoke - so you can sing your hearts out while dining.

Our party of 3 came in on a late Saturday night around 8:30pm craving some hotpot given the chill outside. We were seated quickly and all ordering is done off paper sheets that you can fill out with your selections. Something to note - you don't need to write in any quantity when ordering. Instead the staff will provide portions of food to your table according to the size of your party - definitely important to keep in mind to ensure you don't over order!

We decided on their tonkatsu and house broth, while also getting a wide selection of meats, vegetables, mushrooms, and noodles. They also offer hot appetizers as well and they have some dinner-only selections that I would highly recommend including their salmon sashimi (it's fresh and delicious, trust me on this one) and snow crab leg. Some other dinner-only goodies that I love are their sugar pea sprouts and enoki mushrooms. Food is served fairly quickly and you don't have to wait long to dig into your meal.

Drinks are included and you're able to help yourself to variety of canned beverages from the fridge located in their main dining room - this includes sodas, juices, and some Asian drinks including grass jelly and herbal teas (my personal favorites). During dinner they also offer a limited alcohol menu with sake and Sapporo beer. The unlimited canned drinks although so simple, truly makes the experience unique as you're able to enjoy a full meal with a beverage of your choice - I ended up finishing a total of 3 drinks by the end of dinner. You aren't allowed to take any drinks home, even if the can's already opened so do keep that in mind! If you have a sweet tooth and still have room for dessert, they also have self-service ice cream with Asian-focused flavors including green tea, red bean, mango, and black sesame.

Dining at Grand Hotpot made for an absolutely stellar AYCE hotpot experience, and dare I say this might just be my new go-to spot. If you're looking for a n AYCE hotpot restaurant in the Bay Area, then definitely give Grand...

Located in a strip mall with Safeway is Grand Hot Pot. What’s special about this place is that it has private karaoke rooms where you can enjoy your hot pot and singing at the same time in the VIP Rooms with a flat rate of $35.99 per person. Otherwise it’s $21.99 from 12-4pm and $30.99 from 4-11pm for regular dining. There’s also an electric mah jong table that shuffles the times for you!

We did the VIP karaoke rooms. It fits 4 pots to a table. Each pot has a divider where you can pick two different broths if you like. We did house original and house spicy. The house spicy had more flavor than original and it wasn’t spicy.

Favorite meats would be the fatty beef. It’s thin, fatty, and tender. Their steamed Shanghai dumplings were also good. Had the soup broth inside and made the entire filling juicy. The honey glazed prawns is a must order. They are large and not bad. Wish it had walnuts.

For drinks, you can help yourself. Options like coke, sprite, soy bean, lychee, guava, grass jelly, etc. Same with desserts, you can help yourself to the ice cream.

For the price that we paid, I would say quality was great, service was on point and having beverages and ice cream at your disposal was a plus.

I was hesitant on singing and sharing a mic but it was covered. I sure hope they change this out after every party.

The tv monitor is just like any Korean/Chinese set up. It had all the languages and...

I just realized that I never read the place even though I've been coming here quite consistently.

The first time I came here was when they just opened and it seemed like they were trying to figure things out. The menu was limited and there weren't too many people coming here.

I have been coming here a little more consistently because the place is close to my house I started charging for all of the extra snacks.

Their meat selection is good and comparable to all the other hot pot places that I've been to. You can never go wrong with their house soups. This place has large pots and not individual ones, so if you don't like that this is definitely not the place for you.

They have a ton of extra snack items on the menu and I would highly recommend the honey glazed prawns (they're HUGE), green onion pancakes, and the sweet and sour fish.

All of the drinks in the refrigerator are free and it is self-service, you just cannot take anything home. There is also scoop yourself ice cream available for dessert. All of the times that I've been there they have strictly enforced in 90 minute time limit.

There is a discount if you pay in cash versus if you pay with credit card. The restaurant itself can get very busy so definitely try to come in a little bit earlier since you may have to wait. The parking lot also gets very full because it shares with Safeway and other...