Boiling Point — Restaurant in Pasadena

Came to the Old Town Pasadena Boiling Point late on a Sunday night. A huge plus coming at this weird time was that there was street parking and there were barely any cars around so that was awesome. Usually I park in the structure so that was a bonus not having to do that and not having to pay the flat fee.

It's been a while since I've been to the other BP locations but all the hot pots here are the same price, I remember at the SG location they had different tiers where certain pots were less than others but I'm not entirely sure under what circumstance that happened. Here at Pasadena it's all the same price and the sizes are the same too. I like how they had the rack of sauces where you can spice up your hot pot. I went with the Japanese Miso this time and it needed more kick to it for sure.

They don't have their own in house tea drinks here but they do get teas from a tea place next door so it won't be the same as the other BP locations if that's what you're expecting. The staff here was really attentive and they were coming over to make sure we had enough water and if we needed anything else.

The restaurant itself is smaller than some of the other locations, and you might be sharing the large table in the middle of the restaurant with others. It makes it a fun...

Food: My partner and I both ordered the Taiwanese Spicy. The pot itself is a straight/dry hot style spicy, not mala. This is also the problem with the pot, there is just nothing special about it. There really isn't any flavor to it, I can only describe it as "dead hot," where the food is just spicy, but you don't really taste anything else. Nothing fragrant, umami...just spicy. The ingredients in the pot is fine and fresh, but be aware that your leafy greens are going to soak up a lot of the grease.

Drink: Got an iced winter melon tea at full sugar and ice. Wasn't really iced as the ice probably melted within 5mins of it being brought to the table. I suspect that the drink was probably originally warm or hot and they just added ice to cool it down, but not enough. Otherwise, tasted ok.

Service: Standard. Aside from taking our orders, no one came by to refill our water or check in with us. If your primary language is Mandarin, you should have no issue communicating here as I overheard several of the wait staff speaking...

I've always enjoyed the flavors at Boiling Point, often visiting with family. However, our most recent experience was disappointing. We dined with our one-year-old who has severe allergies, so we brought noodles and ribs prepared specially for him. After ordering, we were told that outside food was not allowed. We explained it was just for the baby, and the server offered a kids menu of udon and bok choy, which I misunderstood initially to include pork - it did not. When we tried to add the ribs to the bowl for our baby, we were reminded again that outside food was not permitted and asked to put it away. I explained our baby's dietary needs, but flexibility was denied due to policy. We ended up having to leave as our needs couldn't be accommodated. If outside food, even for babies, isn't allowed, I wish this was clearly communicated outside. We had brought food previously without issue. Sadly, we won't...