YinTang Spicy Hot Pot — Restaurant in San Diego

11-24-24 Came back with my entire family. We all decided on original beef broth: #1 1 lb ($14.06) #2 1.02 lb ($14.27) #3 1.04 lb ($14.62) #4 1.13 lb (15.81) #5 1.70 lb ($23.71) -Modelo x2 $9 The broth were aromatic and tasty!

Service: 3/5 Four of us got our food except one person in our party didn’t get hers. They forgot the order again as the first time we dined here. Not acceptable. She waited 20min for her bowl, we all did; we didn’t want to eat without her (common courtesy).

11-15-24 Once you arrived at the restaurant, first thing you need to do is put your name on the waitlist. After the staff assigned a table to you, head toward the bowl station to the left of the skewer station. Then get a gigantic plastic bowl and tong, select items that you want (make sure it’s 1 lb or more) and take it up to the cashier to weigh (pay after your meal). When your food is cooked, they will bring to your table.

Ordered: 4/5 -Original beef broth 1.02 lb $14.27–very aromatic! I enjoyed this flavor better than the Tom Yum. -Tom Yum 1.07 lb $14.97– the broth was yummy!

Service: 2/5 It was chaotic and confusing when we came. No one was at the door. Customers were walking around everywhere. Because it was our first time being here, we didn’t know how the system worked. They were so busy; we couldn’t find any staff to ask questions. The ones behind the cash register were over crowded with customers. I asked one of the ladies standing behind me to show me the ropes.

My husband’s bowl came out before mine. After 20min of waiting, my order was still not ready. After seeing customers from 3 other tables who came after us got their food before me, I inquired about mine; they forgot my dinner.

Note: Warning (the sesame sauce), I had to rush home to relieve myself. As for my husband, he had the same problem later that evening. I know… TMIF 🤣

Even though the end result was a rush to… I still liked the food here and will give them...

It’s refreshing to have a rainy day in the middle of the summer here in San Diego and eating hot pot sounded like a perfect lunch idea. So, we decided to try Yintang Spicy Hotpot on Convoy Street. The waitstaff greeted us as we walked in and asked us to grab a seat/table for our group. We then were advised to get a big bowl and tong by the buffet like bar wall and then put in the bowl with all the customized hotpot ingredients (meat, noodles, veggies, seafood, fried dumplings, etc.) we’d like. After that we went up to the register to weigh in the ingredients, at $13.99 per pound (minimum 1 pound). We had to choose what broth and the spice level we wanted for our individual hot pot. In a separate bowl, we also picked 5 skewers of veggies options (minimum is 5 skewers) for them to fry them for us. There was a huge skewers selection in the refrigerator. Skewers don’t get weighted. We paid cash so we got free drinks. Waitstaff brought the finished steaming hotpot bowls to our table along with our water. Since we put in lots of ingredients into our bowls, we couldn’t finish our food and ended up take home the leftovers which were good for the next couple of meals. We ate all the handmade noodles at the restaurant and bought extra uncooked handmade noodles for the next meals at home. There were other types of noodles to choose from but we loved the handmade ones the most. We loved our hotpot bowls with the original broth and the curry broth but were very disappointed with the skewers which were unsavory, chewy and very oily/greasy. We will not get the fried greasy skewers again as they were fried in old cooking oil. We enjoyed our hotpot and when the weather gets cold, we will...

Update: I couldn't stop thinking about this! So I had to come back just 5 days later. They were more busy, with a line before opening and people waiting while we were dining. The food was just as good or better. We tried more condiments. The food set out was slightly different, so more stuff for us to try. I might wait a full week before coming back, if I can.

Original: First time eating real Taiwanese food (I don't count the Taipei airport) and this place was awesome! I came here with my mom. We were promptly seated and given water, then instructed to grab a giant bowl and tongs and fill 'er up!

There are four stations: vegetables, noodles, meat, and sauces. Grab what you want, they charge by the pound. $14/lb at the time of writing. Some of my favorites: krab fish ball, small sausage link, sliced sausage, ika - squid with cross cuts, thick sweet potato noodles, and konbu (seaweed ties). Then you weigh and pick soup or stir fry and spice level. We each got exactly 2.27lbs. You get a number and sit down. The bowls are huge, maybe 8 quarts! The soup was rich and delicious, the medium was not spicy for me (I can tolerate a lot), so I added some crushed chili paste. That stuff will burn your face off, so be careful, but it has great flavor and was a perfect addition to my soup.

When we were finished, I got a to-go container. That thing was probably at least half a gallon and I filled it to the top. So happy! I had two rounds of leftovers for that! The bill was about $30/person plus tip.

Incredible food, I can't wait to go back. It was a little slow at 12:30pm and got packed fast!

Saw this restaurant in an article in the...