Seapot Hot Pot & Bar — Restaurant in Sunnyvale

Update Sept 2025

Sometimes when I go out with friends to have a hearty lunch, we come here since it's close to my work in Sunnyvale. For what it provides, the price is great and for a single person that only need a light dinner, this heavy lunch will help. At the time of this review sept 2025, the price for lunch is $24/person. It's a hotpot style all you can eat buffet with many types of meats, seafood, veggies. They also have BBQ plates for $5 more but I think the hotpot is better. The rotating belt with veggies and many different types of foods which I really like besides the beef ordered very time we need. Some of the dishes I like are beef tendon, squid, tofu, shrimp, fish, quail eggs, gyoza, mussels and many different kinds of mushrooms. This is the only inexpensive hotpot that has briskets. Yes, you have to have a long lunch, not 30 minutes lunch. Actually 45 minutes will do although they only allow 1.5 hr for each lunch.

had lunch at this restaurant a few weeks ago in San Mateo. Since I work in Sunnyvale took a friend to try this place, the foods are the same but the price was higher. The place is much nicer than the San Mateo one. More modern looking. Last week my daughter wanted to try so I took the whole family here for dinner. My family liked the place but everyone agreed that the broths weren’t as good as Haidilao although the meats are good. The spicy broth my daughter and my wife didn’t like so much, the tomato broth my son got wasn’t anything close to Haidilao. The service here was extremely excellent, the server was attentive and the foods came out quite fast. So, they also offer the grill, but we decided if we want grilled food we should go to GEN instead. My son missed the appetizer fried chicken at Shabuya, but the potbelly here was tender and rich. Everyone had his or her own meats which was nice. The sauce bar was crowded as usual. My daughter liked potato salad here, amazing. There are plenty of seafood on the conveyor belt running non stop. Veggies for everyone. Quail eggs my kids like. I had some crabs which was good. At the end of the day, all hot pot style restaurants, the broths are important. Nothing here or Shabuya beat the broth at Haidilao. Not sure if my kids want to come here again. $24 for lunch and $33 for dinner are good prices for hot pot per person but we would go to where the broths are better. The broths here aren’t bad but Haidilao...

This restaurant is a perfect example of bad management.

The place has been steadily declining since it opened, and its clearly showing where the issue is.

Staff - young, eager to please and polite, but not trained. Our waiter was nice, helpful and easy to communicate with, when he was available. Sat us ealked away, 5 min later took our orders, 1 min later we got our broths, 5 min later our meats, then gone... checked on us once in 1 hour, and when I asked for the check by flagging him down early, he then dissappeared for 20 min... 20 min, of my card sitting at the edge of the table while I, like a student in grade school, waved my arm in the air asking for permission to pay.

Food - All the items were good. Nothing special, nothing amazing, but good. Meats are unlimited but portions are tiny, so when we order, we order alot, and since you can only get more by re-ordering through your server good luck!

Drinks - We and the table next to us ordered soft drinks, which i could immediately tell came from a soda machine. The machines carbonator was obviously. either of our charge or broken, as both of our drinks and the table next to us were served a flat overly sweet soda. At $3 each this isnt acceptable to serve in a restaurant at nearly $40 a person for lunch/dinner.

Atmosphere - You can tell they are going for fun and modern with a kitchy old world atmosphere of Gothic meets korean kawaii. The looks are fine. Nothing really that amazing to look at but it feels nicd to see the different points they added... except the fire steam gimmick. Its cool from a distance but up close it's laden with controls and tape repairs which make it feel cheap and out of place.

Which brings me to my big issue with the atmosphere. It's loud. Not oh i wish it was more quiet loud, loud as in there are multiple speaker systems playing independently of one another. 2 songs, one for each ear left and right playing at the same time and volume. It's almost nauseating.

Would i come back?, for now yes, but if improvements aren't made soon that answer will change. I could see the look on each tables face as they left and most left much more upset looking then when they came. I would not be suprised if in 2 years this place was...

Semi self-service. (Raw) meat selection for the table & personalized soup base are brought to you; the remainder (veggies, tofu & seafood) come on the conveyor belt. You pick your own side-dish sauces (buffet style). All you can eat but limited to 90 min.

Meats were very fresh, as were the seafood, since we had an 11 am reservation (allowed for 6 people; more on this below). Plentiful and speedy conveyor belt since we were the "1st shift" (get my drift?). I preferred shrimp & chicken (low fat), but was able to tear off the fat (yup, strip by strip if your diet tends in that direction) from the red meats. After a while, no one could tell what meats were on which plates! We thought the baby scallops were great: fresh and tender if you let it into the soup only for 15 seconds, yet they didn't toughen up if you left them in for a while. Shrimp: delicious & fresh, and you have a choice of shelled vs with the full metal jacket!

The variety of tofu was really good. The puffy rectangles were especially nice since they soaked up the soup and softened upon contact with moisture. There were sufficient greens to even things out. We saw a group of Buddhist monks in the queue, so you know it's possible to eat vegan here.

Some of the soup base selections were exceptional: tomato (so good!), mushrooms & Tonkatsu highly recommended (these all start with bone broth, I believe). Miso not so much (uninteresting). The soup gets more flavorful as the meal progresses, so it's better to get something not too intense.

We secured a reservation with 7 people, but personally, I wouldn't do this again. The seating for a big group still places the conveyor belt next to only 2 people, so now those closest to the belt must continuously serve the rest of the table. It's too much. Far better to break up the group into foursomes. However, I've heard that sometimes they stuff a lone customer onto a table for 3. How weird is that?

While the atmosphere is alright, the style of food service is such that it made for a feeding frenzy with no conversation (except to praise the food). If it's a visit you seek, this is not the experience you'd want. Or plan to visit another...