Diane P.
Yelp
TL;dr: 4 stars. Lots of good stuff already happening, but there's always room for improvement! Nice and quick service. Efficient ordering system. A wide variety of options for both hot pot and kbbq at a reasonable price. Meat quality was good, but not the best. Some items sold out as the night went on, which was a bummer.
I came here on a Friday evening around 6:15pm and there was already a short waitlist. Thankfully, we got seated pretty quickly as we were only a party of 2, while everyone else had larger parties. Tip: Add yourself to the waitlist via Yelp!
Space: Clean, modern, with high ceilings, so it didn't feel stuffy. There was even more seating upstairs.
On the day we went, there were several meal options, and all were under $40/pp:
- ($30 Promo) SF Restaurant Week set meal for hot pot or kbbq
- Set meal for hot pot or kbbq
- ($34 Anniversary Promo) AYCE hot pot or kbbq
- ($38 Anniversary Promo, but normally $43) AYCE hot pot and kbbq
The waitress took our drink and meal option orders, then directed us to a bar code to order the rest of the food. We kept going back and forth, but ultimately decided to go all in and get the AYCE hot pot and kbbq. One of the best perks of doing AYCE vs hot pot/kbbq at home is being able to try a variety of options without having to buy a lot of each food! And so we did just that. I appreciated that the servings were all smaller, so you can order more of things you like and not waste things you don't like. The waitress set us up with a kbbq grill in the middle and 1 individual hot pot each (2 hot pots total).
Sauce Bar: Came free with the meal! (I hate when places charge for sauce.) It was nothing crazy but still had all the essential sauces you need for hot pot. I was pretty happy with it.
Food: The overall meat quality was good, not great. They had so many options for both hot pot and kbbq. Sometimes it became confusing to know which meat was for which cooking method.
- For kbbq, I preferred the marinated options over the non-marinated. I liked the kalbi and was surprised to see it on the AYCE menu as not all kbbq places serve them. The spicy pork had a weird texture and after taste, so that was my least favorite.
- For hot pot, we got 1 numbing beef broth and 1 Tom yum, both medium spicy. It started off really spicy, but the spice leveled out as the meal went on and I added more food to the pot. Both broths were flavorful and yummy. Though I'm not sure Tom yum and Chinese dipping sauces complement each other. They had a nice variety of options for veggies and meat. All the hot pot meat tasted closely the same to me when cooked in the broth.
By the end of our meal, the app menu indicated that all of the dessert options (fried donuts w/ condensed milk and crème brûlée) were sold out. I was a bit disappointed, but our server came by and asked if we wanted cookies and cream ice cream. This was not on the menu, but it was still pretty good. I'm just generally not into cookies and cream, so I wished they also had a 1-2 other options!
Drinks: They serve beer, wine and sake. I got a lychee sake cocktail ($12). It was on the sweeter side but still balanced and tasty.
Parking: Mostly metered street parking. There were spaces available and parking was free by then. (Payment required until ~6pm maybe??)
Service: The restaurant was quite busy, but our waitresses were all still nice and helpful. The food always came out pretty quickly. They were also constantly clearing our empty plates or offering to change our grill, which I appreciated.
A random note/recommendation:
Waffles fries were well-seasoned and crispy. While these were good, I'd suggest making the portions smaller for AYCE. Don't get me wrong - I loveeee fries! It's just that they take up a lot of space in your stomach, especially during an AYCE meal. The portion would have been great for sharing among 3-4 people. We only had 2 people and didn't finish the whole plate, so it felt wasteful.
Overall, I'd come back again. The level of commitment (AYCE or set) will depend on my mood. But they have a wide variety of foods and reasonably priced options for both hungry folks as well as lighter eaters. It's always soup weather in SF, and Fiery Hot Pot has something for almost everyone.