Let me start off by saying this review is for their boba only. I haven't tried any of the food at Boiling Point. I came across their boba somewhere on Yelp and thought it looked great- I knew I had to try it. Since two months ago I've been back 7 times for their milk teas with boba. You can order their drinks to-go inside by the macaron ice cream station freezer. (Once there you will know what I'm talking about). Their hokkaido milk tea with boba is my boyfriend's favorite. And he's had boba from pretty much everywhere in Orange County. I'm new to it, as it wasn't as popular in NYC but from the handful of places I've tried with him in the OC, I can say Boiling Point is my favorite. I highly recommend their hokkaido milk tea with boba as well as their green milk tea with boba. They are each $4.95 and come only in one size. A large size, in comparison to other small and large standards elsewhere. The hokkaido milk tea tastes like the "white rabbit candy" I used to love eating as a little girl. read more

Boiling Point - left: hokkaido milk tea with boba + right: green milk tea with boba. each $4.95 - Taiwanese Near Me - Irvine, California

Comparing to the location in the Fremont one in NorCal this place tastes a lot better. They don;t put in as much cabbage and the spicy level of their pots is what you would expect if you order a mild because in NorCal if you order a mild it can either be overly spicy or not spicy at all. Overall, it's like any other individual hot pot restaurant. Good food and fast service. They now offer complimentary salad and dessert! read more

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I am addicted to this place! Usually Asian restaurants don't have the best service. AND YES I HAVE experienced extremely slow service at BP. but the food keeps me from straying. I will say that for the past 3 times I've been there (by myself), my server Nikki was ON POINT! She checked on me several times and was VERY ATTENTIVE! Everyone else needs to get guest service training from Nikki, pronto! read more

The dine-in wait was too long for me and my friends, so we opted to getting some macaroon ice cream sandwiches instead. We all got the green tea flavored one, and it was BOMBDIGGITY! The macaroon sandwich was the perfect amount of chewiness on the inside and crispiness on the outside. The green tea ice cream was phenomenal! I definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to get dessert here! :) read more

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Expect the typical asian service here, service without a smile! You also need to flag down your server sometimes. . I love shabu and this is the Taiwanese hot pot. and I still ordered something japanese.... I ordered the Japanese miso and it comes with pork. I wanted to substitute it for beef but unfortunately it wasn't allowed...I mean, how hard was it to swap out the meats? All in all it was delicious still! A lot of choices for different flavored broths and add ons! I want to try the house special beef pot next I wanna go back! read more

Haven't been here in almost 3 years, got the beef combo and it was still as good as I remembered it to be! You really can't complain about $12.99 for a tasty and filling hot pot meal. The only thing I don't like is that the flame thing they put under the pot burns my eyes sometimes. Customer service was also great and attentive. Make sure you get the macaroon ice cream sandwich at the end, so good! read more

Boiling Point - Beef combo, yum! - Taiwanese Near Me - Irvine, California

This is a place where a photograph of their food would convince you in a second to try it out. And guess what? The food actually tastes even better than the photo's representation. I'm not exactly sure how picky non-Asian eaters are with Asian food but Boiling Point is a Taiwanese hot pot food joint. It's basically hot soup with vegetables, meat, and flavor. Flavor that you can mix, match, add, lay off, anything! The Curry option has been the most popular choice among my friends. It's not too heavy on the curry taste so in case you are afraid of that, there's nothing to worry about. Choice #1 in the menu contains stinky tofu--which I highly do not recommend if you have no idea what I'm talking about. Everything else on their menu always smells and looks delicious. Be prepared to endure a burnt mouth for at least a day after your meal though. All worth the pain. read more

Sadly I haven't been coming here as often as I used to because they keep raising the prices! Super lame. I now only come here like once a quarter for lunch since you get a free black or green tea. read more

BEEF HOT POT It came filled to the rim with beef, tofu, tofu skin, enoki mushroom, tomato, corn, cabbage and other veggies. Added an egg and clear noodles, but barely touched the noodles. The size of the hot pot is perfect, just for one person. BURNERS The burner scares the crap out of me. The tables are small, waiters are walking right by it super fast with hot pots overflowing with steaming hot broth. They start the fire at the table, and when it gets too hot, they put it out at the table as well. Bending over my hot pot bowl with the fire underneath is kind of crazy, but eh...it's delicious so i'll do it.... and wear thick pants in case it spills. read more

I like this restaurant, the food is good. I've been waiting for them to reopen and they finally did. But when I went there, they squeezed everyone to one side of the restaurant. Even though they are complying with the maximum 20% capacity rule but why? Why not spread everyone further apart with all the space? I feel like I have to leave this review so this message can be heard. Again, love the food and restaurant, but please do it right. Thanks! read more

The concept is simple enough: a boiling Taiwanese hot pot comes out, already thrown together and mixed with the essential spices, meats and vegetables. The only thing you have to do is eat, and avoid getting second degree burns. Simple and elegant product. But, extremely difficult getting seated. Yin and yang. Pro and con. That being said, if you have the patience of a buddha, you may not care about the wait to be seated during peak hours. But if you're like the rest of us, you probably can't help but be irked at waiting, especially with a growling stomach. Plan ahead: eat something small or do a bit of shopping at nearby Daiso after you put your name down on the customer listing on the iPad. It could be an hour or more, and each time I do visit with a group myself, it goes about that long or longer. If you manage to not walk away in frustration, you're in for a treat. During lunch hours, you get a free beverage with your hot pot order, which is a nice incentive. During dinner time, usually something boiling lava hot is welcomed, especially if the weather calls for something hot. Just have patience to blow or cool that spoonful of broth. Spirited eating can result in losing your taste buds. This precaution only gets stronger if you get something spicy, like the thai curry hot pot, which I personally prefer at this Taiwanese restaurant, ironically. Not only do you have to contend with temperature heat, but you also have picante, spicy heat to deal with. The rule is, if there's something worth doing, it's worth doing right. Which is why I basically get the hottest (read, spiciest) version of the curry hot pot. I recommend you do the same, if you haven't tried it already. Not only will your eyes open with enlightenment after trying this delicious and simple concoction, but your sinuses and tear ducts will as well. That said, have plenty of napkins around to keep your brow and upper lip dry, and don't talk or inhale deeply while eating, as it could go down the wrong pipe and can cause some serious discomfort. Believe me. The service is actually pretty damn good here. The staff is on top of their game and constantly check up on you, taking away plates, relighting that fire, refilling cups or pots, or willing to offer suggestions to newbies. They get big marks for that, especially considering it's an authentic Asian restaurant, where table turnover and efficiency is what it's mainly about in most cases. After learning the rhythms of the restaurant over a few visits, I'm more prepared now to make the most out of any future visits. What I haven't learned, conversely, is my lesson about ordering super spicy stuff in an otherwise boiling pot of goodness. read more

HUGE fan of hotpot/shabu whatever you want to call it. If comes in a pot boiling in front of you its all the same to me. Meh... I've experienced better and expected more out of this spot. The price sounded pretty cheap at $10.99 for dinner, but when I got my hotpot I knew why.. there was probably only 3 slices of meat, 2 tofus, and 3 fish cakes... everything else was soup and veggies hence.. the $5-$8 dollar difference in other hotpot places. LOVE their sauce though... being as saucy as I am, I admit their sauce is pretty damn good. It can use a side of cilantro, green onions, garlic etc as an option add-on into the sauce though. Overall, it felt authentic.. but I still prefer Jazz Cat or Red Pot over Boiling Point. Oh, since it's Taiwanese, they immediately assume if you look Asian you speak Mandarin and it was entertaining watching many customers give servers puzzled looks. read more

Customer service was absolutely horrendous. After enjoying three hot pots, we presented our 9/10 full stamp card and credit card to a trainee. She gave it to the cashier (who was also the second hostess), who swiped our credit card and gave us a 10/10 stamp card and a 2/10 stamp card. We obviously had wanted to redeem our stamp card, so we told the trainee who realized the mistake. We asked to have the transaction undone. The trainee asked the cashier for us but the cashier flatly REFUSED to do so. She forced the trainee to LIE to us and say that "stamp cards cannot be stamped and redeemed simultaneously." Seriously? It was the most obvious lie. 1) The trainee did not know about this "basic rule" and was obviously uneasy. 2) The undo button was right in front of the cashier but she refused to click it. I guess I will never know why the cashier cheated us. No other BP (or any business) applies this rule. I now have a 10/10 full stamp card, a 2/10 stamp card, and a 7/10 stamp card. All USELESS because they expired five days later. read more

---Rant--- For me, restaurants and food service establishments get more points for their SERVICE vs their food. Now, I thought Memphis in Santa Ana was bad...but Boiling Point takes the cake. This place REALLY SUCKED. I was told by my girlfriend at the time "It's an Asian restaurant, so expect bad service." This isn't racist; we are both Asian. Anyway I thought, OK sure...let's keep an open mind and see how it is... The depths at which this place sucked were far beyond even the 9th Circle of Hell. I'm talking about that extra-special place in Hell where your crazy, emotionally unstable, knife-wielding, sexually confused ex-girlfriend finds the dumbfounding logic to tell you how great this place is. So what makes this place so bad?: - THIS PLACE SMELLS. They say it's their "Stinky Tofu"...but no, it's the smell of Lucifer's bunghole. You could raise the dead with this stench. - NO ONE seated or greeted us. We had to seat ourselves - NO ONE asked us if we wanted water OR if we were ready to order, we had to flag someone down - NO ONE asked if we were doing OK or if everything was alright - NO ONE gave or took our check, again we had to flag someone down These servers must get paid a great salary to work here 'cuz they certainly aren't making any money off of tips. The food was kind of OK, reminded me of shabu and was presented in similar fashion. I don't remember if the food tasted good or not; take that as a strong indicator that the food was not memorable. Wow...that smell...dear God...just save yourself... ---Overall--- Service: F-, unbelievably bad. Food: C-, if you like this kind of food, please make the effort to find it elsewhere Atmosphere: F-...Lucifer's bunghole... read more

It's alright, I like the modern check in. I don't like seafood so although I could take things out of any order, I don't think the options were the best fit for me. Also why do they serve room temperature water in foam cups??? read more

Boiling Point - Beef with seafood removed - Taiwanese Near Me - Irvine, California

My second time trying boiling point, the first time was at the Brookhurst location. That one was a horrible experience, very bad service which turned me off and I never went back there again. This location was way better. More seating and service was good. The only downside are the tables, dunno why the tables are so tiny, can barely fit everything, hard to maneuver and eat. I ordered the Thai hotpot with vermicelli. It comes with crab, cuttlefish ball, a small octopus, two shrimps, three clams, mushrooms, some calamari, thin slices of pork and a ton of cabbage. The portion is pretty huge, I loved the cuttlefish ball, it has a filling in the center! Which was a nice surprise haha. I wish they gave more. The shrimp was sweet and good. The pork was sort of blah and tasteless. We ordered an extra portion of beef and pork. Which was a good thing, because they give a pretty small portion in the hotpot. The beef tasted exactly the same as the pork, tasteless and bland haha. Couldn't really eat the crab, too difficult to eat and it doesn't look like there's much flesh anyway. The soy/garlic dipping sauce is sweet, not as good as Jackpot in San Gabriel. The soup base is not exactly Thai, not spicy nor sour, even though I ordered medium spicy. Jackpot's Thai hotpot is way more flavorful and has a wider variety of toppings, it's also spicy and sour, the way Thai is supposed to be. But overall the hotpot here is still pretty good. I also ordered the Hokkaido milk tea, it reminds me of the white bunny milk candy or the Chinese New Year red wrapper hard candies lol. It was nostalgic and pretty delicious :) read more

Boiling Point - Thai hotpot - Taiwanese Near Me - Irvine, California

30 minute wait on a Friday night, this place is ideal for 1-6 people, anymore than that and I would assume you would have to sit somewhere else. Several of their drinks were unavailable for the night; I ended up getting a passionfruit green tea and enjoyed it very much. I ordered the miso soup combo and it came with crab, udon, and all these other goodies that kept me coming back to my huge pot. I would recommend this one- the broth was flavorful compared to the house special one I tried which only tasted like stinky tofu. You have the option to tell the waiter to take out your fire if you don't want your pot bubbling the entire time. Overall, I left full and happy. I also got to try the green tea macaroon ice cream- it was good, and not too pricey to check out. I find it interesting that a place that has a novelty concept as it is invested in coming up with a novelty dessert concept as well! P.S. you'll definitely smell like food afterwards! read more

Shabu was so 2011.. now it seems it's hot pot gaining popularity :P I've never had Taiwanese hot pot until I tried Boiling Point for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Always gotta check out the new places in Irvine to see what the hype is about. First visit ordered the Spicy Taiwanese hot soup that was bigger and shareable for two people. One thing I don't understand is why they don't list what is within each hot pot and instead leave it up to the guest to identify mysterious foods in the tiny pictures?? We ordered it without pork blood (gross) and wanted to add shrimp. When it came out, of course the pork blood was still there and of course we didn't get the side of shrimp, which of course was charged on our bill later. Anyway, despite those issues the soup itself was very spicy, flavorful, and piping hot delicious. Btw, even though the soup is advertised to be "shared between two people" they only give you one bowl of rice. Go figure. We decided to try new flavors on our second visit. I ordered the Fish Ball Curry hot soup mild and bf did the Beef hot soup medium. The food came out in a timely manner and the bf got his beef while I got something that was definitely not Fish Ball Curry.. I informed the waitress and she told me it was Lamb. Wtf?? Where did you get LAMB from Fish Ball? (which had more pork blood, ugh). She apologized and brought out my correct order 10 mins later. Bf's beef soup was tasty but not that spicy and when my curry soup came out, it had no spice at all. whatever, at least there was no intestine or blood cubes to be found in it. The chili oil and garlic sauces they have on the side make a huge difference and are a necessary addition for dipping! Anyway, clearly the comments about the staff are pretty accurate because they do suck. (Except for Julie!! :D) but the food makes up for it kinda. They have a huge selection of boba and milk drinks that I want to try next time! hot pot and milk tea seem like a good yin and yang. Also, come either for a late lunch/early dinner (4-5pm) or late dinner (10pm) for no wait! read more

My girlfriend was raving about The Boiling Point so she got me super excited for it. And it absolutely did not disappoint. We arrived there Saturday around 1ish and there was no wait. Score! We were seated and before we knew it, a big piping bowl of deliciousness was plopped in front of us. We both ordered the lamb. Each of the hot pots they list has a ton of stuff in it, so it kind of makes it a hard decision. What I found is that when you order lamb hot pot and it says "comes with clams" and etc, they actually mean clam. So don't let that persway you to get the lamb if you're thinking you're getting lamb and clams. Although I was a little disappointed with that, I found my entire experience at The Boiling Point to be a great one nevertheless. Complimentary iced green or black tea during lunch and each regular sized hot pot is only 10.99. This is a pretty good deal for hot pot standards. And to have everything done for you so you don't have to create it yourself too boot! All good in my books! Although I wish it was a heartier meal, me being a carnivore and all, but you do have the options of add-ons that aren't too expensive. I got quail eggs and napa cabbage and the eggs were only 1.00 for 6 eggs. Not too shabby. Easily a meal you could share. Although my girlfriend and I got our own hot pot this time, we thought in our next visit we would get just one and get add ons. It'd probably save you a couple of bucks. And to be honest, I don't know how great hot pot leftovers are. And next time, I'm saving room for dessert because their snow flake looked so tantalizing! When other patrons ordered it and the servers walked by with them, I had to wipe off a little droll from the corner of my mouth. Yummm... In the words of Arnold, I'll be back! read more

Boiling Point - lamb hot pot - Taiwanese Near Me - Irvine, California

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I like the broth but other than that I think this place is just ok...lots of veggies...ordered the beef one and got like 3 pieces ... They ran out of corn so they offered bok choy but they brought out chopped lettuce instead. Literally. Did they think that that we wouldn't notice the difference? I was pretty upset and complained that this isn't bok choy. I think they try their best and the customer service is decent but food is mediocre at best read more

Thank god for a hot pot place where everything is already cooked and ready to eat when it comes out. I'm not big on other individual style hot pot places because they make me wait 30 minutes, then bring out a bunch raw veggies and meats that I could've just bought at 99 Ranch, make me cook the food myself, then charge me 10x what the meal was actually worth. At the Boiling Point, the hot pot comes with everything already in it - nice, boiling hot, and ready to be eaten. The soup is great here. It's flavorful and savory with just the right amount of spiciness (I ordered the medium spicy and it was just right for me). Although the individual pots looked small when I first saw them while I was waiting, it was actually pretty decent sized and very filling. Most other places have a lot of soup and very little of anything else, but Boiling Point is very generous with the meat, seafood, and veggies inside of the hotpot. I ordered the Seafood Tofu Soup, which came with all kinds of delicious sea critters. They give a choice of either rice or vermicelli to eat with the noodles. Ordering vermicelli is kind of pointless because they already have vermicelli inside the hotpot, so you would just be ordering extra vermicelli. They also offer ramen noodles as a side order, which actually tastes really, really good in these hot pots. The food is fantastic but the wait and the service is horrendously slow. We came on a weekday night and waited 25 minutes for a table, which wasn't that bad. However, the wait for the food took much, much longer. We sat next to the counter/kitchen and we kept on staring at the servers bringing out hotpots, hoping that it would be ours. The service was super slow and it took us forever to get a server each time to order and get water, etc, even though we were RIGHT NEXT to the counter and register where all the employees are. The employees were so busy going back and forth that it was so hard to track them down. I don't think they have designated servers for each table because our entire section had the same troubles we did. I finally got fed up with waiting so I decided to just stand up and ask for my check at the register instead of waiting for someone to finally notice us waving our hands. Overall, this is a good place to get delicious hotpot but expect long waits and slow service. If the food was mediocre, I'd be too frustrated with the long wait and slow service to ever come back. However, the food here is pretty great so I'm willing to put up with everything again, as long as I get to eat more amazing soup. read more

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Always love boiling point! Fresh and healthy. A regular dine in restaurant of our list! read more

I love boiling point :]. I like this location because it's bigger than the other ones I have been to, so the wait isn't too atrocious in comparison. I'm not a fan of shabu shabu because it pretty much taste like water.No matter what I add into my soup the broth still taste like water, and you have to add your meal components in constantly. What is great about boiling point is you got all that shit ready for you in a pot, it's the lazy man's way to hot pot. I personally always get the beef because I'm not a fan of seafood. Me and my BF tend to share a pot, we always get a side of extra beef and it is filling.I can never finish one on my own and no one judges us here. Keep in mind it's expensive. Even sharing I'm out about $13-$15 after tax and tip and that's not including any drinks. read more

The food is ok but the service is very bad. Today at the waiting area, one staff just calling a number before my number to sit down, and people of 1-2 are in the same wait list in system. The explanation she gave me is that area are larger table to sit down for 2, I can not see the difference but I bought her saying. She points some sits area to me said those are for people for 1. But ironically, just after I sat down for the long wait at area she said for "1". She took two people just sitting as the same type of tale for two! And a people for 4 next to me a for joint two tables! Then why she didn't take the number what before me to that table, why she skipped my number? Very bad experience and no apologize from her. read more

Boiling Point - Taiwanese Near Me - Irvine, California

Pro: Food's good. Con: Service is terrible. Odd: Water is served in paper cups. read more

All these people waiting here, it must be good! The people hovering over the waiting list made me wonder how long they've been waiting! Someone finally came and penned me in, then handed me a wooden spoon with a number on it. I asked her if it was moving pretty fast, and she honestly said "not really"..with no hesitation. Well then! I took my spoon and went outside because it was so crowded with no where to stand inside. People were so inconsiderate because they stood blocking the bench and they're not even sitting on it and I wanted to go in and sit but I didn't want the guy to toot in my face because he was so close to it! They should try and upgrade to a pager instead of a stupid spoon so I could at least sit in the car and wait. But, I will endure freezing weather for good food. Eventually we made it inside and waited some more and I looked at the menu to decide on what to order. I saw that the individual pot wasn't very big compared to other hotpot places but I ended up sharing one with my sister anyway. Still, we both got really full probably because neither of us could ever eat a lot. We just ordered an extra bowl of rice and Chinese donuts. The annoying thing is they brought out one bowl of rice first and it sat there cold for about 20 minutes before we got our soup and the other bowl of rice. The second bowl was kind of mushy. My thought of the first sip of broth before I added anything to it was that it was really sweet. I wasn't expecting sweet beef hotpot? Didn't like it at all, but then I added the three sauces they had on the table to the soup and it took the sweetness away and made it so much better. I like the hot chili oil. The pasty sauce has this distinct bean taste that's unpleasantly strong if you use it for dipping. Anyway, I don't like food that I have to put a bunch of stuff in to change the flavor of it. My cousin had a kimchi hotpot which I tried and we thought it was ok. The food definitely did not blow me away. Earlier while we were waiting, we had joked about going to buffalo wild wings instead which was in the same plaza. Now, it was no joke....we really should have gone to buffalo haha Service didn't make up for it either. My sister stood at the register to pay for a long time with people walking back and forth ignoring her. I was so irritated. Next time we leave! They can chase us if they want the money. Actually, there's no reason for me to come back. GOOD-BYE! read more

It gets busy sometimes, but today the wait wasn't too bad... Approximately 35minutes. Food came out pretty quick, and the waiter was friendly and helped us add more soup very promptly upon request. I had the Taiwanese Spicy Pot (large). It was very spicy, so if you can't handle super spicy you probably want to choose another pot that allows you to choose spice level. Overall I enjoyed my pot because of the variety of ingredients and also the free iced tea for lunch special. My girlfriend got the regular spicy beef was also delicious even on mild spice. See my photos...I tried to take good photos to help others see the dishes better. Hope you guys will enjoy the food here as well. read more

Boiling Point - Taiwanese Style Spicy Pot. Only extreme spicy level. But it's so good! - Taiwanese Near Me - Irvine, California

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Okay this place is starting togrow on me. I really didn't like it my first time here. I got the house special and had no idea what stinky tofu was. Yea...turns out I don't like stinky tofu... I came back here a second time and got the Taiwanese soup...flaming spicy is no joke! Lesson learned! I guess third time is a charm cuz I played it safe and got the beef soup and left feeling satisfied :) By the way they have these yummy macaron ice cream sandwiches for only 2.50! And free green tea for lunch! read more

Okay, now I grew up not having a lot of homemade food so I've never really had a homemade hot pot, but I have had a lot of restaurant hot pots. Boiling point isn't technically a hot pot place if each person gets their own bowl. In this case, it would just be a regular soup that you eat with rice or noodles since you don't really add anything else to cook. However, every time I come here with my friends, I always share one pot with 1 or 2 other persons. This way, I can order a bunch of sides to cook, making it a "hot pot". My personal favorite entrees are the Japanese Miso, Taiwanese (caution their hottest level is actually crazy hot to an average spicy eater), Beef, Kimchi, and Curry pots. The sides I ALWAYS get are quail eggs, tempura, rice, imitation crab, and extra meat. These soups taste fantastic and the amount of food they give can really fill you up. Each soup has their own distinct kind of flavor that make going to Boiling Point multiple times a different kind of taste experience. I have also had a good amount of Boiling Point's drinks. The free green tea or black tea you can get during their lunch hours are actually really good on their own. Their Old Time Delight Milk Tea tastes like other regular milk teas but with a unique flavor that makes it worth a try for a different experience. The Hokkaido is also very unique, with a flavor similar to melted vanilla ice cream. From experience, the Green Milk Tea and Old Time Delight Black tea have a good amount of sweetness and tea flavor to satisfy my tea fix. The iced milk drinks taste like the generic milk drinks you could get from other tea places. Though it is not a tea place, Boiling Point has very high quality tea beverages that are always worth a try for newcomers. If you are running low on soup or fire, the employees will refill the soup or light another fire almost immediately! All around, the friendly workers provide a great restaurant vibe with excellent service that I've never really had problems with. After coming to this restaurant multiple times and getting a feel of the place, I genuinely believe it deserves five stars. I always enjoy the vibe in this place and the food never fails to satisfy. A restaurant that I always leave feeling 200% better than I was when I entered it is amazing. read more

Went here a couple weeks back.... Got the #1 or whatever it was.... A couple hours later I had the worst food poisoning ever. I've eaten at other hot pot places and never had this issue before. The wait was really short. Will not come back. read more

OMG YAAASSS. This is THE SPOT if you're craving for hotpot!! I drove all the way from San Diego for you, BOILING POINT and you did NOT dissapoint me! I love how the menu has pictures on it next to the types of hotpot.. You just made my life a whole lot easier! I ordered the Taiwanese hot pot and it was perfect to share between my friend and I!! The spice was no joke, but I still loved every bite of it! The waiter also gave us green tea(on the house) which was delicious! The Taiwanese hot pot was full of spice and so flavorful, I would highly recommend it if you love spicy food! The customer service was excellent, our waiter constantly checked up on us, refill our waters, even asked if the spicy broth was ok for us - so caring :)) I will definitely come back again! Great dining experience! read more

Disclaimer: This review is just for my personal experience at BP. I'm sure that the food is great for the majority of people who go, but it just didn't sit well with me personally because the hot pot was a lot heavier, oilier and spicier than I expected. One of my best friends loves BP and goes all the time, so I was excited to try the hot pot with her. I've tried it once previously, but I mistakenly got the House Special which comes with stinky tofu -- AVOID THIS unless you KNOW you like stinky tofu. If you think you might just want to try it "just 'cause," you're probably going to end up really unhappy. This time, I got the Beef hot pot, which comes with nappa, vermicelli or rice, beef slices, enoki mushroom, tomato, firm tofu, tempura, corn, meatball, kamaboko, tofu skin, and imitation crabstick. There are lots of ingredients and you don't really know what you're eating when you're eating it, but it all comes together somehow. Warning! The medium is pretty spicy. I'm used to getting mild, so I was not used to the spiciness of the medium. They will bring your hot pot out to you on a little individual stove oven, and light it underneath. This means that if you don't eat carefully, the hot water/soup might splash onto you and it's really hot! You can ask them not to light your oven if you're concerned about this happening. The wait is always really long. We came on a Monday night and thought it wouldn't be as packed, but still had to wait over 30 minutes for a party of 4. I think the reason for this is once you're in, have ordered, and finished eating, they take foreeeever to bring you your check. I feel like this is the way they build hype for the place and make it seem like there's always a long line to get in. We could have easily gotten in and out 20 minutes quicker if they had been more prompt with their service. I'm not a fan of this business practice so I had to dock a star for that. The main reason for the 2 stars is the food just didn't sit well with my stomach, and I felt really sick and queasy after I finished eating. There wasn't anything wrong with the food, it was cooked properly, I think it was just a combination of being too spicy, and a lot heavier and oilier than I'm used to. Just a warning that you should know what you're getting into if this if your first time at BP, and go easy with whatever hot pot you choose. read more

I would consider my boyfriend and myself regulars here. We're on a first name basis with a couple of the servers so you can bet your bottom dollar we go here a lot. I think what's great about this place is the concept of having your own personal hot pot along with the soup base/broth that the items in your hotpot cook in. If you come during lunch time, which ends at 3pm, you get a free green/black tea. choice of a side of vermicelli or rice choice of no-spice, tiny spice, mild spice, ect... I've tried five (house, beef, curry, japanese miso, taiwanese spicy) out of the 10 different flavors that they offer and my absolute favorite is the beef house/stinky tofu- a nice starter/first time choice. has a good variety of items and the stinky tofu is actually not that stinky (though it should be; i'm taiwanese and i'm used to mighty stinky tofu) beef-the only one that I always end up finishing and eating everything. i love everything about this! japanese miso-the broth is excellent but the little crab leg that you get is nothing like the one in the picture and there is no way to really eat it nor is there enough meat to bother. plus this one costs a bit extra curry-i normally am not a fan of indian curry or asian inspired curry like the ones our mamas make at home but this one's actually pretty good. they give you a decent amount of meat and the curry is not too heavy taiwanese spicy-be advised, it comes with a pre-set spice so you don't get to choose less spice. my spice tolerance is worse than a 6-year-old-korean girl's so I had a hard time enjoying it with my mouth on fire. However, if your tolerance is through the roof i suggest that you give this a shot. the reason that I gave this place 4 stars instead of 5 is that the service could be better. I have my two favorite servers but the majority of them are not very attentive and make a lot of mistakes. every time that I go, which has to have been about 20 times (not kidding because I have 4 stamp cards filled), they either 1. forget something extra that I ordered, 2. forget utensils, 3. take forever to bring/bring back the bill, 4. take forever to notice that I am trying to get their attention, or 5. take the order wrong but other than that, it's the experience and the food that keeps me coming back again and again. read more

I definitely like this location better than the Garden Grove restaurant. I usually go for the beef or Taiwanese hot pot. The Taiwanese comes in a slightly bigger pot so it can feed 2 people. There's definitely a wait especially at peak hours such as lunch or dinner. If you're going to go in a big group, I suggest making reservations at the Boiling Point Reservation located in the same plaza (must place reservations 2 hrs ahead) LUNCH SPECIAL comes with a FREE green/black iced tea! Pretty good deal! read more

We found out a large plastic sheet in my friend's lamb pot. I know they prepare everything from the Central Kitchen, but seriously this is not acceptable. Will never go again. read more

Boiling Point - Look at what we found from our pot!!! Totally unacceptable!! - Taiwanese Near Me - Irvine, California

Woohoo! A Boiling Point so close to meeee. BP has always been my family's go-to stinky tofu hot pot spot, so I was super excited when I saw a BP opening sign back a couple months. Decided to come here with some friends here on a Sunday night and had a ~35 minute wait for a table of 4. After reading all the reviews on how awful the service was, I had pretty low expectations. However, the service at BP was just as it is at any other Chinese restaurant. They weren't waiting on us hand and foot, but we certainly weren't ignored. We were helped as soon as we sat down, and were given 4 cups of water along with a water pitcher for self-refills. Our food came out within 10 minutes or so and we were left alone to eat. Point is, don't expect the staff to check up on you constantly - be sure to speak up when you need something and you'll have a pleasant experience too! The group of us ordered the beef hot pot rather than the house special since my friends hadn't tried the soupy type of stinky tofu before. If you love stinky tofu like me, I definitely recommend the house special! A disclaimer for newbies, it's not for the faint of heart - even if you like fried stinky tofu, soupy stinky tofu may not be your thing. Since the tofu sits in the bubbling broth, the aroma tends to kick you in the face, and if you're not used to it, you might say bye-bye to your entire dish. My daring friend still wanted to try it, so the server suggested that he order the stinky tofu on the side ($2 extra) and he liked it! ;) FYI, you still have to cook it in the hot pot! Otherwise, it's hard and not very tasty. Our meal was more than filling, with tasty veggies and beef slices dipped in yummy sauces. Nice thing about the Irvine location is that sauces are all on the table, so you don't have to wait at the sauce bar to scoop in your delectables. If I remember correctly, lunch and dinner cost the same ($11.99 as of 2/19/12), but lunch comes with a free drink. Since I didn't come here for lunch, I don't know how their black tea tastes, but the Hacienda location has some bomb black tea. Try it! Lunch and dinner both come with rice or vermicelli (beef pot already comes with vermicelli!) to go with your tasty hot pot. Soup broth is refillable, and the fire can be replenished (or extinguished) if needed by the servers. Last note, I was super happily surprised when my meal ended with a basil seed dessert! It was nice and refreshing after hot pot, chilled with ice cubes and mildly citrusy. So good. read more

Have I been living under a rock? This overcrowded, over priced, long lined hot pot joint is........ bomb. and I've been back 3x since! Each time i've gotten the beef flavor hot pot. SO GOOD ON A RAINY DAY!! read more

We waited for the hot pot for two hrs! And it should be like this way for the waiting system! U guys should text us before 15 minutes! Or give us notice form in front of the door like this picture which "all that BBQ" used it! read more

Boiling Point - Taiwanese Near Me - Irvine, California

I LOVE THIS PLACE!! Love is an understatement...I would drive up from SD just to go here cause it's that good. The wait here can get pretty long though if you come during a busy night (around 45 minutes) but I have never had a problem. The servers tend to your order quick but the food comes out a bit slow sometimes. You basically get the menu with pictures of all the stew they offer, pick one, and you can add additional items for an extra price if you want. I always get the beef stew and it is always so good! The additional items I would add is pork blood (they don't offer it anymore), quail eggs, and an egg! The stew comes out hot and I always get spice level spicy so it gets extremely hot & spicy (just the way I like it!). There's plenty of meat in the stew, vegetables (cabbage!!), and noodles. They now offer ice cream macaroons here so definitely try one after your meal!! AND they have a stamp card so get your stews stamped! I recommend: - Beef Stew read more

I've been to the Boiling Point in Hacienda Heights and compared to this one... and that one is much better. First off, the service at the Irvine location sucks. After we got seated, it took them about 10-15 minutes before anybody came to the table to ask us if we wanted water or anything. After that, we had to wait another 10 minutes for them to come back with the waters and to take our orders. The lunch special we ordered came with a drink for each of us, but when they brought out the drinks, the waitress spilled some of the drinks and didn't even bother to apologize for that. The food came out relatively fast compared to their service time, but after that it was impossible to get a hold of a waiter/waitress. They also failed to light the gel to keep the mini hot pots boiling, and we had to flag down two different waiters in order to get them to light it for us. When we were finished, I told the waitress that we wanted the check, she acknowledged it, and never came back with the check. After sitting there for awhile I asked for the check again with another waiter and we were finally able to pay and get out of there. I personally like the food at Boiling Point. Being Chinese, I grew up with hot pot and stinky tofu, so having them combined in a meal is just awesome. Unfortunately it's the horrible service is what made me very unhappy about this place. I'd probably come back again at some other point when I'm craving hot pot thought I would come in dreading the service. read more