Found this Hot Pot place on San Bruno Ave with a delicious menu full of authentic Chinese dishes, and flavorful Porridge soups, noodles and rice plates. The pan fried noodles is off the hinges. I've made it my Portola go to spot for Roast duck and Won Ton soup on cold days., Celebrated a birthday with an all you can eat Hot Pot, Two options for broth and the soup was out of this world with the variety of sauces to try. read more

FINALLY, a hot pot place in the area! I am a huge fan of All You Can Eat, so when I discovered there was a new hot pot place in my neighborhood, I was beyond excited. I came with a party of 8 so we wanted to try EVERYTHING. At first glance of the menu, there were so many options. I was shocked that the AYCE included some dim sum, chicken wings, tripe, and so much more. Like what? All this for $22.99?? What a steal! We decided to try all the meat: different kinds of beef, lamb, pork, etc. Everything tasted so good. My personal favorite was the lamb. After indulging in the meat, my group felt guilty for not eating enough veggies, so we ordered all the veggies on the menu. Haha. So good, so fresh! I am so glad I came with such a big group because we had the chance to try everything. We also all ordered boba milk teas: thai, jasmine, and black tea. Overall great service and excellent food. This will be my new go-to hot pot place. Will probably be back every other week. read more

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Food is fresh and yummy! Prices are awesome, service is great, and it's super clean!!

The most of their hotpot soup taste bad, beef not fresh, all kinds of ball food taste weird , as shrimp ball, beef ball fish ball ....! The most of tricky thing is when u order the foods in " in all u can eat hotpot " few of highest price foods they would say ran out ! I don't like eating hotpot there !! read more

Great place for gathering. The staffs are very friendly. You have to try their red wine beef , red vine lamb , spicy beef and spicy lamb from the all you can eat hot pot. Highly recommended. read more

This place is terrible they don't take your order unless you ask them it took them 15 minutes just to take our order after we called them a couple times they served us wrong dishes multiple times then all went on their lunch break at the same time so nobody was working and we didn't even get all of our food and they don't speak English so it's very hard to order food and understand what they are trying to say for the description overall a terrible place I wouldn't recommend for anybody. read more

Great selection and friendly staff. Fair price for all you can eat. Going forward, definitely will be one of our top hot pot choices in SF!

Must try their deep fried items. it is so crispy. We tried all even we have the ayce hot pot at night. Recommend: sour napa soup base Improvement: better have a waitlist board up front read more

Great service and delicious food! I've been to quiet a few places for Chinese food and always greasy. Their food wasn't greasy. We ordered like seven different things from the menu all was delicious honestly. Today we added their chicken wings to our usually order and they were off the hook! read more

Attentive and friendly staff. I ordered food to go and was surprised when I took a look at the menu. The food was relatively inexpensive for the amount of food that you get. My beef chow fun and porridge order was only $12 and I had plenty of leftovers for another meal. The quality of the food was pretty good. While I was waiting for my order, the waitress offered me a free Asian dessert. I'll have to try a few more things on the menu before I bump up the rating to a 5. read more

Walking past, you might think this is another typical Chinese BBQ spot. Ducks and pork hang in the window, however, Chef Li's is on another level. It's simply the best Chinese BBQ I've had in SF. The duck was melt-in-your mouth tender, and the pork was perfectly seasoned. This is what Chinese BBQ is supposed to be. read more

Very nice and wide selections, the servers also super welcoming & humble. This resto is my new hot pot spot

Staff was very attentive from the moment my gf and I walked inside. Clean for a restaurant on San Bruno Ave. The AYCE hotpot menu has ton of options. Unlimited refill on milk teas was a huge a plus for me. We had the pork bone broth and the spicy surprise broth, both were fragrant and tasty. It was pretty packed for a Thursday night. We will be back since it is close by to us. read more

Large portions, very delicious. Hole in the wall, family owned restaurant. Their sweet and sour pork is very delicious and addictive lol.

Omg this place is sooooo good!! The options are amazing!!!!!!! There are soo many different appetizers! And it comes with unlimited milk tea! It's close by where I live. I haven't seen a restaurant that has a line around the area, besides Breakfast at Tiffany's read more

4.5 stars I came here for their $22.99 AYCE hot pot and definitely did not leave disappointed! Huge variety of broths and lots of meats, veggies, and side dishes. Their fried chicken wings are surprisingly addictive and good. You can also get a free bubble tea with every AYCE hot pot. We came with a large party and sometimes it took a while for our orders to come out, but it was nonetheless a pleasant experience. I've also come here several times for take out and to eat-in. They have a pretty large menu. The atmosphere is pretty casual but they make excellent take out. Really crazy affordable prices for San Francisco and good, authentic Chinese food. Reasonable amount of oilyness (relative to other Chinese restaurants) and very generous portions. My favorite dishes: - #123: Bean Curd Skin w/ Rock Cod and Roasted Pork - Wow. This dish is just all levels of deliciousness. I mean, I love the chewiness of bean curd skin and I love fish casseroles (I use this word in the Chinese sense...more like stew). They are generous with the amount of fish they give. It also includes some other mixed veggies and wood ears (err...it's like a mushroom/fungus and it's chewy/crunchy if you're not familiar with it). Best part is the savory roast pork that is also included. Really, this is always a hit and a must-order! - #60: Beef Chow Foon - I always order this dish at Chinese restaurants to gauge quality. They had a good level of oilyness--not too much to overpower the dish, but enough to keep the noodles separated. Savory and plentiful. (We've also tried some other noodle dishes and have been satisfied with them all.) - #168 - Braised Tofu with Vegetables - Yummy dish and a nice way to get a variety of veggies in my diet! They are really nice too...even if their English is sometimes limited. Hope they stick around because this is our go-to place for Chinese food! read more

Nice restaurant and good service. Food is excellent, especially for the price point and the boss is very nice. read more

Chef Li's Cafe - Chinese Near Me - San Francisco, California

Giving 5 stars just to support the restaurant since it's new, it still needs some improvement on food and service, believed as they run for while it will be better. Only hotpot on the neighborhood. read more

LOOK OUT FOR HIDDEN PRICES!! I've been here a few times for both hotpot dinner and regular a la crate dishes for dinner. Food is decent, however this last time was a disappointment. We ordered about 8-9 dishes and the menu prices varied from 10.95-11.95 per dish, so there was a standout when got our check and saw an item for $15.95...which we did question. Even waitress was also perplexed- asking the lady owner about the price. With a straight face, the lady owner explained it was a "bigger fish" so she was charging us $5 more (what?!!). Honestly, I think she should have informed us beforehand (Hey, maybe we wanted a smaller fish??)! I felt this just wasn't good customer service nor was it right. They asked us how many bowls of rice we wanted (and we were charged per bowl for) yet a smaller party of 3 than ours received a big family sized pot of rice. Inconsistent! We paid it, of course, but it just doesn't sit well in hindsight that we weren't given advance notice of a markup. Maybe we would've opted for a different dish... What else will they charge customers for, if they decide otherwise? read more

Haven't tried food of this place but there is something called humanity which I believe they lack! They charged for using just the restroom in an emergency situation. Nevertheless, we purchased a coke and just left! read more

Love the food, but don't like the wait, when they are busy they forgot to bring your food

Came here once with my friends around 3pm for hot pot..Not so many customers on that time 2 tables were occupied but the service was so bad and lousy that we had to flag them to take our order 5 times.. ending up leaving the place without even ordering..Will never be coming back again.. read more

Well priced all you can eat hotpot. Meat is not frozen, included bubble tea, hot appetizer choices. Variety of homemade choices, especially fish balls is better than most. This is likely my now goto hotpot place. read more

Since so many reviews have already highlighted the hot pot, I'm going to focus on the other dishes you can order, which have blown me away compared to the other restaurants along San Bruno Ave. We came a couple times and ordered a variety of dishes and everything was fresh and really tasty. Some highlights: - stir fry clams in black bean sauce (not on menu) - kombucha squash and teriyaki beef stir fry - bitter melon chicken (alright! I admit I like bitter melon!) - bok choy beef HK fried noodle - most rice plates are only less than 7 bucks! On one occasion, we ordered 2 main dishes (with seafood and beef) and a noodle and the total came to less than 30. Great value....And they cook it for you too! Overall, great food at a good price! read more

Oh my yum! Great ingredients and very friendly service. We went here for lunch and will defiantly come back. We've had hot pot several times before but the sauce bar really stood out. I've never seen a sauce bar and all their sauces are home made. read more

Chef Li's Cafe - Chinese Near Me - San Francisco, California

Super slow service. $23/person for all you can eat hot pot is reasonable, but the waiting time to get your food and drinks is ridiculous. We came in at 7:45pm, and we got out at 9:30 and still felt hungry. They only took care of my table after the waitress had seen my $20 on the table with the timing clock running in my phone. They even forgot my order so we had to order it again. I would rather spend a little more at another hot pot restaurant in lieu of coming back here. Overall, this restaurant deserves 2 stars. 1. Reasonable price, 2. New/clean restaurant. read more

First time coming to this chef li's. It is fairly new as of June 2017. All you can eat hot pot is $23 per person with two people it will come out to about $58 with tax and tip. We told them it was our first time there and the waitresses were helpful showing us the menu and how to order. Step 1 choose a milk tea their free milk tea options are jasmine green, thai tea, black tea, and two others I can't remember. They do not include the tapioca balls just the milk tea. Step 2 choose the type of broth you would like my brother got the spicy broth the first one and I tried the thai thom ka spicy broth which was way spicier than the spicy broth. There are about 17 options of broth. Step 3 after choosing the broth you can take some time to look over the meats, veggies, tofu, appetizers, and dim sum options. You will mark down on the menu with an expo marker what you would like and how many servings of each you would like. If you want to try a lot of items mark down a 1 so you won't get super full on a couple of items. If you know that everyone at your party really wants a whole plateful of one of the items mark the number of people at your table. Once you are done marking your waitress will pick up the menu and hand it over to the kitchen. In the meantime you will have milk tea to sip on and your hot pot broth will be brought over to boil. There are 5 heat levels that you can turn with the knob. Once your hot pot is boiling we found setting 2 or 3 to be the most comfortable. Step 4 pick out herbs, toppings, and sauces for your hot pot. I tried the satay sauce super yummy and the peanut sauce which was just okay. I also picked up cilantro, green onions, and garlic. My brother added more chili sauce to his hotpot but mine was plenty spicy. Step 5 Then your first order comes out and you can go crazy! If you finish your first order and want more food you can order more rounds as hotpot is all you can eat. You can also order the appetizers and dim sum we tried the tripe and dumplings. For the meats we tried lamb, waygu beef, fish fillet, shrimp, rib eye, pork belly, and squid. For the veggies we tried the napa cabbage, mushrooms, bok choy, squash, winter melon, broccoli, and probably more. They give you a lot of each so we enjoyed ordering one serving and splitting to have more variety. We went through the first round and decided to order a few more things. It is important to pace yourself. The ladies brought by napkins and took away plates efficiently overall a great experience. read more

Found this place through yelp and was not disappointed at all! The ayce hotpot is a great deal - we had some good quality beef, pork, and lamb slices, and who can say no to all-you-can-drink milk tea? Only thing that needs improvement is that they appear a little under-staffed, and tended to forget orders. read more

The soup was flavorless, I had to ask for salt to give it some flavor. The sauce selection is horrible and I really wish they had ponzu. I like that they had a big selection including dim sum items and appetizers but they weren't that great. The meat was ok and the veggies were fresh. Service was really bad, they don't really speak english so it was hard to ask them for stuff at times. I asked for something and the lady just looked at me confused and said "LATER". I would rather go a bit further for some better hot pot. read more

AYCE $22.99 per person. Kids 3 years old and under eats free. 10 years old and younger half off. Good quality meats served thaw not like other places where it's frozen. They serve seafood like shrimps, clam, mussels, squids. They also have appetizer like chicken wings, potstickers, green onion pancakes, Chinese donuts, all these are included for $22.99. Came on a Sunday night, they were busy due to understaffing (2 ppl running the floor. Owner and a worker). Both the worker and owner told us to help ourself with drinks, while we wait for a table. They had soda and milk teas. Service was slow but can't really complain, after all they are under staffed, I just helped myself with the drinks and whatever I need I just grabbed, they didn't really care. Owner is really really nice, didn't charge us for the drinks, so I guess is AYCE and DRINKS for $22.99. read more

Omg! We had our initial first few dishes and couldn't get a waiter to come by after. This is going to our last time coming here. Food is not bad, if you ever get your service and round of food. , read more

I don't want to push me every time I come. I sit down at 8:50 today, but the service in purple clothes always makes me hurry. Why?that's why?this is second time ? That guy alway say the kitchen will be close .but I just sit down less five mins ,omg so I wrote down include paid 80$ total with the tip !So I don't want to give more tips, very rude read more

Not bad for a hot pot place. However, hard to find parking. They also raise the price to $23.99 which is still decent considering the price include unlimited milk tea. Service was just okay. We went when it was just only us and we still got the same service as if there was a lot of customers. Once in the restaurant, they will speak to you in Mandarin first which I don't understand. Also, it's hard to get the waitress attention. They never come to ask if we need refills or want to order more food. We are always the one that have to flag them down and ask. They also have a tendency to skip some of your orders and not tell you about it. I would greatly appreciate it if some thing I mark is no longer available, please let me know so that I don't have to keep wondering if that missing order will come soon. Food quality : 4 stars Atmosphere : 3 stars Parking : 1 star Price : 4 stars Service : 2.5 stars Will I go back? Yes. read more

$22.99 for AYCE shabu shabu in additional to certain milk teas (thai tea, regular milk tea, jasmine milk tea), AND dimsum appetizers. What's not to love? Unlike other AYCE places, their prices are the same regardless if it's lunch or dinner and weekday or weekend. Plain and simple. You can order as much as you want in one round, so order to your hearts content (also so you won't have to call down a server again) and just don't waste food! Even if you do need to call down a server, the place is small enough that it's easy to catch one walking past your table. From the appetizers, their fried dough with condensed milk is delicious - comes out steaming hot and crispy! Their chicken wings and chicken pop is also good. As for the shabu.. everything is delicious. I especially liked the fish ball with pork filling! read more

This is my first time eating hot pot, so this isn't a review of an experienced hot pot goer. However, the experience was fantastic!

If you haven't, you must check out this spot! One of the cleanest Chinese restaurants I have been to. You have a variety of choices of good quality Hong Kong BBQ and hot pot (17 soup based) you can choose from. I highly recommend Chafing Pot and Kimchi Soup! Will definitely come back! read more

This was my first hot pot experience here in sf chossing this place was a mistake heres why: the customer service was TERRIBLE the woman was rude and not helpful at all whenIasked her to explain the difference between certain vegis she blew me off like she was busy when there was no one else she was serving(i still left a tip). The base of my soup had 0 flavor it just tasted like oil with chilli peppers. Not good at all! It was a all you can eat hot pot set up buffet style a good idea but the items were not fresh AT ALL in fact the bok choy looked very unhealthy and over ripped. My advice to anyone is to take your buisness some where else because this place isnt good AT ALL! read more

Great place! Always come here and the food and service is great! Highly recommended! I like their fried rice and noodle!

My favorite restaurant in the neighborhood! Delicious and generous in portions, the food is also in very reasonable range. There is the AYCE hot pot, but the a la carts dishes are also pretty awesome. The ducks and barbecue pork are pretty awesome. We go here ever weekend for a quick lunch. The restaurant is also very clean. read more

This place will reuse your leftovers for the next customer. Gross and a health code violation. Saddest war wonton soup ever. The beef tasted like it had had Mongolian beef sauce washed off of it. The chicken was gluttonous blob of funk with no flavor. Eat at your own risk. read more