Boiling Point was definitely on point! Too many times I see pictures of Boiling Point on Instagram and Facebook. I finally got to try it and see what all the commotion was about.
We went on a Saturday for dinner. I've heard that you may have to wait extremely long lines on weekend nights. However, we got there around 5 pm and were taken to a table right away! The menus are set on the table already so we took a look.
I felt pretty rushed by our servers because they came to us before I even got a good look at the menu (maybe a lot of regulars come and know what they want right off the bat). I asked for more time and in about 20 seconds, another server came and asked to take our orders. I still wasn't ready (obviously) and had to ask for more time again. We decided to go with the #8 Taiwanese Spicy and the #9 Japanese Miso. You can't change the spiciness level on #8 but you can for #9. The Taiwanese Spicy is automatically set to the hottest level (4 on a scale of 1-4). I chose to go with level 2 spiciness (Medium) for mine. Every order of hot pot comes with a side of rice and we also ordered some meat balls and sliced pork as add ons. The cost for #8, 9 and 10 costs more than the others because they are bigger and filled with more (they cost $17). We asked for water and it was given to us in paper cups (a little strange for a restaurant but alright). I guess most people get tea and milk tea.
#8 Taiwanese Spicy comes with: Taiwanese cabbage, instant noodles, sliced beef, encomia mushroom, tempera, clam, foochow fishball, cuttlefish ring, pork blood, pork intestine, fried tofu skin, maitake mushroom, and iced tofu. Now it sounds like a lot inside the hot pot but usually there is only about one or a small amount of each thing. It comes out on it's own little burner which keeps the whole pot boiling. This one is really spicy but if you love spice then it's definitely for you. All the components to this tasted great, especially the fishball, cuttlefish ring and the intestine! The instant noodles were also a plus. Using the broth with the rice also adds great flavor to the rice.
#9 Japanese Miso comes with: Taiwanese cabbage, udon, sliced pork, enoki msurhoom, clam, foochow fishball, fish fillet, king oyster mushroom, crab, fried tofu skin, and soft tofu. Just like most miso soup bases it is a tad bit on the saltier side. I'm glad that although it was salty, it wasn't so salty that I needed to drink a ton of water constantly. Medium spiciness gives you a kick without being too spicy on the tongue. I liked how the cabbage pieces were big and would soak up all the broth. The foochow fishball is this giant ball that looks like it will be solid but it's actually filled with something else. It tasted delicious. The fish fillet was a perfect portion size and was so flaky. I enjoyed the soft tofu pieces in the dish as well. There were some crab pieces but they looked impossible to crap. The legs were tiny so I didn't think there would be much meat so I skipped over these. I had plenty of long, thin slices of pork in mine.
The sauces on the side are so good. Even if you don't know what they are, you can mix them in any way and it will probably taste good. I liked dipping most of the components in. The meat balls that we got look small but definitely pack a nice meaty flavor, especially when dipped into some sauce.
Service was basically non existent here. We were never checked up on and our water was never refilled. We had to flag them down for water. When my partner asked for more water the server left before asking me if I wanted anymore and before I could even ask if I could have a refill. The only time that they actually came to us without us asking was to bring us our bill.
I love the concept of eating individual hot pot and really enjoy how the whole dish stays hot the entire time! It's plenty of food and my partner and I left both feeling stuffed! Hopefully I'll come back to try the macaron ice cream sandwiches next time because they look adorable! The cost for both our hot pots and the add ons was around $42. A bit pricey but the meal was delicious, hot and satisfying. read more