Boiling Point

Holly Sh*t! Best soup ever.
My Chinese friend invited me here and I will be forever thankful.
Love it!

Out of all the hot pot place I go to in the area, boiling point is my favorite and never fails to impress me. I came here on a Friday night around 8 with 3 other friends. Usually there is a huge wait but we got lucky this time.
After being seated we were able to order right away and the staff here is quick with their service. The food itself was on point! Just be careful of the spicy levels here, its higher than you would expect.
The portions were great, I got full before I could even get started on the additional rice noodles they gave me. The soup was flavorful and not too salty. I would suggest anyone who likes hot pot to definitely come here.

Lunch went up to $ 10.99.
Got the House Special and asked them to make it super spicy and it wasn’t spicy at all.
They do not make CURRY anymore! So disappointed!
Love the complementary lemon basil shooter at the end!
Make sure you come at least 15 – 20 minutes prior to opening if you want a table without waiting.

I’m very sensitive to msg, I am pretty sure they put a lot in their pots. I think other BPs might have better quality than this location…

There was long wait obviously because this place is really popular even if there are so many locations everywhere. This place is worth an half hour wait anything longer is debatable. But they try to get you in and out pretty quick which is good. They try to take orders before seating you, so once you sit the food comes. Now the service is okay, very typical asian don’t expect the best but they do get the job done. The food is pretty amazing, its a like a chinese version of phở! A small is a good size equivalent to a large phở I would say, if you want to share maybe a large would work.

Another one of your run-​of-​the-​mill boiling points. I feel like these days you can find one of these at the end of every corner. THat being said, this place gets the job done. The service is no worse than any other BP, and because it’s a smaller store, I feel like there’s less of a chance of the staff ignoring you.
The wait times are usually 10 – 30 minutes from what I’ve seen, although if you do come outside of peak hours, I think it will be relatively easy to find a seat. The décor is pretty nice and the music fits the theme, so there’s no complaints there.
Parking is probably the only real issue I have with this place. It shares the street with a few other businesses, so although there are some street side parking spots, I’ve been having a really hard time finding consistent parking and usually just end up going around the corner to park.

I’m a tad disappointed. I don’t know if it’s because I had such high hopes from the boiling point from previous dining experiences or the food was just off the day I came in. I had the Taiwanese Hot Pot and for the most part it was bland. I was pretty much drowning in sauce to just taste anything.
What really irked me was the fact that for a large party, they stuck one person at the end on a table that fits only two. Instead of offering us another table which just cleared out as we were sitting, they decided to have us eat very uncomfortably with zero table space. I carried my bowl of rice for the majority of time we spent dining.
The service although minimal wasn’t lacking in any way besides the entire seating arrangement. I would love to give this place a five and hopefully it’s a fluke but one too many things went wrong for me.

A friend and I took my bf here for a birthday lunch!
Came at opening and waited about an hour before we were seated.
We got our orders taken:
2 orders of the beef hot soup
1 order of the korean bean paste hot soup
2 black teas
1 green tea
The black tea and green tea that came with our food were really good.
Service was okay. It was a little hard to get a servers attention. At one point all the servers disappeared behind the counter for a while I think and we were waiting to get more water/​soup/​check. It was a little frustrating.

Rating: 3.5 stars sounds about right.
After a perfect storm which brought San Gabriel Valley rain, the rain gods demanded me to get hot pot.
Wait time: Depending on how long the line is when you get there. I believe we waited for about 40 minutes.
Entertainment: If the line is not moving, you can always go to «The Book Rack» store and take a gander, but always remember to check back to see if you’re next in line. You can also go across the street to get a cup of joe at Hyper Coffee.
Location/​Parking: Located in the quiet Downtown Arcadia. You won’t see a lot of people walking around. Plenty of street parking on 1^st and the surrounding residential areas.
Ambiance/​Décor: Calming. The size of the restaurant made me feel crampy and uncomfortable.
Service: Thought the staffers weren’t attentive. Our water cups took a long time to get refilled.
Hot pot of choice: HOUSE SPECIAL which basically comes with slices of beef, enoki mushrooms, napa cabbage, blood cake, pork intestine, veggie stems, tomato slice, fish balls, stinky tofu, and a quail egg. Also, it comes with a free tea drink and a basil seed dessert. I thought the hot pot was decent, but felt a bit disappointed because I wasn’t able to smell much of the fermented tofu.
–Tip: Enhance your eating experience by concocting as much sauce you want with their famous bean sauce and chili oil.
Toodles! :)

This review is for the hostesses seating us. We came with a large group of 9, and we were told it was going to be a long wait of about 40 minutes. So we agreed, with the understanding and assurances that we would wait max 40 minutes. It was my sister’s birthday so we were willing to wait that long to remain seated at the same table.
… About 50 minutes later she comes out telling us that it would be ANOTHER 30 MINUTES. These hostesses weren’t even reserving/​planning any tables for us! After being fed up waiting 1 hour, I had to ask the hostess to point to the specific table she had «planned» for us. I then see an empty table of 6 get filled with a group of 4. It was apparent she wasn’t reserving anything for us the whole time we were there!
I understand it was busy and their job is difficult. I was very understanding at first, but after realizing they were totally disregarding us and disrespecting our agreement, I knew we were being taken advantage of. It’s worth mentioning I noticed they promptly seated a popular local youtuber/​blogger with a semi large group, whom the hostess took pics with.
TLDR: Don’t lie to a customer and make them wait 40 minutes for nothing.
We dined on 9/​5, Saturday.

To this day, I don’t understand what all the hype is about with BP. Don’t get me wrong, BP isn’t bad. The food is decent, but I totally don’t think its worth the super long wait.
Food here is average. You aren’t getting anything special. Their flavors are well balanced, but not all that great. The meat can be hit or miss and so can the broth. You might get super fatty cuts of beef or super lean cuts. The soup is really salty or not salty at all. I usually go with their Beef Special extra spicy and its got a good spice level for me. I really like the sauces that they give you to mix. They don’t skimp on sauces like Jazz Cat does. They give pretty decent portion sizes for what they charge and the free tea with every lunch is a welcomed plus.
Service is okay. We had to ask for extra utensils quite a few times. Same with extra broth.

The conclusion that I have come to is that all Boiling Points are the same. Slow service, long waits, bomb soups, water in plastic cups, can’t order extra pork blood. That is literally all you need to know.
An added extra tidbit though — their Taiwanese Spicy is really fucking spicy. Don’t order it unless you think you can handle spicy food pretty well.

Came here for dinner and waited outside for at least 45 minutes. It would not have been as bad if it wasn’t freezing outside. This restaurant is pretty small.
Boyfriend and I ordered the Vegetable & Tofu hotpot and the Beef hotpot added udon. Both were delicious. The sauces on the table were very tasty.
I really enjoyed the food but don’t think I will be coming back to this location because it was so small and the wait in the cold seemed like forever. Every time someone walked in while we were eating, we could feel the freezing air breeze through the entire restaurant. –1 star for this. Other than that, everything was great.

Water is served only upon request. Just remember to ask if you need water.
A small place, we waited for 10 minutes before we can get in. There were around 6 people before us. But when we finished, there were way more people waiting outside.
I heard great comment about this place, maybe my exception was too high, It’s a OK place for me. Since my friend doesn’t eat spicy food, we ordered a seafood tofu pot (none spicy) and a house special pot (mild). The house special has some weird meat in it, maybe pig intestine, which I don’t like that much. The tofu is the firm kind, I’d prefer the tender and soft tofu for pot like this. Seafood pot was good, but nothing special about it. You can choose the pot with rice or a special kind of noodle. I’d recommended the noodle thing, it’s really great with the pot. I wish I can try the spicy ones, maybe I’ll like it better. We also had the fermented tofu. I though it would be the Taiwanese sticky tofu, but it’s not.

Let me get this out of the way; there is always a wait here. Doesn’t matter which branch I go to and what time of day; you can never just go in and sit down to eat. Surprisingly some of the best milk tea in the area is the Hokkaido milk tea here.
My Favorite
Taiwanese spicy hot pot — its a little too spicy for some people but its the best one
Decent
Beef hot soup
miso — its not as miso flavored as Mokoji though

Mmm. A good soup that warms your belly and your soul!
Its a Friday night. We got here a little after 5 pm. Ordered and got our food at 5:30. There were only 3 tables at the time. We enjoyed our hot pot and had some ice cream macarons. By 6pm it was packed and there was a line outside.
The key to avoid lines: skip lunch and eat an early dinner. Lol.
Service was great. I had my kids with me and the servers were super nice and accommodating.

Boiling Point is simple, delicious, and reasonably priced. I love spicy, so went with Taiwanese Spicy. It only comes in «flaming hot,» but just tastes so good. The wait can be long, but the food is really good if you like hot pot. I enjoy it much more than Little Sheep and some others that I have been to. You get your own hot pot, so you can have it as spicy or as mild as you want.
The pig blood is my favorite part (in the Taiwanese Spicy). It is the version that has rice mixed in, and just has great texture. The portions are a good size. It is enough to fill you up, and possibly even have leftovers for the next day.
Be prepared for typical Chinese restaurant service. But you don’t go to Boiling point for the service…

As with all Boiling Points go (in SoCal), this place is a solid 4 star for food. Clean location with professional employees, I’ve been lucky enough to come on weekdays when the line is NOT cray cray (I see in other reviews that it gets pretty bad). Only issue is probably parking, though on a weekday, it’s never really that bad or hectic. I’m not sure how it is on weekends, so try to come on off hours?
In terms of food, it’s pretty solid – I do like the pomelo one, though I think the flavor is actually yuzu. The regular portion is good if you have a small to average appetite, but for piggies like me, I could probably polish off two bowls (though the calories and sodium would kill me). Macros-​wise, it’s severely lacking on the protein as there aren’t too many slices of meat (and none for the vegetarian option duhr duhr). Wow, did this just turn into a bro-​swollmate geared review?
Anyway, flavor is good, service is fine… on OFF HOURS!

I prefer this location compared to the rest in SGV. It’s ridiculous how busy all the locations are. There is usually an hour wait. I prefer The Arcadia location better because it’s clean, less crowded, and the staff is efficient. I sit, take my orders, and food is ready in 15 mins. Not bad huh? The staff is quick and friendly.
I ordered the Taiwanese hot pot in mild for $ 11.99. My absolute fav is the stinky tofu! Yum! The pot also has slicked pork, quail egg, pork blood cake, napa cabbage, fish cake, intestine, and tomato. Served with a chice of vermicelli or rice. It’s a lot of food and I usually had to go afterwards.
They also serve boba drinks here. My fb ordered the green tea with honey and it was good. It was refreshing with a hot meal. I like the fact that they open late until 11 pm. I don’t feel rushed and I can relax and not feel like I have to leave right away.
Love this location and will continue to come back.

Ugh terrible.
I usually go to the Boiling Point in San Gabriel, even though the Arcadia one is closer to my house, just because it’s bigger and I figure that the line would move faster.
Came to the Arcadia location with my parents this past weekend and got lucky that there wasn’t a wait yet, just about 10 till 6pm. Had a terrible experience with this location and will probably be sticking to the SG location from now on.
So first of all the waitress we had was TERRIBLE. She was still a trainie… So I really hope they don’t hire her… sad I forgot to get her name but I’m pretty sure she isn’t going to get hired anyways.
ANYWAYS I walked in holding an empty AU (tea) cup and before I even got a chance to sit down the waitress (who didn’t even introduce herself yet) already came up to me and rudely told me that no outside drinks were allowed. Now usually I would be understanding, but the way she said it was just so rude, it made me really mad.
The food was also not as good as I remembered. I got the Beef pot and the meat was VERY VERY hard. I thought it was just mine but my mom’s meat was very hard as well. I literally ended up throwing all of the meat away. such a waste.
Will probably be sticking to SG BP from now on. SMH.