Hot°c Pot - Fountain Valley

Big communal seating for big parties makes this place really popular for group gatherings. Ordering via a tablet is excellent, everyone got what they wanted and the sauces are good too. The staff is super friendly and we didn't feel rushed either. Definitely will be coming back for more next time.

I came at lunch time and got the full menu at $29.99 but some are out without any explanation (especially those are what I like)! There’s even hair in my pot and surely that’s not our hair cuz I saw that at the beginning of the meal when the server just brought it to us for a few (and the server’s hair was messy, untidy while serving us)! Really bad experience. Ruined my whole day!

I went after seeing an ad on Instagram. I was really excited, but I left hungry because there just wasn't much to enjoy. I think there are several neighboring ayce shabu spots that have better options. They may be more expensive, but even House of Shabu has better broth and meats in their cheapest tier. Broths: I'm not sure if the broths were catering to a non Chinese or non Korean demographic, but they were very watery and lacking flavor.Sauces: all of the sauces were extremely sweet, but the green onions, cilantro, and peppers were very fresh. Meats and Veggies: veggies were great, but the meats were either super fatty or disintegrated like dirt. It is a cheaper ayce, so I didn't have super high expectations. However, I just didn't really gravitate towards ordering more.Service: only one staff member was super attentive and the rest seemed like they didn't really care; they also didn't know which meats we ordered

AYCE Wagyu beef?! Say no more. Hot C Pot is the perfect place to come with a large group as they have plenty of long tables and you put your orders in by iPad. But, you can only pay with a maximum of 2 cards. I think you should be able to close out your order per iPad/group of 4. The pots come divided in 4 so if you're at a table of 2 each of you would get to select 2 broths. Order all your drinks, veggies, meats, rice and noodles on the iPad and help yourself to the sauce bar. Everything came out in a timely manner and I was impressed with the selection of broths. My favorite was the mushroom. I enjoyed the variety of meat offerings but wish they had a few more for the veggies. Portion sizes were a bit inconsistent so toward the end I ordered double portions of mushrooms and spinach, but they ended up looking like a triple portion compared to our earlier portions. I would suggest just going with one portion at a time just to be safe since you can always add more. With our meals, tip and 3 bottles of sake we ended up spending $60/pp for 8 of us.

Hot C Pot is one of the newer shabu spots that just opened in Fountain Valley. It is located in the Stater Bros parking lot where Round Table Pizza used to be.Once you come in, you write your name on their wait list. They were pretty busy when I came here at 7pm on a Monday. However, our party of 4 only had to wait 30 minutes before we were seated. Instead of having an actual server, you order your broth, food, and drinks on a tablet. Our host or manager explained the ordering process to us, which was very helpful. Tip: Make sure you put a large order of items in your cart and submit it to make it more efficient for the staff. Do not order 1 item at a time. Our order came out within 5 minutes!We ordered the American wagyu and American wagyu beef round, which were good quality meats. The miso and tom yum broths were good, although the miso was quite salty. We got the ramen noodle, pancit, and udon. The variety of seafood and vegetables were pretty good, and we hit several orders of quail eggs. I will come back here for the value and probably get a veggie or the tom yum broth. For shabu, it's a good deal at $30 for dinner. For seniors and children, it's a little less. If you want to save some money and have time, come here for lunch. Bring your whole family!Service was excellent and our host/manager, and servers were very nice. Happy eating!