Ninji Hot Pot

OH NO! The place is completely closed!!! Ownership change to «Pad Thai Restaurant» that has not yet opened and is under renovation. No more hella spicy hot pot.

I came on a Friday night with 2 of my friends and the place was pretty dead. I actually expected a wait but nope no wait for a table which is a good thing. We got the combination broth, spicy and plain. The spicy broth was alright. From a scale of 1 to 10 the spiciness was probably around a 6. I thought the non spicy broth was a little too plain for my taste. The dishes were a bit small I think. We ordered lamb, beef, tofu, noodles, veggies, tripe, meatballs, etc. Our dinner came out to around $ 60ish which I thought was a bit expensive since the quality wasn’t all there. This is definitely not one of my favorite go to hot pot places.

I think Ninji is a good 3~4 star spot, there’s nicer hot pot places but the combination of the warm inviting workers here with decent meat and good veggie/​side dish varieties, as well as the consistent good service, makes it a nice place to visit!
They’re very generous with continuously filling up your soup and making sure it never runs out. You can tweak the spiciness level to your liking if you prefer and the one here is very tasty but very thick — would recommend to tone it down with the clear broth soup.
Would certainly come here again to get my hot pot fix… good for spicy hot pot lovers.

*This review is solely for their Spicy Beef Glass Noodle Soup*
I love Spicy Anything. However, I hate the Spicy Broth they offer here. It’s has a mixture of sour in it. Idk what it was, but I don’t think I will be giving them a second try.

I always end up here when I have a stressful day at work or something is not going smoothly. I guess it is my comfort food. This place is never that crowded, so it’s a good spot to get cozy and have long conversations. The soup base is definitely more on the simple side (not like Little Sheep), but flavorful. The non spicy one is too plain for me so I usually order the spicy base. It gets expensive pretty fast if you are someone who likes to have varieties, like me. When I see the bill, I wonder if I should have made it at home myself. I guess it is not the same.
I like this place, and I return like once month. Like I said, it is nice to be able to just eat slowly, truly enjoy my food, and have a good talk with someone.

I don’t know I am not really a fan of their soup. The spicy broth is like a thick herbal type of broth that to me taste like the black bitter chinese medicine drink my mom use to make me drink when I was young. Oh the horror (shudder). The non spicy broth to me taste like the spicy broth except just without the spiciness.
I think this is more leaning towards the taste bud of older traditional asian ppl like my mom who is into that chinese health thing. Taste wise it is not good. For younger generation like me who grew up in the US… I don’t think could like this type of broth. It’s way to much of a chinese medicine taste to it.
As for the meat and such it’s okay but I don’t like how the meatballs comes out frozen as if it’s from frozen store brought package. The napa cabbage that they have needs to be cut up instead of in one whole leaf form. As for the beef and chicken. It is slice thin but should have a bit of marbling so when it cooks it’s not dry up and not tender. Overall they did change management but everything is the same.
Sorry I am just not a fan of this place.

If you really like hot pot and spicy food, this is hands down the place to go. They serve the best spicy hot pot broth in the bay area. I could give 5 stars for the broth itself! The broth ranges from little spicy to extremely spicy, it really depends on how spicy you can handle. We always get the max spicy every time we order. The spicy broth is numbing, hot, and deeply flavorful.
The service is nice and fast. For the dipping sauce, It’s self-​serve. There is a little cart in the rear center of the restaurant. They have varieties of dipping sauces — sesame sauce, satay sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, chili sauce, minced cilantro, minced garlic and green onions. They used to have raw eggs along with the sauce, but not anymore, They charge for eggs now.
There is a list that lists every dish on the menu from meat, veggies to drinks. You just check the ones that you would like to have. Everything is standard, nothing special. We come here just for the spicy broth.
Minus 2 stars for the cleanliness! The problem wasn’t the cleanliness of the atmosphere as it was very clean and bright inside the restaurant. The problem was the cleanliness of the food. As I was happily enjoying my meal, I discovered a GIANT fly in my satay sauce. I was half way into my dinner and the satay sauce was already half gone when I saw a little dark green sparkle in my satay sauce bowl, I picked it up using my chopsticks, and I realized it was not green onion, it was fly that had been dead for a long time, which is why you could see the fly already turned green and shiny, if you know what I mean. I wanna throw up now just imagining the picture of what I experienced.
Enough said about that nasty fly. Besides that, everything is fresh and clean.

My cousin swears by this place and comes every single friggin week, sometimes more. Me? I’m cool. Good once in a while, but I’d rather do hot pot at home where you’d get more bang for your buck.
Order dim sum style… quantify the raw dishes you want they’ll bring it out pretty much all at once so you can begin your hotpotting. I don’t feel like they give enough pieces of meat or fish for what you’re paying for. I could have three times as much if I’d bought my own slab of meat or fillet.
Sauce bar is unique. Soy sauce, green onions, sesame oil, vinegar, peanut sauce, cilantro, chili oil, minced garlic. My breath STANK after eating here to say the least.
Party of 8 = $ 30 each. Meh.

I thought this place was popular, but found out it was empty on a Saturday night at 6:30pm, we were the only table for the first 50 minutes! It was raining and 40 °F outside, I expected the restaurant would be warm and cozy, yet the owner did not even bother to turn on the heater! I had to wear my DOWN jacket to eat hotpot…
Food:
Seafood were spoiled, vegetable were stale, never had such a bad quality hot pot food in bay area. My friend had diarrhea the very next day.
Price:
We ordered 3 plates of meat, 3 plates of fish ball, 1 plate of Taro, 1 plate of mushroom, 1 plate of shrimp & squid, 1 plate of tofu skin, and 1 plate of rice noodles.
Total came out to be $ 110 BEFORE taxes and tips!!!
I don’t mind paying more for good quality food, but this is outrageous… at least the food need to be fresh for what we’re paying. The only reason I am giving it a 1 star is because the waitress lady was pleasant. I will not come back again.

came to Ninji for hotpot with my cousins on Christmas Eve. this was our second time around, the last time being a couple years ago.
first off, i like the setup of this restaurant… small, intimate, and cozy. another plus is their ‘sauce bar’. i love that they have all the condiments out in a bar and you make your own sauce. and i like that the sauce bar has a wide variety of condiments.
they also have a good amount of choices for food, and the price isn’t too bad here. the only thing i have a slight complaint about is the spicy soup — i don’t remember how it was the first time i went here, but this time it was just really salty.
just as sophie l. mentions, home made hot pot is the best… but this is a great place if you’re going out for hot pot. i definitely like this place better than little sheep off decoto.

It was okay. The price could be a bit more «friendlier».
They do have a lot of selections for hot pot, just the serving is a bit small. You have to order a lot if there is a lot of people.
The place gets pretty packed, so be ready for the noise level :)
Overall, it was a pleasant experience.

Looking for «HOT» pot or some «Hella spicy» noodles (their menu description was pretty accurate)? This place does it right… Tried their spicy beef noodle soup with a side of pickled cabbage to add for a little zing. The beef was super tender. The hot chili oil sauce came with spicy tofu in the center of the bowl (yummy). Slurp it up!
A bit of a hole in the wall, but a nice little find. If they had this in my stomping grounds I would be a regular… Will definitely be back to try their other noodle soups, and possibly their hot pot. Would be a perfect meal when the weather starts getting cold…

Oh, I don’t know if it’s worth the 5 stars. Came here after reading someone’s post about how good it is… naaah, don’t think we’ll come back.
3 stars are for the service.
The broth taste really weird… think they’d put too much spices in it so it has a 5 spice taste to it and not a rich broth for a hot pot… or what we like anyway. The broth was extremely spicy, even though we’ve asked to have it mild. oooh wee!
The veggies weren’t fresh, neither was the enoki mushroom. We felt like they served the same amount of meat as other hot pot places… meaning not that much.
If you want a lot of meat and everything else… try Hot Pot City in Milp. It’s a buffet. If you want good tasting broth try the Mongolian Hot Pot in Union City.

Celia and her mom went here a few days ago to try out the lunch special.
It was a mistake.
Maybe it was our fault for asking it to be very spicy, but it was seriously. Uh. We ended up ordering only one lunch special with «special beef,» and were charged extra for the other person’s broth, which makes sense (although someone would have to pay me to ever eat that broth again).
Anyway– I’m not sure if it was just the day we went, but the broth was absolutely EHRHHREKLHL. I’m hoping something was just messed up for our pot or something. We will not be coming back again.
I’m adding another star only for the all-​you-​can-​eat/​make-​your-​own sauce.

In the area again for business and pleasure. Got the chance to grab lunch with my bff. We had the shrimp and fatty beef hot pot special with the bogo (buy one get one) free sour plum drink.
Beef slices (side dish) — the beef was great, but the presentation is lacking… looks like someone slap the meat carelessly, come on, people eat w/​their eyes too you know?
Shrimp — the larger shrimp than other hot pot places, me like.
2 veggie dishes (part of each hot pot special) consist of spinach, 2 cabbage leaves, clear noodle, 2 half button mushroom, 3 baby corn, 2 imitation crab sticks, 2 fried firm tofu — my only dismay was that they didn’t bother cutting the cabbage, kinda hard to eat.
Mala Broth (part of the hot pot special), medium spicy comes with firm tofu — nice and spicy, do not inhale, I repeat, do not inhale, or else, endless coughing.
Sour plum drink — great for the hot pot and if you like sweetness and tartness to tone down the spiciness.
Make-​your-​own-​sauce cart of chopped cilantro, green onion, minced garlic, satay sauce, sesame sauce, soy sauce, and sesame paste.
Our bill was about $ 27 and just enough food for both of us. Overall its good value for the food, but restaurant set up is hazardous. I kicked into things (chairs and sauce cart) twice… somewhat of a danger zone in there.
p. s. I’m intrigued by the Hella Spicy Beef Noodle and will probably go back to try it one day.

Expensive. The first word that comes to mind. Why? Because you can get a jar of Ninji Mala Hot Pot in the spice isle for about $ 10 from the supermarket. Ranch 99 is one place you can get it. You can also get frozen blocks of soup base in the freezer section which is priced at around $ 7.99. The rest of the ingredients you can get at the supermarket. With the amount that you order for 2 or 3 people, you can feed a village with what you buy at the supermarket. There is also a plethora of choices compared to the 10 – 15 choices in each of the categories.
Okay, with that said, many people also don’t want to have to deal with cleaning and prepping the ingredients. That I understand but when you’re going in a big group of friends, you might as well have all your friends help prepare the vegetables, or have them bring some of the stuff so you don’t have to do it all yourself.
I’d much rather do this on my own at home with my friends. However, I do want to say that I got some pretty awesome ideas for what I can put in hot pot because it’s usually the same 5 or 6 things when I have it at home with the family.
So, with all that said, I would only recommend this place to nubs whose never had hot pot to try, and those who can eat spicy.

This has to be my favorite communal hot pot place I’ve been to in America. For hot pot in general, the individual hot pot in San Jose called Wuji has better flavors but anyways time to review this place.
This place serves numbingly spicy hot pot, which is basically a soup base where you cook food in it. Typical items I order there is various meats, fishballs, tendons, intestine, vegetables, fish cake, etc etc and much more. Usually when I go with my family or with my girlfriend or even with my family and my girlfriend we get the yin/​yang which is called half spicy half non-​spicy soup. As for spicy levels I recommend always starting out with the lowest amount of spicy first and slowly build up, because even though if you can eat a hundred chili peppers and chase it down with some Tabasco sauce, this is a different kind of spicy, its a numbing kind. The dipping sauces are pretty good too, for dinner time they put out eggs where you can put into your sauce but its good without the raw egg too. Usually for sauce i put some satay, vinegar, sesame oil, parsley, garlic, and some chili powder.
As for prices if you want something cheaper I’d go there during lunch when they have a lunch special and you can keep a meal for two under 40 bucks, and the best part is during the whole time you can keep adding soup to the spicy and non-​spicy side then bring everything home at the end of your meal and you can eat it again later that night or the next day even. Much better than little sheep mongolian hot pot in union city and little beijing in san fran. flavor wise wuji in san jose is better, but this is definitely the best communal hot pot =)
Go there and try! and the plum juice is buy one get one free and its pretty good… or you can order some taiwanese or imported beer which is excellent with your hot pot.
Other things they sell here include spicy beef noodle soup, spicy dumpling soup and various other spicy dishes. its all good but i love the hot pot here.
damn now im craving again…

This Hot Pot place is a little bit different than the other hot pot spot across town, Little Sheep. Apparently, it’s more of the Taiwanese style, and the spicy broth is much spicier, as well as oilier. The half & half divided hot pot comes to your table with some protein already added in, frozen tofu, imitation crab, and fish ball (s).
We ordered beef, lamb, egg dumplings, napa cabbage. The beef and lamb slices were nice, egg dumplings are what you would find in the market, and napa cabbage wasn’t as pristine as what you’d find at Little Sheep. I think Little Sheep offers more ingredients overall, but more so with vegetables.
They have a sauce bar, where you can make our own sauce from a variety of unlabeled sauces and minced herbs. I went for what looked familiar, mixing sesame sauce with soy sauce, adding garlic and cilantro. I also noticed an MSG shaker next to the salt shaker.
I like to drink the broth while I eat hot pot, but I don’t think it’s advised here as they don’t even give you a spoon. I ended up mixing our medium spicy broth with the non spicy one to get more of a broth, instead of a spicy oil, and enjoyed sipping it straight out of my bowl. The medium spicy is definitely spicy enough, so I’m curious how hot the spicy one is.
Prices seemed a tad high (I hear they have a lunch special) but they also offer bowls of noodle soup only. I’d recommend it if you’re a chili head looking for a spice challenge.

YUM YUM YUM YUM! to the INFINITE power! ^_^
Okay, I HATE hot pot… until here! That’s how good it is! Actually I started tolerating hot pot previously at this other restaurant that burned down. Now I love this place and I actually ask to come here when I am up in SF visiting my sister. I am REALLY thinking about coming up again just to get me some YUMMY hot pot! ^_​–
For the full review and pics go to
I just love the soup after you have cooked the abundant meat, vegetables, and intestines! The flavor emanates throughout the soup. Add some glass noodles and you will be set!
The service is friendly and they have the buy one get one free Plum Tea. I love the sauce bar where you can make your own sauce to your liking. I love eating garlic and I load it in. Chewing gum for a weak straight won’t get rid of the taste. I love it while I eat and suffer the consequences.
They constantly add more soup as you burn them off. Be sure to add more at the end so you can take home for leftovers! ^_​– Go home and buy more goodies to have a second meal. You won’t regret the extra delicious meal! If you like tofu soaked in «mala» be sure to ask for extra there too. That’s definitely a plus because other places charge for tofu and they aren’t as flavorful.
Be sure to try this place out and to go next door for Egg Cake! YUM YUM YUM! Great way to finish off a meal!

I hate cooking and when I go to a restaurant I don’t want to cook my own damn food then have to Pay for it! So if this place is supposed to be good, it’s only 2 cuz of all of the above. Hubby loved it (he’d give it 4 stars) and wants to go back. hell no I say.
So we go in an it’s pretty empty except for a table of 6. We could sit anywhere. Then the only waiter gives us a checkoff menu. He asked what kind of soup we want. We got half regular and half medium spicy. Medium spicy is HELLA SPICY. Don’t be fooled cuz my hubby loved it, suffering from the burn & runny nose.
Make your own sauce available at the sauce bar. Items available are not clearly marked.
Soup base has tofu, sliced tomato, some napa cabbage. so don’t need much other stuff. Soup base is $ 4 per person – evil.
We got for sides:
Sliced pork $ 4.95 — good amount
Sliced lamb $ 4.95 — good amount
tripe $ 4.95 — hubby liked
fish dumpling $ 4.5 — small, and chewy. not worth it
tofu skin $ 2.95 — good amount
napa cabbage $ 2.95 — good amount
appetizer of seaweed salad $ 2.95– evil waiter brought it to us since the other table probably ordered it and changed their mine. We took it not asking if it was free or cost. Of course it cost. But it was tasty.
Also got an iced tea $ 2 — it’s just iced black tea w/​a slice of lemon. Not sweet. I don’t recommend it. Hubby got iced water. Soup available to take home which we did.
Damn total with TAX But Not Tip was $ 44.81! Hate them for the expensive & not satisfying experience.
A/​C was on the entire time so bring a coat or something. Separate men & women bathrooms. Women was pretty clean for a Chinese restaurant only complaint was flushing was a bit of a problem, low flush or what?
If I had to go back I’d just get the beef noodle soup and not eat hot pot.
pics above.