Melting Fire

My BF told me they had a $ 9.99 AYCE hotpot, so we decided to give it a chance and try it. We came here on a Sunday night around 8PM and this place wasn’t busy at all. We were greeted immediately by one of the workers and were seated right away.
Both my BF and I ordered «Course A» which included beef, chicken, pork, and veggies. For the broth, we went with our waiter’s suggestion; something thai coconut & spicy something (I forgot the name! but they also charge for broth!!!) Both broths were actually really good though. As for the quality of the meat… The beef was very fatty (I disliked this the most). The pork wasn’t too bad. The chicken was my favorite! They also gave a wide variety of veggies, which I appreciate because I love veggies in my hotpot.
Come here if you’re on a budget and hungry. Just don’t come here with high expectations.
NOTE: They don’t have an alcohol license, so no alcoholic beverages served.

Melting pot! They are severely under staff which explains the service. But considering my time there when it was packed, it was good!

Excellent bang for the buck. The pricing is fluctuating and confusing. The advertising pulls $ 9.99 but that’s not including the soup… ah ha!
A variety of soup favors $ 2 each to start and each pot has 2 sides so likely ends up $ 4. Shop specialties include the fire hot spicy and the tomato red. Then a bunch of Japanese, Thai, Mongolian, and somethings in between.
3? 5? Up sell plans to include cuts of beef, lamb, seafood, so forth. Up to $ 15 a piece.
The waitress works hard as there was only one when we visited Monday evening. We had decent service as AYCE is true here. Sauces for dip are a wee bit limited to sesame, satay/​shar-​cha, and just chili oil.
We had the Mongolian and Thai. Mongolian is about right closer to the plain side the Thai was a bit loaded with salt and the sour/​lemony taste quickly got diluted/​evaporated before half way. The basic meat plan was adequate for quality but definitely within expectation of the surrounding AYCE competitors.
Vegetables? There were some. Enough said. Nothing to write home about.

This place has gotten so bad. My boyfriend and I have been here many times. Each time there has always been something wrong: no sauce, the soup base I always get is unavailable, no beef, bad service, meat is not fresh, or dishes are dirty.
We usually wouldn’t mind so much and still keep coming back since there would be a few problems each time. The tomato soup base and sauces always brought me back.
This place has been experimenting way too much. They once offered AYCE sushi then took that out. AYCE KBBQ then took that out. Now they have doughnut ice creams? Soup used to be $ 1.50 per person and now it’s $ 4?! Plus they only offer 2 kinds now, which are not appetizing.
Today is the last straw. Never coming back. My boyfriend and I didn’t even finish our first order. Decided to leave 15 minutes in. The menu and policy is way too inconsistent.

I come in hungry and exit hungrier.
Service is is the worst. Super unorganize. You dont get to chose what you eat, they jist bring you food. Jist go next door to AJ hotpot and eat there trust me.

Hot pot’s my thing. Didn’t have too much expectation going into this place considering how cheap it is for AYCE. Yet, I was thoroughly disappointed.
This place was newly renovated. They also offered AYCE grilling! First thoughts walking through the door: IT’S. ABOUT. TO. GO. DOWN!
Those thoughts quickly disappeared. We initially ordered Combo B (~$ 12) which also comes with bulgogi to grill. It’s at no additional cost to get the grill but they told us it’s too late because they won’t be able to wash it in time after. We arrived at 9 and they close at 10. Guess staying an extra 5 minutes to wash a grill is out of the question for them. Since we couldn’t grill the bulgogi, we logically decided to switch to Combo A (~$ 10) where you only get hot pot stuff.
The vegetable and sauce station was pretty desolate. This could be because we arrived 1 hour before closing though. Understandable.
As for broth, we ordered seafood. Pretty bland.
The meat quality was okay considering the price we were paying. We ordered more beef but they accidentally gave us lamb. Not a big problem. only I DON’T EAT LAMB! I spat it out immediately as politely as I could into a napkin and asked them to change out the broth because it now tasted gamy. They were kind enough to do so no questions asked.
Thought I’d stay on the safe side after that and ordered pork so there won’t be any more mix up. We asked for it about 2 – 3 times and basically it never came out.
To top it off, the person I went with got the runs the next day. Good thing my stomach is made of steel!

I came here with low expectations and they met it. We waited about 20 minutes for two people.
Basically, you choose your base soup which is an extra charge per person. I’d recommend getting two different soups since each person will have to pay either way. We got the tomato house special and seafood, which both tasted quite flavorful. For AYCE shabu, it was $ 10.99 per person plus the soup base. We got the chicken, beef and pork that comes together. Unfortunate that you can’t pick one of the three meat, but you get them all whether you like it or not. The meat was whatever, so we only ordered the meat once. You pick up some veggies and noodles at the sauce bar, but I’m confused because some other tables got a bowl of veggies from the kitchen. They need to label their sauces because I was just guessing whatever I put into my sauce bowl. The sushi also comes with the AYCE, which was just basic sushi. But I don’t expect much considering how cheap this place is.
Food wise, you get what you pay for here so set your expectations low. The worst part is just their organization and service. I want them to do well, but I could not get their attention whatsoever.

This place is called Melting Pot, not Melting Fire. There aren’t any AYCE hot pot places around here for this price, and our friends told us they had a good experience here, so we still decided to come regardless of the bad reviews. When we came in (as a group of 6), the place was mostly packed which surprised us as this place has such a low rating on Unilocal.We were seated immediately and the lady who works here (the owner) was very nice and sweet. She told us that we could get the AYCE shabu, whichever one we ordered, and everything on the first page of the menu (AYCE sushi), all for the same price. SO we were very excited to know that the entire menu was $ 11.99/person for Combo C.
We wanted Combo C because of the lamb, but they prepare the Combo altogether so it came as: beef, chicken, pork, lamb everytime and whenever we tried to just get lamb or beef, it got too complicated since they already prepare it beforehand… so to save yourself some time, just get the whole thing. The veggies, noodles, and sauces are all at the buffet bar area so you can just get those yourself whenever you want. Oh yeah and I wouldn’t recommend the miso soup… it tasted kinda weird.
For the soup base, we got the Japanese seafood soup, mushroom soup, mongolian herb soup, and chengdu hot spicy soup. I personally like the mushroom soup the most, but that’s because I like things plain. Keep in mind that soup base is extra charge $ 0.99 or $ 1.50.
They are very unstaffed here, I’m pretty sure it’s run by just a family. I guess the prices are so low that they can’t really hire other workers. Anyway, I felt really bad and plus the lady was very apologetic and sorry about the service and tried her best to assist everyone. And plus I think she felt bad for us so she gave us AYCE sushi included in our order.
Honestly, this place is pretty worth it but you just need to be one of those kinds of people who flag them down and tell them exactly what you want. It’s honestly like a buffet where you can just walk around anywhere and get your veggies and then just keep hammering them down about the meat and you’ll be fine. You might have to ask for things a few times… not gonna lie we were pretty pissed at times but in the end, the price kinda calmed us down and especially the free sushi. I’m giving them 4 stars purely based on the food/​price, they have some improving for their service but it’s really not as bad as it sounds on Unilocal.Give it a try at least!

I’m sorry, but no. No no no no no.
I had eaten at this establishment when it first opened and vowed to never go again. I don’t believe it was AYCE back then either. I remembered it was just really bad and the options for soup bases were very limited. I don’t know what came over me, but my friend convinced me to try it again, citing that it’s AYCE now and that he liked it the last time he went.
Okay. I’m all for second chances.
Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong!
We chose the $ 9.99 option that gives you beef, pork, and chicken. Yes, they do have a good variety in soup bases this time. We were told we can split the soups, so we split a chengu spicy hot pot and a mongolian herb pot (?). The Chengdu had a very, very, very bitter after taste with every sip I took. The herb pot was the saving grace and the reason why I gave them two stars instead of one. It was flavorful, yes. The meat they gave was decent, but the veggies looked old and not so appetizing…
It was really weird. We were the only patrons at 6:30 at night, so the attention they gave us literally suffocated me. I understand they’re trying to give off stellar customer service, but it was just too much. Weirdest part of all? Every time we ordered a new plate of meat, the gentleman insisted on scooping it into our pot for us. It wasn’t a choice, really…
When we got the bill, it looked kind of off to me. Turns out, you get charged $ 9.99 per person for the meat/​veggies, but AN ADDITIONAL $ 1.50 PER SOUP BASE. Uhhhh, isn’t the soup a part of the AYCE?! That baffled the hell out of us. So really, it’s not $ 9.99 AYCE, it’s $ 11.49. Weird. So weird.

This place has 2 different Unilocal accounts. One under melting fire and another one on one melting pot. Both averaging 2.5 stars.
I walked into this place earlier tonight with a friend and we had to call out loud for service because no one was in the front. 2 tables were filled out of the entire restaurant.
I gave this place a 4 star rating before because the food was good, price was cheap, and sauce was self serve. When my friend and I sat down, we noticed that there were extra charges for sauces now. I was disappointed because the sauces are staples for me when I am hot potting. Why not charge 11.99 for ayce sauces as well!!! My friend ended up going to a more expensive place (19.99).
Second reason why we left was because they advertised sushi and they apparently ran out. How can you run out of sushi when you’re advertising ayce sushi in front of the restaurant? That’s just bad business in my opinion. I wouldn’t come here again until they change things.
Their service is still bad.

$ 10 AYCE shabushabu/​hotpot! Well, depending on which meat combos you get! Not everything on the menu is going to be 10 bucks just to warn you guys. & this place is actually called Melting Pot, not Melting Fire lol
But anyways, me and my boyfriend arrived at this place on a Saturday afternoon at 12pm. They open at 11am if anyone else is wondering ! When we went inside we were the first people there. I saw that they have a waiting list and there are actually names on it o. O so i’m assuming people actually come to this place to eat lol The place started to fill up around 12:30−1pm!
When we sat down we noticed a jug of water was already at our table but there wasn’t one at every table. So we were wondering if the water has just been sitting out here since the night before or she put it here in the morning? i’m assuming it was from the night before, but the water didnt taste nasty or anything, so we just didnt bother with it. The utensils on the side like the bowls, spoons etc looked kind of dirty so I advise you to clean it with water before using.
When it came to ordering it was really difficult because the waitress knew very little english! But anyways, the menu breakdown looks like this: Combo A includes beef, chicken, pork and fish all for $ 9.99. Combo B is the premium beef which includes angus beef, prime beef and bulgogi beef for $ 11.99. Combo C is a seafood combo which includes oysters, scallops, salmon, sole fish, shrimp, crab sticks, cuttlefish, clams, crab and seaweed all for $ 14.99. Combo D is the lamb combo which includes beef, chicken, pork, fish and lamb all for $ 11.50. So whichever combo you pick, thats the price you’re going to be paying!
Im a vegetarian so I just paid the simple $ 10 for a bunch of veggies. Their vegetable selection is very slim compared to other hotpot places around SGV. The only veggies they had were napa cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, taro, pumpkin, tofu, onion, corn, vermicelli noodles and tofu skin. In the back of the restaurant theres a place where you can refill all the veggies you want. You can also get as much rice as you want as well. If you want a specific veggie that came with your small bowl of veggies, but they don’t have it in the back for you to get, just ask them what you want and they can give you more. Thats what i did for the tofu skins !
My boyfriend got Combo B and he said the meat quality is THAT bad. From the looks of it, the meat doesn’t look appetizing probably because they’re cut so thin. But he said its pretty good for what you pay for. So when you go, go in with low expectations, don’t expect to eat like super good quality meat.
There are I think around 8 different soup bases to choose from! Depending on what soup you get you’ll have to pay an extra $.99 or $ 1.50. We got the thai coconut soup (which tastes like the sweet & sour tom yum soup) and we got the mushroom soup! Both soups had a lot of flavor but the mushroom soup was a bit salty, but it didnt really bother me that much. I will def try the other soups to see how good they are.
They also have 6 different sauces for you to choose from. One sauce you get for free but if you want extra sauce, garlic, or green onions it will be $.50 each ! My boyfriend got the ponzu sauce which kind of tastes the same everywhere you go, and I got the chengdu spicy sauce which I thought was good! It’s just chili oil with some peanuts in it, nothing too special.
They also have $ 1 boba milk tea ! The milk tea tasted yummy but the boba was like old refrigerated boba, so just ask for the milk tea lol Overall I would come back to this place because the price is amazing, but it still needs some fixing up to do with service, cleanliness and the timing of the food. A table that came after us got their meats before my boyfriend did –_​– So that was kind of annoying.

Wooow AYCE HOT POT?!? Dream come true… for drunk people like me… and perfect for cold weathers !
Oh. By the way. The hot pot place isn’t called Melting Fire. It’s actually Melting Pot. LOL
Well, to be honest. The melt quality for the Beefs are not the best quality if you’re looking for a good hot pot places to enjoy your meat. You might as well go to Jazz Cat. Plus the meat slices are really thin like paper. The ONLY good beef is definitely the Bulgogi Beef.
Take advantage of the Bulgogi Beef !! Its pretty damn good for AYCE !! hahah
The broth wasn’t too bad. I would say its decent. The cool thing about this place is you can split your soup half & half ! How awesooome?! More varies of broth to try ! (:
The price is pretty cheap ! $ 9.99 for the four choices of meat: Beef, Chicken, Fish, Pork
$ 11.99 for three choices of meat: Angus Beef, Prime Beef, and Bulgogi Beef !
The other one is seafood base meat for $ 14.99 I believe and I don’t remember what are the choices ! Sorry ahah
They also sell boba milk tea for $ 1, but their boba quality is equivalent to Quickly’s boba.
What’s really awesome about this place is. They give out Boba Milk Tea to you for FREE ! If there is a long wait. It was roughly around 20 minutes. So, the wait isn’t too bad !!

Edit… 12/​26/​2016: Basically $ 11.99 (9.99 ayce +2.00 soup base per person). Still understaffed!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Note: Main draw is their price for AYCE hotpot… $ 9.99. You won’t find good quality meat at this establishment
Parking: Plenty of parking in the plaza.
Location/​Ambiance: Located in the same plaza as the McDonalds on Walnut Grove and Valley Blvd. Feels a bit claustophobic here. I’m not sure if I want to hear other peoples convo’s.
Service: Service blows! Understaffed and seems like they’re running around with their heads chopped off. Think of the speed of their service… like the old 56k dialup internet speed
Soup of choice: I like their tomato broth, but they charge extra for that.
Meat: You pay for what you get. Basically you are eating a lot of fat.
Tip: if you do eat here, their fish is pretty decent.

Melting Fire? Melting Pot? Whatever it is called… it’s a few shops down from Chengdu Taste in the relatively new plaza on the corner of Walnut Grove and Valley.
Come here early or you are going to be waiting FOREVER for a seat. AYCE starting at $ 9.99. The place is small with around 12? tables inside (hence the impending long wait unless you arrive before the dinner crowd)
There are 4 sets that you can choose from starting at $ 9.99 for pork, beef, chicken, and fish. The other sets have better cuts of meat and/​or seafood. We opted for the cheapest one and ordered the Mongolian Herbal and Spicy soup base.
The Herbal soup base was better than the Sichuan spicy one. You can taste more of the herbal ingredients in it and it really infuses the meats and veges that you cook in it. The meats are thinly sliced and pretty good. If you run out of meat, ask a waiter/​waitress. If you run out of veges, get in some exercise because its along the wall in the back where you get your dipping sauces. In addition, there’s a pot of rice if you want to fill your tummy with some empty carbs instead of the meat and veges.
The service is pretty good compared to the reviews that I have read on here. There were about 4 people working and even though they were a bit uncoordinated and all over the place at times, they were pretty responsive and that’s all I can ask for. They weren’t rude as I have read as well. They must get pretty frustrated though with it being packed all the time and no one wanting to leave since they are trying to get their money’s worth.
For $ 9.99 and $ 1.50 for the soup base (BTW, the soup base price is not per person. It is per pot. We were only charged the soup base price once since they only refilled the soup with water when we asked for more soup. I presume you can ask for more soup base ingredients) Anyways, for around $ 10−11/person, it’s a pretty good deal and worth the 4 stars.
Remember to get their early! Small Place + AYCE for $ 9.99 = Big crowds eating FOREVER = Starving people waiting outside (and inside)…

It’s Melting Fire and not Melting Pot people.
This place was not an ideal AYCE hot pot.
Even though there were negative reviews about this place I wanted to give this place a try.
Pros:
+there were half a crab and one oyster on the plate for the seafood combo course
Cons:
–small dining area
–pay extra for some broth flavors
–everyone at the table needs to order the same stuff, for example, course A (meat and fish slices) or course B (premium beef) or course C (seafood combo) or course D (upgrade lamb combo)
–they serve tap water
–everything (beef/​chicken/​pork/​seafood) was prearranged on a plate and was not fresh (basically still frozen when brought out to the table)
–we got Thai tom yum and Chengdu spicy broths. Thai tom yum was sweet and didn’t taste anything close to tom yum. We had asked our waiter about Chengdu broth whether it was super spicy or mild. He said it’s not too spicy; he pointed to the second Chengdu broth and said that one is spicy so we ordered the first Chengdu broth. However, Chengdu broth was super spicy (flaming hot – you literally can breathe out fire… ha ha)
–when asked if we can get certain items on the menu brought out after we were done with what was brought out at the beginning, from my understanding the waiter was implying that we couldn’t do that. But I thought its AYCE? I’m so confused.
–you have to finish everything otherwise they will charge you I believe $ 2.50 extra.
I don’t think I would return to this place.

AYCE hot pot for 9.99, what a deal! Now we both had a sour experience at our last AYCE hot pot, so we were skeptical, but we decided to give it a try. The service was really good and quick. I personally would not recommend the beef or pork because it is very fatty and you can see all the fat when they give you the plate. I would recommend the chicken or fish if you want to go the healthy route, and of course tons of veggies. I basically sat there and ate lots of fish and veggies most of the time so I felt really good about myself. I would come back here if i’m craving hot pot but don’t want to pay 20 bucks for it.
TIP: be patient with parking, eventually a spot opens up, or you can park on the streets on Walnut Grove or Valley!

AYCE for $ 9.99?!! Cheap but oh so not worth it!
Location:
Easiest way to find this place. it is directly across from Mcdonalds inside the plaza.
Service:
HORRIBLE, this place is terribly understaffed! There was only one man on the floor last night! Although this place is quite small, I feel like they should hire at least one more person to help him out. I had to:
1.Ask for water 3 times
2. Ask for soup refill 2 times
3. Ask for bowls/​utensils 2 times
4. Asked for a plate of fish but never got it.
& 5. Never even got handed napkins!
To sum things up, this is the worst service I have had in a while.
Food:
Soup base:
Since I went with another friend, we each ordered a different soup broth. He opted for the Tom yum flavor, while I choose the Japanese miso flavor. Both were mediocre at best, but the Tom yum flavor was slightly better. The Japanese miso flavor tasted nothing like the name and basically was a pot of salty broth. Yuck! As for the Tom yum flavor, it just tasted like the same seasoning as the mama instant noodle seasoning. Not very memorable if you ask me.
Vegetables/​meat:
The produce and meat were just average but surprisingly clean to my surprise. The worst of the bunch was the frozen solid pork slice. at least thaw them before serving!
Sauce bar:
Such a sad scene, every bottle was practically empty!
Soy bean paste: Not bad, you get the best of both world: a little salty and spicy.
Satay sauce: Container was a squeeze bottle, but when you dispensed it was just pure oil and no satay.
Peanut sauce: Thick and bitter aftertaste. Skip this!
Final Verdict:
Good for those on a budget because you get more bang for your buck. But I rather take my money to boiling point or jazz cat. Never going back!

The reviews for this place didn’t look so good on Unilocal,but I am a sucker for hot pot! This place is located in a new plaza, which is very tight and makes it hard for people to find parking. However, there was a line outside of this place, so I knew I had to drop by and give it a try. On a Saturday for a party of 4, we had to wait approximately 45 mins, you’ll know why later in my review. They have a grand opening special; all you can eat lunch is $ 7.99 and dinner is $ 9.99. When we finally got in, we enjoyed our meal!
When you start your set, they drop by and take your order of soup. They have a good variety of soups. I ordered the Cheng Du and Spicy Tomato, which I enjoyed. We were warned that the Cheng Du was spicy, but it wasn’t too spicy for my taste. Next, they will drop off your plate of veggies and glass noodle. The veggies is very typical for a hot pot place: corn, mushrooms, cabbage, carrots, taro, potato, etc. They also start you off with all the protein in their menu before you can start ordering what you want. I didn’t like that idea, but it still worked out for us. Their protein included beef, pork, chicken, and fish. They come out very thinly sliced. Everything so far was on par, but they only have ONE sauce! Just ONE! However, they give you minced garlic… so that helped! But, there’s enough flavoring from the soup so a sauce is not vital. The night we were there, they ran out of rice, which I normally like in my meal… but that just meant I was eating more meat! They also have a special on their drinks: $ 1 for boba milk tea.
The customer service was extremely slow! That played a huge part on the wait times. There were 3 servers and 1 bus boy. I would recommend them hiring two more wait staff to assist their customers. We’ve asked for things many times, but it would take several tries to get our order. Fortunately for them, they were very nice and apologetic about the wait. If they were rude, then it would be another story. I am factoring in that they are new and need some time to catch up and learn the ropes.
Overall, I enjoyed this place. I like their soup options! For the price, you are getting a lot! Their customer service could improve, but they may just need some time to figure things out. I would return and recommend this place.

= 3.5 STARS =
* LOCATION & PARKING * This is located in the plaza next to McDonald’s near Valley Blvd. and Walnut Grove. The plaza seems new, and I couldn’t figure out how the parking works here. It seems like every single parking was «Reserved for McDonald»?
* FOOD *
Came here for hot pot with the family. We all ordered different hot pots:
1) Sour Lamb Hot Pot
2) Chengdu Spicy Hot Pot
3) Tomato Hot Pot
4) Seafood Hot Pot
Overall, all the hot pot had similar ingredients, but different soup base. The Seafood Hot Pot was probably the winner of the evening as it was packed with different shellfish and hot pot. Huge portions.
* SERVICE *
Was ok. The waiter sat us down when we got there, briefly explained to us about the differences between the hot pots, and took our orders. The only scary moment was when they tried to reach over and serve me my hot pot. Would be disastrous if they spill. They really need to implement a better way to serve these boiling hot pots.
* MY 2 CENTS *
This is a fairly new establishment and I can’t believe all the hate they are getting from the Unilocal community. I was deter from entering when I saw the low rating given on Unilocal,but our family friend insist that it was good. When comparing it to Boiling Point: One Plus One Melting Pot’s portions are bigger, prices are cheaper, and the quality is definitely better. The best part is… I don’t have to wait in line for an hour for a table! Give it a try. This restaurant definitely got a solid 3.5 stars from me.

More like a warm 3.5 but I just can’t round up. So this place had their soft opening this week, which was only 10% off and had a limited menu. Pretty weak for a soft opening, but we gave it a shot anyway. Ordered the Thai Coconut Chicken Hot Pot, which was supposed to come with a free tea, but was never offered to us. Also the the Pepper Jack Chipotle Fondue, which was supposed to come with beef, but I got shrimp instead. I don’t really mind the minor mistakes since its soft opening, but the wrong choice of meat is pretty bad… The hot pot soup was SUPER tasty, I really liked that a lot. The fondue was eeehhhh, the cheese never got hot and always had a thick skin on it, had to keep mixing it. The pot was only filled halfway so definitely not enough for all the sides it comes with. The hot pot was the only real winner here.
Our service was extremely slow and terrible, but once again, its kind of expected with a soft opening. Had this place been in business a while and I received all the errors and slow service this would be more like a 1.5 star. The half star coming from how much I enjoyed the hot pot. My party were the only ones there besides someone who looked/​acted like the owner and a couple of his friends sitting in the corner. Another guy came in, said a party of 3. The owner pointed to a table for him to sit at. He went to the restroom, came back and sat at a different table. The owner ignored that didn’t give him menus or instruct a server to help him. After a couple of minutes of being blatantly ignored, he left. Can’t blame him.
Too add to the awkward vibe of this place, the «owner» left and moments later the phone rang. Our server quickly walked to the door and locked it as was being instructed over the phone. A minute passes and some people arrive to deliver food, at which time a contractor came in, whom I can only assume helped construct this place recently, and had a dispute with one of the workers about an $ 8,600 check bouncing on him. Wow! I know its non of my business but it really created for a weird series of events. Got my check and got out of here.
Not sure if I can say I’d return. Such a weird vibe from this place… I might give it some time to see how it develops. Pretty much everything on the menu was $ 9.99, which is a decent price because – did I tell you how much I liked the hot pot? I wouldn’t mind coming here on a cold rainy day to enjoy some good $ 10 hot pot. We shall see…