E & Drink

BEWARE… If you get a groupon it excludes beef. Apparently this was not brought to our attention when we ordered and the owner wasn’t super nice about it.
The food is decent by boiling point has way better flavor and more meat and veggies and fish balls in their hot pot.
Service is really slow even with only 4 tables occupied in the restaurant. And why are the water cups so small?

This place is awesome! Food is great everything from boba hot pot and main entrees. Also the egg waffles are amazing! Customer service was great! They honestly were too nice to all my family and went above and beyond! Love this place ! Must try for sure! We are going back asap! :)

I always wanted to try this place but never got around to it until they popped up on Groupon. I got the lamb with pickled cabbage hot pot and I really enjoyed it. The broth in the hot pot was very flavorful and a little spicy. The only thing is that the hot pot has mostly fillers. The only exciting thing in mine was the lamb and there wasn’t too much of it. Then there’s tofu, cabbage, noodles, spam and lots of other things. Just nothing too exciting. I really enjoyed it regardless.
A tip: I kind of expected the flame for my hot pot to eventually die out. It didn’t. We asked the server to manually put it out and I could see there was a lot more fuel available, so if you want that fire out, just let your server know. My food was boiling hot throughout, which some people like, but I burned my tongue a couple times because my mouth is sensitive and I am impatient.

I was really craving Boiling Point but since there isn’t a location in San Diego, I decided to give this place a try. We arrived around 8PM on Friday night and they were pretty packed.
The first indication that it was probably a bad idea to eat here was that once we arrived we stood there and the two workers walked back and forth with their heads down without acknowledging us. When one of the workers finally looked up, we were lucky enough that there was a table for two available.
I ordered the E&Drink Super Spicy Hot Pot and my boyfriend ordered the Picked Cabbage Lamb. The food took an eternity to come out. All the tables around us already had their food so I don’t understand why it took so long. When we finally got our mini pots, the server bought out the bowls of rice then later came back with the sauces. I don’t understand why he couldn’t bring the rice and sauce at the same time. It just seemed like he made it harder for himself by having to make another trip.
The E&Drink Super Spicy had no flavor. It was just spicy, the schezuan kind of spicy which wasn’t very pleasant. If I accidentally bit into one of the peppercorns I would get that uncomfortable tingle in my mouth. which happened quite often while I was eating this. My boyfriend said his Picked Cabbage had no flavor and the only redeeming factor was the garlic soy sauce, which my boyfriend practically poured into his pot lol
Overall, I wouldn’t recommend coming to this place. The service is extremely slow and the food wasn’t good.

My boyfriend and I shared a Miso hotpot and an order of spicy wonton and they both taste amazing! Add in the sate (chili?) and the sauce for extra kick. For dessert I got the egg waffle to go and it’s soo fluffy, warm and slighty sweet. Just Perfect! I reluctantly shared it with my boyfriend lol. We came on a friday night during dinner and it wasn’t that packed. The service is attentive and friendly. Highly recommend you to try this place! They open until 12. I Will definitely come back.

Cool concept of individual mini hot pots! There is an array of variety to choose from. Located in the back entrance of Ranch 99. Been here a few times and service is never spectacular but I never walk away disappointed for three reasons:
1) Szechuan spicy wonton: not as good as Din Tai Fung but good enough to get me through my wonton fix.
2) Egg waffle: simple yet so good! Soft and chewy
3) Fried chicken wings: deep fried to perfection, crispy, juicy and seasoned with salt and pepper.
I’ve also tried a few different hot pots and must say… isn’t anything to die for but not bad! It’s definitely large enough for two.

We came for the individual hot-​pots similar to Boiling Point (SGV area). For dinner, we ordered the curry one and the pickled cabbage with lamb pots.
Unfortunately, service was slower than would’ve liked. They didn’t have enough staff on the floor. We knew the pots come with sauce and rice, and we already requested a specific sauce. However, we had to ask for both items.
One of the older female staff kindly offered to refill the pots with more broth. That I appreciated.
I appreciated that there was little to no MSG in their broth. Boiling Point’s was an overkill on the MSG. Portions are appropriate and no big surprises. For the same price, it appears, you can get a tea drink at lunch hours! I’d think about coming back in the future.

Awesome place for hot pot. This place is located inside of 99 Ranch up in Kearny Mesa. Park in the back and you’ll find it.
I usually get the Kimchi Hot Pot with rice and noodles. I go for medium spice because I’m a wimp, but if you love the burn go for spicy! Overall, the soup is very very good, the service is actually really nice and it’s reasonably priced. Plan on spending ~$ 30 for two.
Check it out!

My experience here wasn’t the greatest, though we were the only ones here at the time. The lady taking our togo order didn’t quite seems to be happy that evening. she didn’t care to repeat my order, didn’t really speak at that matter. I was just hoping for my order to be correct.
I got the egg waffle (nothing like it was in the picture btw) I got it in piece thrown into a paper bag. Although it wasn’t bad that evening. But, I gotta say I did love their drink, that is where my 4 stars show for this place.

I have mixed feelings about E & Drink — which is why I have not reviewed it and I have been here about several times. I’ve only ate here once and the other times have always been take out. Service is good depending on whenever you drop in — like that one random time I did with my coworker in the past. We got the lunch special which came out pretty quick. I believe we ordered the R3 Taiwanese Minced Meat with Rice and R12 Pickled Ground Pork with Rice. Was pretty tasty though I was not a fan of the veggies that came with it.
Take out has always been wonton noodle soup. Always steaming hot when I get it in a styrofoam. One time though, I had gotten stuck at work for a hour and could not go pick it up until after. When I went, she kindly reheated it for me. Nice and toasty. I guess it’s good that it’s hot, but I always can’t finish since I only got 30 minutes for lunch. Probably should aim for something else on the menu next to be able to gauge more of the E&Drink taste.

I always come here for the iced sweet black tea.
Their egg waffles are my favorite as well.
For a meal I usually get the Southeast Asia Hot Pot (this is good to share with yourself and another individual since it is a very generous portion).
I love coming here, it’s a little restaurant inside of the 99 Ranch Supermarket and I come here randomly once every other month and the employees recognize me and always greet me and ask how I’m doing. I love the service here and the food is absolutely delicious. The drinks are amazing as well!

My girlfriend and I visited this place a little late around 10pm. There was plenty of parking as they are located in the same building as a big grocery store which was already closed for the night. We walked in to the place with was barely a quarter full, and the lady pointed at a table for us to sit, and later took our order.
I ordered the spicy beef hotpot and my girlfriend tried the pickled vegetable hotpot, and me being a sucker for strawberries ordered a strawberry yogurt slush. The hotpots themselves were okay. The amount of food they give is pretty good, although the variety and quality of items could be worked on. My slush was pretty mediocre and nothing mind blowing.
The service was pretty terrible, as our waitress seemed like she totally did not want to be there and seemed to give us attitude the entire time. Everything we needed was lacking and we were unable to get as she was impossible to flag down. She never check up on us, and she was never around even thought there was such a small amount of people. My slush was even made very late in the the meal and I was already about to finish my meal once it arrived.

Ever since the closing of Yes! Pingo, my heart has longed for another decent Taiwanese restaurant in the neighborhood. Initially I was hesitant to give this place a try because most of the pictures and reviews were focused on hot pot. (My date and I aren’t the biggest fans of hot pot.) However, I’m happy to report that there are a good number of non hot pot options.
Based on everyone else’s reviews, I knew we had to start off with the egg waffle, which completely lived up to the hype. Since this was my first egg waffle experience, I can’t vouch for it’s authenticity, but it was sure tasty! I loved the crispness, airiness, and subtle sweetness. This is a definite reason to come back. Are there other locations in San Diego that offer this?
Next, were the spicy wontons. They weren’t as good as A & J Restaurant in Orange County, but they satisfied my craving. They could have been a wee bit spicier. For the main course, I went with the fried pork chop dinner. I was impressed with the seasonings and each bite had a good crunch.
Overall, service was decent. They came around asking for refills on our waters. Yay! Even if I don’t come back to dine anytime soon, I’ll at least stop by and grab an egg waffle.

«E & Drink» is a mystery. By which I mean the name is a mystery. Why isn’t it «E & D» or «Eat & Drink»? Maybe it’s a front for ecstasy? The world may never now. The nature of the food here is less of a mystery. The offerings appear to be fairly standard Taiwanese dishes with at least one tasty surprise to which I shall return. (Well, not so big a surprise considering that pretty much every other review mentions it.) Overall, E & Drink stands somewhere between Liang’s (bad) and the departed Yes! Pingo (good).
I ordered the hongshao beef noodle soup, which is the soup that typically gets sold at Taiwanese restaurants even though it originated in mainland China. «Hongshao» means «braised» in Chinese, but the first half means «red», and, in a twist of fate, the dish usually contains some degree of spice. However, this was not so much the case at E & Drink; in other words, there wasn’t a lot of «hong» in the «hongshao.» Also odd: the soup contains slices of beef instead of the typical chunks. The thick noodles in the bowl did count as a major win, however.
We also shared some spicy wontons, another Taiwanese restaurant staple: decent, but not as good as Yes! Pingo’s had been. In contrast, the non-​surprising surprise that was the egg waffles tasted pretty fantastic. I’m not aware of any other place in San Diego that serves these so they might be worth the trip to E & Drink just on their own.
If nothing else, I’ll have to go back to try their D.
Summary: Not bad if you want the E.

I wish there is a boiling point in San Diego to satisfy my craving for small hot pot. But sadly there isn’t one so I’m only left to come to here. The food quality is no where near boiling point. Service was a little slow and definitely has room for improvements. For appetizer, I recommend the fried bun with condensed milk. As for the hot pot, I tried several of them and none of them were crazy good that’s worth mentioning. Average would be the perfect word to describe this restaurant.

If you want me to go somewhere with you, just say some few magic words… One of them is «hot pot». I’m down for hot pot in the SD cold weather of low «60s» or even in SD scorching hot weather of 100, I’ll eat hot pot anytime. It does however taste better when it’s cold outside.
I’ve been on a hot pot kick because I love that I get my own steamy hot pot with soooo many goodies inside! I picked the H1 spicy beef soup hot pot and my BF got the kimchi pork hot pot. Although I asked for spicy they gave me not spicy, so if you ask for chili oil you can mix it and it’ll give you the kick you want. All the goodies — fish cake, meatball, cabbage, enoki, and some things I don’t even know what I’m eating! So good though. It’s so fun fishing all your food from that hot pot! I thought my broth was a good beef broth, they even go around asking if you need more broth half way in between.
Service was great for us! We came on a slow night so we had great service. I never expect Asian places to have good service anyway so our expectations were low. A good hot pot place to go that’s not in Mira Mesa! This will be our to go place!

Been here a few more times and I have come to love this place! Opened late, hot pot, and AMAZING service-​what else could you ask for?
It can get a bit busy depending on what time you go since the restaurant itself isn’t extremely big. The service here is awesome! The waitresses are so friendly and attentive.
I’ve been ordering the H1 Beef Spicy hot pot and it’s delicious. I get medium spicy which is the perfect amount of kick to the soup! The ingredients look fresh and they don’t skimp on anything.

They offer lunch specials Monday to Friday 10:30am-3pm. Hot pot (H2, H3, H6, H9) & black/​green tea for $ 9.99 or hot pot & lunch special for $ 16.99. I’ve gone for the lunch special and dinner. The place is not large and not too cramped, it’s cozy. It probably wouldn’t be great for large groups though. I enjoy the drinks here more than the food.
SERVICE: When I first approached the front through the double sliding doors to go into 99 ranch, I wasn’t sure if we were suppose to pay then get our order or sit down then pay. Someone did eventually approach us to ask us if we were dining here or getting to go. So we were seated quickly. There was only one other party there the Friday night we came in. The waitresses were all very nice. We asked for extra napkins, sauces, and broth and they were happy to do so. Make sure to try their chili oil, satay, and spicy bean paste sauces with your hotpot, that’s what made everything taste better.
FOOD: The food wasn’t as bad as what all the reviews said about it. I tried their pickled cabbage lamb mini hot pot… Their pickle cabbage lamb did not come spicy, so we used the chili oil to spice things up. Initially, the broth was a little too pickled, but after adding the chili oil and some more broth, it was much better and eventually my pallet kind of enjoyed how authentic and unique the dish tasted. There was definitely a lot more fillers than the actual meat but I didn’t mind, it was a lot of food for one person!
DESSERT & DRINKS: I enjoyed the $ 4.50 large taro milk tea without boba (50 cents more if you want boba) and $ 3.99 egg waffle. The taro milk tea was definitely my favorite, great flavor and sweetness, very good. Maybe the best I’ve had compare to other places! The egg waffle was okay, we thought it was somewhat bland. It was crispy on the outside and airy on the inside, which was kind of cool. It did not come with a sweet dip, which would have been a nice option to have.

Just got done eating here with a friend. It wasn’t so bad. Service was okay, could be better. Our server forgot to give us a condiment after we asked her. She passed us a few times and it never crossed her mind until we asked someone else.
We got:
Spicy beef hot pot
Kimchi hot pot
Mango yogurt blend
Pineapple yogurt blend
I can’t say how the kimchi hot pot was but my friend said she enjoyed it. For the spicy beef hot pot it wasn’t even spicy at all so I added in the chili oil they have. For the yogurt blend drinks they were good but after awhile I didn’t want anymore, wish they were smaller.

Located right next to 99 Ranch, with a convenient entrance to the restaurant from within the grocery store, I had to stop in and finally try the famed ‘EGG WAFFLE’.
With the appearance of baked, oversized, packing bubbles, these waffles have drawn my attention for 2 years and I finally got a taste of them.
I ordered a plain egg waffle (named for the fact that they are more egg than flour; unlike traditional waffles) to go. Set me back $ 2.99, but was ready in a jiffy and packaged in a brown bag (note — that is as ecofriendly as to-​go packaging can get).
Nice and hot, I couldn’t wait to dig in and eat a few of the ‘bubbles’ in the car. They were delicious and not too sweet. I saved some of the ‘bubbles’ for my mom in UTC and surprisingly the waffle was still warm enough for he to enjoy.
I’ll be back, and next time, I’ll try the egg waffle with MOCHI! :) Stay tuned!