The Flame

First off, not sure where the reviews complaining about service come from? We arrived on a Sunday PM — found free parking down the block and were immediately seated, greeted warmly and had water glasses and menus placed cheerily and immediately ! Ordered the lamb skewers (5 for $ 8.99) and with the homemade sate and hot sauce in the table started off really strong ! Next time I’ll order two of those and make my meal ! Yummy grilled and marinated lamb — reminded us of skewers from Lijiang, China. Then the Mrs and I had the special beef and seafood hot pots ($ 13.99 each and filled to the brims). Plenty to eat, the clams and tiny octopus and giant prawns were all yummy. They refilled broth and water glasses and even replaced our condiments so we could use up more of their homemade sate and hot sauces ! Really clean and nice place. We got a super deal using GROUPON but we’ll be back for the lamb kebabs and hot pots! I appreciate that they were as friendly and clearly proud of the food they were putting out !! Well done and once again glad to live in a city were we have so many choices !

The food is great, it is an alternative to far away Boiling Point down in South Bay or in Seattle. Parking was hard — but this is expected. The door could be fixed though, it bangs very loud.

Decided to take advantage of the Groupon deal to try this place and it didn’t disappoint!
I’ve came here twice so far and both times I ordered the lamb pot. The broth is is pretty good and the pot comes with A LOT of stuff! I just didn’t like that they have the meat wrapped up in little balls because it made the meat really dry.
Other than that, I still really liked everything including the dipping sauce and the milk tea! must order the milk tea heree… so good… although, I found it strange that they didn’t have to-​go cups for drinks. bummer.
Service was not the best the last time i was here because they forgot to bring our utensils when our food arrived! we had to remind the waitress to bring our rice, and the food took forever to come out (i think they messed up our order) :/​
Despite the poor service the 2^nd time I was here, I still like this place for it being the only taiwanese hot pot restaurant in San Francisco. :)

Came here with a Groupon like most of us. It was a week night and there was plenty of space. I agree with the previous reviewer that parking in the area is difficult. The first thing I noticed upon entering was the smell of the place :/
I ordered the #4 curry while my friend ordered #2 beef special. I specified that I didn’t want any spice in my curry but the server said not to worry about it. I don’t have a very high spice tolerance and probably should have just went with something else but listened to her anyway. Didn’t really like my order and the smell of the curry. It was still pretty spicy… It’s boiling hot so be careful when you take your first bite. My friend’s #2 beef special looked better. The ramen and corn made it a good choice.
Overall, thought the food was only okay, and a decent deal with Groupon.

Been to the flame twice now and both times with a groupon. I probably would not suggest this place unless you have a groupon then «maybe» it’s okay. It isn’t busy at all now a days so you don’t have to worry about a wait or anything like that.
I have had the beef special #2 both times and it has been okay. They give a good amount of things in the pot. It isn’t super flavorful but it’s decent.

I LOVED this taiwanese hot pot place! There’s literally no taiwanese hot pot restaurants in SF and I’m so glad they opened one. The wait is a bit long for the food to come out after you order, but from what I recalled Boiling point took just as long. I picked the Crab hot pot and the broth was just SO delicious and full of flavor. There’s also pieces of meat included. I’d definitely come back

For how long it took us to find a parking spot to come here, NOT worth it. Seriously, it literally took us an HOUR to find a spot– it was Sunday night around 7 though so probably all the people who live there were settled in for the night, understandable but irritating at the same time.
Finally by some miracle blessed by baby Jesus, we found a spot and finally got in to sit down. Pretty small space so definitely plan on waiting for a bit (at least 30 minutes). I thought the prices were kind of steep compared to SD’s but hey, we are in SF. The other thing that was not so great was the service. We had to flag them down several times to refill water and get straws. They would say oh ok yeah i’ll get it and then forget, so 15 minutes later after you flag them down, they say the same thing and they still forget so you take matters into your own hands and start wandering around (it’s not a big place so not much wandering to do) and they FINALLY acknowledge you to bring you what you asked for 30 minutes ago now.
Sad to say, I’d choose another place to eat, not worth the wait and time for bad service and ok food.

Okay, driving to SJ for original boiling point is tooooo far! So I have to take this? Nay…
Got the Groupon special and gave this place a try.
I ordered #2 beef combo with clear glass noodle AND instant ramen noodle which is plus.
My boy ordered the lamb which doesn’t have ramen included. Additional charge of you wanna add on.
Pot comes very boiling hot with meat already FULLY COOKED. Omg… I don’t like it at all. Order meat aside please, if you don’t want your meat over cooked.
In the #2 pot, there’s way tooooo many different ingredients: beef (rolled in very small pieces and fully cooked), pork intestine (cleaned up nicely), imitation crab meat, corn, soft tofu, fish tofu, fish balls, bak choi, Napa cabbage, broccoli?! enoki mushroom, cilantro, green onion, glass noodle and ramen.
Just toooo many to me! I don’t really like it.
Lastly, soup base was very salty. I have to drink 2 cups of water.
I would rather spend a little more money for regular hot pot place.

Visiting the parents on a very windy cold day in San Francisco. Windy cold day = hot soup! First, this place is really really small. Not a lot of tables so expect a wait. We had a party of 5 so we had to wait about 20 minutes. Also, they don’t seat you unless your entire party is there at the restaurant.
They specialize in personal hot pots (similar to boiling point) and the prices range from $ 12-​$ 15 depending on which pot you get. There’s not much else to pick from as far as entrees go but they also have skewers (lamb, chicken, etc) and steamed rice.
I picked #10 Tofu Pot because I am a huge fan of stinky tofu. It doesn’t smell that pungent (or I’ve just gotten that used to the smell =p). The ingredients were very fresh and it definitely made me full. I ordered the «Make it spicy!» and it wasn’t too spicy but I really like spicy so maybe err on the side of caution.
You SFers are probably already in the know on this but PARKING IS HORRIBLE!!! Sadly, I’m not even exaggerating. Granted it was a Sunday night and a cold windy night at that so everyone was probably snug and warm in their homes but there was literally NO PARKING. I think we searched for parking for literally half an hour if not more. Even considered finding a new place to eat just because there was no parking.

Wanted to see what the rage was for this place going with high expectations, but it was just okay. Seems like this place is just a replicate of Boiling Point.
The seafood pot was very flavorless. Had to use sauces for every item in the pot, and the portions are too small. I was not even full!!! =O Felt kinda ripped off for hotpot.
The special beef pot shown in the picture seems as if there was more beef than the regular beef but it barely had much of a difference in addition to that the soup was way too salty.

As many of the other reviews have stated, this place replicates the same concept as Boiling Point; individual hot pots per person with set items in the pot already cooking right when the waitress brings it out. I have been keeping track of the status on this place, reading reviews when it first opened (roughly 8 – 9 months ago) until now. Seems like people are more satisfied with the service and quality now than they were before, so I decided it was a good time to check this place out with my friend.
We got the groupon deal ($ 16 for $ 25 worth of food) and went here on a Saturday evening around 7pm. It wasn’t too crowded, but we had to wait about 15 minutes for a table for two. We finally got seated, and there are only two waitresses monitoring the restaurant. It didn’t seem like a big deal, but realizing how unattentive they were towards us was pretty annoying. It took them awhile to realize we were ready to order (maybe about an extra 20 minute wait) and we finally got our order taken and waters on our table.
Now onto the food; it actually wasn’t bad at all! We both got the #2 beef special that came with fish balls, glass noodles, ramen noodle, cabbage, corn, mussels, other greens, tofu, and fishcake (might be missing some ingredients but they are listed on the menu). The fire under the pot got annoying when it made the dish too hot to eat, so when we figured the meat was done cooking, we asked the waitress to put it out. Downsides? Rice is not included and the prices for the pots are just okay comparing this aspect to Boiling Point. Otherwise, this place is good addition to the neighborhood if you don’t want AYCE. just do not expect the best service here. Definitely recommend the groupon!

This was my first time ever coming to The Flame. I went around 12 – 1 pm on a weekend and luckily there wasn’t much people. I ordered the #2 on the menu which was the beer special. It was around $ 14 (not including tips or tax) which was a bit overpriced.
The pot was brought out in timely fashion. Not slow or too fast. The food was boiling and steam was coming out. The smell was overwhelming as well.
There was:
— fishcakes
–imitation crab
— tiny clams
— fish balls
— beef (of course)
— awesome broth
–ramen and clear glass noodles
Overall, the food was great. I will be checking out other hot pot places as well. So far, this place is at the top of the list.

This is no boiling point — but will do the trick until they decide to open one up here!
I came with my family & got to try 4 different pots & the lamb skewer. We ordered the beef special, lamb, curry, & seafood. My favorite was the beef & least favorite was either the curry or lamb. The curry pot has too think of a consistency and can get to be too much after a couple bites — maybe it’s just me, but after 3 – 4 bites I was done. At one point, I was even washing off some of the veggies/​meats in the beef soup lol. As for the lamb pot, I just never really liked the taste of lamb, so this was no surprise.
The skewer has pretty good flavor — but again, I don’t really enjoy lamb, so I didn’t enjoy it as much as the rest of my family.
Remember that if your pot gets to be too hot — you can always ask for them to put out «the flame» (lol) and they can also add more broth if you want it!
I think this place would be perfect for a cold/​rainy night in SF

I got a Groupon and came here on Saturday when it just opened at 5 pm for dinner. There were two other tables inside. The décor was very modest, diner style. I had no expectations. The two of us got the lamb and seafood hotpots. Both came with plenty of toppings, like bok choy, broccoli, fish balls, tofu, clams, glass noodles, fried tofu, a raw egg that boils to cook. My seafood hotpot came with 2 large prawns, 2 clams, fish pieces, 2 sliced calamari pieces, and an octopus. I thought it was very worth it! I tried a few pieces of the lamb and it was pretty good too.
I loved that the hotpots were seated on top of real flames, which died down after 30 minutes, keeping the food quite hot. The spice level we chose were the spiciest. It was made up of Sichuan peppers, which we love.
The service was good, and we ended up only spending $ 6 – 7 after the Groupon was used. So worth it!

Came here because I had purchased a groupon for $ 15 for $ 25 dining credit. Ordered the special beef soup-​mild spicy and it was just a-​okay. The soup was pretty bland to me and they also offer two types of sauces but I didn’t really like them :(However, it did have a pretty decent selection of items inside the pot that included cabbage, beef, tofu, fish balls, noodles, etc. Halfway through the meal, most of my soup had dried out due to the flame (ha, get it?) so next time I’d probably ask them to put out the flame since the beef cooks really fast (and thats pretty much the only thing that needs cooking.)
The service was pretty good, the waitresses let us sit wherever we wanted on a Friday night. No complaints about that.
It wasn’t hella bomb but it wasn’t bad either. Perhaps I would try it again on a cold night in SF!

Just wait till the end to see why this place got two stars. The service and food were pretty good, and add in the fact that I had a groupon would’ve made this place at least a 3.5−4 stars in my book.
I got the number two, which was pretty tasty. My friend got the lamb pot and said the soup was pretty bland. Mine wasn’t tho, because I got medium spicy. Maybe it was the negative reviews, but I went in with pretty low expectations, so the food ended up surprising me a little bit.
The reason that this place gets two stars from me is the amount of msg they put in the soup. I’m usually not sensitive to msg, but man, I had a raging headache, similar to the ones you get after a long night of drinking. and this coming from someone whose household has a jar of msg in their pantry.
I don’t think the headache is worth coming back here :/

Just came here last night with the husband. We normally do hotpot ourselves at home, however because of this awesome Groupon deal, we decided to check it out. This spot reminded us of a hotpot lunch we had in Taiwan with family not too long ago.
He ordered the beef hotpot medium spicy, while I ordered the veggie pot super spicy. I do agree with some reviewers that the spiciness is a lot of oil and peppers, however it’s totally palatable. We saw on the menu they had stinky tofu for the pots, however we didn’t get it for ours. Maybe next time.
This is a small neighborhood joint. The workers are nice, and the hotpots were good enough for us to come back.

Went to check out this place because of a groupon deal!
What’s with all the bad reviews? I thought the food is pretty good, especially the broth which I found pretty flavorful
The special thing about this place is the individual hot pots – each person gets his/​her own pot, with ingredients that he/​she chooses. Nice!
It’s nice to see your own pot of food being boiled/​cooked right in front of you. The bubbling hot soup with all the meat and seafood is literally the best appetizer in the world. mmmmm
The spiciness is also pretty accurate. I always get the «most spicy», which is actually pretty spicy but not unbearable. When you finish, it always leaves you wanting more.
Definitely a place to visit again and again

I was definitely skeptical about coming here. The reviews are terrible! Groupon was having a 20% off deal, and to my surprise, the Flame had a Groupon! Discounts on top of discounts? I’m down.
I’ve been to the Flame twice, and both times the broth was yummy. It wasn’t drenched in chili oil either. I ordered the Beef Special, which has so many ingredients in the pot, and the quality is superb! It may look small but you’ll definitely be full! I ordered the Flaming Spice (???)! Gave me a good sweat, but it was delicious! TIP: Order the meat on the side so it won’t overcook! But don’t wait until your flame died down or else you’ll have super rare meat :(. True story.
So happy we finally have yummy Taiwanese hot pot in SF. I’ll be back, especially when I don’t feel like driving all the way to South Bay for Wujis or HIT. Don’t let the low ratings fool you. Give it a try!

Overall, okay. Menu has a good variety and the food is pretty good. The flame underneath the pot stayed lit the perfect amount of time.
The 3 stars is really based off my experience…
They confused my order and ended up charging me extra. #1 and #2 were the same price at the time. I pointed out the crab and the clams in my soup, calling out the difference between what i truly ordered, and they told me they sometimes change the pots ingredients. I didn’t believe what she was saying but i didn’t mind the extra add ins! That is… until i received the check. #1 and #2 are the same price. I basically received #2 and paid extra for egg and ramen, without receiving the extras!
It felt like they were still getting themselves in order. It’s only been open for a short while after all.