Hot Pot Restaurants in Rowland Heights, CA

“It’s been getting quite cold outside (for Californian standards), which is the perfect time for sukiyaki. We’ve had Yumiyaki on our radar for a while now, and since I just subscribed to a Chubby Plus membership, we figured that now was as good a time as any to give them a try. You get a choice between shabu shabu or sukiyaki broth, and of course, we chose the sukiyaki. I personally prefer sukiyaki to traditional hot pot due to the sweeter broth. If you like your broth less sweet, you can ask your server to add more dashi. We also opted for the diamond menu, which gives each person a slice of A5 Ribeye. Your server will grill this initial premium piece of meat for you in a classic yakisuki style. First, they will grease the grill with a cube of fat and sprinkle a light amount of salt. Then, they pour a shallow amount of sukiyaki broth and briefly swish the meat in it before having you dip it in a saucer of raw, beaten egg and enjoy the rich, silky, indulgent bite. It was delicious - comparable to when I had it in Kyoto and much better than when I had it at Niku X. The diamond tier is worth it for that one bite alone. Even though I’ve already experienced it, I would get it again on my next visit.

After this presentation, your server will fill up the pot with the rest of the sukiyaki broth, and the rest of the cooking is up to you. Diamond tier gives you unlimited access to the A5 Chuck Roll, which Gold tier only gets 1 piece of. It’s very rich and fatty, and to maximize your enjoyment for the night, you should have multiple trays of it, especially because each order of the A5 Chuck Roll only comes with 2 pieces. The Wagyu Brisket was good, but a little outshined by other meats on the menu. For people that prefer something more lean, the Full Blood M9+ Shoulder Cut (a new menu item, I believe)  is an excellent option.

In addition to beef, Yumiyaki also offers a selection of seafood dishes to complement your meal, The Diamond tier gives you a choice from their 4 specialty dishes. We all chose the Otoro bowl with caviar, chopped Otoro served over a small bed of rice and a dollop of caviar on top. The Otoro was decent. I’m not a huge fan of presenting Otoro chopped because I feel like it takes away from the texture. It was still enjoyable, but I’ve definitely had better. I think if you’re going to have it chopped, a touch of freshness from chives or something would’ve been nice. Classic nigiri is available in AYCE fashion. We stuck to the salmon and bluefin tuna and had no complaints there. Diamond tier gives you additional access to the wagyu nigiri with foie gras and wagyu nigiri with caviar. They were good, but I would’ve liked more caviar and foie gras on each piece. Raw scallops, among other seafood items, are available to everyone in the buffet area as well, and they were delicious after simmering in our broth (please don’t eat those raw).

Service, however, was a little rocky. For the most part, our server was nice, got our meat out quickly, and frequently checked up on us, but sometimes seemed absent minded. Sometimes when I talked to this person, I wasn’t sure if they were paying attention to me. They also forgot to apply my Chubby Plus discounts. I’m glad I double checked my receipt, because I paid a hefty price for that membership, and I would hope I got all the benefits from it. We also had to ask for some things multiple times, such as refills on eggs and the receipt. The restaurant is quite small and we were among the last guests of the night, so I don’t understand why the service was so splotchy even though the restaurant was not very busy.

Aside from the occasional rough patches, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Yumiyaki and think that it is one of the better Chubby Group restaurants. I loved the yakisuki presentation and enjoyed the A5 Ribeye. The sukiyaki broth was so delicious. I would definitely come back to Yumiyaki and recommend it to my family and friends.“

“Thanks to my son in law we got to try a new spot. How Rowland Heights has changed since the 80’s. Just love the rich food scene. Be forewarned. Friday and Saturday nights the parking can be very challenging. Once seated service was quick. But here is how it works. You order your broth selection an some premium proteins online. The rest is pretty much self service from the various refrigerators. Seafood, beef tendon, beef with cilantro, gizzards, plenty of mushrooms, and veggies. You select what you want and take it back to your table and immerse in the broth. Feels very cafe style which I just enjoyed. Totally a find. I will be back.“

“Clean, friendly & attentive staff, lots of options for ingredients, good classic bone soup, tomato soup, mushroom soup but my favorite is the stir-fried spicy wok (麻辣香鍋)🌶️🌶️🌶️, so much that I’ve been coming here weekly.“

“For the $19.99 AYCE lunch, I have no complaints whatsoever. It exceeded all of our expectations. I've been cooking for my family for 30 years and my friend is a champion in BBQ. We both are impressed with the freshness of the vegetables, seafood, and meat. We boiled everything at the table, so if it's not washed cleaned to be eaten raw, then the high water temperature would have sanitized and disintergrated what didn't belong in our mouths.“

“Lots of free snacks! Recommend the sesame dumplings and glutinous rice dumplings! The spicy hot pot tastes very good, the best Chongqing hot pot I have had in years! Recommend the pork belly, lamb shoulder, loin fillet and fish fillet. Big praise for Xi’an waitress!“

“The hotpot I eat most often with friends is Lao Pier. The first time I ate flying pancakes was at Lao Pier. Now that I think about it, it still tastes delicious.“

“this shabu-shabu place is amazing 😝 they offer a wide variety of soup base options, and soups I tried were flavorful and rich. the quality of the meat is fresh, tender, and really top-notch !! the employees are incredibly friendly and attentive, which made the whole dining experience even better. Highly recommended :)) 🤤“

“The best Malatang in Los Angeles, especially the secret bone broth, with dipping sauces is even better than the soup base in some hot pot restaurants. I have eaten at all the restaurants by Zhang Liang and Yang Guofu, and they are not to my taste. This is the only one that I want to go back to because of its delicious flavor. I hope the boss keeps it going.“

“red chili is my sunday spot, it’s cozy, flavorful, and consistently hits the mark. the stir-fried string beans are punchy and perfectly blistered, the pickled chili fish is sour and spicy in all the right ways, and the pork belly is so tender it barely holds together (in a good way). i also love ordering a few cold dishes to balance things out. the tripe with chili oil has this addictive chew and numbing heat.

nancy is my waitress every time and i adore her. she’s warm, fast, and somehow always knows exactly what i want, even when i don’t“

“It’s so delicious. It’s good quality and reasonably priced. I’ll repurchase the pork belly chicken endlessly. Thank you, boss. I hope the restaurant can keep going. There are so few restaurants in Los Angeles that I can keep coming back to. Most of them are blocked after I go there once. I have been eating here for more than three years and the taste remains the same.“

“One of the best Japanese Shabu Shabu restaurants in Los Angeles.“