QT Pot recently opened, replacing Best Taste of China. They offer a variety of individual hot pots as well as skewers, snacks, and some cooked entrees.
I first read about the opening on Faye’s Fork. I love individual hot pots and have been hoping for other options in San Diego other than E & Drink. We weren’t much fans of Best Taste of China, especially the poor customer service, and Mr. K was a little worried this restaurant be the same owner. But once we entered, we knew this wasn’t the case. The service was extremely attentive and friendly and the restaurant was quite clean.
A lot of the customers seem to be ordering cooked dishes but we decided to stick to the hot pots for this initial visit. One thing I noticed was the big price difference between lunch and dinner for the “premium” hot pots. $4 difference! We came for dinner, but I think next time we’ll come for lunch instead.
Each pot also comes with a choice of rice or noodles and hot or cold tea.
House Special Pot
This is one of three premium hot pots and seems to have a little bit of everything (you can view the menu photos at the bottom for the full ingredient description). 
Most of the ingredients were buried at the bottom, so it’s hard to show them all in a photo. My initial thought was that it didn’t seem like a lot. I’m still looking for a place to open in San Diego like the popular chains in LA which are just brimming with food, like this:
However, the pot was quite wide and deep and this ended up being a lot of food. I believe this is the same size pot as the ones used at E& Drink, but E &Drink is really cheap on ingredients, filling most of their pots with napa cabbage. This one had minimal cabbage and lots of other ingredients. I actually had a hard time finishing mine.
Beef Hot Pot
This is one of the regular hot pots. We were worried that it might be less full, but there was still plenty of the listed ingredients and Mr. K also had trouble finishing his. The one critique with this pot was that the broth was much spicier than we had ordered. We ordered a mild spice, and this ended up being quite spicy.
Overall, we had a pretty good first impression. Our waters were constantly full (they serve cucumber water) and there were enough waiters that they were almost hovering. The owner was also constantly walking around monitoring everything and also talking to all the customers. A few of the regulars really liked the cooked dishes and fried wings so we’ll have to try those on another occasion. We definitely prefer this hot pot over E&Drink’s version. The prices are also comparable since the regular hot pots are around $10.
QT Pot
9201 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126
I’m so glad you were able to try this place out. I still wasn’t sure if the hot pots here at QT had more substantial ‘stuff’ than the ones at E&Drink. I think you’re right about E&Drink stuffing theirs with more napa cabbage than anything. I’m still trying to get the courage to eat intestines in my hot pot. Is it easier to eat in hot pot versus a stir fry (if one has never tried it before)?
Hmm, probably not on the intestines. if anything, the flavor is more prominent I think in the hot pot than when it is stir fried.
Wanted to let u know I’ve seen those candy grapes at Vons.
Just bought some today!
OMG! Thank you!!! Am going to go look for them tonight.
Btw, which Vons did you go to?