Sizzling Pot King

Sizzling Pot King is a Chinese restaurant specializing in dry hot pots. The restaurant replaced Qi Wei, a similar-style restaurant, towards the end of last year and has been quite popular.

I wasn’t very impressed with the previous restaurant and didn’t have much of a desire to check out the new incarnation. Then Kirk wrote a post and also mentioned to me that he thought I’d enjoy it, so I knew I had to go.

When we arrived, there was quite a few groups ahead of us, but they dish out the food pretty quickly so the wait wasn’t too bad.

Dry pot (also called dry hot pot), usually consists of pre-cooked food served in a heated pot. Unlike traditional hot pot, there is no soup base or need to cook your food. Guests choose from a variety of proteins, which are cooked and then placed into a pot filled with a variety of spicy peppers, herbs, and other spices. The pot also contains some base ingredients like bean sprouts, potatoes, celery, and (in this case) cauliflower. A flame is lit underneath your pot once it reaches your table, allowing the food to heat and absorb more of the spices.

Sizzling Pot King offers quite a large selection of proteins to choose from. You have your standard chicken, beef, lamb, along with more exotic ones like rabbit, and plenty of offal, which I love.

Combo Pot with Tripe and Beef Tongue

We chose a combo pot with tripe and beef tongue, which is served in the large sized pot. This was a lot of food and even though I was starving when we arrived, we only managed to eat about half of it. The proteins were quite flavorful, with a little bit of the numbing feeling from the peppercorns. The dish was spicy, but not unbearable for me.

I chose the tripe, which I really enjoyed. It wasn’t overcooked and still maintained some texture and chew. Mr. K wanted the beef tongue. I felt it was too soft and didn’t really care for it, but he seemed to enjoy it.

We didn’t add any vegetables other than the default ones, but I think I’ll add one or two next time. I did enjoy the cauliflower and celery.

This really hit the spot for me and I foresee multiple revisits in the future.

Overall, we enjoyed the food here. If you enjoy spicy food and dry pots, this is a nice place to eat it at. Service was fast and efficient and we were in and out in under an hour, with plenty of leftovers for another meal.

Menu:

Sizzling Pot King
8058 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, San Diego, CA 92111