9119 Cafe

READ THIS. Hopefully my review will get them to reopen. To those who said 9119 isn’t better than Boiling Point must be dirty cabbage farmers, because that’s literally half my bowl. 9119 is like heaven on earth massage parlor of Taiwanese hot pot. Just the right about of cabbage, the right amount of everything really. They even got the timing for the fire right. That ish turns off at the perfect time. This is why we can’t have nice things, because of you cabbage farmers. My girlfriend and I came here literally every week, sometimes twice a week. Come back 9119. I miss you. I love you.

I almost enjoyed the food but i found hair in my food. My stomach turned and i cant eat this food ever again.

Love the flavor of the soup, and there’s a great variety of ingredients, which are also tasty & fresh! A bit of a surprise, the tofu in the hot pots are stinky tofu! Right up my alley, but some may want to ask for those to be excluded. Each pot came with thin clear noodles or rice (depending on preference). (note: the soups were more of a kind of ‘marinade’ for the ingredients, didn’t taste so good by itself) Great hot pot place, and the hot pot comes in cute bowls with a small fire in a wood/​iron holder. Service was prompt, lighting is a little dim though.
Got the House, Sukiyaki, and Taiwanese Spicy hot pots. Didn’t try the spicy one, but according to the others with me it was good too. Would definitely come again!

My favorite spot for a personal hot pot!
If you’ve ever been to boiling point stop going, because 9119 slays. I love getting curry fishball or bbq beef satay. The soup is always delicious and the servings are generous (and i’m never overwhelmed with a mass of cabbage at the end).
Only cons about this place is the service. The waiters usually assume everyone who comes in speaks mandarin and they have to be called over or waved down if you need something. They’re pretty friendly, just a bit slow and inattentive.

This place is just ok.
They were out of popcorn chicken and lamb. Ended up ordering BBQ beef, miso soup, and curry fishball. There wasn’t anything amazing about the broth, so it felt like a typical individual hot pot.

Like other Unilocalers have said, once you enter you are hit with the smell of stinky tofu. Service wasn’t great either as there is only one waitress and she was no where to be seen when my party of ready to pay. They have different types of pots then Boiling Point does. I had the Curry Fishball pot and it was ok. Overall, I would rather go to Boiling Point.

SIGH SIGH. I was wishful in thinking that this would be better than Boiling Point, but it might just be the same or possibly slightly worse.
I came here on a Wednesday evening around 7 PM. The place was so empty, except one table with people. I was actually pretty excited because upon entrance, you got a lovely whiff of stinky tofu.
We were quickly seated and barely had time to look at the menu when the lady rushes over and wants to take down our orders immediately.
In the flurry of things, we ordered:
–2 Taiwanese spicy hotpot (one medium hot, one extra hot) /​/​Really spicy! They don’t mess around. Comes with either a bowl of rice or bowl of uncooked noodles (you get to choose). Looks like half a pack of ramen? And you get an egg, with lots of cabbage and some meat.
–1 Sukiyaki hotpot (low spicy) /​/​broth is way tooo sweet! I’ve never had Japanese style hot pot so this may be my fault. If you’re looking for a savory broth, flip your menu back the other way! Besides the broth, the ingredients were plentiful. I got lots of cabbage, mushrooms, some sparce pieces of udon noodles and imitation crab, 2 mini mussels and an egg. This also came with a bowl of rice.
–1 order of fried stinky tofu /​/​A bit too overfried for my liking, but definitely gives you that stinky scent! They were still making their fermented cabbage (泡菜) and that is totally not right! Why did you not already have this prepared? And why did I have to ask you first to find out if I was being ripped off of my order?
Pros:
–Clean environment! Nice, spacious seating. AC blasted a bit too high (or too low?) so bring a thin jacket!
–Decent flavors. They replicate Boiling Point pretty well (even with their lunch specials) so if you like Boiling Point, it’s basically like coming to another place but with less people.
Cons:
–Awkward service. The girl didn’t understand half the questions we were asking, and she was getting frustrated that we were asking too many?
–Chill (aka «shivers») ambiance. Probably because this place isn’t poppin’, but from the outside the place looks super sketch (the black tinted windows? Come on…). And the inside confirms your beliefs.
Tips/​Observations:
–Menu font is pretty small, and since the place is so dim, you’re going to have to stick your nose to the menu.
–You can get a stamp card here!
Overall, probably would not step back in this place again. Adieu, 9199 Café.

If you love stinky tofu, this may be the place for you.
As soon as you enter the restaurant, you will get a whiff of stinky tofu.
I didn’t feel like having a stinky tofu soup so I asked for pearl tea and popcorn chicken which they told me they had neither of.
Despite my friend’s ordering before a group of guys that came in way later, the group of guys got their order way before us. Soups took exactly an hour to come out. That’s too long.

Vegetarian here, can’t speak for the meat dishes, looks and smells good.
I order the veggie tofu hot pot with the non-​meat broth.
I like this style of hotspot because it’s served in a very large individual pot.
Traditional hot pot with tons of people gets messy, being vegetarian, if the big family pot couldn’t be segregated to avoid the meat bacteria, I would get sick.
Iced drinks are really good, lotsaaaa sugar. :)
Décor is cool, music is sweet, I haven’t listened to Jay Chou in years till I came here.
Service was poor during grand opening month, it’s gotten much better with better staff. English or Mandarin or Cantonese, you’ll be comfortable here.
Parking lot is crazy, be careful.

Beware: the stinky tofu smell in here can get really strong.
I got the Cilantro and Preserved Egg hot pot set ($ 12.99) which was pretty good. Lots of cilantro, lots of preserved egg. The sliced pork was fatty and tender, even after sitting in my boiling pot for a while. Beneath the surface is a ton of cabbage. I wish there were more non-​cabbage items like different kinds of fish balls.
Oh the menu, there are hot pot sets that cost either $ 12.99 or $ 16.99. You do get more for the $ 16.99 but the $ 12.99 set had plenty of food for me. I was stuffed. They all come with your choice or glass noodles or rice.
The restaurant was maybe ¼ full and service was okay. They sort of forget about you after they give you your food.

This would be 3.5 stars. Ordered 1 house special and a sate barbecue for their BOGO special.
Both hot pots were good in flavor and you are able to choose your spicyness level (mine was mild as was my moms) and it hit the spot.
My main concern was one of the employees who worked there (the only female worker) who had a terrible, terrible attitude. She was not friendly whatsoever, and always responded abruptly back with a scowl on her face. In addition, service here is VERY slow. waited 25 – 30 minutes for my food.

Not sure what to rate this place if I were to compare it to other hot pot places in the area. But at least in the Bay Area, I’d have to say that this place serves pretty decent Taiwanese style hot pot. The smell of stinky tofu that emanates from this restaurant (in a good kind of way) made me nostalgic for Taiwan.
I got the curry hotpot which was pretty decent. The curry taste wasn’t too overpowering and melded well with the vegetables and the other stuff in the pot.
The only thing is that the service was slow. We waited around 10 min to sit and 30 min after we ordered to get our stuff. The staff were really friendly, of course. But one star for slow service.
Otherwise, really liked the sauces (one spicy, one sweet) and the huoguo.

I came here with my girlfriend for hotpot around noon and this place was pretty empty, with only one other party around noon. I ordered the satay beef while my girlfriend ordered the house special (since it had sticky tofu), and we both really enjoyed our hotpots. I managed to finish mine since I was really hungry, but the hotpot is big enough that most people will probably have leftovers. I honestly don’t have anything to critic about 9119 café since their wait time is reasonable unlike Boiling Point — which is possibly the most overrated place in Fremont, their portions are big, the price is right, and food is quick to come to your table. Skip Boiling Point and come here if you’re looking for Taiwanese hotpot.

I really want to give this place a 4 star, but the ingredients are just too little, compared to the other hot pot places.
I had the stinky tofu pot, which was pretty good, just too little ingredients.
The things that help this place stand out is the appetizers they offer.
Here’s what we ordered:
Tofu fries — pretty good
Sausages — perfect with sliced garlic
Stinky tofu — not bad. The pickled cabbages were pretty good.
Pig’s blood rice cakes — ok
Taiwanese mala pot — pretty good.
Stinky tofu pot — pretty good, but not suggested for overnight consumption, if you’re not used to the stinky smell.
Porridge pot — really light. Pretty good.
Sesame oil chicken pot — ok

The best Taiwanese hotpot place in the area! They’re still soft opening so there’s some kinks to work out, but there’s a lot of potential.
As a vegetarian it’s hard to find good hotpot that caters to vegetarians. This place has a good, flavorful vegetarian pot. Only wish they would have a little more variety in their ingredients — loved the mushroom, tofu and cabbage but would’ve appreciated some other items like taro, corn, etc.
Décor is nice, clean and modern and service is good. Prices are reasonable for this type of food in the area.
Don’t forget to get the instant noodle add-​on! Will have to try the stinky tofu side next time.

Meh… is definitely the correct word for my experience here. I was fortunate to get a table immediately on their opening day. Awesome right!!!
Let’s start with the service. Don’t expect the staff to speak English. It is very limited and definitely frustrating. I wanted to order a tea drink off their menu and the server told me they are not offering it. So I asked for a cup of water and she said they don’t give water and walked off. Looking at other tables, they all have to-​go cups of various teas. So another server comes and tells us we can order tea but will not give us water. WTF fine, just give me something to drink I’m thirsty.
Our food comes out: good flavor, tons of veggies, meat amount is average. They ran out of rice so I substituted noodles, which was very skimpy (wish I took a pic but was too hungry).
After our meal was consumed I looked around the restaurant and noticed that every… single…table…had a white water cup. wtf? So I get charged $ 3.00 per drink because they wouldn’t give me water and now everyone has it? Also, an older Chinese couple next to me was arguing with the server possibly over water since my friend somewhat understood what they were saying.
Hmmm I probably wouldn’t go back unless I was desperately craving hot pot and I was stranded in the plaza with no other choice.

I have very mixed feelings about 9119 café… First of all — it really isn’t even a «café,» the name in itself can be confusing but if you know how to read their Chinese title, then you might actually have meant to come to this hot pot restaurant.
We first came with a large party during their soft opening. At the time, it was a complete chaos! Although we were seated with short wait time (only because we were trying to seat the 10 of us together, otherwise no wait), the food literally came after an hour! How? We sat there and watched other tables being served and then they tried to give me the wrong pot, which they then took back. By the time I got my hot pot, everyone else in my party was done with theirs and we were all over an hour late for work. At this time, they gave out free drinks with the hotpot… Except we got our drinks so late it was kinda pointless. How do you have the Taiwanese Spicy hot pot with no drink?
This second time, I went with just one other person and although food came fairly quickly… Service was still lacking. They were friendly, but seemed very swamped and were forgetful. We had to ask 3 different waiters/​waitresses for water refills before we got it. We weren’t even offered any drinks when we were seated. Again, how do you have spicy hot pot with no drinks :|
The hotpot itself was only okay, not quite Boiling Point status, but I did feel like it was slightly above your average hot pot place. There’s not a whole lot to say about hot pot — the broth for the Miso was not too salty which I thought was a plus!

The waitress gave us a worse position of table for two. The whole store was empty, so I asked for a better table. Not many people here, but no one take care of us unless we call someone.
Water upon request, waited for 10 minutes, and my husband stood up for me to ask again.
Tomato Vege Tofu $ 12.99 Delicious! House special $ 12.99. Yummy. The soup of both were too sweet.
If you are starving, DO NOT come here. My friend told me he waited for 50 minutes for his food, and there were only 3 tables of costumers that day.
1 star for service.
5 stars for food.

I keep reading these 5 star «reviews» and wonder to myself:
Do they all work at this store?
If this wasn’t a new business I’d give it 1 star.
Came at 1:20PM on a Thursday. You figure, hey even if they were new and had a crowd, it wouldn’t be too bad on a weekday after the lunch rush right?
Well, wrong. 9119 Café had this strange phenomenon going, that is, people weren’t waiting in line, they were waiting AT THE TABLE.
There were plenty of tables open, due to the greedy owners who decided it was a good idea to put tables RIGHT UP AGAINST THE DOOR. So there were quite a few people waiting to be served either new customers or people who have been eating there for a while… Waiting for various stages service expected for their meal.
Even then, there was a small line forming at the door. Lol. And no one tended to them for like 10 – 15 minutes.
When we sat down it was obvious that quite a few customers were irate. I keep hearing servers apologizing about x, y or z… And thought to myself «hey at least they were being honest about their shortcomings». Little did we know…
We sat down, took them 10 minutes to clear our table and get our order (yes, our tables weren’t bused at all, so were 3 – 4 tables near us, we saw one table that didn’t get bused for like almost half hour). We put in our order and this is where it all went down hill.
One of the timid servers comes back with 4 placemats and sets of chopsticks, spoons, etc etc. She drops a chopstick, and one of the other servers sees this and berates her right in front of the customer. The other girl was like «oh you are doing it wrong, that is not how you hold it, you are just making more work for us later».
Lol?
We ordered the stinky pot and the taiwan ma-​la pot, with rice, and extra side orders of rice. About 15 minutes later, someone comes out and tells us:
«Sorry about this but we are out of rice»
How are you out of rice??? My sons love rice and was looking forward to having rice for lunch, so they start to throw tantrums like what 3 and 6 year olds would do. So the wife goes to Tea Station to buy a couple of rice dishes for the kids.
While she was gone the hotpots arrive. They bring two of the same ma-​la pots to my table. I’m like what the…3 of the servers promptly got confused about my order and one of them finally goes «oh one of these is not for this table!».
Another 5 minutes later they bring us the right order. I start eating and was like ok where’s my vermicelli that they were going to replace my rice with? I keep trying to flag people down, I get ignored, finally someone looks at me and asks «what do you need sir». I told them «hey where’s my vermicelli and drinks?!?». He goes «oh yeah sorry about that». I get my vermicelli, and still no drinks. Another 5 minutes pass by, and they come and tell me «oh we’re out of green tea». Lol ok.
What I finally got was two cups full of ice with very little black tea, 0 sugar.
So now about the food. It is about a 3 at best. I paid 15 bucks and this is what I got:
— cabbage, lots of it, like at least half the pot
— 2 very small pieces of «pigs blood cake»
— 2 very small slices of pigs blood… think a slice of butter, cut in half…
— 3 really small slices of tofu
— I saw 1 piece of intestine… I don’t know where they got this from, it was about the width of my wife’s pinkie, really small
— 1 small quail egg
— 1 raw egg
— some cheap ramen
— Maybe couple ounces of meat
— 2 – 3 fish ball halves
— 2 small pieces of fish cake, I mean, really small
— 1 closed clam… Hahah yeah not about to tempt fate
This was supposed to be the «taiwan ma-​la pot». The soup base was not ma-​la by any means, it was actually sweet from all the cabbage.
At this point wife comes back from Tea station and starts to feed the children. She is irate by this point. While we were eating a server comes by and tells us:
«Oh we don’t allow outside food here»
Wife explodes at this point and says «you know what if you actually had RICE I wouldn’t have to go buy RICE next door! Do you think I want to do this? We told your other server she said it was ok! You guys don’t have rice, don’t have tea, don’t have popcorn chicken, don’t have half the things on the menu!». I had to calm her down and the servers all start to apologize in turn and left us alone.
We hear other similar complaints around us, and a few instances they even got customers the wrong change. When it was time for us to go, I went up there instead of waiting. I got the hand, and was told to wait. When it was finally my turn, it took her 3 minutes to find my order, another 2 to figure out how to remove the extra rice that was never served. While standing there I notice one of the servers who just walked into the kitchen busing tables stick her hands into a pot and grabs a handful of vermicelli… Uh eww?
They need to get their act together. Seriously, they turned my lunch into a disaster. If you are thinking of coming here, I’d wait 1 – 2 months.

I had the tomato tofu hotpot, the soup base is delicious, and vegetables ingredients are fresh!
My husband had the lamb hotpot. He loves the meat and the soup base was the lamb bone cooked soup. Very yummy!!!
Me would definitely come back to try more.