Taichi Pot Mala Hot Pot

This place is fantastic! I have never been to a Hot Pot spot!
First, make sure you check in with Unilocal and get a free hot sake (BALLER).
Second, get the half and half, one side of spicy broth and one side of the umami broth. We ordered the angus beef (HOLY MOLY SO GOOD) and the pork with veggies and mushrooms. The meat was sliced so perfectly thin, it soaked up all the broth and complex flavors. The portions were great and the price was right.
The staff was just as excellent as the food, if not more. They were so attentive and brought us extra sauce and even got us some new sauces to try with our dinner. We will definitely be coming back!

Good quality food nice ppl n good price. They are nice and friendly. The menu has a lot of traditional Taiwanese hot pot item!

We’ve been here a couple times and this is definitely our go to spot for hotpot in the area! The broth is really refreshing, the mala tofu in the spicy broth is delicious, and all their ingredients are really fresh.
The service is great and the restaurant is really clean and well organized.
The price is good for what you get and the wait is definitely not bad (yet!).
Recommend for cold nights, celebrations, or just a low key night out!

First time came here, it was great. We ordered the half and half pot. The spicy side it was perfectly fit my level and wagu beef it taste very tender and juicy. The server were nice. Overall we definitely will come back often.

My favorite hot pot restaurant! The meat quality is at a whole different level compared to most other hot pot restaurants. Definitely beats Little Lamb by a mile. The meat tastes fresh, has great texture — even if you overcook it! Lamb here was a nice surprise too, after cooking in the spicy broth it still carries a very nice flavor, but never gammy. Oh and the non spicy broth is cooked from dried fish, we couldn’t help but had a few spoonfuls straight out of the pot.

Definitely a good alternative to little sheep!
The Good
— Good broth (not as good as Little Sheep, but good alternative)
— Great Service (super attentive and super efficient)
— Free unlimited dipping sauce (sesame and ponzu sauce)
— Shorter wait (Went there around 7pm on a Saturday night, only waited 30 minutes to get our table. Not because they didn’t have a lot of customers, but rather the staff served everything lightning speed. We got all of our orders on the table ready to go within 3 minutes of sitting down)
— Easy parking (in a huge shopping center)
The Bad
— Can be on the pricier side ($ 60 – 80 per person with beer)
— Only take reservation with parties larger than 4 people

Food: 4 stars
Service: 5 stars
Décor & cleanliness: 5 stars
Value: 4 stars
Great spicy broth (I prefer the broths here over Little Sheep which is too herby and full of MSG).
The lean Wagyu beef was sliced nice and thin. I liked how how there was no excess fat. Though it was good, it just wasn’t as flavorful as I had expected it to be.
The fishballs were great and not fishy at all.
I would have liked to more vegetable options but they had a good selection overall.
Of all the hotpot and shabu places nearby, this one is definitely one of the best. This place was so good that my 8-​yr-​old son wanted to go back the next day and has been raving about it. He’s been pestering me to write this review. I’m sure he would have wanted me to give this place 5 stars but I’m quite stingy with my 5 stars.

Great experience! Especially during cold/​rain days. Soup definitely warm you up instantly with their spicy soup base.
Been here several times and food and service never let me down.

My friend and I came to eat here on a Sunday night. There was a little bit of a wait, maybe 20 minutes or so, but it was just after peak dinner rush, I think. They have a bench for people to sit at, so you don’t have to stand while you wait. There was a deal for free hot sake with a Unilocal check-​in!
They had this pumpkin broth that I thought was really interesting and worth a try. We ordered that and the regular, clear broth (yes, sadly, we had to forego the mala). When the pumpkin broth boiled down, though, it started to bubble and splatter on us, so be careful of flying, hot broth!
Meat was fresh and came in large portions. Also, on their menu, they have «combo» selections, so you can select three-​or-​four types of things in a given category. It’s kind of difficult to explain, but the waitress did a good job of that. I recommend those if you like variety — it’s basically smaller portions of each individual type of [fish ball, tofu, mushroom, etc.], so you can try a little bit of almost everything.
Service was good. They can give you cilantro, shacha, garlic, etc. if you just ask. They also come by pretty often to check on you.
The only downside I guess is that there wasn’t an all-​you-​can-​eat option. For my friend and I who love to eat, this meant we racked up a pretty hefty bill for just the two of us — around $ 80, which means it costed more than a standard AYCE place.

Taichi Hot Pot is an a la carte hot pot restaurant, which is an interesting format. On the one hand, you know you won’t get anything you don’t like, but it’s hard to gauge how big each plate is and how much you should order per person. Four of us got the half-​and-​half broth and ordered:
— 2 lean Kobe
— Kurobata pork
— Seafood combo (shrimp, scallop, octopus, cuttlefish, and something else)
— Fish dumpling
— Mushroom combo
— 3 vegetable platter
— Taro
— Corn
— Steamed Rice
— Brown Rice
— Yam Noodles
This was too much food for us, and we were quickly stuffed. I would say go with 1 meat platter, 2 starches, and 2 sides per 2 people.
The Wagyu was phenomenal – fresh, beautifully marbled, and very flavorful. For that alone, I would give Taichi 5 stars. Unfortunately, the seafood items were not great. The shrimp were THE fishiest I’ve ever had. They were terrible and left me feeling nauseous for a while afterward. Some of the fish dumplings tasted fishy as well, and they had obviously been frozen. The squid were okay but not great. The others were good.
The spicy «mala» broth is comparable to a lot of other hot pot places in the area, but the umami broth is a lot weaker than, say, Little Sheep. I prefer it that way. The soy and satay dipping sauces are great, and a stronger broth would make them useless.
I appreciate that Taichi doesn’t use MSG in their broths. It’s a lot of things like this that they do right, m. Unfortunately, the old shrimp were just so atrocious that I can’t give Taichi more than 3 stars.

So my wife called this place at 5:15 pm to make a reservation for 5:45. They don’t open until 5:30, but the gentleman on the phone told my wife that it’s usually pretty empty at opening and that she wouldn’t need the reservation. He even went so far to say that a table would be waiting upon our arrival.
Well, we arrive at 5:45 and every table on the place is full, with the exception of a table RESERVED for a party of 6. So, there we are with two small kids waiting, hoping, that the party of 6 is a no-​show. The wait is made all the more galling with the knowledge that we COULD’VE had a reservation and be already preparing to eat, but the person taking my wife’s call was too lazy to make the required pen strokes to turn a statement of assurance into a written promise.
Of course, the party smart enough to insist on a reservation arrives and I’m SOL. We left at 6:05 to try our luck elsewhere; the food looked good and nobody eats quickly at a hot pot place. The only thing I had to show for my undeserved patience were two crying children and an angry wife.
So, instead of writing a measured review balancing service against food taste, I’m venting to the internet for what was an easily preventable loss of business. Yes, I know, we could’ve insisted on making the reservation, but we foolishly trusted the person on the other end of the line. So maybe I should thank the staff at Taichi Pot for teaching us to always insist on the reservation; too bad it’s a lesson that’ll never be applied at this establishment.

I am blown away by the quality of their Wagyu meat. It’s melt in your mouth. Also try their fish tofu, and udon. Everything tastes fresh — which is hard to do when you’re serving tons of orders of veggies and meat every minute every day.
Tip: Please ask for the satay sauce as it doesn’t come with the order. Their satay sauce is bomb. For those who don’t what satay sauce it’s a bbq fish sauce. It’s smoky and a little sweet and has that sea flavor that really adds a kick to the original broth. I could drink a pot full of that soup!
Better than Little Sheep imho. Better quality, service, and sauces = BEST HOTPOT out of all the hot pots around.

This is by far the best hot pot place to go in entire bay!!! Delicious broths, high quality kobe beef, great slection of beer and sake. Their super friendly service truly deserves my 5 star!
Taichi Pot consists of both mala and umami broths tasted sooooooo good! We had both imperial and srf kobe beef which all turned out to be great. Vegetables are all FRESH and generous portion which is a huge plus!!! I can go so on but ill stop here.
Did I mention they always show warriors games on their huge TVs?! Taichi is the best IMO!!!

The selection of meats are limited but the quality is on point. I love the selection of tofu and mushrooms. The egg and fish dumplings are also a rare find. I like how they have special promotions like the buy one get one free meat platters when you check in.
The Halloween special of kabocha milk broth was very superb. I also like the drink selection with fruity beers like yuzu and fruity cocktails.

I went to eat lunch with my family at Taichi Pot today. This is our first time there in recent time. We ordered beef and pork plates, vegetable combination, and meatball combination plate plus beef tendon and tofu. The quality of beef and pork is fantastic, better than the other hot pot restaurants. But what I like most is the taste of both the Mala and non-​spicy broths. The meat, tofu, vegetable, and meatballs become very tasteful after 1 or 2 minutes cooking in the boiling broths.
Overall I feel the hot pot at Taichi Pot is as good as the high quality hot pot restaurants in Taiwan. I plan to visit this restaurant more times during this winter.

Taichi Pot Mala is delicious!
Our table of four opted for the half mala and half umami hot pot! We liked both of them but I prefer the umami broth that night! There was also no wait which is a plus, and service was quick and efficient!
I also liked the wide selection they had for the add ons. We ordered:
— Mix Veggies (fresh)
— Fish Balls with roe (My favorite hotpot add on we had to get two!)
— Quail Eggs
— Udon Noodles
— Beef
— Tendons (fatty and delicious)
— Seafood Platter (fish fillet, shrimp, scallops, and baby squid, cuttlefish)
Overall we had a good dining experience here, I guess they made some changes, because many reviews stated that the portion of veggies and the slices of seafood they got were on the small side, and what we received was in good size and portion! Their house dipping sauces were also good, so this place is a solid 4 STARS!

It is Labor Day and they are still open at 830!
The price without the deal is pretty high up there but you can always do this «post something on Unilocal and get BOGO», which is what we did here and it was worth it!
There are tofu comes with the spicy soup base.
The fish soup base is pretty light.
Service is friendly.
Food comes really fast.

Remember to Checkin with Unilocal to see your special offers
Restaurant has plenty of parking and is YAHP (yet another hot pot). Modern clean interior.
Meat quality comes in a few options. The more expensive ones are marbled and has a nice mix of fat and beef.
One minus star for having saran wrap or some sort of plastic with their beef. I was chewing and had to spit it out.
Friendly and fast service.

Tai chi, in my opinion, exerts the balance of good food and good service.
It embodies the quality and freshness of the meat and vegetable; the balance of the soup that blends the taste together perfectly.
And good service! They were all very attentive and friendly. One of my favorites hotpot place. Tai chi — Keep it up!

Look for the shopping plaza with Ross & you’ll find Taichi Pot Mala Hot Pot in this unassuming area. Came here on Sunday just after they opened for dinner, plenty of tables open & they had the Warriors game on both TV screens.
This place is pretty small & only a handful of tables had vents. The upside that it looks really modern/​new & was clean! Upon being seated, we were given our dipping sauces (peanut & a spicy one) & also complementary edamame which seemed like they were just washed in ice water. Super bland. The menu was a la cart & reminded us of Little Sheep’s.
We were confused about some of the items so we asked the waitress who was too soft spoken and spoke broken English. We opted for the half & half broth, prime black angus beef, shrimp, fish fillet, fish dumplings, fresh tofu, vermicelli, tong ho & Napa cabbage. When the broth came out, we were immediately disappointed with the umami broth. It didn’t have anything in it & was hardly flavored. The Mala broth had a lot of chili oil, not that many leaves/​seasoning floating around & some Mala tofu inside. It didn’t have much of a kick as we expected.
The beef was good though, fresh & good marbling. The shrimp was odd. It did not turn bright orange & was very pale even when cooked thoroughly. The fish fillet slices were so small!!! There was about 7 – 8 pieces on ice. The fish dumplings were an absolute joke, super tiny & consisted of just wrapper and fish cake– don’t order these. The veggies were very fresh though. Overall, the portion sizes are way too small. Dinner was about $ 60 for the two of us & we weren’t even that full. At the end of the meal, we were given some passion fruit drink that was okay, I guess it’s vinegar based.
Although we didn’t have to wait in line & it was decent, I wouldn’t come back. Service was just okay– hard to understand the two girls we spoke to but they refilled our water & broth frequently. I still think Little Sheep’s the best hot pot in the area even though the wait can be ridiculous. Taichi just left me wanting real hot pot…