Restaurant Review: Double Your Yum at Fiery Hot Pot’s Two Sunset Locations
From left: Howard, Pansy, Jeni, and Albert
If you noticed two hot pot restaurants named Fiery in the Sunset, you aren’t seeing double. There is a Fiery Hot Pot on both Irving and Taraval Streets. Despite the same name, they have different approaches to yummy hot pot — the Chinese presentation of food cooked in a steaming broth.
The Taraval location, opened in 2016, focuses on tradition. It’s the ideal place for families and groups, with a large shared pot and multiple assortments of meats, vegetables, dumplings, noodles/rice. It also offers a buffet option.
The Irving location, opened in 2022, was designed to make hot pot accessible to everyone — especially those who are unfamiliar with hot pot style dining. Take this from me. Your local restaurant reviewer is an Indian immigrant who has found immense joy in devouring hot pot on a regular basis. The Irving location offers individual hot pots. Each diner can pick their specific broth and individualized serving of meats, vegetables, and noodles. The experience is very accommodating of dietary preferences as the menu offers various options for vegetarian, gluten free, keto, and paleo diets.
The story of how the Sunset was blessed with two Fiery Hot Pots starts with two friends at Lincoln High School. Albert and Howard both come from families with deep roots in San Francisco. Now, with their spouses Jeni and Pansy, they celebrate the joy of hot pot in the Sunset. The two couples collectively manage the Irving and Taraval locations.
Are you new to hot pot? You will be hooked like I was. Here are some tips:
How to order hot pot
Pick a base broth (roast beef, pork, vegetarian miso, coconut curry, roasted tomato, fiery spice beef, tom yum
Pick a spice level from 1 (non-spicy) to 5 (very spicy)
Pick desired proteins - wagyu beef, chicken, fish, tofu
Pick an assortment of vegetables/dumplings (too many to list but there’s generous selection of green vegetables, root vegetables, mushrooms, etc.)
How to eat hot pot
Allow the individual bowl of broth to heat up to a bubble
Then drop in the protein, veggies, and noodles
It takes less than a minute for most items to cook but you can cook it for as long as you like
Scoop out the items and consume immediately
You can also pick a selection of sauces from the sauce bar (sesame, soy, chili, garlic) which can be used as flavor enhancers as needed
The Irving location offers two choices for hot pot: a set menu with a limited (but generous) portion of items and an all “all you can eat” version where you can order as much as you want within a set amount of time.
The decor at the Irving location is very upscale with high ceilings, and beautiful finishes. There is also an events space upstairs that can accommodate celebrations up to 50 guests.
The staff are very hospitable and quick to serve you with a smile and a generous spirit. If you are celebrating a birthday, spin the birthday wheel for free dinner items or gifts.
Fiery Hot Pot — on Irving or Taraval — is an ideal dining destination, whether you’re a fan of hot pot or never tried it. I encourage you to support these two local family-owned restaurants and have a wonderful, fairly priced meal at a neighborhood gem.
Locations:|
2333 Irving
1626 Taraval
Reported and written by volunteer community journalist Rumesha Ahmed. We encourage residents with journalism experience, retired journalists, and student journalists in high school and college to volunteer as writers for Supervisor Engardio’s newsletter. Interested? Apply here. Do you know a story you would like to see featured in the newsletter? Tell us about it here.