Jin Pot Shabu House

Anyone looking to spend 90 minutes with a life-sized bespectacled cat plushie and a carnivore’s dream spread should get to this quirky AYCE hot pot place in the Richmond (you can also order a la carte, but that’s less fun). Decked out with hanging paper lanterns and that aforementioned giant feline, Jin Pot is made for fun group dinners around bubbling pots of broth. Each pot fits two flavors—when in doubt, go for the spicy garlic miso and 20-hour tonkotsu. As with any hot pot place worth its weight in meat, everything is endless. Keep the unlimited, paper-thin wagyu slices coming, along with the meatballs that you can plop out of a little wooden chute straight into the soup. And save room for the free bowl of kinako ice cream—it’s a much-needed refresher after all that boiled meat.

Food Rundown

Unlimited Supreme

We like this $41 AYCE option (there’s also a $54 option that comes with sake, beer, and soda)—it comes with an endless supply of meat and seafood, plus sides, vegetables, and starters like little karaage bites and edamame. Load up the table with trays of marbled beef and pork, tangles of springy ramen, and quail eggs. Boil away.

Jin Pot Special Tsumire

There’s a limited amount of these pork meatballs, so jump on the opportunity if they’re available—the chute they arrive in is like a DIY meatball waterslide, and the tsumire themselves stay delicately tender even after their broth bath.