Review: A restaurant chain from China serves the best hot pot in Orange County

What is it like to eat at Hai Di Lao, the Ferrari of Chinese hot pot restaurants, to assemble your dipping sauce from an infinite bank of possibilities, to swish your bits of meat and fish through your own pot of seasoned broth instead of having...

“Do you like it spicy?” I love hearing those words. It’s a question I got recently from the cashier at Southern Spice in Irvine. When I said, “Yes. Yes I do,” she steered me toward an incredible eggplant curry. “You want it spicy?” asked a...

Don’t be surprised when you find yourself the only soul dining at Four Seasons Hot Pot. With summer just beginning, Four Seasons will be as deserted as Santa’s Village. Despite the optimistic title, the 4-year-old restaurant is decidedly a...

The moment I spot a customer at Chengdu Lao Zao Hot Pot get up from her table with a tray of uneaten raw shrimp and return it to the restaurant’s refrigerator is when I decide it’s time for me to settle my tab and go.  Unfortunately this wasn’t my...

Welcome to our annual Top 5 countdown, where our SAFII writers tell you what impressed them over the past year! Here, we have food critic Edwin Goei's Top 5 Restaurants—enjoy, and dig in! 5. Wok N Tandoor The Indian street food called chaat isn't...