Tasty Pot Taiwanese Restaurant in Downtown Berkeley

When I was looking for a new hotpot place to try that would be closer to where I live and does require a long commute to San Francisco I stumbled across a restaurant on Yelp called Tasty Pot in Berkeley. It was the day before fourth of July and showing their online menu to my roommate made them interested too in trying it out with me that night.
 

Outside view and long line

We arrived there close to 7pm and it was a short walk from public transit. There was a bit of a line so we put our names on the waiting list. There were seven people ahead of us who were also waiting outside. I definitely wanted to try either the supreme spicy hot soup which was served in a larger bowl for $15.99 ($14.99 lunch price). 

Taiwanese Supreme Spicy Hotpot!

The seating inside Tasty Pot was a bit too cozy as the table next to ours was placed so closely there was not much room for us to walk past it. Around five minutes of being seated I got the drink I ordered which was a sweet milk drink with light caramel flavor pudding mixed in at the bottom. While waiting I chatted with my roommate and looked through the three mini pots of dipping sauces on our table’s side. One of them had chili oil, another with soybean paste, and the third was garlic ponzu. 

Water on the left and the lightly sweetened milk with pudding mixed in

For a medium spiced individual hot pot the chili pepper in the broth still had a strong kick and it woke my senses up. My roommate ordered their Vietnamese seafood hot soup at spicy level ($15.99), and coughed a little from consuming too much of the spicy broth at once. I really enjoyed everything in the hot pot I had which was: Taiwanese Cabbage, Instant Noodle, Beef Slices, Beef Tendon, Enoki Mushroom, Tempura, Clam, Fuzhou Fishball, Cuttlefish Ring, Pork Blood Ricecake, Pork Intestine, Fried Tofu Skin, Brown Beech Mushroom, Firm Tofu, Imitation Crabmeat, Meatball, Sour Mustard, Fried Tofu Puff, Cilantro, Scallion (from the online menu). There were so many variations of flavors that mixed well with the spicy flavorful broth. I was very hungry and wanted to spend hours to try finishing my hot pot but it was getting late so we took the rest to go. For dessert my roommate and I shared an ice cream waffle sandwich which was very good. 

My roommate's order of Vietnamese seafood hot soup at spicy level!

 Blueberry waffle sandwich with vanilla ice cream

 The service was very friendly, as we waited outside the waitress brought us menus to look through and took our orders in advance. I also liked how there were constant free refilling of water and of the soup broth. I also wanted to try the food from Tasty Pot because of my part Taiwanese heritage from my dad’s side, and I am glad that the semi-long wait to try something new was very well worth it. 

The next time I visit Tasty Pot I would go for lunchtime to try their lamb hot soup before the dinner rush. Pricing for all their soups during lunch are a dollar less with free sweet tea included.