The food is great!! It comes in pretty big portions The service is okay and the workers are nice . The place is clean,pretty and, lively.

I've been coming to this place for years and am always satisfied. Prices have increased in recent years which is understandable, but also means I don't come as often anymore. Still, the restaurant is always clean and the service is great!

You order with a menu and a dry erase pen, by just indicating how many of each item you want. You can order in rounds and ask for another menu at any time to refill on items. There is a wide selection of soup bases, sauces, meats, veggies, noodles, and other ingredients. Everyone gets their own individual pot with the stove built into the table, and you control the heat yourself using the dials under the table. The meat is always great quality and the veggie portions are very generous.

- I feel Little Dipper Shabu Shabu is the closest place yet where I feel I'm getting value for the amount spent.

You see, I'm not one to usually frequent hot pot dining experiences or places like a shabu shabu joint simply because of how expensive it gets when ordering. While I know it's all on me on what comes to the table, I feel as though I'm wasting large portions of meat, seafood, and veggie items NOT being utilized for the soup - all the while getting financially penalized by the establishment because of my glutinous behavior when I come in hungry.

Mindful of making sure dollars made sense this time, I found my trip to Little Dipper to be a hearty experience overall, most notably, the overall value received for our food: The flavorful broth and the hearty portions optioned for my girlfriend and I during our eat in definitely left a favorable impression.

If you're looking for a standout kind of splash when it comes to ambiance, be aware, it's sort of lacking in that department. The standard flair of the cookie cutter interior found here is reminiscent of other places on the Bay Area foodie map; after awhile, the over abundance of what I feel is kitschy Asian inspired dining decor becomes so sterile, nothing stands out anymore.

Same could be said of the servers, the two, of which, were available during our stay. Mostly robotic and saying very little, both of them however tended to our needs quickly - though I had asked for napkins I never got, my drink was refilled when prodded, and used dishes were taken away quickly.

But then again, isn't the whole point of coming to places like this, is simply for the soup? In that regard, it scores. Little Dipper Shabu Shabu definitely hits the mark in boiling one over for some of the more flavorful munchies and crunchies, at least for me, I've had in  a while.

My fave AYCE hotpot near by!
I loove the selection of meats and veggies.
The waiters are friendly and it's always clean when I come. They're not skimpy on the servings they give either, I especially enjoy the individual soup. My favorite thing that I was introduced to at this hotpot location is, THE CHINESE DONUT! SUCH A GAME CHANGER. Sooo bomb and didn't know was a necessity with hotpot.
Now I always look for it that not a lot of places offer, which is why I always come back here instead of try other spots :p

Came on a Friday right when they open at 5pm for dinner. Within 20 minutes, the place was packed.

The service is good, as we sat down the server gave us a laminated menu with a sharpie to write what you want on. I was under the impression you had the option of choosing either AYCE or meal, but we were told it was AYCE only (maybe only during dinners?). It would be $37 per person but for two of us on a date night it wasn't much breaking the bank.

We didn't order much at first as we weren't sure how big the portions are - about 3 orders of greens, udon, some other dishes and meat. The food came out within a minute but the portions were small - understandable at an AYCE since it minimizes food waste, but we definitely knew we needed to order more. Since the waitress didn't give us a new menu after our initial order, we had to ask them to bring us a new one.

The pot boils FAST. Turned at max it boiled within like 2 minutes! I got the tom yum broth and my fiancé got the miso. Definitely liked the tom yum better. The meat was ok - seemed lower quality than the meat you could get at Osaka Marketplace or Zhang Fei at Pacific Commons - and the udon texture felt a little old. (But hey, it's rare for an AYCE to have superb quality food .)

Overall, pretty quick and nice for a Friday dinner. There's a time limit of 100 minutes, by the way. Parking in front can be a slight hassle but it is in a lot with 99 ranch with lots of spots.

My second time here and it's my favorite hot pot restaurant in the bay! We had a large party of 18 and the servers were patient and accommodating to us. Plenty of choices of meat, veggies, sauce, broth, etc. They serve fish ball with roe and not all hot pot restaurants serve that! Definitely coming back again.

it was worth paying for food is the best service is wonderful ambiance is one i like very bright and not smelling

Location: strip mall. Some parking spots directly in front, but it's also connected to a 99 ranch parking lot that has ample space.

Ambiance: lively on a Friday night before closing. Individual hot pots. I like that you can see the butcher in the back slicing the meats with the machine.

Service 5/5: everyone was super attentive and accommodating. Food came out very quickly.

Food:

Meats:  As expected, the meats were higher quality than other hotpot places. Between Shabuya and Little Dipper, Dipper has fresher meats and lighter but more distinct broths. Although, dipper is $37 and Shabuya is $30 for ayce.

We enjoyed the lamb and beef cuts and the assortment of tofus and fish balls with roe. They had a decent amount of pork cuts as well.

Other food:

Plenty of veges and noodle options. The shirataki noodles are wrapped up in bundles so they don't float everywhere when you toss them into your pot. The ramen is the dried package ramen. Udon was good but slippery.

Broth:

Bone broth was light and flavorful. The royal herbal broth was just right. I was afraid that it'd be too herby but it was on the lighter side. Keep in mind that all broth is going to get scummy after you dunk tons of meat in to cook. Ask for a broth refill or change.

Surprised me:
The braised pork rice bowl. Where has this been all my life? Small chunks of pork on top and the juices seep through the rice to make a delicious little side dish.   The house sauce was also delicious.

It's on the pricier side, but the food is good and the service is great.