A new hot pot restaurant has opened its doors at Huebner Oaks in Northwest San Antonio, but it is skipping the tabletop burners that define most versions of the dining style. Hot Spot 61, owned by Aki Yu, occupies Suite 418 at 11745 I-10, the space that once housed San Antonio's last California Pizza Kitchen. The restaurant is currently in its soft opening period and is welcoming customers seven days a week, closed only on Tuesdays, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Traditional hot pot restaurants typically feature hot plates or built-in stovetops so diners can boil their own raw ingredients tableside, according to MySA. Hot Spot 61 takes a different approach: customers select their ingredients and soup base, and kitchen staff prepare and cook everything before it reaches the table. Diners can choose from Sichuan spice, Chinese herbal stock, Japanese sukiyaki and Thai tom yum soup bases, paired with a selection that includes napa cabbage, bok choy, assorted mushrooms, seafood, sliced meats and noodles. Everything is priced at a flat $14.99 per pound regardless of what a customer picks.
“Hot Spot 61 lets people choose how and what they want,” Yu said, per the same MySA report. Yu also said the restaurant is enjoying its opening phase as it settles into the Huebner Oaks lineup.
A Shopping Center Shaking Off Its Slump
Huebner Oaks was built in 1996 as a premier retail destination in Northwest San Antonio, but the 285,000-square-foot open-air center saw foot traffic decline after The Shops at La Cantera opened nearby in 2005. The center is now in the middle of a broader turnaround, with MySA describing the shopping destination as experiencing a renaissance. Huebner Oaks is owned and operated by Indianapolis-based real estate investment trust Kite Realty Group, which specializes in open-air retail properties across Sun Belt markets.
Getting Hot Spot 61 open wasn't cheap. A Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation project filing registered in August 2025 listed an estimated $250,000 budget for interior and exterior renovations to convert the 4,000-square-foot Suite 418 space, with architectural firm Loaded Design Services LLC handling the project design.
New Neighbors Line Up Along I-10
Hot Spot 61's arrival lines up with a wave of other openings at the center. A 20,400-square-foot Barnes & Noble opened this month in a former Bed Bath & Beyond footprint next to Trader Joe's. The center has also added fast-casual concepts in recent years, including Piada Italian Street Food in a former Gap space and Early Bird Coffee in 2022.
The restaurant also joins a growing cluster of Asian dining concepts at Huebner Oaks. Wagyu Factory, an all-you-can-eat tableside barbecue concept, is slated to take over Suite 414, the space previously occupied by Gen Korean BBQ House. That earlier tenant's abrupt closure was covered by Hoodline back in May.
Part of a Bigger Regional Trend
Interactive and self-service Asian dining concepts have expanded rapidly across San Antonio in recent years, according to KSAT, pointing to the openings of KPOT Korean BBQ & Hot Pot on Interstate 10 and Yummy Kitchen on Culebra Road this year. Both venues feature customizable broths and tableside cooking, part of a dining style built around letting customers pick their own ingredients and broth base to create a personalized soup.
California Pizza Kitchen's exit from Huebner Oaks marked the chain's complete departure from the San Antonio market, following its May 2022 closure at Alamo Quarry Market after 12 years in that location. That vacancy is now filled by Hot Spot 61, one more piece of the center's ongoing overhaul along the I-10 corridor.
