My wife and I went to this place earlier in the week, and it was a very pleasant surprise. My wife is Chinese, and crazy about hot pot, so we have it all the time. We have it at home pretty often, and we've been...
Read MoreMy wife and I went to this place earlier in the week, and it was a very pleasant surprise. My wife is Chinese, and crazy about hot pot, so we have it all the time. We have it at home pretty often, and we've been to just about every hot pot restaurant in the area. So when we heard about this one's $15 deal on Yelp, we had to try it.
When we walked in, we actually kind of froze for a bit and thought we ended up in the wrong place. This place doesn't look anything like a typical hot pot restaurant. It is very much a Western style bar, although it's a lounge and karaoke bar, so they have a stage but no screens for sports or anything like that. So if music and karaoke are your thing, this is your kind of bar. But they serve hot pot. It's a very unique combination, and it would be very easy to write it off for that reason. Let me say this: you'd be doing yourself a disservice not to try this place at least once and decide if it's for you. I mean, if you don't want to take kids to a fully stocked bar, I understand. But for adults looking to try a new hot pot place, just do it. Honestly, there aren't many places like this anywhere, so I appreciate that it's one of a kind.
The #1 reason this place gets 5 stars is the woman behind the hot pot. She is fantastic. We've never been treated better at a restaurant, and she felt completely genuine. Not only did she make and serve everything herself, but she talked to us about all kinds of things. It was also immediately clear she cares very much for her customers. She was telling us how she's trying to balance the types of ingredients with cost because she wants hers to be a better deal than others in the area. She also gave us the special Yelp deal without us even asking and told us how to get it in the future. She repeatedly refilled our milk teas multiple times, which is something other places simply won't do. She not only packed our leftovers to go, but she gave us a separate container of brother as well, and insisted that she wouldn't feel she was providing a service if she didn't. I kid you not, she offers a level of service and kindness that virtually no other restaurant can provide. Granted, we were the only ones there early on a Tuesday, but I can assure you someone like that doesn't just forget about the customers when things get busy.
As for the price, the $15 deal is great. It's a flat $15 with tax included for the hot pot, a drink such as milk tea or lemonade, and rice. No other hot pot place comes anywhere close to that deal. They do achieve this by going a little light on the meat and heavy on the cheap ingredients like radish and bean sprouts, but I actually like this because the hot pots at other places leave me way too full. So yeah, this place wins hands down on both price and service.
So what about taste? Well, admittedly, it was a bit mixed. But again, we've only been once, so it's hard to say. The Japanese sukiyaki soup was easily one of the best we've ever had. It was incredible. Amazing. I highly recommend. The Sichuan mala was alright. It was a bit disappointing considering that's sort of the typical flavor you'd expect to be done right. But again, she was fully aware of this and explaining how she was looking to improve it. The soup was spicy, but not in the usual burning way, more like a strong nasal way like black pepper. Not bad, but the sukiyaki was just out of this world by comparison. They have 5 flavors, which I think is actually good because a lot of hot pot restaurants have large menus with multiple confusing options that don't really different much. I fully expect this place to not only have some great flavors, but to improve on the lesser ones over time.
So yeah, unfortunately, I'm afraid the core Asian audience for hot pots may not give this place the chance it deserves because of it's unique premise. But they should, because the price is great, the service is better, and there's no other place like it. If the setting is not for you, so be it. But I highly doubt anyone will regret at least giving it a shot.
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