Cramped, zero information on custom ordering process. Anything additionally needed you must fetch your self.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
David Laufer
Great selection of broths is a plus, smaller than average sauce bar and a decent selection of veggies and proteins. I liked the ordering system where you fill out a menu and then press a button and give it to the waiter, but sometimes it took a couple button presses to get a waiter and they missed multiple things per order we put in.Vegetarian options: Lots of tofu and vegetable options along with veggie based brothsDietary restrictions: Minimal dairy in the food here if any at all, you basically make your own soup so you choose the ingredientsParking: Shopping center lotKid-friendliness: The hotpots aren't sunk into the table so it would be easy for a kid to knock the pot of hot liquid over
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Soup
Tracey Holton
I've never experienced such low quality in food...literally the meat was paper thin, some of the meat selections were spam and Vienna sausage...3 of the items we checked off were not even on the trays, said jumbo shrimp it literally wouldn't pass for medium size. The crab meat was imitation. We spent $32 p/p for all you can eat and if it didn't take us 2 hours there we would have stopped somewhere else to eat on the way home?because the food was unedible. Also they charge you a $10.99 per pound charge if you have to many leftovers. Actual 0 stars!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
D K
We were a party of 4 celebrating my wife's birthday. We really had a great time. Place is somewhat kitchy, small family run restaurant. Service in an all you can eat place is a little different but when we had requests they were met with a smile. Food is not the greatest I've ever had but that's not what you go for. It was
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Spicy Hot Pot, Assorted Veggies, Szechuan Hot and Spicy Broth
Winnie Yeung
I've never written a Google review, but this place was so awful that I had to write one to warn others. Do not come to this location!!!! The beef was old, pork slices had a weird texture, and meatballs were rubbery. They only have individual pots, so it took away from the whole hotpot experience where you share food with your family and loved ones. Even the boba drinks weren't up to par. The boba balls were jelly and had a weird crunch to them. Our waiter was rude and unhelpful. The bathroom sink was falling apart and I felt dirty just standing in the bathroom.Save your money and go somewhere else.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Elizabeth Rhoades
Wanting for lunch on a Tuesday. One server was up front. She seemed very annoyed that we were there and was unwilling to explain the procedure or what we could eat as vegetarians. After a significant period of being ignored, we finally got up and left. So I have no idea if the food was
Atmosphere: 1
Service: 1
Mike Johns
I had the ox tail broth it was perfect. The choices of add-ons was a lot the veggies was fresh. If you like to kick up your broth stock and give it a zip. I recommend adding peanut butter sauce mixed in with a little spicy sauce and some fresh chopped chives. Stir it into the broth stock. Not only is it yummy it will clear your sinuses. Highly recommend this place.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Hot Pot
Thanchanok P.
I never been here before but today I have business trip to Wallingford with my husband. But I was hungry main Asian restaurant was closed on Monday. But I found this place from Yelp. Only me and my husband are customers I ordered All you can eat buffets at rate 32$ per person. I selected Kimchi soup and my husband oxtail soup. I ordered many items from the menu but I found they didn't bring it complete some items was missing but I did not care for that. When I finished 1and 2 tray I started to order 2 more tray. Recommend beef , chicken and pork slide for main dish shrimp and mussels squid for seafood. Meat ball and sausage doesn't recommend I don't like it. Vermicelli veggies and eggs that good choice. You should ask for small blow for made your soup cold and easy to eat. If you need anything please ring the bell on your table. Staff will come to service you. Don't order to much because they will charge back to you for wasted foods. But for me that's ok we're professional for Buffet 555 .
Ian L.
As new Hot Pot restaurants are appearing out of nowhere, I decided to try the place that is suspiciously straight to the point with their very creative name : "Hot Pot".To start off my journey, I took the drive down to Wallingford and pulled into a very depressing plaza. It looks old, abandoned, complete with a large empty parking lot. However, it actually has an Asian market, Big Lots and even an old movie theatre that I have never heard of. So yes I would consider this restaurant to be a hole in the wall in between three (3) large but rather empty businesses. Maybe it was just an off day.As you walk into Hot Pot, you'll realize that this restaurant is quite small and you'll hope to God the ventilation is decent with all these steaming "Hot Pots" in a small space. Luckily, the ventilation was fine and they utilize the space to the best of their ability while cramming as many tables in here as possible. There are also these curtains that provide privacy in between each booth complete with a button that you press to call your server. Yes you get a button to call your server so that you may be left in peace to eat until your broth runs dry or you need more water as your broth is too spicy for you.Curtains and a server summoner (the button)? Sounds very similar to how they do so in East Asian countries whenever I watch a video of "Authentic Ramen Restaurant in Japan" on YouTube. If I had no idea where I was and simply woke up in the booth I was in, I would think I was on some expensive trip to downtown Tokyo or somewhere in Taiwan. It was a nice refreshing out of the country but yet still in the country experience. Very authentic, or just different from everyone else, for me at least.Now to compare with the place that is literally taking over this state by storm The Hungry Pot, that's the difference. Hungry Pot has a more Americanized and trendier theme to it as it looks like a familiar restaurant but with a unique concept to it. It's great in its own way because Hot Pot itself is new to many people in this area and they make it easy for you, but here at Hot Pot in Wallingford, any prior experience would help you with the tight spaces, limited sauce bar and complex menu items. Also, the sauce bar didn't really have any instructions or suggested recipes. You were just expected to know what to do because you've done this before. Limited options but they had most of the essentials.The Hungry Pot restaurants that I have been to or heard of all appear to be much more casual, busier, louder and the servers were trained to treat everyone like first timers because well, while I was there apparently it was everyone else's first time. It was a great beginner experience. Here at Hot Pot in Wallingford it is much quieter and intimate. The servers here didn't instruct until asked to do so. They are very kind! But they appear to be used to a more intermediate level of Hot Poters. I guess ill use that term. Hot Poter: a person that enjoys eating Hot Pot.The food itself at any Hot Pot place is hard to elaborate on because if it's not good, it could easily be user error since you do all the work. A few things you can easily compare is the quality, variety and complexity of menu options. Here at Hot Pot, they have a rather large menu with an All You Can Eat option, Combos and Dim Sum.Initial broth quality is also a huge deal because it can determine your entire meal! I have never had a bad broth from anywhere but just keep in mind Hot Pot had a broth for everyone. Sweet, creamy, spicy, salty, purposely bland, whatever you want. It can always be altered by your choice of meats, vegetables and sauces from the sauce bar.In conclusion, I had absolutely zero quality issues with anything that I ordered. I am also pleased that they serve Dim Sum options so late in the day and even though it's not as good as Dim Sum would be from a Dim Sum specialty restaurant, it was very good and the fact that they serve it late, say less.Anyways before I get even further off track, I
Onoh Udensi
Not bad, first time I’ve had to cook my own food at a restaurant.
I keep seeing people leave a 1 star review because they had to "put their own ingredients into the pot" , so make sure you read the bad reviews before deciding. Between my family we order 5 different things and they were all delicious. It's about $25 per person, but I could barely finish my meal and the rest of my family couldn't. Make sure you get up and visit the sauce bar because that adds a lot . I was completely satisfied with everything and , being my 1st hot pot , I thought it was a pretty cool experience. Definitely try it at least once
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Sauce Station
Wong G.
Descent foods, except we got plastic on our dumpling and they didn't do anything about it. If you like clear broth, then you will enjoy it more than our party (I understand that this is very subjective). However, we were turned off by the service. We called to understand if there were other options other than hot pot, and they kept wanting to cut off the call. When we were there, we asked for spoons and forks. They would grab the spoons for us, but told us to grab the forks ourselves at the sauce station. I just don't understand the logic here. Having previously working in restaurant, I would try to help my customers in little little things like this.They separated each table with curtains, and the light was very dimmed. The curtains made it feel cramped, especially with low lighting.Not my type of place.
Luna H.
Great place! Hotpot is definitely a niche experience but I thoroughly enjoyed the food. I got the All you can eat with szechuan broth, but I will say the szechuan was a little too spicy for me. I liked the sauce options and the service was amazing.
Toby Way
The all you can eat is a great deal in my opinion. For 32 bucks you get most of the things on the menu. (You have to finish the food, though. Otherwise there will be a penalty charge per pound of food left)The boba was just okay. And the sauce station was like a messy kitchen counter. There are quite a few sauce selection.Definitely a great starting point for someone to get their starting hotpot experience because of the lower price point.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Hot Pot
MiMi
Me and Husband decided to give this place a try and let me said it fell short of expectations. We both got the all you can eat dinner and let start off the broth was bland and the beef was extremely chewy and bring you with a whole tray of vegetables even if your order one portion. After we finish our first portion of me, we order more when we asked to see the menu and are server ask why do we need to see it? After asking again she brought us the menu.When we ordered the second time server did a high sigh sound. This we totally unprofessional. As far for the food it was decent but over price.
Cramped, zero information on custom ordering process. Anything additionally needed you must fetch your self.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Great selection of broths is a plus, smaller than average sauce bar and a decent selection of veggies and proteins. I liked the ordering system where you fill out a menu and then press a button and give it to the waiter, but sometimes it took a couple button presses to get a waiter and they missed multiple things per order we put in.Vegetarian options: Lots of tofu and vegetable options along with veggie based brothsDietary restrictions: Minimal dairy in the food here if any at all, you basically make your own soup so you choose the ingredientsParking: Shopping center lotKid-friendliness: The hotpots aren't sunk into the table so it would be easy for a kid to knock the pot of hot liquid over
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Soup
I've never experienced such low quality in food...literally the meat was paper thin, some of the meat selections were spam and Vienna sausage...3 of the items we checked off were not even on the trays, said jumbo shrimp it literally wouldn't pass for medium size. The crab meat was imitation. We spent $32 p/p for all you can eat and if it didn't take us 2 hours there we would have stopped somewhere else to eat on the way home?because the food was unedible. Also they charge you a $10.99 per pound charge if you have to many leftovers. Actual 0 stars!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
We were a party of 4 celebrating my wife's birthday. We really had a great time. Place is somewhat kitchy, small family run restaurant. Service in an all you can eat place is a little different but when we had requests they were met with a smile. Food is not the greatest I've ever had but that's not what you go for. It was
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Spicy Hot Pot, Assorted Veggies, Szechuan Hot and Spicy Broth
I've never written a Google review, but this place was so awful that I had to write one to warn others. Do not come to this location!!!! The beef was old, pork slices had a weird texture, and meatballs were rubbery. They only have individual pots, so it took away from the whole hotpot experience where you share food with your family and loved ones. Even the boba drinks weren't up to par. The boba balls were jelly and had a weird crunch to them. Our waiter was rude and unhelpful. The bathroom sink was falling apart and I felt dirty just standing in the bathroom.Save your money and go somewhere else.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Wanting for lunch on a Tuesday. One server was up front. She seemed very annoyed that we were there and was unwilling to explain the procedure or what we could eat as vegetarians. After a significant period of being ignored, we finally got up and left. So I have no idea if the food was
Atmosphere: 1
Service: 1
I had the ox tail broth it was perfect. The choices of add-ons was a lot the veggies was fresh. If you like to kick up your broth stock and give it a zip. I recommend adding peanut butter sauce mixed in with a little spicy sauce and some fresh chopped chives. Stir it into the broth stock. Not only is it yummy it will clear your sinuses. Highly recommend this place.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Hot Pot
I never been here before but today I have business trip to Wallingford with my husband. But I was hungry main Asian restaurant was closed on Monday. But I found this place from Yelp. Only me and my husband are customers I ordered All you can eat buffets at rate 32$ per person. I selected Kimchi soup and my husband oxtail soup. I ordered many items from the menu but I found they didn't bring it complete some items was missing but I did not care for that. When I finished 1and 2 tray I started to order 2 more tray. Recommend beef , chicken and pork slide for main dish shrimp and mussels squid for seafood. Meat ball and sausage doesn't recommend I don't like it. Vermicelli veggies and eggs that good choice. You should ask for small blow for made your soup cold and easy to eat. If you need anything please ring the bell on your table. Staff will come to service you. Don't order to much because they will charge back to you for wasted foods. But for me that's ok we're professional for Buffet 555 .
As new Hot Pot restaurants are appearing out of nowhere, I decided to try the place that is suspiciously straight to the point with their very creative name : "Hot Pot".To start off my journey, I took the drive down to Wallingford and pulled into a very depressing plaza. It looks old, abandoned, complete with a large empty parking lot. However, it actually has an Asian market, Big Lots and even an old movie theatre that I have never heard of. So yes I would consider this restaurant to be a hole in the wall in between three (3) large but rather empty businesses. Maybe it was just an off day.As you walk into Hot Pot, you'll realize that this restaurant is quite small and you'll hope to God the ventilation is decent with all these steaming "Hot Pots" in a small space. Luckily, the ventilation was fine and they utilize the space to the best of their ability while cramming as many tables in here as possible. There are also these curtains that provide privacy in between each booth complete with a button that you press to call your server. Yes you get a button to call your server so that you may be left in peace to eat until your broth runs dry or you need more water as your broth is too spicy for you.Curtains and a server summoner (the button)? Sounds very similar to how they do so in East Asian countries whenever I watch a video of "Authentic Ramen Restaurant in Japan" on YouTube. If I had no idea where I was and simply woke up in the booth I was in, I would think I was on some expensive trip to downtown Tokyo or somewhere in Taiwan. It was a nice refreshing out of the country but yet still in the country experience. Very authentic, or just different from everyone else, for me at least.Now to compare with the place that is literally taking over this state by storm The Hungry Pot, that's the difference. Hungry Pot has a more Americanized and trendier theme to it as it looks like a familiar restaurant but with a unique concept to it. It's great in its own way because Hot Pot itself is new to many people in this area and they make it easy for you, but here at Hot Pot in Wallingford, any prior experience would help you with the tight spaces, limited sauce bar and complex menu items. Also, the sauce bar didn't really have any instructions or suggested recipes. You were just expected to know what to do because you've done this before. Limited options but they had most of the essentials.The Hungry Pot restaurants that I have been to or heard of all appear to be much more casual, busier, louder and the servers were trained to treat everyone like first timers because well, while I was there apparently it was everyone else's first time. It was a great beginner experience. Here at Hot Pot in Wallingford it is much quieter and intimate. The servers here didn't instruct until asked to do so. They are very kind! But they appear to be used to a more intermediate level of Hot Poters. I guess ill use that term. Hot Poter: a person that enjoys eating Hot Pot.The food itself at any Hot Pot place is hard to elaborate on because if it's not good, it could easily be user error since you do all the work. A few things you can easily compare is the quality, variety and complexity of menu options. Here at Hot Pot, they have a rather large menu with an All You Can Eat option, Combos and Dim Sum.Initial broth quality is also a huge deal because it can determine your entire meal! I have never had a bad broth from anywhere but just keep in mind Hot Pot had a broth for everyone. Sweet, creamy, spicy, salty, purposely bland, whatever you want. It can always be altered by your choice of meats, vegetables and sauces from the sauce bar.In conclusion, I had absolutely zero quality issues with anything that I ordered. I am also pleased that they serve Dim Sum options so late in the day and even though it's not as good as Dim Sum would be from a Dim Sum specialty restaurant, it was very good and the fact that they serve it late, say less.Anyways before I get even further off track, I
Not bad, first time I’ve had to cook my own food at a restaurant.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
I keep seeing people leave a 1 star review because they had to "put their own ingredients into the pot" , so make sure you read the bad reviews before deciding. Between my family we order 5 different things and they were all delicious. It's about $25 per person, but I could barely finish my meal and the rest of my family couldn't. Make sure you get up and visit the sauce bar because that adds a lot . I was completely satisfied with everything and , being my 1st hot pot , I thought it was a pretty cool experience. Definitely try it at least once
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Sauce Station
Descent foods, except we got plastic on our dumpling and they didn't do anything about it. If you like clear broth, then you will enjoy it more than our party (I understand that this is very subjective). However, we were turned off by the service. We called to understand if there were other options other than hot pot, and they kept wanting to cut off the call. When we were there, we asked for spoons and forks. They would grab the spoons for us, but told us to grab the forks ourselves at the sauce station. I just don't understand the logic here. Having previously working in restaurant, I would try to help my customers in little little things like this.They separated each table with curtains, and the light was very dimmed. The curtains made it feel cramped, especially with low lighting.Not my type of place.
Great place! Hotpot is definitely a niche experience but I thoroughly enjoyed the food. I got the All you can eat with szechuan broth, but I will say the szechuan was a little too spicy for me. I liked the sauce options and the service was amazing.
The all you can eat is a great deal in my opinion. For 32 bucks you get most of the things on the menu. (You have to finish the food, though. Otherwise there will be a penalty charge per pound of food left)The boba was just okay. And the sauce station was like a messy kitchen counter. There are quite a few sauce selection.Definitely a great starting point for someone to get their starting hotpot experience because of the lower price point.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Hot Pot
Me and Husband decided to give this place a try and let me said it fell short of expectations. We both got the all you can eat dinner and let start off the broth was bland and the beef was extremely chewy and bring you with a whole tray of vegetables even if your order one portion. After we finish our first portion of me, we order more when we asked to see the menu and are server ask why do we need to see it? After asking again she brought us the menu.When we ordered the second time server did a high sigh sound. This we totally unprofessional. As far for the food it was decent but over price.