I've been to other hot pots, and I'm not too fond of the setup at this one.
1. We were a party of five and had to share 2 pots. I wish we each had our own pots. I was the only pescatarian, and the server said we needed to be a party of 8 to get a table with more pots.
2. The server didn't hear that we asked for vegetarian tomato broth, and I didn't realize I was eating chicken tomato broth until he refilled my broth towards the end of me eating. Smh
3. The tomato broth was bland.
4. We got seated fast 👍🏾
5. The pre-made hot food was good. 👍🏾
I personally wouldn't return, but I'm glad I experienced the restaurant because it's been on my list to check out.
Emma Bloomfield
Honestly wasn’t blown away by the experience. I know it’s super popular, but it’s not my favorite hot pot, based on this experience. The classic was wayyyy too pepper forward for me and I didn’t get much depth of flavor. Also I wasn’t in love with their food selection (granted, I don’t eat meat or fish so that limited options). It was a fun atmosphere and a lot of people love it!
K J
A lot of options to choose from and everything besides the meat was self-serve making the experience very smooth. Would have been better if they had spicier soups and if they kept the buffet a bit cleaner but overall felt like very good value for price and would definitely return again.
Jessie B
Such a nice experience! Take your time eating, you’ll burn your mouth! Lol! The staff was also very nice :)
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Cynthia Rodriguez
This place is a go to for hot pot! The broths are flavorful without being salty and lots of different protein and veggies to choose from.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Happy Lamb Hot Pot
Joanna Cheng
Great food for the price . Service is not the best , but ok for all you can eat.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Jerry Diaz
Broth was delicious. Everything was fresh. All the sides seem fresh. Just a great overall experience. Price was well worth it.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
JJ
First time doing hotpot! You select your broth, I like that they have a half/half option so you can try a couple flavors and spice levels. You can order the main meats and the rest is self serve, you go up and grab whatever veggies/ additional meats, they also have a couple of cooked sides and a build your own sauce station. Fun experience, fairly priced, I'd go back!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Happy Lamb Hot Pot
romel alvar
This place is awful, the hostess pick who she wana seats first, we waited for an hour and half and while where on the queue, this new people would get seated first even tho they don’t have a reservation or there not even in the queue, I would never ever step my foot on this place. Bad Hostesses.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Brittany Graves
The host Alejandra was so kind and helpful! Her personality was so cheerful which made me smile. The food was amazing. I ate more of the food that was in the market area for you to choose instead of the meat brought to us. Either way, all the food was amazing.
Such a fun experience! The food options are great. I recommend start by ordering less meat that you think you will need. They bring you SO much to cook!
A person in our party was gluten-free. This was not an issue at all. The staff brought her a separate broth to avoid cross contamination, and there were no problems.
Veggies were fresh and the location is clean. Attentive staff!
Vegetarian options: Ask for a seperate broth (if worried about cross contamination!) other than that, great options for vegan and vegetarian.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Mushroom Combo Platter, Happy Lamb Hot Pot, Egg Fried Rice, Marinated Garlic Beef, Spring Roll
Brianna Martinez
This used to be our absolute favorite place to eat in the city! The food is still delicious and the service from staff is great but the new self service method has been less than satisfactory. While I don’t think it’s a totally bad thing considering you can get your own portions and not feel like you’re wasting, it’s not as good as the previous method. Also more unsanitary?
Our biggest complaint is, there are no more lamb wontons! That was our absolute favorite part and we cannot express how bummed that we are that they have not had that on the menu!
We will still be going to Happy Lamb, but we will miss the old system very much.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 4
Ben Harsha
This used to be a five star for me, but I have to drop it down to 2 after my last visit. They've entirely eliminated the a la carte menus and cut options along with it. It's no longer worth it to me to keep going here.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 3
Athanasia Stafilas
I made a reservation at Happy Lamb for dinner today specifically because it was NOT a self serve hot pot place. To my disappointment though, it seems they've changed that. They bring you the lamb or premium items directly to the table, as well as the broth, but everything else you had to wait in line to get yourself. It was loud (why are you playing rave music during dinner?), chaotic, the kitchen staff were running in and out of the doors adjacent to the food area and bumping into you, there was a lot of raw meat/raw seafood/veggie cross contamination, despite what I am sure was their best effort to minimize it. With a busy Friday night crowd I just don't think it's a good system for anyone. It was overwhelming and exhausting, and forget about it if you have accessibility concerns. If you go with more than four people, the poor people nearest the pot in the center of the table will get splashed with hot soup and almost always have someone's arm in their face. We were a party of six and it was wildly difficult and uncomfortable with just one broth pot. The food quality was also just okay, the spicy broth wasn't spicy and most of the veggies were pretty sad looking. ?
The garlic beef and sesame balls were good.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Garlic Beef
Allie Nelson
Happy Lamb was my favorite hot pot place in Chicago
I am beyond disappointed with the decision to change from table service to buffet service. Leaving out raw ingredients that anyone in the restaurant can touch, with tongs that are practically *begging* to be cross contaminated with different ingredients is unsanitary and lacks hospitality. Will gladly return if happy Lamb brings back table service, but in the meantime, I'll pass. YUCK! ?
I've been to other hot pots, and I'm not too fond of the setup at this one.
1. We were a party of five and had to share 2 pots. I wish we each had our own pots. I was the only pescatarian, and the server said we needed to be a party of 8 to get a table with more pots.
2. The server didn't hear that we asked for vegetarian tomato broth, and I didn't realize I was eating chicken tomato broth until he refilled my broth towards the end of me eating. Smh
3. The tomato broth was bland.
4. We got seated fast 👍🏾
5. The pre-made hot food was good. 👍🏾
I personally wouldn't return, but I'm glad I experienced the restaurant because it's been on my list to check out.
Honestly wasn’t blown away by the experience. I know it’s super popular, but it’s not my favorite hot pot, based on this experience. The classic was wayyyy too pepper forward for me and I didn’t get much depth of flavor. Also I wasn’t in love with their food selection (granted, I don’t eat meat or fish so that limited options). It was a fun atmosphere and a lot of people love it!
A lot of options to choose from and everything besides the meat was self-serve making the experience very smooth. Would have been better if they had spicier soups and if they kept the buffet a bit cleaner but overall felt like very good value for price and would definitely return again.
Such a nice experience! Take your time eating, you’ll burn your mouth! Lol! The staff was also very nice :)
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
This place is a go to for hot pot! The broths are flavorful without being salty and lots of different protein and veggies to choose from.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Happy Lamb Hot Pot
Great food for the price .
Service is not the best , but ok for all you can eat.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Broth was delicious. Everything was fresh. All the sides seem fresh. Just a great overall experience. Price was well worth it.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
First time doing hotpot! You select your broth, I like that they have a half/half option so you can try a couple flavors and spice levels. You can order the main meats and the rest is self serve, you go up and grab whatever veggies/ additional meats, they also have a couple of cooked sides and a build your own sauce station. Fun experience, fairly priced, I'd go back!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Happy Lamb Hot Pot
This place is awful, the hostess pick who she wana seats first, we waited for an hour and half and while where on the queue, this new people would get seated first even tho they don’t have a reservation or there not even in the queue, I would never ever step my foot on this place. Bad Hostesses.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
The host Alejandra was so kind and helpful! Her personality was so cheerful which made me smile. The food was amazing. I ate more of the food that was in the market area for you to choose instead of the meat brought to us. Either way, all the food was amazing.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Such a fun experience! The food options are great. I recommend start by ordering less meat that you think you will need. They bring you SO much to cook!
A person in our party was gluten-free. This was not an issue at all. The staff brought her a separate broth to avoid cross contamination, and there were no problems.
Veggies were fresh and the location is clean. Attentive staff!
Vegetarian options: Ask for a seperate broth (if worried about cross contamination!) other than that, great options for vegan and vegetarian.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Mushroom Combo Platter, Happy Lamb Hot Pot, Egg Fried Rice, Marinated Garlic Beef, Spring Roll
This used to be our absolute favorite place to eat in the city! The food is still delicious and the service from staff is great but the new self service method has been less than satisfactory. While I don’t think it’s a totally bad thing considering you can get your own portions and not feel like you’re wasting, it’s not as good as the previous method. Also more unsanitary?
Our biggest complaint is, there are no more lamb wontons! That was our absolute favorite part and we cannot express how bummed that we are that they have not had that on the menu!
We will still be going to Happy Lamb, but we will miss the old system very much.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 4
This used to be a five star for me, but I have to drop it down to 2 after my last visit. They've entirely eliminated the a la carte menus and cut options along with it. It's no longer worth it to me to keep going here.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 3
I made a reservation at Happy Lamb for dinner today specifically because it was NOT a self serve hot pot place. To my disappointment though, it seems they've changed that. They bring you the lamb or premium items directly to the table, as well as the broth, but everything else you had to wait in line to get yourself. It was loud (why are you playing rave music during dinner?), chaotic, the kitchen staff were running in and out of the doors adjacent to the food area and bumping into you, there was a lot of raw meat/raw seafood/veggie cross contamination, despite what I am sure was their best effort to minimize it. With a busy Friday night crowd I just don't think it's a good system for anyone. It was overwhelming and exhausting, and forget about it if you have accessibility concerns.
If you go with more than four people, the poor people nearest the pot in the center of the table will get splashed with hot soup and almost always have someone's arm in their face. We were a party of six and it was wildly difficult and uncomfortable with just one broth pot. The food quality was also just okay, the spicy broth wasn't spicy and most of the veggies were pretty sad looking. ?
The garlic beef and sesame balls were good.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Garlic Beef
Happy Lamb was my favorite hot pot place in Chicago
I am beyond disappointed with the decision to change from table service to buffet service. Leaving out raw ingredients that anyone in the restaurant can touch, with tongs that are practically *begging* to be cross contaminated with different ingredients is unsanitary and lacks hospitality. Will gladly return if happy Lamb brings back table service, but in the meantime, I'll pass. YUCK! ?
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 1
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