This place isn't the best hot pot that I've ever had but it was good, the service was great, and the robot that delivers your food made it a fun/unique experience. If I'm ever back in the area I'll definitely stop in for a bite to eat.
Jingsui Wang
Horrible place. Ingredients are not fresh. Horrible attitude. It’s no where near authentic Chinese food. Avoid this place!!!!
Emily G.
Not amazing, but still good satisfying meal at the end of the day. I think it's overpriced for what you're getting and the overall experience. There's quite slow service. My friend and I had to get up to take the waters from the back counter ourselves to refill, honestly not a problem but wish they were more active in helping us out. This is more of a current problem because of all the health risks right now, but the iPad system - this is where you order the types of broths you want and the different ingredients, from meats to vegetables - seems strange and counter intuitive because your hands are dirty as you're ordering for refills while you're eating. I ordered the mushroom broth (which was very yummy) and the seafood broth, which I did not thoroughly enjoy. It tasted a bit fishy with small mini anchovy like fish in it I guess to add flavor but I would rather have picked a different broth like the spicy one that my friend got. It seemed for the seafood one it tasted more fishy and ended up having a good flavor simply because I cooked the things I liked in it rather than starting out as a good broth. The conveyer belt system could be cute but clearly the food has been out there for a while and what is going around is not fresh - this is hot pot so I guess it's understood that you cook it in your broth but it doesnt seem appealing to see the old food continuously passing your table. There's a good sauce bar, but that also is a bit interesting in that it's just sauces in bowls. Wish they had coverings for the sauces and condiments though to keep more fresh and less prone for exposure to health risks. The food itself, as I mentioned before, was tasty and satisfying though, and overall was a good time.
Sharon C.
i was so happy to see a new hot pot restaurant, minutes away from the Clarendon metro! the conveyor belt/tablet ordering system is definitely fun and pretty effective. con: I got the usual Szechuan spicy broth I get at every hot pot place (have been to over a dozen across cities) and it was SO BLAND. it was very watery and lacked flavor which unfortunately translated into all the meat/veggies i cooked in the broth to taste bland as well. i tried my friend's tomato broth which was better. if they improve their broth, i'd become a regular!
Jerah Anne Marie S.
Amazing service and great food. Good location as well. The servers were very personal, the food was amazing , so many options to choose from.
James Abys-Smith
Good hotpot with solid options for vegetarians.
Erica W.
Not a big fan of the food or atmosphere at this place. It has a fixed price of $27 per person and the food was nothing to brag about. The meats were good quality but the rest of the options were not great. The veggies and other inclusions came down a conveyor belt that you just grabbed food off of. It's an interesting concept but you have no idea how long the food has been circling the conveyor belt. Also half of the little dishes were unrecognizable and when we asked the server what a couple were, they didn't know either. Taste was pretty plain although they did have a station in the corner of the restaurant with different sauces and toppings to spice up the food. Unfortunately they didn't mention it until we were done eating.
Conway Y.
Been here a few times now. It's still relatively unknown and undiscovered, so the lines are manageable compared to places like Hot Spot. The convenience of its metro-accessible location is a huge plus. The downside is that the restaurant is small, so it can only really serve a dozen or so parties at once. Service is sub-par, which is funny given how self-service hot pot can be. The conveyor system means that the waiters shouldn't be that occupied with actually serving food. I feel like the waiters can work more efficiently than they are. Waiting for refills of ice water is quite frequent. Food is great, as good as other hot pot places in the D.C. area.
Anna S
Causing a commotion, the server yelled and threw our receipts at us for not giving them enough tip, when it was only a $.50 difference. It’s extremely rude to berate people who aren’t your own children...It’s not your place to tell us what to do. As broke college kids who were kind of shocked by her anger, we all obliged and each added more tip, but when you are not making an income as a full-time college student, you should be grateful when a student gives you a 15% tip instead of demanding for more. If the service had truly been exceptional, we obviously would have tipped more, but honestly the subpar service (they didn’t give half the table plates and utensils) didn’t deserve a tip higher than 15%. Meat was that not fresh. Will not be returning.
Thang Pham
Soup was good. There was only one server there. They ran out of rice and mushrooms that we wanted when we were there. You have to pay extra for certain items. I would expect a lot more for what you’re paying.
The soup base and the fish and mushroom ingredients were very good. The price is reasonable and includes premium ingredients but the service needs some kinks worked out to be a great experience.
Anilver Amaya
All you can eat. Very good food and service for a reasonable price.
Jackie N.
So I'm torn on this place. I think the food deserves high praise, but the concept and service can definitely be improved. We went on New Year's Day, so I'll give them a break on service for now, since there was one waiter working the entire place. If you know what you are getting yourself into, I think you would perfectly enjoy your experience. Riverside reminds me of restaurants in Asia where you don't interact with anyone and can just order on a touchscreen and then voila, your food pops up. At Riverside, you order everything on the iPad. You input the number of AYCE meals ($27.99/person) and then you can select your broth, meats, seafood, and veggies. They have a large selection of items, but they need to figure out a better way to let people know when they are out of something. We kept ordering enoki mushrooms thinking the kitchen did not get our order, but it turns out they were just out. After you order, the waiter will bring out your individual soup bowls - there are heaters in the table. A little robot then brings out the fixings and plays music as it scoots on over to its designated customer. The portions of meat and seafood are very generous for an AYCE price. Be aware that if you waste a lot of food (more than a pound), the restaurant will charge you. But since you can order additional items at anytime from the iPad, I would suggest being conservative in your orders. The items also come out at a decent pace, so you shouldn't be waiting long. There are some obvious areas they can work on, but once they do, I think they will do even better than they are doing now. The place always appears to be packed, and a $60 dinner for two is hard to find in Clarendon.
Michelle Y.
I gave this place 1 star because of the creativity of how they serve the dishes on the train and I've never seen that anywhere else, however, other than that, if I could give this place 0 stars I would. I really try not to be harsh, but they were incredibly deceiving. We came in on New Year's Day and after ordering our soups and everything, the price on the iPad said it would be $19 a person. After finishing our meal and everything, we were informed that because it was a holiday that we had to pay the full price of $26/$27. We asked if they could honor the $19 since that was what we were told it was going to be and they refused. As for the food, the meats and items did not seem as fresh as they could be. The sauce bar was also very limited compared to other places I've been to. All in all, we are very disappointed and will not be returning.
This place isn't the best hot pot that I've ever had but it was good, the service was great, and the robot that delivers your food made it a fun/unique experience. If I'm ever back in the area I'll definitely stop in for a bite to eat.
Horrible place. Ingredients are not fresh. Horrible attitude. It’s no where near authentic Chinese food. Avoid this place!!!!
Not amazing, but still good satisfying meal at the end of the day. I think it's overpriced for what you're getting and the overall experience. There's quite slow service. My friend and I had to get up to take the waters from the back counter ourselves to refill, honestly not a problem but wish they were more active in helping us out. This is more of a current problem because of all the health risks right now, but the iPad system - this is where you order the types of broths you want and the different ingredients, from meats to vegetables - seems strange and counter intuitive because your hands are dirty as you're ordering for refills while you're eating. I ordered the mushroom broth (which was very yummy) and the seafood broth, which I did not thoroughly enjoy. It tasted a bit fishy with small mini anchovy like fish in it I guess to add flavor but I would rather have picked a different broth like the spicy one that my friend got. It seemed for the seafood one it tasted more fishy and ended up having a good flavor simply because I cooked the things I liked in it rather than starting out as a good broth. The conveyer belt system could be cute but clearly the food has been out there for a while and what is going around is not fresh - this is hot pot so I guess it's understood that you cook it in your broth but it doesnt seem appealing to see the old food continuously passing your table. There's a good sauce bar, but that also is a bit interesting in that it's just sauces in bowls. Wish they had coverings for the sauces and condiments though to keep more fresh and less prone for exposure to health risks. The food itself, as I mentioned before, was tasty and satisfying though, and overall was a good time.
i was so happy to see a new hot pot restaurant, minutes away from the Clarendon metro! the conveyor belt/tablet ordering system is definitely fun and pretty effective. con: I got the usual Szechuan spicy broth I get at every hot pot place (have been to over a dozen across cities) and it was SO BLAND. it was very watery and lacked flavor which unfortunately translated into all the meat/veggies i cooked in the broth to taste bland as well. i tried my friend's tomato broth which was better. if they improve their broth, i'd become a regular!
Amazing service and great food. Good location as well. The servers were very personal, the food was amazing , so many options to choose from.
Good hotpot with solid options for vegetarians.
Not a big fan of the food or atmosphere at this place. It has a fixed price of $27 per person and the food was nothing to brag about. The meats were good quality but the rest of the options were not great. The veggies and other inclusions came down a conveyor belt that you just grabbed food off of. It's an interesting concept but you have no idea how long the food has been circling the conveyor belt. Also half of the little dishes were unrecognizable and when we asked the server what a couple were, they didn't know either. Taste was pretty plain although they did have a station in the corner of the restaurant with different sauces and toppings to spice up the food. Unfortunately they didn't mention it until we were done eating.
Been here a few times now. It's still relatively unknown and undiscovered, so the lines are manageable compared to places like Hot Spot. The convenience of its metro-accessible location is a huge plus. The downside is that the restaurant is small, so it can only really serve a dozen or so parties at once. Service is sub-par, which is funny given how self-service hot pot can be. The conveyor system means that the waiters shouldn't be that occupied with actually serving food. I feel like the waiters can work more efficiently than they are. Waiting for refills of ice water is quite frequent. Food is great, as good as other hot pot places in the D.C. area.
Causing a commotion, the server yelled and threw our receipts at us for not giving them enough tip, when it was only a $.50 difference. It’s extremely rude to berate people who aren’t your own children...It’s not your place to tell us what to do. As broke college kids who were kind of shocked by her anger, we all obliged and each added more tip, but when you are not making an income as a full-time college student, you should be grateful when a student gives you a 15% tip instead of demanding for more. If the service had truly been exceptional, we obviously would have tipped more, but honestly the subpar service (they didn’t give half the table plates and utensils) didn’t deserve a tip higher than 15%. Meat was that not fresh. Will not be returning.
Soup was good. There was only one server there. They ran out of rice and mushrooms that we wanted when we were there. You have to pay extra for certain items. I would expect a lot more for what you’re paying.
Restaurantji Recommends
The soup base and the fish and mushroom ingredients were very good. The price is reasonable and includes premium ingredients but the service needs some kinks worked out to be a great experience.
All you can eat. Very good food and service for a reasonable price.
So I'm torn on this place. I think the food deserves high praise, but the concept and service can definitely be improved. We went on New Year's Day, so I'll give them a break on service for now, since there was one waiter working the entire place. If you know what you are getting yourself into, I think you would perfectly enjoy your experience. Riverside reminds me of restaurants in Asia where you don't interact with anyone and can just order on a touchscreen and then voila, your food pops up. At Riverside, you order everything on the iPad. You input the number of AYCE meals ($27.99/person) and then you can select your broth, meats, seafood, and veggies. They have a large selection of items, but they need to figure out a better way to let people know when they are out of something. We kept ordering enoki mushrooms thinking the kitchen did not get our order, but it turns out they were just out. After you order, the waiter will bring out your individual soup bowls - there are heaters in the table. A little robot then brings out the fixings and plays music as it scoots on over to its designated customer. The portions of meat and seafood are very generous for an AYCE price. Be aware that if you waste a lot of food (more than a pound), the restaurant will charge you. But since you can order additional items at anytime from the iPad, I would suggest being conservative in your orders. The items also come out at a decent pace, so you shouldn't be waiting long. There are some obvious areas they can work on, but once they do, I think they will do even better than they are doing now. The place always appears to be packed, and a $60 dinner for two is hard to find in Clarendon.
I gave this place 1 star because of the creativity of how they serve the dishes on the train and I've never seen that anywhere else, however, other than that, if I could give this place 0 stars I would. I really try not to be harsh, but they were incredibly deceiving. We came in on New Year's Day and after ordering our soups and everything, the price on the iPad said it would be $19 a person. After finishing our meal and everything, we were informed that because it was a holiday that we had to pay the full price of $26/$27. We asked if they could honor the $19 since that was what we were told it was going to be and they refused. As for the food, the meats and items did not seem as fresh as they could be. The sauce bar was also very limited compared to other places I've been to. All in all, we are very disappointed and will not be returning.
Where do I even begin?