Clay Pot Rice — Restaurant in Calgary

A little context: after breaking down in front of his restaurant, the owner saw my friend and myself looking at my flat tire trying to assess the situation. He saw us and without hesitation offered to help. Knowing a flat isn’t the easiest thing to fix without a compressor, he and his friend said don’t worry we have a compressor. Not only that they had every tool needed to fill the tire, and figure out where the leak was. After exclaiming my gratitude I told him my next Asian food experience would be at his restaurant. He said he expected no such compensation but I felt after saving me a hundred plus dollar tow bill, darn right I’d keep my word.

This same day I ordered from Clay Pot for take out. After looking at the online menu, and being very hungry by the stresses of the day, I ordered some unique dishes that looked very enchanting. The Mango spring rolls, beef spring rolls, salt and pepper chicken, and Mala (spicy) roasted beef with hand made noodles. Each dish was so unique and perfect; different- in fact more than any Asian restaurant I’ve ever tried here in Calgary.

Outstanding service, atmosphere and absolutely beautiful inside- modern and full of people who all seemed to be enthusiastic and lively; put simply having As great an experience as I was about to have.

I have no other way to express my thanks and appreciation to the owner, except that he went wayyyy above and beyond, and THAT is something so rare in todays hectic rat race, that it helped restore some much needed confidence in an otherwise indifferent world. Do yourself a flavour and check this place out. The menu is unlike anything I’ve experienced at other restaurants. And it won’t be my last visit. Thank you Clay Pot for everything. I’ll be back again, and that is a promise. Best 5 stars in a...

Very disappointing. There is one good thing and that is how nice the serving staff is. But the service is slow. The robot is such a gimmick. I watched how the kitchen staff would put the food in the robot, then the robot moves super slow to your table with the server following it. The server than takes the food out of the robot and places it on your table. I bet if they skipped the gimmick with the robots service would be much faster.

The food is not very good. I was hoping for the food to be good but it wasn't. I've had amazing clay pot rice in NYC, SF, LA and of course HK. The "clay pot" is a modern clay bowl, not the old school looking clay pot. One of the keys and reasons you want clay pot rice is to have the crispy, semi charred rice at the bottom. Unfortunately this was not what I found at the bottom of my "bowl". The rice was bland while the meat/veggies on top were less than favorable. For the pork belly, they sliced it as if was deli meat. It was so thin. No one wants pork belly like that! The brisket was more fat than meat, the spare ribs were all ribs - no meat while the chicken with black bean sauce was really chicken with black beans.

The Hong Kong noodles were as boring as I have had. For a place that is called Clay pot, there were more non-clay pot items than clay pot items on the menu including fries. Serious... fries?

There are 2 arcade games there with one being the Simpson's game I played back in junior high! Come on now - there has got to be better games to bring in.

I wanted this place to succeed when I heard about it. It needs to re-work the food to...

This is a casual, hole in the wall joint with cool artwork. There is alcohol available but the overall vibe during dinnertime hours has been family friendly. The 2 am closing time makes this place ideal for date nights, hanging out with friends, etc. They serve Chinese and Japanese food that is relatively legit but still easy on Western taste buds.

I've eaten here 5 times and the food and service has always met or exceeded expectations. Karens need to stop moaning about the robot, it may be a gimmick but it's a fun one that costs you a whopping 2 extra minutes of your time at a sit down, dine in restaurant.

So far, the standout dishes to me have been the chili seafood fried rice and the Cantonese fried noodles. I would start with either one if you're trying this restaurant for the first time. Their namesake dish, the clay pot rice, is tasty, wholesome food but was a bit heavy on rice and light on toppings when I had it a few months ago. The curry beef and HK noodles were decent but nothing mind blowing. The pork/shrimp shu mai was good, definitely comparable to shu mai I've had at other restaurants. The garlic cucumbers are a flavorful option if you're looking to add more vegetables to your meal. The cold mung bean noodles make for a flavorful lunchtime side.

Overall, I think this restaurant does a good job adding to the late night, non-pretentious, "sit down food" options in Calgary. I'll be a regular customer as long as they're around, and I hope they make it through...