Mr. Maocai — Restaurant in Ottawa

So, to start: This is, without a doubt, my FAVOURITE restaurant in all of Ottawa. I’ve gone literally - at minimum - once a month since I found it (and have no regrets).

My boyfriend and I started coming here earlier in the winter and I got addicted. The food is SO good, and the portions are huge!

I tend to get the hot pot over the dry pot, and have tried the hot & spicy broth and the mushroom broth. Both are amazing. You can choose the spice level, and I usually get it “hot”, which I find perfect. However, it is pretty spicy, so I would recommend ordering lower for people who are trying it for the first time and aren’t sure what they want.

One of my favourite things is the broth — it’s actually really good, which is a pleasant surprise (I’ve tried a lot of hot pot places and the broth here is way more flavourful). It makes for delicious leftovers later.

The sauce bar is also large and has many options! Garlic, soy sauce, oyster sauce, green onions, chili oil, etc.

The staff are absolutely lovely. We’ve never had any issues and honestly it’s definitely a big reason I like to go — they’re super accommodating and nice:)

So all in all, this place is a delight. I seriously cannot recommend it enough, and have brought tons of friends and family over and all have agreed it’s amazing. I’ve literally stopped going to other hot pot places now. Nothing compares. If you’re looking for a restaurant with good pricing, actually spicy food, huge portions, lovely staff and a nice atmosphere, this is the perfect...

Unpleasant smell in the place should have been my first clue. From the presentation on maps it looked Korean, but turns out it’s Szechuan. Oh well, it’s open late, basic ambiance, music too loud. I love many Asian cuisines, but for me this food had terrible flavor, and although ingredients were reasonably fresh, they were low quality ingredients, in particular tough and dry beef. I specifically asked not to have numbing spice - I specifically said I don’t care for it. Unfortunately I had forgotten the word for the spice - ‘MA-LA’ but I was clear that i wanted none. There was plenty of MA-LA in the dish. I did eat about half my order before the numbing kicked in, so I paid, but I regret not running out on my order or asking not to pay. I was VERY clear with the server that I thought the restaurant was honestly trying to make good food, but to me it was most unpalatable. The flavor was such that I could not keep eating, not just because of the numbing, but also a sour and disagreeable flavor in the dish which no chili oil, onion, salt, or sugar would correct - I tried with condiments from their sauce table. To their credit they offered a 10% discount and a can of soda in apology, but I just can’t recommend this food. Bad taste still in my mouth a day later - mostly from numbing spices I asked to leave out. So no, although this restaurant is honest, I do not trust this food to be tasty....

I happened to walk by the restaurant and I was impressed by how wonderful it smelled. When I was making my way back from my destination I decided to stop by to get some take out. The staff was very welcoming and attentive. They immediately took our order. While we waited at a table they gave us water which was greatly appreciated with the 30 degree weather. The food was prepared very quickly; in less than 10 minutes. I chose the shrimp spicy hot pot. When I sat down to eat I was impressed with how well it was packaged to ensure no soup would spill. The portion is very generous with a good amount of delicious tofu and fresh tasting shrimp. There was an abundance of vegetables and a good amount of noodles. While the soup was spicy it was not overly so. The vegetables were perfectly cooked. My coworkers commented how good my food smelled. Very much worth the $16. I will definitely...