Beijing Hot Pot Restaurant — Restaurant in Richmond

Spotted this place whilst passing through Richmond, and it looked pretty hyped up online and the hot pot’s unique design and shape intrigued me… overall, great experience!

Food: maybe the high rating gave me a bit too much expectations, but overall it was good. The hot and sour broth is no joke, and is greatly enjoyable if you want some spice. The dinner set is a great deal, though we had to add two extra plates of meat and another bowl of crystal noodles, since we still weren’t full after the set. The beef and lamb did have some fatty parts, the chicken was VERY tender and out of the world, and I even tried some of the fish as someone who isn’t the biggest fan of seafood— still really good! Only reason I didn’t put five stars is because I got the pork tripe broth expecting a ton of pork tripe (my favorite!) in it, but alas… three sad pieces stared back at me. Overall, though, solid option for a meal. Don’t forget to save room for the ice cream bar!

Service: the staff are punctual, amicable, tidy, and efficient, food is served on time, and come by regularly to refill your broth. Yippee!

Atmosphere: I love the design and setup of the place, the consistent theme they keep makes the whole place look very comfortable. There’s always background music, and some noise from nearby tables since business is gooood here. The only thing is that since they have to accommodate for so many people, it is slightly difficult to maneuver out in your chair to go anywhere. I love the design aspect, though, so, five stars! (Plus, as a Seattlite, the prices here are so worth it here. You will not regret any financial decisions. If they opened a place in Washington with the same prices, I bet it’d be a huge success because every restaurant in Washington has inflated prices.)

Business is gooood here, so you might have to wait a while. Still, the staff are speedy with clearing and cleaning tables, so the wait isn’t that long.

Ah right, I usually leave four-star reviews but this place coerced me into giving five stars, because you get a free plum juice if you leave two five-star reviews. I love plum juice, so… I guess this also answers the question of why this place has a thousand reviews that are all...

Been here about 3 times now and I would say the $69.99 combo for 4 is worth it. The portion and taste are consistent. It's definitely worth a try.

Spicy & sour soup base is my fave. It's light and tangy, not really spicy to be honest, but it's refreshing. I like that it's different than other spicy & sour soup out there.

Fish maws soup is pretty good as well, rich and sticky on your lips, all those collagen lol. But after a while, it can feel like it's too rich and became too much.

I tried the original before too but I don't remember so I figured it must be pretty basic. Nothing special but nothing is wrong with it either.

Crystal noodle in the combo is pretty good as well.

Other than the items in the combo, I've tried...

Lamb shumai: thin skin but with a good chew. The skin break too easily though. I kinda like it but at the same time... Don't. Maybe the aromatic was too strong for me.

Shrimp paste: skip this!!! The taste, the texture, nothing was there.

Plum drink: not bad but also nothing special about it.

Bamboo pith: not bad but small portion for the price.

Cocktails: not gothing bad.

Sauce bar is pretty limited. I wish they have a better selection but it's still good enough!

Services are usually good here, I've never had a bad...

Reasonable price and beautiful atmosphere. Staffs were friendly, they are still adjusting and training so I'm sure service would get better. Food was delicious and quality of the food was great. The only thing I really hope they fix is the soup. Very disappointed that their house special soup was just water with a few pieces of dried herbs and spices (in other words, said soup was not soup). When it arrived, I was really hoping the clearness was partly chicken stock...but it was not. Something I learned/notice is that if everyone in your party wants the same soup and doesn't mind sharing the same pot, you can just order 1 to share (reminder the pots are single serving size - mini hot pot). Honestly would love to come back but I really hope when I do, the soup is improved (or Atleast make it clearer on the menu that it's basically water). Other 2 soups, tomato and sour & spicy soup were alright nothing special. The best things were the appetizer clear noodles and the meats (also got the "white noodles" and those were good...i mixed them in the sauce that came with the clear noodles after boiling and it was...