Hotpot & Nudeln 大清面馆 — Restaurant in Berlin

Dear Hotpot & Nudel! My answer is no, I have not dreamed about you. My fiancé, a friend and I were there on the 13th of January at around 19 o'clock and we stayed for approximately two hours. The reservation was made under my friends name, and she made it through WhatsApp. But, I didn't do the rating until just a few days ago when Google Maps reminded me to make some contributions (leave stars and/or reviews) on places I've been to lately. At the time I didn't have time to write anything so I just left the stars. Also, I don't always leave a written review.

But here is an explanation for the stars: I thought the food was ok. We had dumplings for starters, which were good. A plus is that you have Chinkiang vinegar at the tables. It's a must for me when I eat dumplings because that is how eating dumplings were introduced to me when I lived in Nanjing, China, and that is still what I like to eat them with. The ingredients for the Malatang were fresh and plentiful, a lot to choose from both in the vegetable and meat sections. The broth was a bit bland, I would have wanted more flavour, but it was ok (hence the three stars on the food category="ok"). Your service was good, you were all friendly and attentive allthough a bit stressed, but that was understandable with a full house and more and more people coming in in search of a table. I liked your service, hence the four stars on the service category="I liked it". And on the last category, Atmosphere, I also but four stars. Even though it was I little too small of a space in the fridge area (that also is the entry/waiting-to-be-seated area) which led to a lot of cueing and a bit of stress trying to get around all the waiting people the atmosphere that evening was good. It reminded me of places in China, and I liked it.

Hopefully, you'll now understand my rating and also find this explanation acceptable.

Best...

As a hotpot and overall Asian food lover, I was excited to try this new and highly discussed place.

Among other dishes, the (in my opinion) signature dish is the hotpot that comes for 15€ per person. You order at the table and then go off to take a bowl and fill it with whatever your heart desires and fits from the fridges right next to the entrance.

It felt rather tight because there are lots of tables as well as said fridges and staff moving around carrying bowls filled to the brim with hot stuff and other guests squishing through tables in hopes not to knock over your drinks or foods. The tables and seats themselves are simple outdoor wooden tables and benches which are, again, a bit on the small side and also not that sturdy (possibility of collapsing).

The broth was very basic. Like, so basic that I couldn't even find a specific taste of where it should derive from and also a bit bland. The chili oil helped though in case you order spicy. The ingredients as well as dipping sauce option are also rather on the simple side which disappointed me quite a bit as I expected signature ingredients like quail eggs, sweet potato, different types of marinated meats, rice cakes etc. or some other sauce option besides peanut sauce and greens.

For drinks, local, bottled beverages are available which isn't bad in itself but I just expected more Asian-origined ones as this restaursnt offers Asian cuisine.

To sum it up, you get a very simple hotpot with desired spice level and ingredients, although limited in variation, and simple drinks. It tastes alright, but nothing more and it felt like the owner's intention was rather making money through a simple system than offering quality food and customer experience. Ambient was also rather impractical...

This place is most definitely a victim of its success and struggles to face the barrage of customers trying to get a table. As a result, we witnessed how even customers with reservations had to wait 30+ minutes outside in the cold and how ingredients for the dipping sauce had run out entirely at 7.30pm on a Saturday evening. We had seen this place reviewed by a rather big number of influencers online — whether these reviews were paid for by the restaurant or not, they need to step up their organisational game fast if they don't want to receive too many negative reviews for waiting times and missing ingredients.

Once you are able to get in, service is swift and no-bullshit (which we appreciated) and the hot pot was pretty good: the ingredients were fresh and diverse and you really get your money's worth if you pack your bowl to the brim. The "non spicy" broth was a bit bland in our opinion and could have had more intense and complex flavors. The presentation in single servings was pleasing.

During Saturday dinner service the place was completely packed, with customers getting seated together as they came and the overall volume being incredibly loud.

Overall not a bad experience, I would have given 4 stars if the reservations and ingredients management was held to...