Hotpot for days — Restaurant in Peoria

We went here on a Sunday evening (01/19/2025) attempting to enjoy hotpot and hoping to be proven wrong about the 'so-so' reviews this place has received. That was a failed mission, unfortunately. When we arrived, there were already 2 other couples waiting to be seated. There was no one at the door to greet us and nor did anyone come to the door to acknowledge us. While sitting at the front door waiting, we noticed one guy in the back corner making drinks. I saw him look in our direction but never came to the front. Then we noticed one lady taking orders and bringing a cart of food around. Then we noticed one guy coming from the back kitchen with a plate of meat for a table, then went to bus a table, then returned to the back kitchen. So basically, it appeared that only 3 people were working in this entire restaurant, and they had anywhere from 8-10 tables of people going (average of 3 or more people seated per table). One couple left after sitting for about 7+ minutes after arriving and not being acknowledged. More people came to join the remaining couple that was still there waiting, so they ended up with at least 6 people in their group. The lady finally came to the front to speak with that group and then went back to waiting tables (in fairness, 2 of the 6 people in that group did get there right before us). After another 5+ minutes or so, the lady raised her hand, pointing at myself and my husband to come and sit at a table that was just cleaned. At this point, we had been waiting for at least 15-20 minutes, and this is the only interaction we've had with anyone there. After sitting, we waited another 10 minutes or so before the lady came back to take our order. We ordered the vegetarian broth and some beef options but then ended up canceling the order after a few minutes because we noticed a couple across from us who looked really annoyed. They appeared to have been sitting for a while after visiting the buffet to pick out their veggies/add-ins. At this point, we were so over it, and not to mention there was a smell that was quite unpleasant. Initially, when we entered the restaurant, I smelled it, but just figured maybe it was some seafood or something that someone was eating. After sitting at the table for a few minutes, the smell became stronger and more unpleasant. I didn't want to eat there anymore and was wondering at this point if it was even safe, considering the smell. Needless to say, we found out why the place is called 'Hotpot for days' - that's the amount of time it takes to even get served here. Maybe if they get new management and/or hire more help, I may...

I know this is long, but if it helps to persuade others to try someplace else, then it's worth the read.

I visited this place tonight and honestly, would not come back. This place was expensive for the experience. The food was ok, but the service was really bad.

First, one of the staff was sort of hovering over us and trying to tell me how I should be doing the hot pot (I've been to others and I didn't ask for assistance, so it was a bit of an annoyance). Little did I know that this would be the most attention our table would receive for the remainder of our meal. The staff only came to our table twice throughout our meal, but it's an all you can eat establishment in which you have to have the meats brought to you (which, I would like to point out that they were just kind of thrown on the plate and no one told us which meats were which). We had to flag down someone anytime we needed something.

Now, I can understand with the current labor shortage that some places may take longer to serve customers, however, at this place, it was very noticeable that many of the other tables were being tended to more often than ours.

Then, we asked for a couple of the seafood options on the menu, but we're denied being able to order them because we didn't have the right broth for that meat. Regardless, they could have brought us out a piece of the seafood to see if we would like it with the broth before bringing out a serving, but that was not offered to us.

Lastly, as we were getting ready to leave, the table next to us was served (about 6 people) in which their platter was served with presentation, as in all of the meats were not in one pile and they were also served a plate of fresh blue crab, which is not on the menu (unless it was part of their "fresh seafood" meat option, which again, we were denied).

As much as I hate to point this finger, but many of the other tables that were there tonight, including the table of 6 that got the nice platter of food, were of Asian descent, which I'd expect, but the fact that they received much better service than our table tells me that there is a preference for the kind of customers they want to serve.

On the flip side, I would HIGHLY recommend Jin Shabu in Chandler for your hot pot cravings. The food was amazing and presented nicely and the lady that served us was really nice and explained the cultural aspect of "Shabu shabu". It's prices are compaticle to Hotpot for Days, but actually worth the price for the food, experience and...

THE WORST SERVICE I'VE EVER HAD!

I'm not just saying that to be mean. I've owned a couple of restaurants and consulted with several more. Let me explain...

The owner (yes, I verified this) sat us, and then the poor customer service began. She didn't come back for our drink order for about 10 minutes. Got boba Smoothies, but they were out of boba. Still charged full price. Then, when she brought the drinks 10 minutes later, she basically told us what to order. She even suggested we sit differently to make it easier. We thanked her but assured her we could handle it.

When we came back from the veggie, noodle, and seafood buffet, she had moved one of our settings to the other side of the table because she disagreed that we knew how to eat. We moved it back. She didn't seem to understand that one of us had seafood allergies, so only one pot would be used for that. But, we didn't really need the owner to understand that since we're adults and can handle that ourselves.

After having to take our cups to her to refill water and ask her three times for more meat, we were already bothered. We had to ask her to refill the sauces on the buffet because she didn't know they were empty. Never once came back to our table to check on us or refill waters. We wasted another 15 minutes after we finally flagged her down for our check. The rest of the table went to the car while I waited. She seemed upset that I couldn't just follow her to the other corner of the building and pay with Apple Pay. I explained that I use android and would like a paper ticket.

She sent another staff member with it and it was wrong. I pointed out that she charged us for something we never ordered or received. She fixed it and sent it back. In the end, 90 minutes and $93 for 3 people, 2 smoothies, and 1 water during a slow Sunday lunch service. I will never be back. If you're that bad at treating customers well, don't own a restaurant. The sad thing was the food was actually pretty good... but the owner ruined...