No.1 HotPot/BBQ Çin mutfağı 1号铺火锅中餐 — Restaurant in Şişli

As a group of people representing "Dining Istanbul" Expats, we had a wonderful hotpot experience last night. Our host's leadership and restaurant's flawless service made this joyous dinner possible.

The food was exceptional! The ingredients' quality for the hotpot were magnificent. Veggies were pretty fresh, the thin sliced beef and lamb was tender and juicy, mushroom variety was satisfactory, and vegan products were at top quality except the tofu. The tofu was a mushy. That's my one and only negative comment on the ingredients.

To be more exact, we ordered a mushroom based hotpot, half medium spicy-half without spice. Regarding the ingredients we had: we ordered Bamya(okra), Pak Choi, Acılı Dana(spicy beef), Taze Doğranmış Dana Eti(freshly sliced beef), Soslu Dana Eti(beef w/ sauce), Karides toplar(shrimp balls), İnce Pirinç Eriştesi(super thin rice Vermicelli), Enoki Mantar(mushroom), İnce dilimli kuzu(thin sliced lamb), Dana tendon(beef tendon), Kuru ince tofu, and Bambu.

The eating method should be as follows: You go and get an empty bowl, and create your own sauce base from a selection of items at the open buffet area. Your options are: sesame oil, crushed peanuts, tahini, cilantro, hot sauce, crushed garlic, oyster sauce, hot paste, celery, scallions, soy sauce, and etc. Then, you get back to your seat, fill your already sauced bowl with broth from the hotpot, and then add your toppings per your taste, give a nice swirl to your bowl, sit back and enjoy :) By the way, I personally advise you not to overcook the products when you dip into the hotpot because they can cook momentarily. This is critical to get all the flavors of the products especially the meats.

Some people also ordered chicken dishes like sweet and sour chicken, and fried chicken tenders. I tried those, too. But, these weren't as good as the hotpot experience.

As I haven't been to many Chinese hotpot restaurants, my comments should not be taken into account so seriously. However, I liked the place very much for the high service quality, for cleanliness, and for quality food.

We paid 400 TL per person including an alcoholic drink. I believe it's quite reasonable.

The interiors were also well furnished and the table setting was designed per the food concept. The bathroom was clean and tidy.

The outdoor patio is perfect for spring and summer night feasts.

Overall rating 4.5/5 for a...

I will start by saying that I got an electric shock from trying one to plug in my charger into one of their sockets right next to the table.

Then, I asked a waiter to put my phone for charge and he just neglected my request. Took my phone, brought it to a far away table and left it there without plugging it in.

I wasn’t served napkins nor the bowl for the soup, until I asked for them.

Instead, the waiter Ali was enjoying his cigarettes.

The taste of the dishes isn’t bad, but the soup isn’t heated enough to shock boil the meat in it, and when I asked to heat it, the temperature stayed the same.

Dumpling portion is very small — 6 dumplings that were served without any sauce until I asked for it—and costs 12$. I left the place half-hungry having ordered two dishes and a broth.

In the end, they tried to scam me with one extra juice on the bill. They took my card and told me to stay at my spot while they are dealing with the payment, I had to stand up and control it.

On top of everything else, they include service fee of 10% in the bill. The only question:...

The decline in quality and service is insane. We used to go frequently to this place and we always had a pleasurable experience where there was plenty of dishes to choose from, and it felt hygienic. That is until yesterday, staff was rude and would leave mid-sentence and brought wrong orders twice (although everything was marked in the tablet). We got some dishes as well as the hotpot. All the dishes tasted bland. The hotpot was absolutely terrible as everytime the staff added soup something kept falling from the kettle which made everything taste like cow dung. And one of the drinks that came had a used toothpick inside. Upon reaching home everyone's stomach was feeling uncomfortable. Absolutely not recommended. Never going...