Hotlab Chinese Hotpot — Restaurant in Bristol

Really excited to try this place but was a little underwhelmed. The decor was very dark for a small space and felt a lttle dirty. The server was lovely but was very softly spoken, so we really struggled to hear what they were saying, even though it wasn't very busy as we were early in the day. I also felt the server spoke directly to my partner only and completely blanked me which was slightly strange. We had the 2 broths and be warned the mild spice is actually VERY spicy. My partner and I can both handle spice but were sweating! We ordered a variety of different foods to try which were all very tasty. It was a little confusing as you are told a lot of information all at once from the server regarding cooking times etc which is very easily forgotten. It would be super helpful to have a card on the table to help you remember. Also, for me personally seperate utensils for the different foods and raw/cooked would have made me more comfortable. We each had 1 set of chopsticks and a ladel in each of the hotpot broths, so it was very difficult to put for example, raw prawns and raw steak into the broths without accidentally using the same utensils as for the cooked meats and vegetables. I didn't really want to use my chopsticks on raw prawns and then eat my cooked food with them. We ended up mostly putting the raw in the broth with our fingers in the end, but then there isn't any antibacterial wipes for your hands which created another issue. We ended up getting through a lot of napkins and I felt dirty by the end of the meal. A simple pair of tongs for your raw meat and seafood would have been ideal. The food was very tasty and enjoyable. I love a food experience but to be honest I left still feeling kind of hungry and I don't think I'd...

Wow what an experience I loved every aspect of it. It was my first hot pot experience and it was great. The atmosphere felt very personal and the spirited young waiter made it even better...quite a character😁. We had the half and half hot pot which means one half is chicken broth while the other is spicy. You can choose which spice level and as it is sechuan(known for its spicyness) I chose mild, I did want to order medium but the waiter advised against it unless I am seriously into spicy food which I thought I was but I swallowed my pride. I am glad I did, it blew my lit right off. Sechuan mild is probably as much as I am capable of. But don't get me wrong the flavours still come through no matter how much I was sweating and dribbling. After this I can believe the old myth that there is a place in China where they eat so spicy that they go deaf for a while🤣. But enough of the broth, I actually never tasted the chicken one 😅. You get to order plenty of side dishes and I would recommend anyof the dumplings, chicken and prawn balls and lotus root all very tasty, lotus root more for the texture. Carefull with noodles though they become very slippery and easily get lost in the broth. If you can put their your bowl with some broth instead. Anyway that's quite enough of my waffle. If you want to try hot pot give this place a go it has a unique...

Overall, the food was good and a fun experience of using hot pot. However, we booked a table for 9 people - this was a particularly special occasion as our friend was travelling to the other side of the world and this would be the last time we’d see him for four years. Once we arrived, we were shown to two separate tables - a table of 4 and a table of 6. It was not easy to share conversation between the 9 of us and we all wished this was something that was made clear before booking a table of 9, and paid a £100 deposit for a table of 9 people.

The manager explained it wasn’t possible to sit together, he was quite blunt in his delivery and wasn’t accommodating to our suggestions eg there were two tables near each other in a row which would have provided a much more pleasant and connected experience for our group of 9, instead of being on completely separate tables. He disregarded our suggestions, and were not accommodating to our needs at all. Also, the system for ordering food was quite clumsy - resulting in us ordering duplicates of certain dishes, this was reported to staff immediately however they were not willing to accept this was a system error and therefore we paid for something we didn’t order twice.

Overall, an ok experience but not a venue for groups bigger than 4-6. Manager was unhelpful and not...