Hotpot Spot — Restaurant in Wales

It was the most bizarre experience dining here. First when we arrived in the restaurant, our group set up was that there was someone on each end who was sitting facing an empty chair on the other side of the table. Upon enquiry we understood it was a covid measure, however never had any other restaurants requesting such seating arrangements in the past 20 months.

We ordered two split pots, a non-spicy broth for one side of the pot and a spicy broth for the other side. The staff came to confirm that we wanted spicy/non-spicy in each pot. Yes, we said. To our shock when the pots came, one pot was spicy/spicy on both side, and the other was non-spicy/non-spicy on both sides. This was after the staff had came by to confirm that we wanted a spicy/non-spicy set-up, and in the usual situation a person wanting a spicy broth would not have asked for a split pot. We raised this to the staff and were clearly unhappy about it, though did not insist on having the broths changed around.

What happened next made it the most awkward and uncomfortable dining experience ever. From where we were sitting, we could hear the owner reprimanding the staff for the error, throughout our meal. We understand mistakes occur and if the owner was unhappy about the mistake and genuinely wanted to apologise, taking the initiative to change the broth to the right setup, or a complimentary drink or dish would have gone a long way. But no, he chose to reprimand the staff within our hearing for the whole dinner (which didn't help the situation one bit and made the experience worse!). We felt sorry for the staff. Even with the hospitality shortage, that was a completely wrong way to help the staff improve, nor help retain them in the long run.

I don't remember anything about the food, although photos did show a good range to choose from.

At the end of the meal we each received a box of hello panda, which might have helped, if not for the fact they were expired. All in all, would...

Unfortunately we had several negative experiences at this place tonight. The most concerning was that we ordered both a vegetable broth and a meat broth and when they arrived we asked which was which and the waitress didn’t know!! We explained it was very important as one of us is a vegetarian so she took them back to the kitchen. She returned with more broth and told us which was which. Unsure of her certainty/knowledge, we checked with the chef. He said that was wrong & the broths were the other way round!! Terrible service when your party contains a vegetarian that cannot eat meat.😡 Also it was VERY slow service (and the restaurant was not busy.) Waited at least 20mins to order even a drink. And even then we had to call someone over. Thirdly, we were a table of six and two of us received their broth & food at least 15minutes after the other four of us had theirs. Next, one of our items didn’t arrive. After 20ish mins we asked about it. Were told it was accidentally missed off the order. Reordered. Told it would be 5mins. Another 20mins later we checked again. Yet another 10mins later, when the meal was finished, it finally arrived. With no apology! And we were still charged for it. As another reviewer has mentioned, the tables were also sticky, and the menus themselves were not in good shape.

Looking for plus points... although apologies were sparse, the waitresses (& chef especially) were polite, chef brought an extra separate bowl of vegetable broth in the end, and the...

I came with a friend and had a great experience here. The server was incredibly friendly, and explained how the restaurant functioned. Ordering was simple, as you do it on your phone, and you can easily look through the things that you want to add to your order.

The experience is very customisable. We got the Sichuan Spicy Mala broth, and you can choose a heat level between 1-5. We chose 4 which was the right level for us (maybe 5 for next time). We got the seafood set tray, as well as the noodle caboodle one, but there are so many delicious ones to try! The servers will advise you on how much time each ingredient takes to cook, so even if you're new to the experience, you don't have to work it out by yourself. As well as trays, you can also order ingredients individually.

The menu includes plenty of side dishes too. We got the char siu bao which were delicious. As for drinks, we just shared a pot of jasmine tea (which was perfect for the meal), but the cocktails look super interesting and I would love to try them.The menu has specials frequently, so it is definitely somewhere which warrants a repeat visit. It's a great place if you enjoy communal eating.

To top off the experience, as we were leaving the server gave us a gift bag of snacks to try (cheese crackers, hawthorne sweets, wasabi peanuts, hello panda, etc...). This was a lovely and unexpected touch, and really rounded off the evening positively.

Will definitely be taking more friends here and telling...