Tasty Pot — Restaurant in Albuquerque

Tasty Pot is an American restaurant chain focusing on Taiwanese hot pot with 38 locations and 10 more planned as of June 2023. The ABQ location opened May 18, 2023 as the only New Mexico location, so it’s quite new. The closest other currently open locations are located in Denver and Phoenix.

They offer 12 selections of different hot pot soups, after which you select your spice level (5 options ranging from no spice to flaming spicy), then choose any vegetable add-ons (28 options), and then choose any meat add-ons (31 options). There are also teas and boba teas you can order.

When you enter Tasty Pot, you grab a table and scan the QR code to access the menu and then order. Your drinks and dishes may be delivered by their robot server, which has kitty ears atop it. When we sat down and accessed the menu, there wasn’t a description of what kind of hot pot it was. With traditional hot pot, the broth is brought to the table and kept simmering and raw ingredients are added by the diner(s). When they are cooked, the diner takes out the food and dips them in different sauces. Tasty Pot’s version of hot pot is an Americanized version where you order the dish and it comes out to the diner prepared and ready to eat. There is still a flame underneath that continuities to cook the dish; you can slide the cover over to stop the flame. I tried to use the “I have a question” button through the QR link, but you can’t hail a server though that until you order, which seems counterintuitive. We ended up being able to wave down a server to ask about the process.

I ordered the Curry Flavor Hot Soup, which is a combination of pork products, fish products, and vegetables. It’s comprised of napa (a type of Chinese cabbage), pork slices, vermicelli noodles, tomatoes, corn, egg, two types of mushrooms (enoki and king oyster), imitation crab meat, kamaboko (a cured surimi, a processed seafood), three types of fish balls (regular fish ball, golden fish ball, and Eggie fish ball), fried tofu skin, tempura, Chinese string beans, lobster ball, scallions, and pork bone soup. I got mine mild.

The amount of ingredients seemed like it might overwhelm the dish, so I didn’t do any add-ons. With 18 separate items in the soup, not including the broth, I wasn’t sure how it would all work together.

The hot pot was underwhelming. Even though there were 18 different items in the soup, there could have been just 4 or 5 for the lack of different flavor profiles. It seemed as if everything had been boiled too long and all tasted the mostly the same. For just under $20 (not including a drink or tip), I expected the hot pot to be more flavorful with more diversified flavors.

Considering there isn’t a readily available host or server to ask questions to and the kitschy robot server, the experience felt very impersonal and gimmicky. Some diners may enjoy the robot performance, but it didn’t add to the experience for me. The food was fine, but tasted all the same; there didn’t seem to be a reason for all the ingredients other than being able to list a lot. Overall, I wouldn’t go back. I’m not really into chains and this didn’t...

The name says it all. It is definitely tasty in a pot. I don't care if the seafood has shells on it. I think it makes for the best tasting broth. I love the boba. I love all their teas. I can't believe that I'm saying this. There's nothing I don't like about their food. All of it's delicious. Well, if I have to say for my last visit because it was my birthday, they did drop the ball when it came to the birthday thing. I didn't get the little treat, but would I still buy it? Absolutely. I'd pay full price and won't even want a discount. Delicious if I could. I would not only kiss The chef but I would drive him to work free of charge.

The scene. It's too good to be true is definitely real even for this location with all the great attributes. It still has one flaw. It is severely understaffed. It is quite a wait for your food and sometimes your order gets lost in translation between the servers. Being understaffed means sometimes they forget your forks, your napkins, and your straws. And you might have to ask them two or three times to bring it but when they do they are awfully polite. It was very nice of the owner to accommodate our large party. When he recognized the mistake was made on the server's behalf. Still willing to pay for the mistake, It seemed honest, The owner would not allow it. They also have a helper m1 robot. Even m1 was busy so it's so understaffed that even m1 could use some more help. If there's a way that we can help this wonderful establishment succeed a reasonable time for services. I'm all for it because this place is worth every penny. Thanks for hosting our party. I understand that you're understaffed. Hopefully whenever you get more staffing we can have another event there minus The long wait for our alcohol and non-alcoholic drinks which prompt us. Started drinking our outside alcohol. Respectfully, we put it away at the owner's request and he fix the fact that our drinks hadn't came out. I've never used it to go service but I think I'm going to give it a go only for time's sake. Top drink has to be the sunrise. It was amazing with a strawberry burst bobas and some coconut bubble I think. Great job team! Super fan! Our server was The Amazing Corinne who picked all the drinks...

I wanted to try this restaurant because of an Albuquerque magazine review about their chicken. I did order it and it was excellent and the only reason I gave their food 2 stars. Here comes the bad: I ordered a hot pot of seafood and paid close to $50 for the chicken and seafood. No prices on the menu. First, I ordered the chicken to go and the hot pot to eat in the restaurant. They both came to go. The waitress did not listen. I waited what I thought was a long time and then had to wait even longer to get the hot pot to eat in the restaurant. After getting the Hot Pot to eat in restaurant, they do not give you a fork, knife or plate and the lobster and shrimp come in the shell and is in hot water. You cannot eat it with the chopsticks because of the shell. It was too hot to handle. I asked for a fork and 15 minutes later, I had to ask for it again. Again, the waitress did not listen. Once I got a fork, I did not have a plate or fork to help get the shrimp and lobster out. I had taken it out of the pot with the chop sticks and put it on top of the rice so it had cooled so I could take off the shells, but it was almost cold by then. The seafood did not seem fresh either. The rest of the stuff in the hot pot was not very good and the "steamed" rice was dry. Overall, I would go back for the chicken, to go only, because their service is really bad. BTW, if you still go to this restaurant, use a credit card and they charge a fee. They have a sign at the front door advising you about the fee. You can pay at the table using your phone, but then you have to pay the fee and they don't have the same notice about the fee at the table. I had to go up to the register to pay, not a problem, but when I did, I complained about the bad food and service and the very young cashier said, I am sorry, took my money and walked away from the register. I cannot speak about the other Hot Pots, but if you go to this restaurant, stay away from the Seafood hotpot. I wish I had asked to talk to a manager, assuming the cashier was not the manager, so I decided to this review. Hopefully, the management will read it and improve their service AND how to eat their seafood hot pot. ...