Zu Hot Pot — Restaurant in Albuquerque

You ever go in to restaurant expecting to just eat and leave, but end up laughing yourself to death because you vibe so well with the employees? That was our experience on 03/04 and Zu Hot Pot became the pinnacle highlight of our trip to Abq. Usually the highlight of a trip to Abq is not getting shot or robbed and this place far surpassed the usual expectations.

The food was great, the hot pot was a new welcome experience much akin to a mongolian grill theme but different all on its own. The best part though was our waiter Tomas pronounced toe-moss I believe. Personally I would have gone with Tom-is but I digress and believe this young person should identify to whatever pronunciation Tomas prefers.

Tomas came over and greeted us with an attitude befitting his age(16) and someone who works(possibly unwillingly) for the family business. Once I caught wind of the vibe and energy Tomas was presenting, we were quickly able to relate and joke through the rest of the night. The dry humor, subtle sarcasm, and slightly laxadasical attitude could turn some people off but for us it opened a door to a hilarious night of jokes, jabs, and laughter. We really enjoyed the night and have tons of jokes and laughs and overall great memories. I will be back to this place anytime I have the misfortune of ending up in Abq and look forward to more hilarious experiences and sneaking french fries into...

Liked it but didn't love it. Here's the good: a fun experience and something different decent variety of ingredients to choose from great sauce bar to flavor up your soup good place to take kids! tasty! Here's what could be better: it's expensive. All the ingredients are very expensive, overpriced in my opinion. We ordered two servings of udon and I had to double-check that we did in fact receive two orders. A bit ridiculous. Mushroom portion was meager also. A 3.5% of service charge is automatically added to all credit card transactions. For a restaurant that doesn't use their resources to cook your food for you it is surprisingly expensive. vegetables were okay, but I was confused about the Chinese broccoli that we received. There was no broccoli in it at all, we only received leaves, not a single broccoli stem or floret for $5. service was friendly, but not as good as I was hoping. I didn't even know that you could order a split pott for two different broths until we were leaving. It seems like we were being rushed towards the end of our dinner as well. I wish our lovely server would speak up so we could hear her better, and I wish she would have come closer to our table so we could talk to her easier. the place looks a bit dungeony, it could use some color, decorations.

I didn't hate it, I just...

Love hotpot and this place is pretty great. The price seems steep but if you divide it with the group it's not really bad for how much food you are ordering. Honestly this is one of my favorite spot especially in the winter. It's both for meat lovers and vegetarians. Tip: just order one broth if your party are 2-4, honestly I know it's only $4 to get two broths but it's not really necessary. The kimchi broth is the best of them all and don't be scared that it's spicy, you can get the mild and it doesn't have any spice at all. Honestly the medium is even nothing but just do mild to be safe. Also they do charge extra using your credit card, most business do now and if you don't see it that means they up the price of the food to make the difference it's just priced differently. Also it's better to order less then add more later since you can order more as you are eating. Order at least 2-3 types of protein, at least 2-3 vegetables, a noodle if you like to start with then build on that. My favorites are the pork which are so tender when you put it on the soup, quail eggs, mussels, any of the mushrooms, bok choy, tofu and noodles. My recommendation is also get a side of rice since you can ladle the broth with the add one on a separate bowl. Don't forget to try all the...