Happy Lamb Hot Pot, Bellevue — Restaurant in Bellevue

Found this restaurant in a list of Delta's Dining for Mile's list and, frankly, liked the name. Drove a little out of the way to get to the restaurant and it was TOTALLY WORTH IT. Here's why. If you've never been to a Mongolian hot pot restaurant, this review is ALSO your lesson in how it works!

We didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into, and on looking around the other patrons, we were the only white folk there. The hostess explained our options; an all-you-can-eat option, and an a la carte option. My husband wasn't feeling very hungry so I said I'd have the first and he'd go a la carte. She said that each table had to pick the same type (and I totally get why) and then she threw out a third option - a combo, in which they bring out a wide variety of choices, enough to feed 2-3 people, and we don't have to make any decisions. Still not sure what we were getting ourselves into, we thought that was a fine option.

We were seated and a very friendly waiter, Jacky, stopped by to further explain our options. With the combo we would get a plate of beef and lamb, a seafood plate, some vegetables, and an assortment of dumplings and tofu. He then explained that there would be a surcharge for each person for the soup. Looking at the picture of all the food on the menu that was part of the combo we thought the soup would be too much. He insisted that we get it and we decided to listen to the waiter. Mind you, we still don't have the concept yet.

Moments later a HUGE bowl, divided in half, was brought to our table. One side was spicy, the other mild, and the waiter set it on a ceramic burner built into our table, and then turned it on. He said it would start to boil in a few minutes.

Our table was set with a plate, a small bowl, small ceramic spoons and chop sticks. I eyed the soup and thought to try it. Jay was a little more observant, and nodded to the table next to us who had also just received their bowl. They weren't eating it. "When in Rome" he said, and we decided patience was the order of the day.

Shortly a server (not Jacky) delivered our food. We were presented with a plate of lightly seasoned rice, a plate of raw meat, raw seafood, raw vegetables and uncooked dumplings. We asked him for a lesson - he looked a bit unsure of himself - and said he'd get someone. I think it's just that his English wasn't that good. Another waiter, but not Franky, stopped by. He gave us the lesson we white guys needed, and here's the lessons for anyone reading this who is thinking about trying a Mongolian hot pot restaurant.

The soup is the cooking medium. We take the meat, veg, seafood or dumplings and put them in the boiling soup to cook it. It suddenly dawned on me that this was the Asian analog of a cook your own steak restaurant. He then explained how to know when something was cooked; the meat needed to turn grey, the seafood white, the shrimp pink and the dumplings arrived frozen, and would need 3-4 minutes each and float. The veg could be dipped in or left to soften, didn't really matter.

Now that we knew what to do, we had a THOROUGHLY ENJOYABLE time dipping food, eating slowly and enjoying the process. Sometimes something would fall off our chopsticks (the meat in particular fell apart) so we'd go fishing in the soup for leftover bits. The bowls also come with two spoons, one with holes in it to drain the liquid, the other to serve soup in the little bowls on the table. Franky, our original waiter came by several times to check on us, and he was very friendly and engaging. We had a great time - the food was wonderful, the service excellent and the overall experience very enjoyable.

I would absolutely return to Little Sheep, and would love to find a Mongolian hot pot restaurant near me and go with a group.

Finally, here's how the three options work: a la carte, simply pick what you want off the menu like you would at a sushi bar and pay for each item. all you can eat, you pick it, they bring it. combo - they bring a variety of food, and there are combos for small (2-3) and...

Summary: Excellent place for a once or twice a year all you can eat extravaganza. We’ve been coming here with large groups (10-15 people) and as long as you call a few days in advance, they are super accommodating. The food each round is like a tidal wave, and the servers were on top of keeping us full, the alcohol flowing, and our broth topped up. I’ve come here a few times and it’s always fun. Expect to spend around $30-$40 per person.

Food: The style is all you can eat, and you are given a menu that is split into three rounds. For each round, you tick off what you want from the different choices on the menu, and the food is brought out throughout the round. Typically, there are two types of broth - regular and spicy. We usually go for a split pot, which separates out the broths with a divider in the middle, but I think after this time we’ll move towards just the regular broth. The peppers used in the spicy broth tend to accumulate both in the pot and in people’s broth bowls over time becoming more of a nuisance as the meal goes on. Ingredients are well prepared, but if you do too much too early, the taste can become repetitive. Try to space out different themes of the menu over the three rounds instead of ordering the entire menu the first round and ordering repeats in subsequent rounds. We thought the vegetables, when ordered, were very large and not particularly worth it. Sweet treats like the buns were staples of every round. Be careful if you have a large party and some of your party is starting to tap out - the food they bring out for each round is suited to feed the entire table. There is a separate dessert/sauce bar that we didn’t end up visiting all that much.

Service: Service was good, once we got into it. Towards the start, we did have to prompt for proper number of bowls and utensils, but during the course of the meal we were checked up on and our needs were met without much prompting. The kitchen and the wait staff are very busy between all of the different tables, but the organized chaos was executed well.

Ambiance: As mentioned above, it is organized chaos. They have large round tables for larger parties, which keeps the entire party facing each other and engaged in conversation, as opposed to losing half the people you came with to long rectangular table space. Smaller seating is provided throughout the rest of the restaurant, and the place is lively and...

The service here was so disrespectful. We had a party of 3 do all you can eat and we only did 2 of the 3 rounds but that didn’t stop the staff from making it clear that we were over staying our welcome. We were cooking and eating the whole time. We weren’t trying to camp out at a table and prevent anyone waiting to be seated from a table.

We were still waiting for the rest of our food to cook and had meatballs visibly floating at the top. They came over multiple times and turned our burner to 1. We even explained to a few of the staff that we were still cooking but they still turned the burner so low that our soup wouldn’t even bubble. We were trying to cook the cilantro lamb balls and we even cut it in half to try to speed up the process not that we should feel like we have to, to begin with. We kept checking the center but it was visibly pink and mushy.

We explained to multiple staff that approached our table that we were still cooking. Around the 4th or 5th time our burner was turned off we decided to just leave. The last time I was actively stirring and checking the meatballs a lady rushed by our table and turned it off without even making eye contact she was gone without ever saying a word to us. The staff were passive aggressive and disrespectful. Our remaining meatballs were still pink in the center when we left.

If they’re going to treat people like this they might as well hang timers above tables.

The menu advertised a birthday special and I had already sent it to several people for my birthday in August but we will obviously stay far away now.

The worst part is that we were hosting my MIL and wanted to treat her to a memorable meal and now it’s memorable for all the wrong reasons. I guess we have something to laugh about and we will never be back.

We have never had any other dining experience come close to the active disrespect we experienced today.

I work in retail and don’t understand what possessed multiple staff members to treat us the...