The Dolar Shop — Restaurant in Bellevue

Every place in the Bravern deserves a visit, and with Seattle being such a chilly place year-round, it's an excellent place for excuses such as going to hot pot whenever you want to. I've tried a ton of hot pot locations around the area, and I'd say that Dolar Shop is within the top few spots I'd recommend to anyone. (If you're curious, another place I'd recommend is Haidilao. They're both excellent spots!)

Food and pricing: Dolar is reasonably priced (in this economy haha) and has fresher ingredients than some other hot pot places. I've been here a lot of times and the food is always great. I especially like their tripe, and also the quail eggs are my favorite. Also, don't spend a long time wondering what kind of meat is good for your hot pot, all the options are amazing! (Even the chicken. I don't know how they get it so tender, there must be some black magic with marination, corn starch, and a secret recipe of sorts.) Though, I guess it was only today that someone maybe forgot to peel the shell off of a shrimp tail so when I bit into my shrimp ball I tasted something was funny and realized there was a bit of shell in my shrimp. Eh, no biggie, it usually doesn't happen here so I'll still leave the food as five stars. Maybe I'm wrong, but I swear the meat portions decreased a teensy bit when I came today, but don't count me as being entirely sure. Inflation, amirite? (Don't worry, the prices didn't change. I just swear there used to be more meat when I came here before.) You'll probably be full after eating all your things, but if you still have room for food, the desserts bar is full of jelly, bursting boba, fruit, and also panda marshmallows that seem to be the hype among younger kids. My personal favorite is the osmanthus jelly and osmanthus syrup, though family favorites include the red beans (which are the perfect sweetness and texture) and fermented rice wine (which is definitely not store-bought and probably made in-house, considering how strong the flavor is). If you still have room after all of that, there's always complimentary ice cream! If you're still hungry after that, stop by the dessert bar again, or you can check out some other shops at the Bravern such as LeTao or HeyTea. (Though, I doubt it. You'll probably be full.)

Service and funsies: The service is nice, everyone is friendly, water and broth are refilled accordingly. You also do get waived your tips if you fill out a quick survey on how your service went today, and also enter the chance to win a $20 gift card every month. Win-win! Oh, also, if you come here on your birthday you get to spin a wheel full of fun little free food options. Last time I came during my birthday and spun a lot of free meat, which my cousin was very happy with.

Atmosphere and vibes: The atmosphere is very good, I like the gold accents everywhere and the orange-and-gray theme going on, as well as the lighting. The bathrooms are clean and have hot water (hallelujah!) instead of freezing cold tap water. The only thing I wish is that it's sometimes a traffic jam trying to navigate around, with waiters wheeling around carts and a slightly cramped space meaning scooting to the side very often. I guess it's to accommodate for more seating perhaps, but it would be nice if we had a little more walking area.

An additional note: I put my wait time as "up to 10 minutes", since I always come here when they're opening (at 11:30am) and eat a hot pot as a breakfast-turned-lunch or I reserve my spot. Wait times do vary depending on what time you come, but when it's their busy hours expect a little while of a wait. (The waiting area does have refreshments, including my favorite hawthorn snack, and also games such as chess and jump chess. But, my advice is do try to snag a spot early if you can.)

Just a random clarification: One last thing, I put the photo captions as "Lamb Shoulder" since that's what the online menu says, but I'm not sure if it's Lamb Flap or Shoulder. Either way, the...

Everything about this place screams extraordinary! The interior design, the ambiance, the selection of food, the quality of food, the price of the food, the care they put into plating the food, the taste of the food, the presentation of utensils, the cleanliness of the place, the friendly service provided by the staff, the initiative and attention to each table by the staff etc etc. Everything from the moment you stepped into the restaurant to the moment you walked out of the place was excellence in its highest form. Every utensil was shining and clean. The color combination of the place harmonized even with the variety of colors there.

Food:

The meat was tender; with the fat to meat proportion ratioed to perfection. Every piece was sliced evenly. Such meticulous knife work. Each dish was served separately on a different plate and not piled onto the same plate like other hot pot places (not that I totally mind but it was much more professionally thorough which I appreciate). The seafood was very fresh. There wasn't a strong fishy smell or taste to any of the seafood items. It felt like it was caught fresh there and then and even after cooking, the texture and taste felt very much like that of a really fresh sashimi.

The vegetables were sweet and luscious before and after the cooking process. I have never had that much vegetables in my hot pot before and loved it so you can gauge how enjoyable they were.

The both soup broths were delectable. The spare ribs broth had a balanced umami flavor while the spicy broth had a rich tangy numbing flavor with a spicy punch. If you are not one for spicy but would like the spicy for some kick, I would suggest the mild spice. If you are one who absolutely love spicy, I would say go all the way but it does get very spicy. Personally I thought the mild spicy was a 4 or 5 on a wing stop level of spiciness. Or on a normal Thai restaurant in Bellevue, it would be a level 4 or 5. That would be my guess. However, not one for spice, I would suggest the other broths because they were also amazing in their own way. I personally would've drunk all the soup if it wasn't for my tummy space.

There was also a free flow at the condiments bar where all the condiments were conscientiously chopped to its perfect size. And the bar was actually clean without sauce dripping all over the sides. Also, I greatly appreciate that there was a service where the staff would come to your table and mix a sort of general sauce for you in case you didn't get your custom sauce to taste anywhere near as good as you would like it to be. In my opinion, the general sauce was superb. There was a rich umami flavor with a subtle hint of sweetness with an incredible fragrance from the herbs that brought the sauce together to create a mind blowing experience with each dip.

I extremely enjoyed that at the end of the meal, there was a free ice cream (of cos which Asian doesn't enjoy free stuff... i know i do). But it wasn't the fact that it was free that made the cut for me. It was the fact that the ice cream was actually good ice cream. The vanilla was strong and creamy all at the same time. The cone was crunchy with a subtle hint of cinnamon in it. It was better than most ice cream parlors I've experienced and they were not even an ice cream parlor! The cone was rolled so well it didn't drip fr the bottom like other ice cream places would. It kept its form and crunch right until the end of its life.

Things that could be improved:

A better booking system for reservations Availability of pork intestines would have been nice

This was an absolute first-class dining experience. I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who loves food and appreciate an exquisite Asian dining experience. I can see why this restaurant is rated the top hot pot place in Beijing. And to experience it without having to travel thousands of miles there each time is something I am truly...

Very unprofessional servants. Arrived at 1630 to wait for 1700 open, which as expected, people are waiting in line. However, at 1710 the line finally began to move. Without advanced notice, we were the first group being notified that the patrons were saturated and we have to wait for at least another hour (in 40F) weather. We kindly asked if we can leave our cell number to be notified of first available table. The answer was no. We have to wait outside of their closed door in almost freezing weather for at least an hour. We understand that this restaurant is famous and we understand it is very common for customers waiting in line simply due to the physical capacity of the restaurant, but here are the complete reasons that this restaurant is unprofessional in customer service (food taste aside because we never get to taste):

Waiting in line before opening is usual, but it is also very predictable of the first group who gets to eat for the first round. Therefore, identifying the saturation point and issue notice in advance beforehand gives customers chances to make their dinner choices earlier. Customers do not stick in one restaurant. Issuing waiting tickets should not be a difficult object to complete.

Closing door in freezing weather is totally OK for customers inside for their comfort, but for customers still awaiting seats this is a sign of “we do not welcome you”. Spaces at Bellevue downtown is very limited and it is totally acceptable that there is no indoor waiting area. However, not offering cell phone notification of next available seat leaves customers 2 choices: waiting in freezing weather with entry door closed or walk away another restaurant.

When we were walking southbound on 110th Ave. NE, we noticed restaurant level still has 7+ vacant table. We were not sure if that is due to staff shortage, reserved seating or just simply not using that area to triage the waiting line. I cannot tell since I have no knowledge whether Dolar Shop Bellevue takes reservations or not.

All of the above observations occurred on 11/16/2018 from 1640-1720. As it might be a speculation of whether the restaurant intentionally to make it difficult to public (making a line to impress people on 110th Ave NE) or other reasons. Above paragraphs were factual observation. I’m very happy to wait for a feedback from the restaurant for addressing the issues above. As I know The Dolar shop is not that compatible in China and from the past years of The Great Seattle Area development, if The Dolar Shop at Bellevue continue to exhibit customer service in this fashion that I observed, I will not be able to tell if other competitors will soon catch up and overcome...