The Q — Restaurant in Boston

Came here with a small group for hot pot. Overall the taste of the food is excellent, the service and atmosphere are a bit chaotic.

I thought I had booked for 5 people, but it turned out I had booked for 2. I called the restaurant about 30 minutes before our reservation letting them know and they said they could accommodate. I also let them know we would be around 10 minutes late, and they said that it was okay, just that we had a 90 minute time limit from our reservation time. I appreciated their accommodation for our mistake, especially since they are so busy.

When we got there, it was 5 minutes past our reservation time, and the table was not ready. Since we were being squeezed in no problem with waiting. We got seated after 20-25 minutes. Once seated it took sometime for the waiter to arrive, but he was helpful in explaining the hotpot menu. We ordered drinks and crab Rangoon to start. The crab Rangoon was delicious!

Then we ordered our hotpot a la carte. They have so many options and the waiter also explained how to enhance the soup with the sauces. It took a while to get everything, but it all came out on a tray. One thing they don’t make room to place it on the table, someone from our group had to get up and place the plates from the tray on the table so everyone could get their food.

Once we finally got all our food and settled in, the hostess let us know that our time was up and we had to go. I was confused cause we just got the food after being seated late and she was basically asking us to pack up. If they were unable to accommodate our group I would have rather just been told no, instead of being asked to leave the second we got our food. Regardless, we told her we would finish as fast as we could…

We ate our meal and as the waiter said the sauces added on truly elevate the dish. Everything was tasty and we were able to cook the meats, seafood and veggies to our liking. There’s definitely a lot that comes with the meat orders, and we had PLENTY.

Overall I truly enjoyed the meal and was satisfied, despite the mix up I appreciate their accommodation I just wish they would have been more realistic with us. It was jarring. The waiter was great and explaining everything. I’m not sure how I feel about the experience, having to basically cook and serve ourselves it seems like a lot for the price…but the...

While on a 4 day family vacation to Boston, we decided to head to Chinatown for sightseeing and lunch. My daughter suggested we step in and see The Q restaurant menu. We were promptly greeted and given a few minutes to commit to menu items we weren’t used to seeing as where we are from, we have never heard of “hot pots”. We were escorted to a nice table and introduced to our server, Yang. Without rushing, Yang completely explained this new (to us) type of cuisine and even helped us pick out food choices based on our individual likes. Yang presented our food with artistic expertise and even borrowed my phone to video the layout as if creating a commercial for the newest iPhone.

Now on to the taste! I ordered the mango chicken. It was flavorful but not even close to being overly sweet. The mango was ripe and plentiful. My husband ordered the General Gau’s chicken. He said the chicken pieces were perfectly cooked and the dish’s sauce was one of the best he had had. I tried his chicken and thought his was good, but I think I out-ordered him on this lunch!! We also had a side of chicken fried rice which, in our opinions, was one of the best we’ve ever had. A hefty amount of thinly sliced chicken with rice that had the perfect amount of hoisin and oyster sauce. My kids ordered the double broth (plain & pork) hot pot combination with angus sirloin. Though they loved all the different elements, their favs were the sirloin, udon noodles, and broccoli. The broths were each intense with flavor while the dipping sauce rounded out the veggies and protein with the perfect punch to make this entree a grand slam.

Out of all the restaurants we tried on this trip, this was by far the best taste-wise and service-wise. Make this a place you try when you are in the area and be sure to ask for Yang to be your guide on this fun and flavorful...

While I wasn’t intending on writing a review after coming to this restaurant frequently in the past, I felt that this experience was slightly different. The Q provides a nice environment for hotpot and has an extensive menu beyond just hotpot items. Overall, the quality of the items was pretty standard. I didn’t feel like the quality of the meat was super great, or super bad, but I did feel that the clear broth felt slightly plain. What lacked in this visit particularly was the service. We made a reservation for 5 at dinner, and were seated at a booth made for 4 people. They added a chair to the end to fit all five, and while this usually isn’t a big deal, I feel that at a hotpot restaurant, with lots of burning hot items and plates, it’s better to have more space rather than being squished into a booth no more than 4 feet wide. While there were no issues, I felt a bit uncomfortable and confined, and the person on the end had to reach over lots of dishes and to reach the pot. In the future, I would hope the booths would be set for only 4 people. Throughout the meal, the waiter was very busy and did not have lots of time to interact. While all the staff was very kind, they did not come frequently at all. It took 35 minutes to receive an item after asking for it, and we did not get water refills for almost an hour. While these are small things, they add up in a way over the course of a meal. Overall, I had a just ok meal here and would go 50/50 on...