Hotpot Story — Restaurant in Colorado Springs

If you’re looking for hotpot or a fun date night, I would suggest going somewhere else even if it’s Golden Corral. My husband and I have been here three times, each time a questionable experience that takes over car conversation. However, this last time will make us venture anywhere else. We arrive and getting on the waitlist was an effort, but after a family cut in front of us and 15 minutes later, we were still patient and excited to be seated in about 30 minutes. We got handed a buzzer and left the crowded area to wait at the nearby outside picnic table. About 40 minutes pass, the man who put us on the list and also the manager (maybe owner) of the establishment burst out of the door, obviously looking for us but not because our table was ready. He had clearly messed up the order of which people got seated and he seemed relieved we didn’t take off with the buzzer. He tells us we’ll be seated in five minutes, so we start to get up and he motions for us to continue to sit down outside of the restaurant. I should have started clocking the time because when I started paying attention another 10 minutes passed, so we finally moved inside as to not be forgotten a third time. We get seated by the family that cut in front of us, who were collecting the check as we’re just getting started. So any assumptions about our place in line getting messed up are confirmed. They give us water, but then they forgot to place cups, so now I’ve got to reel in one of the wait staff that are constantly moving and they bring us a dirty cup. I got told it’s sticker residue, and I’m sure they just rubbed it and handed it back. I guess I’ll just drink from the other side where there’s no residue around the lip of the glass. We start cooking up hotpot and we noticed a new thing, items are spending too much time in the freezer. Egg noodles and wagyu shouldn’t have visible frost! I almost mistook the white on the egg noodles as mold!! Still, we wanted to make the best of a dinner out! Then a party of eight shows up. They seat them at the bar area by us. No biggie, right? If you’re not at a table it’s similar to communal eating. However, they set them up with only 7 hotpots and right next to my husband. The large group of course made a stink they were short one, but I can’t blame them! Almost halfway through our meal, they ask to move my husband to the other side of me because that was open. He agrees but the staff expected him to move all his utensils and plating after giving up his spot to help them impress the large party. The couple that just gotten seated next to us on the other side seemed horrified about what they witnessed. So, if you’re wondering at all if you can be moved in the middle of a meal, you can! You’ll also get a very fake thank you, no comp of any kind, and wait staff that have trouble giving you your bill, so you can get out of there already! This place isn’t cheap because each plate has a price, so take caution in picking but with a price point like this one, go somewhere that cares about food and service quality. This is a...

Two pho $89. Freezer burned bamboo. Toxic Tea. A big fail on the part of the shortsighted owners. This restaurant did not earn a repeat customer.

I suppose this kind of restaurant is a unique cultural experience for Colorado Springs which sorely lacks in anything resembling authentic cultural diversity. Annnd take this review coming from a person whose favorite place to eat is The Angry Korean Lady’s restaurant. IYKYK.

Pros: the pho broth was very good. The 3 different sliced beef options were really tender and good. The bok choy was good. It was my husband’s first hotpot experience and he was all about sampling the fish selections. -The atmosphere of a conveyor belt restaurant and stressed out Asians that you have to flag down to get service with a sprinkle of annoyance is pleasantly authentic. The staff is all very friendly and accommodating, even when there appeared to be only one server and not a single empty seat in the restaurant. Cons: -no reciept. I asked for one. But I did not get one. -the cost. I can get the same thing at 4 different restaurants within 2 miles for half of what I paid. Minus the privilege of cooking my own food and being forced to listen to the socially awkward haole woman next to me lecture and educate her coworkers on her extensive knowledge of Asian cuisine (she spent a week in Korea) and proper use of chopsticks for 20 minutes. -eating should never feel rushed. Especially after the dinner rush had passed and there were empty seats everywhere. -some of the food tasted horribly freezer burned. I have harvested my own bamboo shoots. I know what they are supposed to taste like. These tasted like freezer burn and messed up my broth. I had to pay for the veggies that destroyed my broth and everything in (beef and bok choy) my broth. That’s 3 dishes and a broth destroyed by contaminated improperly handled bamboo shoots. I had to start over with new broth and beef and bok choy. And I paid for it. My husband started over as well with fresh broth but that was on him for making questionable choices. We were totally okay with that. -the last and unforgivable part…the tea. The meal came to a close and I asked for tea. The server looked at me like I was an alien and asked for the heart of his first born child. The tea came in a beautiful little black tea pot. I poured myself a cup, closed my eyes, cradled the hot cup and took my first sip. I nearly chocked on the taste of toxic cleaning chemicals. Every thing else could have been excused if only they had not tried to poison me with the tea.

Summary: It wasn’t a horrible experience but it’s kind of a standard generic strip mall restaurant that one wouldn’t expect to pay more than $25 per person at most in today’s economy, but it ended up being quite a bit more (without a single drink). It really has potential to be awesome. But with just this one experience, I wouldn’t recommend this place to a friend and I...

Our first experience here was amazing, we thought we found our new favorite hotpot restaurant. The options were incredible. The broths were so thick and hearty made with really great ingredients and masterfully crafted. The first server we had was so passionate and attentive. It was all around an incredible experience.

The next time we came, we found out the server we really liked was no longer there. That was kind of a bummer but the rest of the front staff were incredible so we weren’t too worried about it, it just threw us off because Hot pot story had not been open very long. Unfortunately, though, it did signal some pretty terrible changes. They watered down the broth quite a bit. It still tasted OK, but it was thin and the flavors were pretty mild, they don’t allow you to taste the broth before they come out, which is a pretty obvious tactic. One of the owners was standing there guarding all the plates, and even though we tried to engage with him and be friendly, he had decided we were not his cup of tea, we know this because he had no problem, kindly engaging with others. Though it wasn’t just us, there were other people he was also going out of his way to show distaste for. We were still pulling plates off and buying more food, but he started to try and push us out of the restaurant, he had only been there just under an hour and there was plenty of seating for new guests. I would totally understand trying to push someone out that was just sitting there refilling their broth and not buying more plates But we were still buying food and he still wanted us out. I gave a lower rating to the food because they watered down the broth, I didn’t wanna give service a one because the staff are generally really good, and the atmosphere is pretty awesome if it weren’t for the owner...