J’s Mini Hot Pot — Restaurant in Duluth

NOVEMBER 2021 UPDATE:

It was a chilly night, perfect hot pot weather! My sis and I decided to eat here for our pre-Thanksgiving meal since we won’t be together for the holidays. It was pretty busy for a Monday, but we were sat right away at the very last table in the back. (Which I didn’t mind, I love my privacy!)

The waitress took our order promptly. My sister ordered the #13: Beef tendon ball & meat combo. She opted for lamb as her meat choice. I got the #14: Shrimp & meat combo, with beef as my choice of meat. We also ordered the Fuzhou fish ball (Fish ball with meat filing) as a side. All hotpot options come with a huge plate of vegetables. Spinach, Napa cabbage, & clear glass noodles were aplenty, a few enoki & oyster shrooms, tofu, and then 1 piece each of other various veggies, a hotdog, & egg. You get to choose your own broth and cook it in a cute mini individual hot pot right at the table. We both got the clear beef bone broth. Pro tip: Get one of the free broths (Beef bone, chicken, or vegetarian) and add your own flavorings from the sauce bar! Speaking of the sauce bar, I went 3 times haha…there are wide variety of sauces and toppings to choose from so you can mix & match and create your own concoction. I mixed a bunch of stuff together (Like 10 things lmao) to create an epic umami packed dipping sauce!

Everything came out with virtually no wait and the service was excellent. They came and check up on us often, always asked if everything was okay and if we needed more broth or water. We even got complimentary shaved ice with grass jelly. It was a cold, refreshing way to end our meal. This is definitely my go-to hot pot restaurant in the area.

OLDER REVIEW:

This is a cute little place that offers hotpot. You would think since most of it is veggies you wouldn’t get full, but you actually do. I love the sauce bar! There are a plethora of sauces that you can choose from, and you can pick however many you want. You can create unique combinations that all get mixed together to create a flavor bomb to dip your food in. There is also a selection of several different broths to choose from as well. I got the shrimp and beef combo and my friend got the clam and beef combo I believe. Highly recommended for a fun experience of cooking...

I found this place as I was traveling home to SC from Atlanta, and I was looking for something healthy.  It popped up on my google reviews highly rated, and open, so I decided to give it a try.

I've enjoyed hot pot a couple of times in different places, one in Philly, one in Miami, and one in Draper, Utah - all very different ways to order via the menu, and all very delicious.  My daughter had never experienced Hot Pot, so this was a perfect adventure.

We walked in at about 3:30pm and the place was not busy at all, in between lunch and dinner crowds.  We were greeted, and seated, and then our server, Yuri, proceeded to explain the menu, answer all of our questions, help us choose from the menu so we didn't end up with too little or too much food, & she helped us choose our broth (not boring, but not too spicy).

She was AMAZING and played a huge role in our overall dining experience.  Yuri helped us make our "special sauces" from the sauce bar, brought us the spoons for the hot pot when we forgot to get them off the bar, checked on us regularly, and brought us extra napkins and refilled our water without us having to ask.  The robot brought us our food, and that was very neat.  Yuri had to help us with that too, but now we're experts for the next time we go - LOL.

My only advice, and something I'll do myself next time, is order everything a la carte, simply because I wasn't a fan of the veggie bowl that came with the entree.  It had some very interesting and unique items in it, like tofu and tofu skin (just not a fan), fresh tomato slices (not a fan of them hot), and some greens I just wasn't familiar with.  Next time I'll order the veggies I know I like, and just order the meats separately too.  Everything I choose to put in my Hot Pot, I loved!

We had beef and chicken and the dumpling sampler, and I did like the long skinny mushrooms and the spinach from their veggie bowl.  I was so pleased with this place, with the service, the atmosphere, and the food.  Next trip to Atlanta, I'm sure this will be on our lunch or dinner list!

Thank you J's for a fabulous experience and a delicious early dinner!  Signed - two very happy...

Amazing Hot Pot, Sauce Bar, and Service!!

Food -- amazing hot pot experience!!! They have a great selection of meats and vegetables to choose from and a lot of different broths to compliment them as well. The pots are on the table and you can get any type of meat that you want to cook inside the pots with different broths ranging from different flavors to spicy and extra spicy. We got the Angus beef, shrimp, and pork belly.

It is a lot of food to cook and a very fun experience being able to cook your food in the broth at the table. At your own pace. The shrimp are huge to cook. The vegetable platter is also huge and the vegetables taste so yummy after being cooked in the broth.

The sauce bar is reason enough to go. They have all different types of sauces and condiments that you can mix together. Our waitress was great and fixed a "house special sauce" for us that was excellent.

Service -- waitress was great. Explained everything that we needed, as we had had a hot pot in New York but they brought the food already in the pot there. There. Here it allows you to cook your own food similar to fondue, but way better. She fixed a special sauce for us and did an overall great job helping us out.

Drinks -- sodas and teas only here, which is fine because you're there for the food. No alcoholic drinks. But I can tell that if I were able to have some Tsingtaos with the extra spicy broth, I could've put a away a lot!!!!

Atmosphere -- Small and quaint, but again, the food is the show and an overall amazing dining experience. Clean and bright and well organized.

Summary -- If you're looking for a great Hot Pot experience with excellent service, Ed here, whether you're a brand new novice or a veteran....