Miss Flower Hotpot 花小娇金汤花胶鸡 — Restaurant in Edison

It was Christmas Eve yesterday, and my partner and I decided to get some food to-go from a hot pot restaurant. After settling the bill, which included a fee for the dipping sauces, we grabbed two containers for the sauces. While packing the sauces, I noticed some side dishes and asked a staff member, “Hi, could I get a container to pack some side dishes?” The staff member gave me one, so I started packing.

Halfway through, a waiter who was eating at the time suddenly came over and said, “The side dishes are dine-in only, and you’ll need to pay extra to pack them.” I asked how much, and he went to the front desk for quite a while before coming back to say it would cost $5. I said I didn’t need it, and he took the half-packed side dishes and dumped them back into the tray.

What made this experience uncomfortable was that if side dishes couldn’t be packed, they should have told me upfront when I asked for the container. That would have been the end of it. But instead, after I was already halfway done, this “highly professional” waiter, who was in the middle of his meal, came over to inform me that I couldn’t pack it unless I paid extra. Isn’t that just intentionally making things awkward? And after creating that awkwardness, they still tried to charge me. Who would agree to that? Moreover, if I were a dine-in customer and saw someone’s half-packed food being dumped back into the tray, I’d definitely feel...

Recommend : house made fish balls Good: chicken+tripe base, lamb Ok: hand pulled noodles Meh: shrimp+roe dumplings

I think this place is good but it doesn't have the customization level that I'm used to with hot pot. All 5 options come with a fair number of ingredients and not all of the ingredients can be added on themselves. For example we got the chicken+tripe because we couldn't order tripe separately, but we wouldn't have picked the mountain yam that was part of the package.

They bring out the raw chicken and set a 10 min timer for you. The chicken broth is nice but the waiting 10 min can feel very long. The chicken of not prioritized can also overcook. The chicken is cut up with the bones so please be careful of choking hazard. The chicken has skin on which is fine for us but I understand not everyone is into boiled chicken skin.

The hand made noodles didn't have what I would expect texturally from hand pulled noodles or homemade noodles, but were yummy.

The shrimp+roe dumplings had a weird texture I was not about.

The broth is nice but very heavy white pepper taste.

The servers never came around to see if we needed more soup and didn't supply us with as many utensils (tongs, personal size mesh scoops) as other tables but maybe we just didn't know we needed to ask.

Final remark is that it's a very specific experience that is still fine, but it doesn't tick all the boxes for why we like or...

You may find a line outside of Miss Flower Hotop located in a large strip mall off of a busy US 1 Highway in Edison NJ. Miss Flower Hotpot touts a collagen rich chicken soup with fish maw which has a distinctive deep yellow color. It is said they boil the broth for over 10 hours!

If you are a newbie, they may spend time going over the menu and various options available on the menu.

So how this works is there is a heating element located in the middle of the table, the fit a pot on to this heating element and then fill the pot with the rich collagen broth.

Then; The items you have ordered or those that come with your dish are placed on the table or on rolling carts that they will place alongside your table.

Staff is helpful to tell you how long items need to cook or they will set timers at your table.

This is a very communal and interactive dining experience and fun too.

My one caution: if you have a table of eight adults, I found the seating to be boarding on uncomfortable. Group of six or less is perfect. They do have a larger round table if I remember correctly but mostly long tables.

A real highlight was the sauce bar - mind you I am calling it a sauce bar but I don't know what it is really called but it's essentially like what you know as a salad bar but instead (no salad) you will cereal wonderful sauces from a myriad of spices, sauces and seasonings to add to your soup. It really...