Chiba Hot Pot — Restaurant in Jersey Village

We went here for dinner last Saturday night for my wife's Mother's Day present. We had a fantastic time and a fantastic meal! This was our first foray into the hot pot style food at restaurants and we enjoyed every minute of it. We both chose the chicken broth but I got a spicier version that was very good. The initial hot spice that hit me was muted once I started to add food and the heat soaked in to make everything taste great. We both found the broth to be kind of flat tasting when we initially got it. This seems to have been a complaint from several people who left reviews for this restaurant. Over at the condiment bar, we grabbed some fresh garlic, soy sauce, green onions & cilantro. With the addition of these to the Hot Pot broth, the flavor was enhanced and just wonderful to cook all of our food in! Food is flat, improvise and adapt! We tried the beef skewers, the chicken wings, the fried buns, and the sliced beef ribs. My wife got raw sliced beef for her hot pot, and I got pork belly thinly sliced for my hot pot. Everything tasted great except for the sliced beef ribs. There was not much meat, and they were very grisly. The beef skewers were phenomenal! Great flavor on their own and even better when dipped in some of the condiments available at the condiment bar. The chicken wings were plain, with some salt and pepper, but still were well cooked and tasted good. The fried buns with honey were also good, but once they started to lose their heat they got very dry. I stuck with basic seafood for my hot pot, (scallops, sliced fish & shrimp). I added some bok choy and Chinese cabbage for flavoring but there were tons of selections to add to your hot pot. Different kinds of mushrooms, other seafood, beef tripe, assorted greens, raw eggs and frogs legs. I'm sure I missed things, but basically there's a lot of choices to specialize and personalize your soup. The price was expensive, $80 for the two of us with tip, so it's not an everyday thing, but my son said he's going to the lunch, which is considerably cheaper, and had just as good a time with just as good of food. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone that has interest in this style of food. We were a bit apprehensive before going, as we had never been to something like this before, but there was no problems once we got there and got seated, it all just kind of...

Instead of Choo Choo sushi, it's Choo Choo Hot pot. Lol! Great concept but needs more work especially their service. The place was very busy even on the weekend around 3pm. The waitress was kind enough to explain how it works.

It is all you can eat! You pick your own soup and your spice level (mild,spicy,super spicy). You place the order for raw meats and grilled meats with the waitstaff and it comes on the train at your station. All the other items are on the conveyor belt.

Each of my family members order different soup base and I had ordered the chicken soup which IMO was the best flavor. If you want to have dipping sauce, there is a bar on the side to create your own. I combined chili oil, soy sauce, sesame paste, chopped garlic, green onions, cilantro, and red Thai chili peppers. To me it went great with my meats. You do your own. I had tasted the Tom Yum soup base and beware it was somewhat herby and spicy. Not my cup of tea.

Overall, we spent over 2 hours cooking our food. In the end I sipped my soup and it was delicious but I scorched my tongue since it was piping hot. The chicken wings were good too as they were juicy and tasty. Only salt and pepper flavor.

Now here were the downside: **service was lacking and disorganized. You have to flag a waitstaff and sometimes they go missing for a while. It took a long time to ask for more meats and drink refills **some of the items were either dirty or not fresh i.e. oyster tasted like they came out of the freezer and the button mushrooms where overly dirty...I can see the dirt. It made me that the veggies and mushrooms weren't clean and i had gotten the raw shrimp and it wasn't deveined.....ugh and don't get me started with the dumplings (guarantee you that it is not homemade) **grilled meats....the seasoning were spot on...sweet and savory like Korean bbq flavor BUT the beef were too chewy and tough. The chicken skewers were better and edible. The shrimp were tasteless.

If you ask if I would go back, maybe not anytime soon.......but paying $30 for each person was a bit much. There are other Hotpot places in Houston that I have been which were fresher ingredients and tastier soup base plus you pay a...

If you want the experience go for it, the atmosphere is great and the servers are kind and attentive. Now on the other hand, the food is mediocre. Not only do they let it run in the conveyer belt until is wilted, it is not fresh. The tomatoes on the belt looked dry and old. The potatoes and taro root were brown from being left there too long, the rice cakes and noodles had developed a white crust from the dryness, the bean sprouts were brown as well. Then on top of that the plates the food in the conveyer belt came on had a odd yellow tint, and stains. Did not look clean. Then the beef short ribs were just bones; like when you go to Kbbq and you grill the short ribs then you cut around the bones, thats what it was. No meat. Then you dont really get a lot of choices for the hot pot sliced meat, just chicken,beef,pork,lamb. But not like other AYCE Hot Pots that have a wide variety of high quality meats. For the price it has which is the average AYCE price for houston $32.99 per person. I think this place could do much better, definitely disappointing. Why would I come here when other AYCE HotPots have much wide variety of meats, appetizers, sauces, side dishes too, for around the same cost. And they are actually clean. I really wanted to enjoy this place because is a great experience but the quality of the food was depressing and seeing it there and the dirty looking dishes completely cut off my appetite. My husband and I were only able to enjoy a few bites before we decided to leave, because of how bad the food looked, completely nauseating. I can not trust the food that looks like that.

Did not take pictures for respect to the business. As it is a clean establishment and the workers were nice.

I dont mean hate when saying this but just writing it in hopes the business tries a little harder to actually be worth the price they are asking for. How it currently is I would not even pay $15 because the food is so bad and would be my only reason to go there, to eat. If the restaurant can not serve fresh and delicious food to its patrons then it does not deserve a good review as it is a...