Haidilao Hot Pot Katy — Restaurant in Katy

Okay so about the only bad thing from here is that people kept ignoring the Dancing Noodles guy once he's actually dancing, but if he's looking for a union to join now is a pretty good time to do it.

That, and the dessert.

But aside from potentially disheartening working environments, Haidilao is pretty great, from the beef to the broths to the free hair tie they give you. The Haidilao in Saigon had free pedicures, or so I heard. Anyway,

Before any of the meats even came, what impressed me the most about Haidilao is the quality of its sauce counter. Normally, this is mostly an afterthought filled with almost-expired condiments, but you can make legit appetizers and side dishes out of Haidilao's "sauces", particularly with things like minced beef and fresh-ish seaweed salad on offer. The desserts are also situated in the same spot, but I found them quite tasteless. Egregious, even. My friends seemed to enjoy them though, so maybe I just did something wrong somehow someway.

Onto the broth, Haidilao is also rather unique is that it allows you to have anywhere from one to four broths in your pot, whereas most other hot pot places just have singular broth and half-and-half. All of the broths we had (tomato soup, pork bone, tomyum and chicken-bone-and-pork-stomach) were quite good too, but our favorite was the tomato soup. Most of the broths also had quite munchable ingredients in case you're hungry and didn't order enough meat, particularly the pork stomach.

Regardless, the meats are still the star of the show. Every meat we had was super fresh, tender and flavorful. The flank steak however is perhaps too flavorful for some, as my friends considered it pungent, but I did enjoy the strong beef flavor we got from it a lot. The black tripe is also delicious crunchy, and looked great under the restaurant's quite photo-friendly lighting! My only qualm was that the rocket squid was literally just squid cut to look like a rocket. We expected something different but oh well.

Oh and yes, how can I forget the salted-egg-yolk shrimp balls?! The salted egg yolks in them are LEGIT! Grab some right now you won't regret it. We had like 3 separate trays of the thing.

If pig brain is edible to you, you'll find Haidilao's delicious too. It takes some time to boil, but it does come in its own canister and tasted quite creamy without any of the smell.

And finally, the Haidilao beef didn't really get softer with time like it's supposed to, but tasted quite nice nonetheless. A little bit of a tangy marinade with notes of tomatoes, shrimp paste, and egg yolks. I have no idea what I'm saying.

TL;DR Great hot pot. If you're gonna order the dance...

My friend (his first time trying Chinese hotpot) and I went to this Haidilao (Katy store) for a birthday celebration, and I must say that our experience was subpar and disappointing. This was my second visit to this particular store; my first visit (in January 2024) was fantastic, and my waiter and waiter-in-training were excellent (one of them spoke Mandarin fluently), and they went above and beyond to ensure our dining experience was perfect. However, tonight's (February 2024) experience was not as good as the previous one.

For examples,

(1) We received no reaction or response when we attempted to communicate with our waiter in Mandarin; a simple "I don't speak the language" would have been adequate and polite.

(2) We had to remind our waiter that we had ordered the dancing noodle dish, and it appeared that he had completely forgotten about it, which was no big deal because the error was immediately corrected.

(3) They completely forgot about the birthday celebration until the very last minute, after we had paid our bill and they had cleaned out our table, so my friend and I ended up having to sit awkwardly until they finished singing the birthday song.

(4) A fruit platter was not provided for the birthday celebration, but a small toy doll was given to an adult man.

(5) No birthday celebration discount was provided.

(6) There was no goodie bag (with snacks) for the birthday person. As we paid our bill (which was around $100 per person), our waiter gave my friend and me "3 pieces of mints" each.

(7) Small plastic bags (to protect cell phones) were not provided.

I understand that each Haidilao store may operate differently, but I was surprised that the quality of service at the same store could change so dramatically within a month. It would have been beneficial if the international Haidilao Corporation provided a standardized service summary table or list for its stores in the United States so that customers could have realistic expectations (consumer...

I’ve been to many Haidilao locations in both the US and Vietnam and I’ve always had excellent friendly service until tonight. Larry the waiter had the worst attitude I’ve ever experienced at any Haidilao.

It was 10 PM but that’s no excuse for being rude to a customer. I politely asked for a ladle an apron and a hair tie but Larry just stared at me like I was some kind of weirdo. He didn’t smile at all and kept giving me these side-eye looks that made me feel so uncomfortable and unwelcome.

What made it even worse was that Larry was completely normal and friendly with other tables especially with Vietnamese-speaking guests. But for us he didn’t even bother to check on our table or ask if we were okay even though we’re also Vietnamese. We started speaking in English but that shouldn’t be a reason to treat us differently or with such a cold attitude.

Even when it was time to pay Larry kept the same cold and dismissive attitude at us while he was still friendly and chatting with other tables. It felt like he was ignoring us or maybe even treating us differently on purpose like we didn’t deserve good service just because we spoke English first.

Later when they brought out the hot pot broth no one turned on the burner. Five minutes later I realized it myself and turned it on. When Larry finally noticed he told me to wait for ten minutes like what He didn’t even bother to turn it on in the first place and now he’s telling me to wait even longer

At least the woman manager was really nice and supportive which was the only good part of tonight’s experience.

Haidilao is famous for its supportive and smiling service but Larry’s behavior tonight was a huge disappointment and the worst service I’ve ever experienced at this chain. I hope management sees this and takes...