Tasty Pot — Restaurant in Minneapolis

My husband and I went to this restaurant for a quick Sunday lunch. We ordered number 1 beef and number 9 Taiwan hotpot. It was our second visit to this restaurant. I noticed the prices for all hotpot dishes raised all over the board but we decided to eat there anyways. The food that we ordered came quickly. However, I have waited almost 40 minutes for the pot to boil but it did not really boil to a point where I felt I was eating authentic hotpot. I asked the waiter to switch with another pot since the heat was not powerful enough. Both the waiter and manager refused to switch to a different pot. Instead, they told me the food was already cooked. I felt that was pretty ridiculous because the dish is called "hot pot" and it is supposed to be boiling when you eat. A lot of the food in my pot didn't have time to cook and absorb the flavor of the broth. The food tasted chewy, undercooked and flavorless.

When we received the check, we noticed immediately my husband's pot costed 22 dollars which was way higher than we expected. He ordered the small beef pot which is supposed to cost 12.99 dollars. It ended up to cost more than the most expensive lobster seafood pot. It turned out that my husband asked the waiter to substitute some of the items in his dish because he doesn't eat certain food that comes with the beef pot. The waiter said "ok" without giving any information about the extra cost. It would really help if the waiter could say something to let us know substituting is not acceptable and the food that doesn't come with the pot costs extra.

We tried to explain to the waiter and the manager about the confusion that we had about the cost. The manager was really confrontational and defensive. She talked over us several times and was not willing to listen to what we wanted to say. It was obvious to us that she had no intention to listen to her customers and improve their service.

We ended up with a bill of 47 dollars. The price doesn't justify the quality of food and the service that we received. It was a really disappointing dining experience. After this experience, we have no intention to ever return to...

The format of the hot pot is a different from other hot pot restaurants whereas the food is already cooked and served in a simmering hot pot as opposed to cooking the food yourself, which is customary in Asia. The whole point of cooking the food yourself is the experience and spending with your guests so I was a little disappointed. I ordered the stinky tofu hot pot and it was quite good, with a good amount of meat, mushrooms, small amount of vegetables and stinky tofu, of course. The stinky tofu could have been stinkier, if I could mention, but I suppose they need to accommodate the needs of other guests who may not like the odours of the stinky tofu.

The reason for the two-star review is due to the chili oil, I believe the chili oil is not fresh. I experienced violent abdominal pains after eating at this restaurant, with a burning sensation in my lower intestinal area. This usually indicates bad cooking oil, from my experience. I did not need to go to the hospital but it was an extremely unpleasant experience.

The service was otherwise, good and the staff were attentive to our needs. Overall, do ensure you avoid the chili oil or perhaps, the request that no oil be added to the soup to spare your good health any adverse health...

It a hit or miss depends on the time to be honest. Many of my friends try the place out but the opinions somewhat balance out in the middle. Sometimes it is extremely crowded. Sometimes it is dead.

To me, I am not much of a fan of the restaurant. Neither the food nor the service impress me as a restaurant goer. My wife loves the restaurant so I usually just tag along.

It has generous portion for the price. I would say if you really like it, the restaurant would be a great place to go to, easily filling out your empty stomach with generous price.

The quality of service, once again, is a hit or miss. It is understandable when the restaurant is full and server doesn't have enough time to fulfill your need, then you are out of luck.

Overall, I neither like it nor despise it. It just the middle ground that I find comfortably placed my opinion on. 3 stars. Perhaps it is the food? Idk. The kungfu pot right next by is even more horrible but there is something about this place that I can't simply explain what my disappointment about. I often find myself disappointed after the meal. Servers not responding well? Food Quality was...