Volcano Hot Pot & BBQ — Restaurant in Montgomery Township

I took my daughter here as i take here out just the two of us once a month or so. The one rule we have is we need to try a new restaurant to broaden our experiences and try new things. It was our first hot pot experience and we were both a little needlesly apprehensive. We walked in and I was impressed with the overall space of the restaurant. It was a large, open, bright room with an upbeat feel. It seemed to be a busy Friday night; however, we only waited about 5 minutes for a table for two with no reservations. On your birthday you eat for free. So it seemed like it's a popular spot to go for a birthday dinner. They play an upbeat fast pace birthday song and the servers clap and make a little production out of it. It was a fun atmosphere. You also notice when you first walk in that there's a conver that moves through the whole restaurant. The conveyer caries the bowls of different vegetables to put in your pot. Very fun for the kids. The hostist sat us after about a 7-minute wait. When you sit down there is a grill in the middle of the table and a spot to heat your soup base. Everyone gets their own soup pot. The waiter asked if we have ever been to a hot pot restaurant before. When we told him this was our first time he went over the menu and the prosses in detail. He was very nice and helpful. Honestly we were a little nervous going in, being it was a completely new experience for us and he made us very comfortable and answered all of our questions. We both chose the original soup base. I recommend this on your first trip if you are apprehensive and trying to open up to new experiences. I also recommend spending the $3 on the BBQ. You can get just the hot pot for $30 or you can add the BBQ options for $3. We found this was well worth it. The BBQ short ribs were hands down our favorite. However all of the BBQ options were good and nothing exotic. The pork belly being the most exotic option in the BBQ side and it is kind of like thick cut bacon. The marinated shrip was also very good and we got some on ever trip back through the line. Don't shy away from the spicy shrimp. I do not like alot of heat and we found them to be very flavorful and on the mild side. They were delicious. The first trip to the buffet line we started small and tried tried things that we familiar to us. They have four different options of frozen brisket. We made the mistake of over cooking it the first few times. The waiter came to the table often to give us pointers and help with the different cook times. He said only cook the brisket for 15 seconds and he is right. We made several trips back to the buffet line trying some new things and loading up on the the things we like. I only took about two trips to get in the swing of things and by the end of the meal, we felt like seasoned pros. There are a lot of options for the family members that aren't so adventurous. I would recommend get the original soup base with the Ramen noodles and going from there. I would like to go back with my wife who is not to open to new eating experience and my 9 year old who is a picky eater. They have a smaller selection of fried foods for the boring members of the family. Fried chiken, mozzarella sticks, and some other options. I wish for the $30 price tag they had more of these options for the not, so adventurous eaters in the family. But there is enough there to satisfy those types of eaters however it will not be their favorite restaurant. We had a great time and was a fun way to ease into new food experiences with the family. It's a relaxed atmosphere the servers are friendly and the food is good. We will...

I wish I could give them 5 stars, but the hotpot holds me back. However - this restaurant has some of the best if not the best customer service out of the places I've been to. The only place I could compare the service to in recent memory is Butcher & Singer - and that place is $$$. The waiter was super nice and attentive to our table, he mixed a sauce for us to dip our BBQ in, he explained to concept to us when we first sat down, he made sure we got our just desserts and pointed out the dessert bar in case we missed it. I liked the concept and atmosphere of this place a lot -when you go in the front entrance, there's a koi pond - I heard if you asked the front desk they'll give you fish feed so you can feed them. Then there's a conveyor belt running through the restaurant with little bowls up top that you can grab for your hotpot. Everything is self serve besides drinks and hotpot base, you sit down, order your soup and your drinks then you go up buffet style to get everything you want. I did not like the beef balls, they taste like freezer burn. The fish balls, I don't know if they are made in house or bought through a distributor but either way someone in the supply chain somewhere cheaped out cause they taste like flour and barely any fish. Yes you want SOME flour to give it density, but flour is also used to cheapen out the balls - the more flour and less fish, the more profit. And the hotpot soup - I don't know if it was just my soup but it tasted bitter at the end when I went to take a sip. But I did get herbal so maybe the bitter compounds come out if you cook it too long - if that's the case, they should warn the customer. But moving into the BBQ, it was good! The marinades here are much less sweet then kpot, AKA the grill doesn't burn 6 times in 2 hours, and I like the quality of the ribs better. One of my friends complained that the pork belly was fattier and didn't have as much meat but I didn't mind. I will say I wish they offered ponzu and ginger oil as I like to mix that into a lighter dip for the hotpot. But none of these things are something the server can fix and honestly from what my friends say (they've been here several times), their service is always amazing no matter the server. To too that off, I really do like this format better as you don't have to rely on the server to come by your table to order - the ones at kpot always act like they're too busy to help you - you're lucky if they check on you more then 2x in 2 hours. I will be back again...

We came with my 16 month old toddler who was unfortunately cranky and miserable. One woman who could have been an owner tried so hard to help us enjoy our rare meal out, and I was truly touched. Our kid was making a huge mess with his cheerios and toys, but she was so gracious. She ordered French fries for him on the house and even came over and gave him a small stuffed animal out of the claw machine to help calm him down. When he was really unhappy we took him to look at the koi in the pond near the door and another person (patron or worker, who knows?) gave him fish food to feed them. It’s so hard to make it out to eat with a toddler and we’re exhausted and stressed most of the time we try it, but these kind humans made us feel so welcome.

Regarding the actual dining experience, we LOVED that you could take as much or as little as you choose of the meat/seafood items on the cold bar. It’s nice to be able to try something new and just take one piece to sample rather than having a server bring you an entire portion of that item as is standard in most other hot pot restaurants. We also really appreciated that this restaurant was not smoky/steamy like all the other hot pot places we’ve tried. We hate going home with all our clothes smelling like food and oil. The conveyor belt is a cool attraction, and fun to experience, however the night we went it was hard to get the veggies we wanted. There was a lot of celery, broccoli, and cauliflower and we were craving more leafy greens, lotus, mushrooms, etc. Perhaps other patrons snagged them earlier on the belt? We were also sad they don’t carry rice cakes (my all-time favorite)!

Overall, the kindness, the atmosphere, and the ability to try many items without wasting food made this a 10/10 for us! We will be back, hopefully with a happier...