Hometown Hotpot & BBQ — Restaurant in New York

UPDATE: I am not deleting my prior review, so that you can see how significantly my opinion of this place has changed. We are never coming back to this restaurant. Go to Little Sheep for less of a wait and better quality hotpot ingredients.

The manager at Hometown did the chintziest thing I have ever witnessed, accusing my friend of bringing a cake that wasn't 8" for a birthday (for their free birthday meal promotion). The label on the cake box said 8 in. Blueberry Cheesecake - is Whole Foods trying to rip off its customers too??

Also, when made to measure the cake in front of us (ridiculous it even got this far), they thought we wouldn't notice how they were covering up the 0 part of the tape measure with their finger and started measuring part way into the cake. It's like the opposite of a child going on tip toes to seem taller for an amusement park ride: SHADY behavior.

The cake was exactly 8 inches, like the label said. They would have known that had they actually measured it correctly before crying wolf. We went through trouble to get a cake that met their apparently fake criteria and were not just going to roll over because they wanted to go on a power trip. Absolutely shameful behavior.

Will I miss coming here? Definitely not. Am I going to not come here when another friend wants to have their birthday dinner here? You bet. And if they still choose to go I'll warn them that their cake should be extra big or else they'll get accused as well. Ridiculous.

I love this place. My friends actually make fun of how often I come here, but that's silly of them, because this place is awesome. First, you get to choose one of 6 or 7 broths and whatever dipping sauce you want from a bar of condiments. Then you can order to your heart's content from a 5 page double-sided menu of hot pot accoutrements, like thinly sliced beef, lamb, tripe, noodles, veggies, dumplings, fish balls, seafood, whatever. Their beer is cheap and they have legit beers like UFO white on tap.

There's a 2 hour dining limit and I'll be honest I've been here for 2 hours before. Its $23.99 for all you can eat hotpot, and they have ayce bbq too (for $27 I think) if you're not feeling hotpot.

The bad news is there is often a wait, especially on Fridays and Saturday nights when it's cold out. They are open late, though, and you can leave your name and they will call you when a table is ready. If you're a party

I've been here multiple times and have had fairly good experiences each time. Great AYCE hot pot option in the city without having to go to Flushing/Queens.

VIBE: This is a very bright restaurant. It's not somewhere I would hit prior to going out on the town because: 1) It doesn't really set the club vibe if that's what youre going for, and 2) You + your clithes will smell like hot pot + barbecue after, which could be good or bad based on your preference lol. There's a lot of seating but due to the est. 90 min eating window per table, I feel like the waiting estimates are usually accurate.... leading into my next point:

RESERVATIONS: Only available for parties of 6 and up. The last time I went with one other person, we walked in a little early to see the wait time and they said no wait. We came back in about 15 minutes and they said 60 minute wait. We went in the late afternoon so timing can be unexpected.

BIRTHDAY PERK: If you come within 3 days before or after your birthday with at least 3 other people (confirm how many ppl by calling the restaurant), the birthday person's meal is free. I believe you must bring ID. This is a great affordable birthday dinner option for a group.

SERVICE: Pretty good. No complaints. I wish they would ask if we wanted more water in our soup though. They added it without asking and it really diluted it.

FOOD: I should disclaimer to say that I am a HUGE germaphobe and a huge stickler for sanitation. The hot pot ingredients and soup itself: Everything seemed clean and well cleaned. A lot of the beef ordered had fattier parts still on it but I wouldn't expect somewhere like here to trim off all the fatty parts. The vegetables seemed clean. Not all portions are the same though. Sometimes, we got like 10 pieces of fried tofu skin. Other times, like 5. For AYCE, I don't think it really matters as you can order more.

RESTROOM: Not the best condition. Not exactly somewhere. you want to see before eating a meal lol.

KITCHEN: Kind of emanates a weird smell of raw meat. if I was sitting near the kitchen, I probably would be turned off during a meal.

SAUCE BAR: I really wish that they had this a little more well kept + sanitary. Like perhaps having the plastic shield lower with the sauces farther back. The upper level sauce bar is right in the middle of the restaurant walk way, which I'm sure picks up a lot of dirt and dust from the...

I love this place! Unless you're familiar with dining at this kind of restaurant, it can be a chore figuring out how to order enough food to fill you up. By offering an all-you-can-eat option (with or without hotpot), you don't have to worry about any of that.

I love the location, which is literally right in the middle of Chinatown and Little Italy, on Grand Street. It's very easy to notice the place when passing by (even in as moving car), and I really love the decor.

The layout consists of some 4 tops and some 6 tops, and I believe if you need a table for more than that, you'll need to make a reservation. This restaurant has two levels; The ground level when you walk in, and a lower level. Each level has tables, and they also each have their own sauce and dessert station. The ground level also has a bar, but it is not for patrons to sit at.

The servers we had were all very helpful, polite and accommodating. When you come in large groups and not everyone is familiar with this style of ordering, it is a good test of how patient and helpful your server is when he or she is helping you figure out what you all want and answering all your questions.

My recommendations here are to come to an agreement with your group what you do NOT want, find out if anyone has any allergies at all, and just get as many of the ingredients as you want to start off with that are reasonable.

Because there will be raw meats and fish on the table for either grilling or placing in your hotpot to boil in front of you, everyone should be warned specifically not to cross-contaminate the tongs you'll be using to pick up the raw vegetables as you are the raw animal products. This will definitely expose your system to contaminants and it is easily avoided once everyone is on the same page.

I like that the sauce station had such a large variety of sauces, ranging from the most basic (ketchup, sriracha, chili sauce) to their most unique blends, such as the aptly named hometown ultimate sauce.

I thought that the pricing for the all-you-can-eat (with hotpot) deal was great for what you get at $35 per person. With beverages and tax and gratuity, you can realistically walk out of there spending $50 per person and feel like every penny of it...