Hotpot88 Asian Cuisine — Restaurant in Omaha

For newbies, Hotpot restaurants vary in concepts to a degree, but the general premise is dining in a communal setting by dipping ingredients of your choice (meats, seafood, noodles, mushrooms, veggies) into flavorful broth. It's delicious, it's soul-warming, and belly-filling. If you have never been, I really recommend going with someone who has, because you mileage may vary in terms of your experience. If you walk in blind and over cook your meat, let your noodles get soggy or forget to make a dipping sauce, you're not gonna have as much fun as you would have if you know what you are doing. If you don't know anyone who could show you the ropes, I recommend light research watching informational videos.

Specific details to HotPot 88: You are seated at a table with a controller that adjusts the heat temperature of your induction burner. This affects how quickly things cook and how hot your pot of soup is. Your server will grab your order of drinks. Alcohol is an option, but obviously is an upcharge from your base ticket. -They didn't offer a print menu, so you'll use the QR. Would recommend a charged phone before you head here! There's a small menu of kitchen appetizers that your server will ask if you wanna put an order in for. I tried the short rib (excellent) and the pork bun (skimpy on the meat but good). You'll select a broth to cook your ingredients in. There are spicy, non spicy, vegan, and meat-based stocks that are offered, so truly a diversity of flavor and options. I got the Thai Tom Yum, it's aromatic and fishy (in a good way)! From there, you can grab noodles, mushrooms, veggies, tofu, from the buffet. There's also a sauce bar! Playing around with a dipping sauce is totally the fun of hot pot! I highly recommend you make a sauce. If you don't know what to get, there are lots of tiktoks that show different recipes at comparable hotpot chains and the sauces and toppings here are pretty standard. I always end up going back to sesame paste, cilantro, lots of garlic, chili oil, and hoisin sauce, and it really complements the broth I chose. There's a buffet of veggies, noodles, tofu, and seafood options that you can bring back on plates yourself. For the meat, you'll place as many orders of meat as you wish with your server. They have pork belly, beef, lamb, as well as ox tongue and shrimp paste as dinner only options. We tried everything. Both ox tongue and shrimp paste were amazing! The meat is very thinly sliced cuts, so you really don't have to wait super long to cook it, if your broth is hot enough. They also have ice cream in little portioned cups and cream cakes with coconut to round out your meal. Very nice! I'm sure others will mention it, but you have 90 minutes and anything you don't eat will cause a 20% upcharge for food waste. So I really recommend coming hungry and knowing how to pace yourself! Eat things that you don't get often to get your money's worth!

My only cons? I wish that the desserts were a bit more exciting. I would also be willing to add onto my bill a premium boba style drink. There are no reservations for tables, which is understandable but that also applies to the party room. I knew I was bringing a large group of around 8-10 people so I decided to go there day of a bit early. You can't even be added to a queue, the majority or all the members of your dining party must be present to be seated. We were able to use the party room, but how would people use this space for birthday parties only to show up and find it in use? Seems like a policy that should be amended but they are newer and hammering things out.

None of this stops me from loving Hotpot 88. If the 30ish dollar price point for an adult buffet seems slightly steeper than going to other Chinese buffets, know it's comparably affordable and a lot is included in that price. It's a unique experience that only one other restaurant in Omaha does, and Hotpot 88 does it a lot better. Additionally, the servers and hosts are amazing and do...

This is my new favorite place to take big groups. There were 8 of us and we had a 5-star experience. It's hard to find a place that accommodates various dietary restrictions and taste buds. Hot Pot 88 had everything you could want.

I had been to other hot pot locations and didn't really care for the broth or everyone eating out of the same pot (gross). Here, everyone gets their own pot. They have several choices of broth. Appetizers are included in the price. You can add whatever you want and you get to control when the pot is on or off. I liked being in control - this is the way hot pot should work.

The broth was delicious (I had the mushroom one). They also have a spot where you can add spice or craft your own special blend of seasonings. The rest of my table did this but in my opinion, I chose the best pot so why mess with perfection.

Ryan, explained the process in detail for those of us new to this experience. He made sure we had everything we needed from the time we sat down, until we left. The service was impeccable and I don't say that about many restaurants. The staff there was so personable and accommodating.

If you're looking for a space to have a group, they have a back room that seats like 12. This is a great place to come where everyone can find something they like. I will definitely be back with a group or by myself. This is one of the few places you can get a hot pot for one. If you're looking for people that will take care of you like family, this is your new spot. Our crew...

On a cool autumn day the warm soup base was perfect. We ordered chicken soup and mushroom soup as our bases. The place is clean but noisy. All on its own my mushroom was delicious, but after I added garlic and all the vegetables mmmm. To the chicken base we added vegetables, noodles and chicken. I added beef to the mushroom but honestly it didn't need it so I didn't add anymore.The meat choices, delivered in platters of ten, were beef, chicken, lamb, pork, and pork belly. Ox tongue is a choice for dinner only.You can order as many meat trays as you want but they charge for excessive leftovers. One price includes everything but alcohol. For appetizers we tried the spring rolls, vegetable dumplings, and chicken skewers. The spring rolls were very good. The buffet is clean and well stocked with things to add to your soup. I added all vegetables with mushrooms, bok choi, bamboo shoots, broccoli etc. But the seafood selections were plentiful along with multiple noodle choices. Our server kept our drinks filled and cleared away the empty plates throughout our meal. They even came by and topped up the soup base although mine had just reduced to a lovely consistency and didn't need it. Great for a group since everyone has their own soup base. Meat and potatoes, vegan, pescetarianism all covered here. They also had desserts including ice cream, cake and fruit slices. It was a fun new experience trying hot pot. You will not leave hungry and we...