Shikku Hot Pot — Restaurant in Plymouth

UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM (Original review stats Overall: 3/5 Food: 3/5 Service: 4/5 Atmosphere: 4/5) I would not say I had an unpleasant time at Shikku Hot Pot, but I can not in good faith recommend it to anybody with a party larger than 2 unless you are not very hungry. I consider myself a bit of a hot pot enthusiast; I have been to several different hot pot restaurants here in Massachusetts and 5 others in other states, so I would like to think that there is some value in the following information. Each broth (house broth included) costs $9, so if you get a split pot, that's $18 dollars in broth alone which, to be frank, I think is quite excessive. Past that, the serving sizes were designed with a single person in mind, so not very conducive to sharing, and honestly I found them to be overpriced for the amount and quality we received. For $10 more than I ended up spending, my party and I could have gone to another hot pot and had significantly more to eat than we did. My fiancé and I were thrilled when we heard a hot pot restaurant was opening in plymouth as our typical establishment is in quincy but I do not believe we will be returning any time soon. I have some suggestions (based on the other establishments I have visited) that I believe could greatly improve repeat business: 1. Do not cut the meat and then freeze it. When we received our plates of meat, the pieces were all stuck together making it quite difficult to separate them. I may be wrong but I suspect the plates of meat were cut ahead of time and refrozen, which led to this unfortunate situation. 2. Either don't charge for a house broth or lower the broth prices across the board. I am well accustomed to paying for broths, but I do not believe I have ever paid for a house broth. 3. I would recommend either slightly increasing the portion size for the price you are charging, or reduce the price of the current size. I am aware that there is a cost of doing business for any establishment, but even so I feel there is no real value here for the customer. I hope this does not come off as an attack because that is not my intentionb the atmosphere was good, the staff was kind and available, and we still enjoyed our food. I would like to see these changes made because I would like to see Shikku Hot Pot stay in downtown and stay in business. Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

UPDATE: I am pleased to finally provide an update to my original review. Shikku Hot Pot has made many changes since my last visit thay put it much more in line with many of the other hot pot restaurants in the area; they now offer an all you can eat option starting at $35 per person that is available (if I remember correctly) Monday through Thursday. The have some options that are pay by plate and other side options that are not necessarily hotpot based as well. For an additional $15 per person you can upgrade to the premium all you can eat that gives you access to options such as the A5 wagyu (very worth it in my opinion). The only recommendation I carry over from my original review is in reference to the meat preparation; just about all of the other hot pot establishments we've been to freeze/chill their meat, then use a slicer to cut it into individual slices for plating. This helps promote freshness and ease for both the customers and the employees. Some of the wagyu we received was plated flat and frozen together. I understand the desire to serve it flat to better display the marbling, but cutting meat ahead of time then freezing it will result in this inconvenience. I want to give a quick shout-out to our server Austin. He was lively, efficient, fun to talk to, and always available when we needed him; he even helped us out with a couple of menu suggestions as well. All-in-all, I am glad to see the growth and improvement at Shikku Hot Pot, it can still get quite pricey (especially if you opt for the premium package) but I think they are offering a better value to their customers now that they've found...

Walking in for the first time, Shikku has a wonderful atmosphere, but definitely a very small area for eating. We ended up sharing our table with a lovely Vietnamese couple (which is very normal in asian countries/areas). My friend and I did not mind at all and we had a great conversation with the couple during the end of our meal. Our server seemed very busy and was not accessible completely, but understandable. We did not realize the cost of the drinks we purchased, but absolutely delicious and made right. The food was also incredible and for the location and knowing how Main St. in Plymouth is and the cost of transporting asian foods from a distance, the prices were understandable, but definitely not a place I'd return to under normal, every day circumstances. For two people (three alcoholic drinks, two broths, meat, noodles, and veggies) the bill racked up to about $160. The reason I rate this location as 4 stars is not due to the service, food, or atmosphere at all, but because there are other "all you can eat" hot pot places that my friend and I have visited that are of similar quality and more affordable (about $30-$50/person including drinks). I love that we have a new local asian spot in town, but it is definitely a place for an event where you know you will be shelling out quite a bit of money to eat. For those who can afford it, and if I could as well, it is certainly a place I would return to with the knowledge that the food is excellent...

Say Hello to Hot Pot, Plymouth. Shikku means "chic" in Japanese, but Shikku Hot Pot will become synonymous with "delicious."

I've only been here once, but first impressions were excellent. Great cocktails, friendly people, and a super-customizable hot pot experience. There's also plenty to choose from if you prefer the kitchen cook for you.

We had a couple of appetizers. The Jeon with beef, and the Shrimp Yakitori. Both were great! (and probably not needed with the amount of food in the hot pot part).

I won't get into all the things I put in my hot pot, there's plenty to choose from. All the veggies were very fresh, and looked great.

The bar top or table top cooking is done through tidy convection tops integrated into the counter/table top. I don't know if I did everything in the right order, but WAS very good.

Hot Pot Options by the Numbers: 8 Broths 8 Noodles 15 Vegetables 4 Mushrooms 4 Tofu 12 Meats 15 Seafood

Only a couple small recommendations would be to make the "sauce bar" a little more formal or more nicely set up. (The House Sauce is incredible.) Also, it would be great for "newbies" to either have a list of specials, or "pre-sets" for making the decisions easier. There are Combo Pots available on the regular menu, but it would be fun to have a rotating list of recommendations!

Overall, everything was great. No real negatives at all. We...