Thai Hot Pot Heaven — Restaurant in Portland

It is extremely rare for me to rate a place negatively. I've been in the service industry for 18+ years (front and back of house), and generally, if I don't like somewhere that I've been, I'll just not go back. But our experience here was just so disappointing for how expensive it was, that I had to say something. From the start, vibes were weird. We were a party of 4, and each had varying experiences of going to hot pot, but we knew to expect a lot of food and came hungry. They sat us down, and...brought us water. No menus, no asking if we wanted drinks. We had to ask for both. One of the people waiting on us was the owner, whose wife was the cook. Sounds cute, but he basically started by telling us how much he hates food waste, and if there's food left over, we'll be charged an extra 30%. He even decided to tell us a fun story of a previous table that he decided to only bring half of the food they ordered to them and they couldn't eat it all and so he charged them extra. (Foreshadowing)

I'm not necessarily opposed to the extra charge for food waste, it's not uncommon practice for unlimited refill/all you can eat type places however if you're going to do that, write it on your menu and maybe leave it there and don't verbally threaten your customers with it. So here's some good: what we actually received of the food was delicious. We got the Shoyu and Thom Yum broths with the regular unlimited menu. Here's the bad: I watched as another table that came in and ordered after us received their food about 10 minutes before us. Their table had been set for them with napkins and chopsticks, while we were told to get our own. We didn't receive a couple of items from our first round (which, after the owner's suggestion, we had scaled down, but maybe he still thought that was too much?) Then it started to get weird. We asked for a refill on our broths, which it advertises unlimited broths, so we didn't think anything of it. We were 4 people and had the same size pot and broth as most of the 2 tops around us....so yeah, we ran out fairly quickly. The server came around and poured something from the same pitcher into the two different different broths. I went to the owner and confirmed it was chicken broth. Again, it was tasty, but it was a choice made for us, not one that we chose. The second round of food was missing more items, and the udon we ordered came out hot on top and frozen on the bottom which whatever, we're literally cooking it at the table. We were honestly so ready to leave at that point since we had been there for almost 2 and half hours (primarily for wait times) that when we were asked if we wanted anything else I made a comment that though we were still waiting on a few items, but we were ready for the check...which we waited again for until I went to the counter to pay (where another table that seemed to be having a similar experience was also waiting). We ate everything, so we didn't get the threatened 30% charge, but they did get our bill wrong, so we were charged, refunded, and charged again. All in all, though the food was delicious and we literally live like 3 blocks away (I was hoping this would be a regular spot) we will not be going back. Also note, this is Portland and a pretty queer friendly neighborhood, why do you have...

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I recently placed a large and rather crazy order from Thai Hot Pot Heaven. I spoke to the manager Max, and I have to say, he went above and beyond to accommodate all of my special requests. Not only was the food delicious, but the attention to detail was incredible. Here’s a breakdown of my unique order and how perfectly they executed it:

Pad Thai with a Smile: I ordered 5 Pad Thais, and they actually arranged the noodles in one of the boxes to form a smiley face. It was a big hit at our party!

Dragon's Breath Green Curry: The green curry was labeled 'Dragon's Breath' as requested, and it was the perfect level of extra spicy. My guests loved the challenge.

I am incredibly impressed with how Thai Hot Pot Heaven handled all these unique requests with such care and creativity. The food was not only delicious but made our party truly memorable. Thank you so much for your outstanding service and for going the extra mile to make our event special. I will definitely be ordering from...

I’ll try to be nice, but overall this place isn’t worth ever visiting again. It’s definitely NOT AYCE Hot Pot based on our server (white guy) who constantly made you feel guilty for ordering more food. He never gave us our drinks, napkins, or came back to our table after appearing irritated whenever we attempted to order more food. Not to mention he continued to bring up the restaurant doesn’t want to waste food, which we understand. However; we eat Hot Pot throughout the United States 24/7, plus we have Hot Pot with family daily at home. We’ve NEVER been told so many times they’ll charge everyone a penalty of 30% per person if there’s any leftovers. That’s weird, strange, & completely unprofessional. Thank GOD the woman who appeared to be the owner took over our table & provided much better customer service. Regardless; if you want Hot Pot then our suggestion is “Happy Lamb in Beaverton” & you’ll have a normal experience without the threats & the foods 10...