Tian Tian Noodles — Restaurant in Redmond

Rating: 3.0/5.0

I learned about Hot Pot Factory on a bus ride to Bellevue when their large banner advertising “all-you-can-eat hot pot starting at $25.99” caught my eye. Intrigued, I made sure to stop by a week or so later to check out their menu and was subsequently excited. All-you-can-eat hot pot that is not Happy Lamb, has a pork stomach soup base flavor option, and offers braised dishes and popcorn chicken? Heck, yeah! (I love Happy Lamb, but having more options is always nice.)

Since then, I have eaten here twice - the first with a friend for dinner ($30.99/person) and the second alone for lunch ($25.99/person), both with the DIY Sauce add-on ($2.99/person) - and thus have tried four out of the five available soup base flavors (spicy and numbing, tomato soup, golden chicken broth, fresh bone broth, and pork stomach and chicken soup).

Unfortunately, Hot Pot Factory was a let-down. The soup bases were not flavorful enough, the chili oil at the sauce bar could not even be considered chili oil, and - most importantly - what you order may never make it to your table. To elaborate on the last point, I heard someone in the kitchen loudly complain about how "this is too much food for one person" when I was the only customer dining alone during my second visit. Venting one's frustration and annoyance is fine; I get it. What left a bad taste in my mouth, however, is the fact that I never received the mussel, shrimp, and chrysanthemum I ordered. What a shame.

That said, I appreciate the easy ordering via a tablet, the braised pork intestine and quail eggs options, and the "all-you-can-eat“ watermelon at the sauce bar.

Will I be back? Maybe once in a blue moon when I want something other than Happy Lamb for hot pot. After all, I am too poor to eat at places like Haidilao and the Dolar Shop.

The All You Can Eat menu is the same for both lunch and dinner and includes the following for no additional charge: Meats: premium beef slice, New Zealand lamb, pork belly, garlic chicken slice, spicy beef slice, cumin beef Braised dishes: braised chicken feet, braised pork intestine, braised quail eggs, braised lotus root, braised pork feet, braised pork rib House specials: flour gluten, bean curd, duck blood, duck gizzard skewer, bean curd roll, beef tripe, beef aorta, spam, rice cake Seafood: mussel, shrimp with head, crab stick, fish tofu, fish fillet, fish ball Vegetables: yam pasta, vermicelli, potato, black fungus, frozen tofu, bamboo, fried tofu, winter melon, taro, fresh soy bean sprout, A Choy, spinach, chrysanthemum, cilantro, green lettuce, 鸡腿菇, milk tofu, potato slice, cabbage, fresh lotus Street food: brown sugar rice cake, golden bun with condensed milk, popcorn chicken Rice and noodle: white rice, udon noodle,...

While Google still think this place is still Hot Pot Factory, and the Chinese name is still Noodles Everyday, but neither name reflects the menu of this place at this time.

There is now a big sign on the window, stating they have a Chinese lunch box for $14. They now serve this all day, every day. They do have a couple of soup noodles left on the menu, as well as some stir fried pancakes. But their main thing is now the hot food bar. You select 3 hot dishes out of the hot food bar, and the nice lady ladles them over a big plate of rice for $14.

We decided to try this out for lunch today, and this is probably the best deal in the Seattle area these days for authentic Chinese lunch plates at a low price.

Their hot bar food selection changes daily, but some of the things we tried were good: Garlic sauce pork, family style Fried tofu, stewed pork belly, eggplants stir fried with minced pork. They had 4 vegetarian dishes out of the 21 hot dishes you can choose from. If you go in as they open though, some of the dishes will not be available as they are still preparing fresh. If you arrive about 40 minutes after they open, the bar should be pretty much full.

They also have some cold food selections including Fu Chi Fei Pian, thin sliced pork esrs, and pork head cheese. For $10, you can choose 2 items from the cold bar, and you get a nice plate of those items as appetizers.

If you are in the area, and hungry for some authentic chinese food, definitely worth a visit. Your taste buds and your budget...

I was soooooo excited about Tian Tian, until my second order. The first order was perfect...per-fect! I ordered broccoli chicken and chicken chow mein. Veggies were bright - cooked just right, not mushy with a little crunch. The chicken was tender and the noodles were fresh and full of flavor not just salt. Next day, still yummy. My second order was not as good. Almost like it came from a totally different restaurant. Same two dishes - overcooked mushy broccoli. There were more onions than any other vegetable in the chow mein. What's worse is there was so much oil in both dishes, it coated my mouth even after pouring out most of the oil. I could barely eat it. The next day the oil was congealed on the broccoli and chicken. I added a bunch more veggies, rice wine vinegar and soy to the noodles so it could be edible. I don't like wasting food. I don't know what order is the normal quality and I don't want to take the risk in finding out. I am really bummed. Perhaps I will try again inside the restaurant...