Hulu Hot Pot & BBQ — Restaurant in Rockville

August 2024 We came on an early Sunday afternoon. This place definitely specializes in skewers. The skewers/bbq were very good, and the hot pot was less than average. You can get much better hot pot (with more variety) at Urban Hot Pot. The service was polite and quick delivering food, though we had to flag someone down to get more drinking water and the check took a while. They seemed a little understaffed. Note there is a 2 hour time limit.

Walking in is a reception area with a desk and the host behind it. The reception area is pretty roomy, though there are no seats, just open space. The actual dining area is very open, with high ceilings and a single low wall in the center. The lights are dim, though the windows let in a lot of light.

The tables range from 4-8 people, with booths, booth-chair tables, and tables with just chairs. Each table has individual recessed hot pots for each person and a single grill/skewer station in the center. The 8-person tables have 2 grills. A metal bucket next to the grills is for used skewers. The skewers automatically rotate on the grill. Just make sure the little wheel on the skewer is notched into the moving bar on the table. It works on both sides of the table. The basket at the station is for items that need to be grilled but aren't on skewers, like the oysters, tongue, and short ribs. There is a rack above the grill, where you can put skewers that are finished cooking. To take food off the skewers, they give you a special pick to use. Or you can just eat straight off the skewer too. Just beware the metal might be hot.

When ordering skewers, note one portion is literally one skewer. I personally recommend the taiwan sausage 😋. It is absolutely delicious, with not too much fat. The lamb and chicken hearts are also good. Note that the chicken knees are very hard.

The tables have QR codes on the corners to order food. However, they didn't work when we tried them. So we just used the tablet they gave us.

The sauce bar is in the far back corner. It also has appetizers, desserts, and fruits. There is a soft serve ice cream machine, but it seems customers are not allowed to use it. Instead, you order an ice cream (vanilla, chocolate, or mix) from the tablet, and the staff serve it to you in a cake cone.

They do have water jelly as a dessert, but it's more water than jelly with no flavor.

They have private karaoke rooms and a bar upstairs. I'm not sure how you reserve them. You probably have to call them. The stairs are in the back by the sauce bar.

Some last notes. The staff frequently came around asking if we needed to refill our hot pot soups. Snow crab legs are a menu item, but they don't offer hammers or crab crackers. So if you want the crab legs, bring your own equipment. Each table has a set of mini shelves to the side, if you don't have enough room on your table. The men/women bathrooms are behind the glass/lattice walls, with 2 stalls. The sinks were very wet, but otherwise it was clean and dry.

I would likely come again, but just for...

We went there with a huge group of kids at lunar new year. They are very busy but we reserved the table so it was not a problem. They give you 2 hours to order. First of all, their meat quality is good. The Angus beef, fatty lamb, and beef are really tasty. Not there the meat portion is pretty big compared to other hot pot places. In terms of skewers, chicken hearts and octopus are the best. Oyster and clam are super tasty and are the highlights of this meal.

There are many things that can be improved which I will talk about later. I was ok with this place until this happened. At where we were seated, there is a wall projector that displays K-pop MTV. You can only see the picture but not hear too much due to the loud environment. One of the contents are two young ladies killing each other, one died, another has blood all over her face and she is smoking. The scenes are violent and there are many focused scenes of bloodiness, not kids appropriate at all. I went to talk to one of the guys who was in the control room. All he said is, oh it is just MTV Kpop. They locked the door and the MTV continued. I mean yes, I know it is KPop, but this is not a restaurant MTV!

Our kids (8 of them) were all chatting about this and kept asking questions. My youngest who is only 6 didn't fully understand so she kept asking my older daughter who is 10. My older daughter was very scared and couldn't sleep alone at night. What a ridiculous and irresponsible restaurant to not look through what they are showing to the public and to have employees like that.

Now I am going to list all the other things I think can be improved. The soup base is just right, but the added hotpot base is way too salty. I ended up dumping the entire bottle of water into the pot to tame down the saltiness. My girl who loves meat in a hotpot refused to eat meat because they are too salty. The skewers take 7 mins to cook and you can only put a limited number on the grill. So plan ahead. Also the lamb/beef skewers are marinated with too much salt. It is hard to control how long to cook certain types of skewers to the right crispness. Also during busy hours, they could for sure use more employees. We had a cup tipping accident and the entire time we were there, no one bothered to wipe the slippery floor or even come to ask. Though people pass this slippery area often to serve food to other tables. Make sure you bring your phone fully charged. Because they don't offer you a device to order, it is purely on your phones. And if you don't have one, your order may not be placed depending on their waiters...

This Karaoke really goes above and beyond when it comes to redefining customer service. Imagine my surprise when I found out the first floor is a restaurant, yet the second-floor Karaoke doesn't even bother with something as luxurious as water or cups. I mean, who needs hydration when you're belting out songs, right? They must really want us to feel that dry, raspy voice--it's all about the 'artistic expression,' clearly. Thirsty? Well, they've got you covered. Just take a nice little trip back downstairs to the restaurant and spend a little bit extra for the meal. It's not like you came here to relax or anything.

But honestly, the best part of the whole experience? The service. I've never experienced anything quite like it. In a place this huge, you'd think they'd be tech-savvy, but no, they're sticking with that 'retro charm.' When I asked a simple question about the WiFi password, the staff's response was a masterpiece: 'We don't have WiFi, deal with it. Or hey, how about I lend you my phone to pick your songs?' Wow, what generosity! Nothing says five-star service like borrowing the staff's personal phone to navigate a menu. I almost had to applaud their confidence in being so unapologetically dismissive. You really don't see that kind of dedication just anywhere!

And to top it all off, after enduring this 'top-tier' service, I was absolutely floored when I saw the bill. They had the nerve to automatically tack on a 20% tip. Yes, you read that right--20% for service that felt more like they were doing me a favor by just being there. I didn't know I was paying extra for the privilege of this kind of VIP perk. It's almost like they should've charged me for the comedic value of the whole experience instead.

I'd highly recommend this place to anyone dealing with depression. Why? After experiencing this level of downright baffling service, you'll leave feeling so frustrated and bewildered that it'll completely distract you from anything else going on in your life. The sheer absurdity of it is comical! You might find yourself laughing at the ridiculousness of it all, which is definitely a mood booster. It's almost like a cure for depression--just focus on the outrageousness, and your problems will seem so much smaller...