Urban Hot Pot - Rockville — Restaurant in Rockville

This is the first hot pot joint that I've visited that sports a conveyor belt. Too bad It's only accessible for the center 2 rows of tables which are too small for our party of 8. We had reservation at 12 noon, the time when the restaurant opens so some of these tables were still available. We requested to break our party into 2 tables but the manager refused to accommodate. Too bad. It would have served us well, as you'll read about it below.

Cost: This is all-you-can-eat. For our weekend visit, adult is $25.99, kids under 10 are $12.99. Everything is included except drinks. For the few ingredients that require extra cost, they'd be clearly indicated on the iPad menu as you order them. Weekends are all dinner prices, so go ahead and order those that say "dinner only" even for you weekend lunch.

Service: Reservation is recommended but they only accepted reservations for parties of 6 or more. Someone will give you a quick orientation about the iPad and logistics, but trust me you wouldn't be able to follow, given the noise and all the distractions around you! You order the soup base and a few starter items first. Don't order everything all at once. You'd stress yourself out. You can order unlimited number of times within the 2 hour limit. The timer on you iPad will start AFTER you make you first order. Oh, even if you do not sit next to the conveyor belt, go ahead and go to the end-cap section of it and grab whatever you want anyway.

Food: They have all of the usual hot pot ingredients. Don't miss out on the shiitake mushrooms. Somehow we didn't see them on the iPad menu but I swear I saw a plate or two on the conveyor belt on my way out. Don't you dare to try the extra Hot Spicy soup base. That Sichuan pepper corn concoction will bum your palate and flush your digestive system! The original and the kimchi pork soup are both recommended among my party. IMO, you can always go spicy on your dips, it's better to keep the soup simple as it will integrate with all the ingredients you subsequently add to it.

Parking: 30 minutes limit for the spaces in front of the strip mall. 2 hour free in the basement garage. Metered parking on the adjacent streets are free during the weekends.

Verdict: While the conveyor belt concept is exciting, we didn't get to take advantage of it. If you have a big party, make sure you break it down into smaller groups and make separate reservations. Trust me, you don't want to sit at the party table that sits 10 with just 1 iPad for ordering, and with 8 of the 10 people literally TRAPPED and can't get out. It was ABSOLUTE chaos for us. One to two people got to operate the iPad to order ingredients. No one knows if his/her order got entered. Even if all requests got sent, they came to the table all mixed. When the plate finally got passed to you, your requests may have been taken by others before you, and you ended up getting some ingredients you didn't order. You see, when you order, say, quail eggs, you have no idea how many come with the order; so when you see 2 quail eggs on the plate, you can't help but wonder if they are all yours. No one knows who else ordered quail eggs. The desserts were also below mark. The only choices for this $26 meal are: a slice of cake, a bowl of sago soup, and a plate of fruits. Oh, they even ran out of strawberries, so most of us only get one slice of orange and a couple cubes of cantaloupe on the fruit plate. Pathetic! Worst of all, I got 2 episodes of diarrhea! None of the other 7 people in my party got sick, so it was probably just my own fault. Bottom line, it was a frazzling experience and a 3 rating...

Sept 2021 I'm going to start this review by saying that I am more traditional in my hot pot preferences than I realized, and that's why I didn't really like this place. They have good hot pot and good food (mostly), but the experience was a bit lacking for me. Note masks are required.

The place was clean and dimly lit. It was also small, with about 20 tables, necessitating a 90 minute limit. The induction cooktops are built into the table, level with the surface. The controls are touchscreen buttons on the burner itself. Note the controls are sensitive to water and plates on top of them. Each person has their own hot pot. You order from a tablet placed on the table. The interface is easy to understand and manipulate. Note the service category, which includes requests for the check, refill drinks, and to ask for help. Note the pots are all metal, including the handles, so be careful to not burn yourself when handling them.

The food and the service were pretty good, but the experience itself was pretty frustrating. First, the soup base. Traditionally, the soup base has a weak flavor that adds to, but does not overpower, the items you cook in the hot pot. The whole point of hot pot is the stuff you cook in the soup, not the soup itself. Here, the soup bases we ordered (miso and tomato) were actually fully flavored soup. So the meat and veggies we put into the soup were very heavily flavored by the soup, especially the tomato soup. It's not really bad, but it's not to my taste. I came for hot pot, not soup.

I feel like the induction cooktops were pretty weak, and I spent more time waiting for my stuff to cook than I did eating. This was annoying since we had a time limit. Even more annoying was how sensitive (or not) the controls were. They responded easily to liquid that dropped onto them, but I usually had to touch them a few times before they responded. Then it would sometimes turn off when I didn't realize it and I would have to turn it on again. And of course the controls were relatively close to the hot pot, so I had to be careful to not burn myself.

The food itself was pretty decent, though the portion sizes were very small. About half the size at Hot Pot City. It was probably a good thing in the end since it took so long to cook everything, but I did not leave feeling full or satisfied.

A last few notes. They have matcha soft serve, but it's very icy with little milk/cream and less matcha flavor. The vermicelli noodles are wide, not thin. I also noticed that the crab legs seemed popular with the other customers.

Overall, a decent hot pot, but personally I will not be back. I much prefer Hot Pot City, and for the...

Updated: Still so good, but service. PRO TIP: there's an underground parking garage just for that shopping area. Please park there lol 😆 I ended up around the corner when I ate at 6PM. Street parking was free so that was a plus. Parking in garage is free the first 2 hrs!

Now, to the good part: FOOD. KIMCHI was amazing, noodles tasty, baby choy on point, tea fabulous, service intermediate, pumpkin so good, and a plethora of fine dinner meats to choose from. 9/10 would go again! Sauce bar had all the essentials. I had a party of four with varying pallets. I appreciate that everyone got their own broth base because the table gives everyone their own heating plate.

Dec 11, 2021 Observations: the phone message price needs to be updated to reflect all you can eat increase. Price went up to $33.99, not astronomical pretty reasonable with all the supply chain craziness going on, but nice to know when someone in a group budgets a lot. The hot plate was difficult to turn down. One you turn it off have fun turning it back on with no help (instructions were simple enough "tap power button twice, then tap heat button once"). The plate would turn back off when I tried to turn it back on, but negligible. They don't top off broth, didn't stop me from eating. A bug landed on me from the ceiling, so i walked outside to set it free. Lastly, a gentle question got me my food faster during busy hours. None of these observations stopped me from enjoying my meal with my friends. Again, 9/10 would go again.

UPDATE: Dec 20, 2021 Loved it so much I went with a friend who has never had hot pot, and I think they forgot our table a couple of times. Came at 5pm. Food is still delicious 9/10, and the staff was very kind, but dirty dishes piled up and no one took them till after we paid. We had about 5 empty cups and varying large empty dishes on our table. This time I was in a group of two! We mentioned it to a sweet girl passing by who asked how was everything, but she was busy so it was not resolved till the end. Service makes it an 8/10 would go again! Good food just prepare yourself to wait and speak up by using the service call button on the iPad. Food comes out before broth, at least it has for me both times now. Also I had no idea they had soft serve ice cream!

UPDATE: December 17, 2023 Went with a party of 6 this time. Food is still great. Hot plate still annoying. It's nice to see somethings...