Happy Lamb Hot Pot, Union City 快乐小羊 — Restaurant in Union City

Happy Lamb Hot Pot is an all you can eat hot pot buffet.

My wife and I came for lunch today. We got seated right away, ordered the dual broth option, and off to the over the counter food we go!

The ambience inside is okay, it is not high end but clean. The dual broth which both my wife and I shared seemed a little salty but not overly strong where we needed to change broth but it is definitely to keep in mind if you have a preference toward a lighter palate of taste.

The service itself is fast, almost all of the items we ordered from the menu came pretty quickly. The other items we went and got ourselves were plentiful and they refilled them pretty quickly when the quantity of an item gets low.

The dipping sauce is made available for you to take toward the back where you have plenty of choice in mixing it the way you prefer.

They do however charge a "sauce fee". This is a bit uncommon among hot pot restaurant so I was surprised. Keep this in mind if you visit Happy Lamb when the bill comes with it being added on. Although this kinda sucks but the soft drinks are included with refills so I guess it wasn't that bad although they could have specified it when we first got seated.

We were in and out in a hour from start to finish. Happy Lamb Hot Pot is a solid choice for a hot pot with a wide selection of food to choose. Like most Chinese food, there is MSG added to the broth so expecting yourself to drink plenty of fluids afterward. If you are like us and you don't mind a little MSG every now and then, this spot is a pretty cool place to be if you're in the area and are...

My first time at Happy Lamb Hotpot. It’s a very good pick!

They are AYCE with the standard “classic” ($32) and “premium” ($37) plans, which are really good prices imo. I chose the classic, and the meats were good quality.

Ordering is done traditional waiter-style. I personally dislike this because it can create an awkward eating pace since you’re waiting for a waiter, and since these places are normally very busy, it usually takes a little bit. Luckily, the servers are very nice and my group even got some vouchers at the end! Still, I always find a tablet/QR code works best.

Sides here are free and bar style. A lot of common sides are at the bar, and they have a solid variety (no bok choy, but other greens). Rice cakes, another common side, are only available with the premium plan.

Like other hot pot places, there is a sauce bar with a small charge. This charge for Happy Lamb also includes self-serve soft drinks & ice cream. The ice cream is not that good, so I’d recommend sticking to the mantou which is by the side bar. The soft drinks includes Pepsi products and some sweetened fruit teas which were pretty good (and also pretty sweet).

The atmosphere is very nice, almost high scale. We went on a Thursday night and it was lively and energetic. The meats are displayed very photogenically, and I saw some of the meats from the premium plan even have a very...

AYCE = encourages food waste.

This was my first all-you-can-eat hotpot experience. You select the items that you want and they bring it to your table for you to cook in a pot of soup in front of you. Without any visual cues or explanation of how big a portion was, we obviously over-ordered. Who knew one serving of beef contained 40+ generous slices of thinly sliced meat? Needless to say we couldn't finish the food. At the end of the meal we had leftovers that the restaurant did not allow us to take home. Who knew? I am very hopeful that they don't re-serve the leftovers for the next customers which means they will most likely throw away our leftovers. What a waste. I really think "all you can eat" in this restaurant encourages food waste. What a shame. A more sensible approach is to let customers pay for the remaining food for a little bit extra money.

Apparently if you don't order all-you-can-eat, you can take home the remainder of the food. So I recommend if you must order all-you-can-eat, bring your own to-go containers to take home your leftovers. What are they going to do, stop you?

Service was just average. It was not excellent but was not inadequate either. Food tasted very good but be forewarned that you will quickly exceed your daily sodium allowance in this place. Not sure I will ever get all-you-can-eat again though for reasons...