Movoc Hot Pot — Restaurant in University City

So, so cool that St. Louis has a Malatang now!!! For the unfamiliar it is individualized hotpot where you select your ingredients and broth. Select items you like and a broth that sounds good and it'll be good. Lots of cool selections here including harder to find stuff like frog legs, offal cuts, and other cool stuff like that. I liked the format, the interactivity, and the food was delicious.

My five star rating does come with a caveat which is to say that if you have dietary restrictions (especially allergies to peanuts or shellfish) you probably should not eat here at least until certain adjustments are made - as is there are not enough tongs for each individual item so it seems like you would just use the pair of tongs to grab multiple kinds of items on the display, causing cross-contamination. There was also little bits of food from other hot pots that ended up into mine and my girlfriend's, for example, she got a little tripe and I got a little bean sprouts. If you are vegan or vegetarian though that could be a problem. I know that peanuts also ended up in the spicy dry mix without it being prominently displayed or labeled. I think if it was noted more obviously it should be fine. Neither myself nor my girlfriend have peanut aversion so it was fine but I could see it being concerning for folks who have an allergy. As I very much liked the food, I offer this as constructive criticism as I hope this place can make those adjustments to become a welcoming restaurant that even more people...

Super excited to see a new hot pot spot open up around here. If it’s your first time, here’s how it works: you get in line and build your plate with a mix of fresh veggies and proteins. The spread includes a solid selection of mushrooms, greens, marinated meats, frozen fish balls, duck blood, and intestines. Heads up—there aren’t many labels, so you’re kinda guessing as you go. Still, everything looked and tasted fresh.

I went with the sour and spicy broth, which had a great kick to it.

After loading up your plate, you pick a broth base and pay at the counter. And here’s where it got us—$15.99 per pound. For two people, including tip, it came out to $133.40. Definitely a bit of sticker shock.

Shoutout to the one woman running the floor—she was absolutely holding it down. Taking orders, clearing tables, bringing out food—total powerhouse.

All in all, I’d say it’s worth checking out at least once if you’re curious. Flavors are solid, ingredients are fresh, and we’re always down to support a small business. But at around $50 per person, it’s a bit...

I love the self serve hot pot model. It allows customer to select their own ingredients, choose a broth, and pay by weight. It’s 15.99 per lb at Movoc, minimum weight 0.9lb. They offer five hotpot soup base choices and other specials like dry mix, stir fry, mala town. You can get free rice if dine in. At this visit, I got the mushroom (non spicy) and sour and spicy (level 1 spicy). I loved both of the broth flavors. However, my hotpot got cold pretty quick. I saw they do have red bowls with tea light candles inside working like a food warmer, but I wasn’t provided one so…..I had no idea how long it can keep the food stay hot. I noticed staffs refilled ingredients constantly. However, there wasn’t any labels in front of the ingredients … so I felt like it was a guessing game/IYKYK when picking ingredients. Seatings will be an issue during peak hours since it’s first come first service. You won’t get the seat until after you pay. The restaurant was clean. Service...