Cecilia M.
Yelp
Came here using the latest Groupon deal, in a party of three. My family is from Hong Kong, so hotpot during the winter is comfort food for us. We have it at home (or at friends' homes) often during this season.
We've had various hotpot experiences dining out, including other Little Sheep locations, and lower & higher quality restaurants too. This particular Little Sheep location falls somewhere in middle of the pack.
If it's your FIRST time hotpotting - go with an open mind! It's going to be very different from anything you've had AND everyone does it a little differently. :P Just make sure you mix a good sauce. Again, everyone does it a little differently - but I highly recommend using the one labelled "satay"... it's a classic!
ATMOSPHERE: Slick, clean and bright interior. Average noise level. Good spacing between tables. We were there for an early weeknight dinner buffet. So the restaurant wasn't busy when we first arrived. And it being a Monday, it didn't get to full capacity at typical dinner time. There were other patrons - but it wasn't packed. This probably contributed to the better (read: quieter and less rushed vibe) atmosphere than on a Friday or weekend evening.
I like that there is an option to choose a shared large pot, or individual small pots. (Induction stove-top is built into the tables - so they'll seat you in a different section according to your table/pot choice)
SERVICE: Surprisingly good. I know others have commented on this, but yes, I was still shocking to experience good service. :P All our liquids were topped up regularly (soy milk, plum juice, and soup for the pot). Sauce Station was always stocked in all options as well. Would be better if there were more sauce stations - I only saw one for the whole restaurant. On a busy night, it would cause quite a queue... But otherwise, service was great. Always many servers available to answer your call, and very patient to explain how everything worked for first-time visitors. Most staff speak Mandarin and English fluently, and a few speak Cantonese as well.
PRICE: $21.99 per person (extra $1 on weekend & holidays) for our weeknight meal. Drinks are extra. Free refills on plum juice and soy milk only. Broth is extra, ranging from $2.50 to 5. Sauces included.
We had a Groupon, which helped. Overall, average cost for such a location, food and service. (Of course comparing to doing it at home - this will seem much more costly! But dining out for hotpot, this is average. And also: NO PREP or CLEAN UP. For those who have hotpot at home - lots of prep & clean up is involved)
FOOD: In general, we enjoyed everything we ordered. First came the free side dishes: 2 cold veggie dishes and a plate of hot pork bone (similar to what you find in Korean pork bone soup). That was unexpected (and filling).
Greens and veggies were good quality. We ordered multiple portions of watercress and various mushrooms.
For carbs, I recommend the hand-pulled/made noodles (wide and flat; chewier in texture), and the spinach noodles (much thinner; texture is similar to soba).
The sliced meats were great. We tried the beef, lamb and pork belly. Liked the quail eggs. Most of the seafood we tried were great! Especially the shrimp and mussels. Squid/calamari was a bit small, but texture and flavour was good. Skip the fish. It was very mushy and kind of fell apart as you pick it up to eat, and not much flavour at all.
I would pass on the meat/fish balls. I prefer denser/chewier variety... there's was very soft and mushy.
Wontons were good - the filling inside was very fresh. My piece had a whole shrimp in it that was pretty good quality. I usually don't eat wonton/dumplings in my hot pot (it's considered a filler in my house) but these were so good we were glad we got them!
***
Generally, I'm a fan of dining at home for hotpot, where you can customize and have exactly what you like. BUT if I wanted to introduce someone who's new to this cuisine, I would bring them here for their first experience. - it's not too pretentious an atmosphere, and still has good food options.