Kristen H.
Yelp
I stopped into this restaurant located in a strip mall near Bel-Red Road with a party of three on a Saturday night at around 7:30pm. The restaurant is relatively small but modern and clean, and the atmosphere was loud and crowded, with plenty of Asian diners ranging from young to old (usually a sign that a place is legit). We waited for about 30 minutes before we were seated.
You scan a QR Code that leads to the restaurant's online menu, and then order through that platform - our food came out in around ten minutes. I ordered the Spicy Beef Brisket Rice Noodles ($17.49), which came with a spicy, pungent "mala" flavored broth (a bit oily, but very flavorful!), marinated brisket (fatty and not the best quality, but also not bad), rice noodles, and a plethora of small side dishes ranging from ham, corn, green onions, cabbage, assorted sauces, etc. The whole concept of the dish is to place the side dishes in the soup, allowing them to cook, and then dip the noodles in for short intervals of time. The broth was great, and the individual components in it were nice, but the noodles were already fully cooked, so immersing them in the broth quickly led to them becoming mushy and overcooked.
My brother ordered the Pickled Peppers and Beef Rice Noodles ($17.49). The setup (meat, side dishes, etc.) was similar to mine, except his broth was much more acidic. My mom got the Seafood Hot Pot Rice Noodles ($17.49), which were different in that the bowl already came assembled. Her broth was similar to the Spicy Beef Brisket Rice Noodles broth, except her dish came with a generous amount of braised tofu, spam, and seafood, including clams, shrimp, etc. We agreed that the noodles were drastically overcooked by the time we ate them, since they had been in the soup since they came out.
Overall, I would say that the experience of assembling your own mini hot pot is fun and novel, but the dishes were overpriced and nothing special (IMPORTANT NOTE: dip the noodles for VERY short intervals of time). There's enough competition in the area for Chinese food that I wouldn't wait in a long line to eat here, but I'd stop in again if it wasn't too crowded!