Hot Pot Buffet

the 3^rd floor bbq taste like shit dont come! STAY AWAY! the meat looks nasty everything taste like shit

*KBBQ Review. 3^rd floor recently opened! $ 28/​person.
For hot pot it’s still the best for the price you pay, but for the kbbq it’s not even close to being worth. Sure it’s a buffet, but like, $ 28 for all you can eat doesn’t seem to be worth.
There’s a huge selection of stuff, and it’s exactly the same as hot pot buffet. You get a piece of paper and you mark things you want and pass it in. For some reason, I don’t even get ½ the stuff I check off. At least for hot pot, they’re reasonable with it and actually bring out everything I want. For KBBQ it’s completely different and I felt as if it was different service altogether. You even have to ask them to refill your lettuce, like whaaat LOL. I thought it was standard. Lame.
The beef is the best thing here, don’t bother getting the pork it’s alright, nothing special. There was one specific cut that we ordered the first time and we never got it again. LOL. The meat is served in huge slices and expected to cut yourself, which is a little annoying but something you have to suck up. Meat is also very thick, not really that nice especially if you’re trying to chew. They even gave us some meat that we didn’t order with bone-​in and it was a hassle to even eat?
Hopefully in time this place improves because I love kbbq so much. Maybe if they could bring us everything we ask for and not random stuff we didn’t order or ½ our order!
My love for hot pot here doesn’t change.

This review is for the new Korean BBQ on the 3^rd floor.
Awful, just truly awful and a waste of time and money. If you’ve ever been to the hot pot section you know that Hot Pot Buffet has the poorest quality of food across the many different hot pot places like Shabu Zen, Royal, etc. It’s $ 28 a person which is a rip off considering the hot pot side is $ 23 for the same exact food. The «Korean BBQ» is grilled hot pot. You get a check off sheet as usual, nothing new or innovative. The meat was thick and long, when you put it on the grill it took about 35% of the grill space. The marination on the scallops and flounder fillet was gross. Everything also severely lacked flavor. I felt like I was eating plastic the entire time. Service was w/​e as my group was the only people there.
If you think about having the Korean BBQ, please don’t. Your taste buds will hate you after. Food wise, one the worst meals I’ve ever had. Knowing Hot Pot Buffet. Just overall a bad meal.

I am always here. I come here at least once a week. My boyfriend and I love it here, maybe not as much as him but my go-​to place when I’m consistently craving hot pot. The service sucks but I don’t ever complain because I don’t expect much. I always get like 10 different waiters (there’s only like what. 5 workers there) some of them don’t speak nor understand English, which is pretty frustrating but then again, it is Chinatown. But that shouldn’t be limited because it’s Chinatown. People other than Chinese people go there as well.
Sometimes I check off the things I want and I don’t receive it OR I never checked off an item and I receive it. Sigh.
I love how they have crawfish, mm, can’t get that anywhere else around Chinatown hotpot. The meats are always unpredictable. Sometimes they’re surprisingly good and other times, it’s just decent. Despite how «dirty» people say it is, please don’t be so close minded about other restaurants. They’re just as filthy as a 5 star quality restaurant. Yes, 5 star restaurants also have mice and rats, not just hotpot buffet.
I like their variety of choices, a huge selection to choose from. If you’re looking for high quality meats, this isn’t the place for you. It’s inexpensive. The atmosphere isn’t fancy, it’s. Chill. Nice to come with a group of friends. Absolutely love how they close late. They still take costumers even when it’s close to closing time. I remember I ate past 2:30 am and they kindly waited until my friends and I finished. That’s honestly like everyday for them considering everyone comes in so late. Ha.
I usually pay a total amount of $ 32-​$ 35 (includes tip)
Not too long ago, around like last week. Came here with my boyfriend. He noticed a sign on the door which I completely didn’t see. Told me there was all you can eat Korean bbq. I didn’t believe him. Made me walk all the back downstairs to look at the sign and I couldn’t believe it! I had to ask the employees for confirmation and yes, it’s true. All you can eat Korean bbq. It was already too late to eat there since we ordered hotpot stuff already. Came back the next day to try it. (Of course, didn’t expect much) I already assumed the meats were going to be the same at hotpot. The only difference is, they are much thicker and are well marinated. At first, I wasn’t a fan at all. The meats were tremendously chewy. (Mind you, I didn’t cut the meats, I just ate it like that) then once I started cutting it into bite sized, it was a whole different story. It was doable. Tasted a lot better and much less effort to chew.
Some of the seats were unbearably close to each other. I barely had leg room. The buttons were on the side where customers sit which was odd because the waiter awkwardly came very close to me each time he tried to turn it lower or higher. It wasn’t even in English. I don’t even think it was in Chinese, I really don’t know lol. I had no idea how to use it.
Whenever the grill burned, you don’t ask them to change for a new one. Instead, they use paper towels to clean it off.
Price per person: $ 27.99
Located on the 3^rd floor.
Would I come and try it again? Most likely later on when they improve since they had just opened up.

Ah. so I finally reached Duchess status last night and to celebrate this miraculous moment, a little critter came to visit the table. And by little critter, I mean a little cockroach. Though I am certain a large percentage of restaurants in Chinatown is cockroach infested, nothing puts it more into perspective than seeing one crawling about on our table. I live by the motto, «Out of sight, out of mind.» Since I’ve now become witness to the existence of the little cockroach, I can no longer turn a blind eye.
Therefore, although I thank the little cockroach for celebrating my Duchess victory last night, it is with a heavy heart that I must say that my role as Duchess shall henceforth be short-​lived. I vow to never come back to this establishment for two reasons. First, being the lack of sanitation and hygiene and second, I fear for my safety. The little cockroach’s life was cut short last night and I fear his little friends will seek blood if I return. I thank Hot Pot Buffet for always serving affordable and late-​night AYCE hotpot but unless the cleanliness and health code for your establishment goes up, you have lost a dedicated customer.

If you’re wicked hungry & want to eat a lot, Hot Pot Buffet will be fine. If you like tastier but smaller portions, go to ShabuZen or the Q. Hot Pot Buffet is convenient to where I work, and I am a fan of hot pots in the winter. HP Buffet is pretty good, not great.
They serve Chinese style hot pot, rather than Japanese shabu– I don’t know enough about the culinary differences to explain why the spicy hot Japanese broth is hotter than the spicy hot Chinese broth, but it seems to always be so and I like *hot*! I almost always get the mala. I’ve tried them all, though. They’re a little bland.
They’re one of the only hot pot places that always has frozen tofu, which I love!
Portions are big, the food is fresh enough, but nothing blows me away. I like a ton of different veggies with a hot pot & am disappointed that something is always missing– last night, it was the bok choi– and catching a waiter once the food is delivered is not easy.
However, this wouldn’t make any difference if I were just going for quantity! I’m usually here alone or with one friend, and this might make a difference: this is theoretically an «All You Can Eat» place for $ 25ish. Wagyu & some seafood are extra, but I’ve stuck to the basics. Compared to other Chinatown HP places, Hot Pot Buffet gives you a lot of food on the first round, and I have watched people order more than I can imagine! A couple of starving college students, or tourists who have been walking all day, might find $ 25ish a good deal.

Don’t EVER eat in here… they have grasshoppers inside the broth and they say that its normal to have them with the vegetables.

The food was very, very good. The waitress was really nice too. They make it easy to order, and the food came out quickly. I was new to the process, and the waitress gave me some nice, quick tips.
The bathroom was a little small … can get crowded, and a little messy.

I honestly don’t understand how people are thinking they know if ingredients from other restaurants are «higher» quality. Well whether they are or not, is hot pot buffet such a downgrade? The meats and all are still good enough for me to think that it tastes just as good as shabu zen, if not, better.
I’d say that this is a incredibly great place for friends or family to come together and enjoy a great selection of all kinds of meats, veggies, and seafood.
The broth is surely good enough as well but all taste quite similar except the spicy malay. The Malay is pretty savory and its not the spiciest but its still pretty darn good to me.
The staff always seem to attentive and be around when you need them.
What its obvious about the con’s are that this place definitely need a new, renovated, décor because I remember when this place was a dim sum spot, everything was almost the same. Walls, ceiling, carpet, dividers, almost everything, about 25 – 30 years old now and its pretty disgusting. Their bathrooms as well, it was exactly the same and I try to avoid it whenever I go there.
This place definitely would get a 5 star from me but their atmosphere was so bad that I would take 2 stars out just for that. You would think, hey, this is Chinatown where everything isn’t very sanitary but hopefully they improve

Well, I guess if you love Hot Pot and honestly enjoy eating your weight in food, this place is worth it.
Otherwise I found it distinctly underwhelming. For $ 25 (apparently it’s $ 16 on weekdays and Saturday lunch) I would’ve been much happier eating elsewhere in Chinatown… better food, less gut-​busting quantities, and more pleasant environment.
As far as food quality goes, this place equals if not beats Shabu Zen, which is basically a more Yuppified non-​buffet version, with a much nicer ambience. This place does look, feel, and (most of all) SMELL ghetto-​like. Meaning, they cram way too many folks into the space and their ventilation system is non-​existent. The combination of thick soup-​filled air with massive amounts of food (well, «massive» by my standards — only ordered two rounds, whereas I saw some people do 3 – 4) ingested gave me the willies, barely managed to stagger out the door without it all coming back up. Had to take a long vigorous walk around nearby Boston Common to recover, ugh.
The lamb was by far the best meat. The seafood was surprisingly good quality, as were the fresh vegetables. I have to say, this place is VERY paleo-​friendly!
I made the mistake of ordering the spicy soup, which was really Thai-​level hot! So I spent the first 30 minutes picking out all the giant red chillis.
Generally speaking though, «hot pot» much like «dim sum» is primarily appealing to those eaters who love having a humongous variety… personally, I’m much happier having just one or two or three dishes that I really like, well-​prepared and eaten in a less industrial-​ish, grungy environment. I suppose if you’ve never had «hot pot» before it’s worth it at least once, just for the experience.

Great deal if you come here for lunch on Saturday or weekdays since it’s only $ 15.99 (Sunday and holidays have dinner rate all day). Lunch menu does not have salmon or enoki and some other items but still good overall. My family loves the choice rib eye beef. We think that is the best item on the menu. I don’t think we can buy this in the supermarket… My parents tried finding it but no luck. I’m not sure where the restaurant got this meat from but it’s super delicious with the right amount of fat and meat. My other favorite item is the fish tofu. I don’t think the fish and other seafood items are that fresh but still not too bad for the price. We generally got the house special and the mala spicy soup bases.

This is a great place with old school Chinese décor and reasonable prices.
I have no complaints. This is standard, high quality hotpot spot. You get, of course, unlimited food which is nice and to my knowledge there is no time limit and they don’t charge you if you don’t finish everything.
If you’re looking to venture into Chinatown id suggest going here for sure.

This is a very nice place to have AYCE hotpot especially since they have a large selection of seafood that went with the hotpot and really fresh meat. This would be a hotpot place that I will be going to eat if I was living in the Boston area but I will go there to eat every time I go up to Boston.
The other thing I liked a lot about this place is that the food came really fast. I didn’t have to wait like.

How far I have fallen, going from the likes of 99 Favor Taste in NYC to Hot Pot Buffet here in Boston.
This place is real ghetto. Like, they ran out of tables at some point and pulled out some fold up tables and chairs, put them between the two rows of booths, and started seating guests there. Man, if I were one of those parties, I would not have wanted to pay $ 27/​$ 28 ish post tax and tip for this.
I’m not really even sure where to begin here, to be honest. Don’t get the lamb – it’s tough af and you won’t be able to chew through it. The fatty beef is the way to go as the traditional hot pot meat and it’s hard to screw up so I guess it’s okay here.
My biggest qualm with this place is that there is no sauce bar. How the fck can you not have a sauce bar??? I pretty much strictly use shacha sauce and I think their premade sauce has some shacha in it, but it’s diluted down so much and mixed with other stuff that it didn’t taste very good. I kind of actually hated it.
The broth is decent, but the spicy broth is not very spicy. I was thoroughly annoyed because the staff wouldn’t take away any of our finished dishes and was not attentive with filling our pots with more water. They also had the audacity to keep turning down the heat for our stove top, as if they wanted us to stop eating and leave. Sorry, but since I’m here I’m going to be taking full advantage of your shtty buffet, thanks. We shamelessly turned it back up multiple times and kept ordering.
I’m pretty much just going to start buying my own ingredients and making my own hot pot in the future – Hot Pot buffet sucks.

3.5 stars, with a potential for 4 in the future.
It is All you can eat Hot Pot buffet. I love hot pots when the weather starts getting cold and you feel the need for soothing warmth inside and out!
Lots of positives and a few, definitive negatives — which influence the overall rating. Here is a quick snapshot (in a hurry today, can’t write a mini story!)
+ Clean, decent place; pleasantly surprised, given some of the reviews mentioned some real horror stories (not like the American Horror Story Hotel for sure)
+ Sea food options were pretty good, quite fresh and definitely of good quality
+ Same with the dumplings and Spicy Mala broth
+ Our primary server who took our order was very good and friendly. A smile goes a long way is what I feel about service in general
+ /​— We also ordered lamb and beef. Between the 2, the quality of lamb was definitely a standout. Next time, will not order beef and will be cautious about ordering pork on similar lines
— A second server was very rushed in and was ready to give us check and take our food away, despite being work in progress, once it hit rush hour
— She even poured bland, broth (or maybe even plain hot water) — in both our halves, without even asking us. Pretty much ruined my latter half of the meal. Be on the lookout. If somehow, one of the waiters flies over your head and tries to pour extra broth in your wok, make sure you have them ask you before the act is done. I was like borderline upset at that point
Lunch hours end at 4pm, when the dinner hours begin. Will give this place another try in the future, taking into consideration the first try and the points above.

Food was okay, the sauce is what makes it good. I was never disappointed after every visit. BUT, I came across the recent inspection for this place and boy… Makes me cringe.
After seeing the recent inspection update which said they took care of the pests, my bf wanted hot pot so we decided to give it another try… And let’s just say I’m never going there again. A cockroach strolled by my bf on the wooden divider. I guess I had to see it to believe it.

This place is a no frills, unlimited hot pot buffet that is straight and to the point. It is meant to make you full! Also, this place provides the concept of an unlimited hot pot at a great price (around $ 23 for dinner!)!
You have a choice between a spicy and non-​spicy based broth and you are given a paper where you mark all the items you want to get. There is a wide variety of beef, chicken, seafood, vegetables, eggs, and noodles to choose from to satisfy your taste buds. Since you cook the food in the pot yourself, it does not take a long time to obtain your food. However, I have noticed that if you order a lot, they may not give you less orders than what you indicated, as they are afraid that you will not finish all the food. However, this is easily remedied by just ordering more once you realize they dropped off most of the food. You will not be going through all that food right away anyways.
If you are new to the concept of hot pot, much of the meat is thinly sliced, especially the beef. You can just get your piece of beef and just soak it in the broth for a very short amount of time and it’s cooked. Seafood and meats like chicken take longer to cook so they have to be in the pot for a longer amount of time. I’ve only been here for dinner, where apparently meat like rib-​eye and additional seafood items are added.
Overall, service has not been bad here and the wait times are tolerable during peak hours (I have at worst waited maybe 20 minutes for a table). However, what you should do is have a group be dropped off to reserve the table while the driver looks for parking. What is unfortunate is that parking is hard to find here, so if you want a free spot somewhere, you will likely have to work for it.
And finally since this is for hot pot, a group outing for this is best!

I’ve been here a few times now, and if you care more about quantity than quality this is the place. It’s 17 – 23 $ per person, which is a great deal. I’ve been to a few other places and you could pay twice that and still wind up leaving hungry, but leaving here hungry would be impossible. Plus when it’s cold outside this is the perfect place to warm yourself back up.
I suggest getting a seat at the counter/​bar area, as opposed to a table. Of course that could just be because I order so much at once, I need more room. They give you these little sheets and you just write down what you want and then they’ll bring you a plate of it. There are some strange things on the menu like tongue, but there are plenty of meats you’d find at any hot pot joint. The meat isn’t terribly good, but nothing dangerous. However I’ve never found the strength to try the seafood, I wouldn’t want to tempt fate.
They have a wide range of broths, I usually get the house broth, but the spicy is a nice change from that. I think you can split your pot, but I’ve never done it so don’t take my word on it.
My only issue with this place is that if you order a bunch of stuff they will sometimes omit certain things you order because they want to see you finish most of it first, understandable, but damn, I ordered it because I wanted it in my mouth.
I suggest coming here with a group of friends, so you can all order in bulk and just go crazy. This place is perfect for pigging out, so only come if you plan on doing just that.

Ate here for dinner tonight in a party of 4. This was my second time here.
The price was $ 23 per person (lunch is $ 16), all-​you-​can-​eat hot pot. We got the House Special broth, and ordered a variety of meats (lamb and various types of beef), seafood (salmon, scallops, crab, fish balls), and veggies (spinach, enoki mushrooms, bok choy). I wouldn’t say anything was super high quality, but the meat was good enough and given that it’s all-​you-​can-​eat, it was a great deal. Our party seemed to like the choice ribeye and lamb the most. The seafood was okay but nothing special — I would advise just getting more meat and skip the seafood. The spinach was unexpectedly tasty after cooking in the broth. I also got a milk tea with bubbles, and it was quite good.
Compared to other places like Q (which I’ve also eaten at multiple times), this place offers only one type of dipping sauce by default (whereas Q offers a variety), and overall quality of food is not quite as good as Q’s. The wait so far has never been long here, at most a couple minutes (whereas at Q, I’ve had to wait for as long as an hour, even after calling ahead for seating). So while I would go to Q if I was particularly in the mood for some very high quality hot pot, I would go to Hot Pot Buffet if I wanted the most bang for my buck (and time).

If you are a fan of hot pot, then this place offers you a great all-​you-​can-​eat deal at a reasonable price. It is not the most fancy/​clean/​organized restaurant, but if you can get past all that, you just might enjoy your dining experience here.
There are three main tips that I think you will find extremely helpful.
1. Broth — For the base broth, I highly recommend doing the split between house special and their spicy broth. The reason why I find this combination the most efficient is because you can get the best of both worlds by getting that deep herbal taste from the house special broth AND the hint of spiciness from the spicy broth.
2. Stay with meat and avoid seafood — I highly recommend staying away from their seafood selections. Every time I ordered their seafood options, they were not fresh at all. It was very concerning. However, they do have pretty good quality of meat so I would stay with their meat selections. Beef, pork, and lamb. They are all pretty good!
3. Avoid dinner. Go during lunch time — I had an unexpected snow day off from work so I was able to go here during lunch hours which I find it to be a much better deal than dinner. Its about $ 16 per person and the menu isn’t that limited compared to their dinner menu. I would avoid going here for dinner because you can pretty much get everything you want at a much less price during lunch hours.
In summary, do house special/​spicy broth combination, order only from their meat selections, and go for lunch, not dinner.