Hot Pot Chinese Food - VESTAL

I've never been to an authentic hot pot restaurant before, so I wasn't quite sure how everything worked. The waiter was kind enough to explain the process to us, but when it came to flavor, it fell short. I would say it's a place to try once, but probably not somewhere I would return to.

The restaurant served us undercooked pork dumplings. I became ill after taking a bite before realizing they were raw. When I requested a refund, they completely ignored my request. It was quite alarming.

Please exercise caution when ordering from this restaurant. Be prepared for a long wait! We placed a DoorDash order and were informed it would be ready in 30 minutes. However, 30 minutes after the promised pick-up time, we were still left waiting for our order. This is simply unacceptable. The staff was quite unprofessional; when I called to place a pickup order, they interrupted me halfway through and insisted I order through DoorDash, forcing me to create an account just to complete my order. I wouldn't recommend this place if you're looking for a quick meal.

I was really hoping this restaurant would make our 25th anniversary special, but it fell short. There were six of us in total; everyone else ordered their own meals, while my daughter and I opted for the Spicy Hot Pot, which we were told would be pre-prepared. However, we ended up waiting over an hour while everyone else finished their meals. It was frustrating for our party to have to wait for us. To make matters worse, the hot pot didn’t even include all the ingredients it was supposed to—no sauces, herbs, or sprouts. We were very disappointed. In comparison, the Red Door hot pot restaurant is far superior to this place.

This restaurant is located in the Olums Plaza, near Staples and Kung Fu Tea. My friends and I were craving boba, so we stopped by KFT. While waiting for our other friend's Uber, we decided to grab dinner and were drawn in by the delicious-looking pictures on their walls. We ordered the tomato and egg noodles and two orders (six total) of pork dumplings, and let me tell you, the tomato and egg noodles were incredible! The noodles were wonderfully creamy, the egg was seasoned perfectly, and the fresh tomatoes really brought the dish together. The broth was also packed with flavor. While this is a simple, classic dish, it was one of the best tomato and egg noodle dishes I've ever had, and I will definitely be coming back for it! On the other hand, the pork soup dumplings were a bit of a letdown. There was hardly any pork inside, and the dough was somewhat tough. I wasn't as impressed with them compared to other soup dumplings I've tried in the past, but they were still decent for the area.