Chengdu Laozao Hotpot

We love a good hotpot and when we saw this new place we had to try. Prices were comparable to most of the other hotpots we have been to. Half and half soup base 12.99, meats vary in price most around $12 range with some crazy priced kobe beef if you are a big spender. The soup base tasted great and meat was also good. We ordered prime rib which was tasty. Not as many options as some others but had enough items for what we wanted. You get to make your own dipping sauce which we enjoy. The dipping sauce is a per person charge of a couple bucks. We had peanuts from the sauce bar while we waited on meat which were super good.

So will not be returning. I have been wanting to try hot pots for quite some time and when I saw this place I was pretty excited. The service was honestly awesome aside from the fact that the servers and cashiers have a difficult time with english. The decor is pretty great as well. As for the food... horrible wouldnt justify what I ate. We ordered the half and half and the mushroom soup bases. Half and half was so spicy that we could barely eat the items from the soup, even though we chose medium for the heat level. We eat everything spicy and this was just water with chilis and oil. The mushroom soup was literally just water. The portions are small, on the plate it appears as a decent amount but the meat is thinly sliced and you need atleast 3 orders to fill up one person. The side dishes are weak and the server even said if you dont pay for the sauces the food wont taste good. The extra money spent on the sauces wasnt worth it as everything still tasted poorly. But to end on a good note, I ended up eating roasted peanuts which were pretty great. Hope this helps someone.