18 Hipot

Great service and food. You can also bring your own beer or wine which is great in my book. The only thing that I didn’t like was the fact that you have to make your own dipping sauce. There is a station in the back with bottles of vinegars, soy sauces and dishes with garlic, peppers, parsley amd other additives. I have no idea what goes into a dippimg sauce, neither does my husband, so it took quite a few tries to get something edible.

THE GOOD
*The restaurant looks modern and edgy. There is a projector that shows K Pop music videos on a black wall all night.
*They have my favorite kimchi soup base and many different variety of soup bases such as pork bone, tomato broth, and tom yum. I recommend the pork bone and kimchi.
*20% off your final bill if you pay in cash on weekdays and 10% off on weekends.
*Sauce counter is organized and clean and has many options for you to make your customize.
THE BAD
*Service was terrible. The wait staff were not attentive and they made several mistakes on our bill that night. To get a waiters attention you really need to hail them down.
*The kimchi broth was too sweet.
TIPS
*Make reservations before dining here. They get busy and the wait is usually around 30 – 45 mins without one, especially between 6pm-​8pm.

Not sure why there’s so many bad reviews on this place — I had a great dinner here on a Friday night. We had made reservations in advance for 6:30 and was seated right away. The style here is one big pot for everyone at the table to share. They allow you to split the soup bases so that’s nice.
The sauce counter is very nicely organized and they had all the usual sauces that I use. I found out that minced garlic tastes really good with my usual sauce mix!!! I noticed a man (probably the owner) meticulously cleaning the sauce counter every 15 – 20 minutes, which was nice since a lot of the time sauce counters get very messy.
At our waitress’s recommendation we went with half the winter melon soup base and half tomato soup base. The clear favorite at the table was the tomato soup base, which was really good! It sounds odd but I’m definitely a fan!
We ordered a bunch of food — seafood platter, beef platter, lamb, fish balls, cod roe fish balls, and this delightful bean curd like dish that only takes 3 seconds to cook. I really liked the salmon in the seafood platter — it was super tender and soft.
I also like that it’s $ 15 for a huge pitcher of herbal tea, we were four people and had about 3 cups each of the tea. A solid deal!
It was kind of empty when we sat down but when we finished, it was a full house! Definitely make a reservation if you plan on eating during prime dinner hours! Also, it’s 20% off your bill Mon-​Thurs and 10% off Fri-​Sun!

service was too slow… such poor management. now I can understand why when you can make a reservation you won’t get seated till 45 minutes or 1 hour later.
taste– what is the point of charging for a soup base but it tastes bland?! why am I paying for plain soup. food doesn’t seem fresh. portions are different every time I order. I see a table next to me and the portion is smaller and then another table near me has a bigger portion. how are the portions determined??? everything here is so mediocre… for a place that charges by what you order and isn’t an all you can eat it’s so not worth it. I can pick out any AYCE in the Brooklyn area and any of them can be better. try somewhere else and will probably have a better selection since you are paying by what you order. there is a place that is sooooo much better and I would rather drive there than come back here!

Tomato soup base was very tasty, reasonable price and portion. Usually busy during dinner time, you can make reservation.

Nice and great place for a weekend gathering with friends. The servers will chill in there own way which I think they were friendly. Wasn’t like a person that act so fake, it will in a cool way! The beef was great I think. Decorations was pretty nice to me because I was close to Christmas. Recommend this place in someways.

Poor time management! Reserved a table for 7 at 7:30pm. Did not get seated until 1.5 hours later. What is the point of making reservations when we still have to wait for the table after our reserved time?! Apologies are not accepted when we came here just to celebrate my Mother-in-law’s birthday and we were all starving. We should have just left and not give them a chance to disgust us. What happened later on was a customer jabbed his finger in our vegetables because he was telling the waiter that he wanted our type of vegetables. We confronted the waiter to change the vegetables because that customer touched it and it is highly unsanitary. The waiter acted like he did NOT SEE what happened and tried to brush it off. Like wth… ?! We made a complaint and demanded them to change our vegetables. OMG, how rude of them to treat us this way! What ridiculous and inconsiderate behaviors the waiters have here!
Anyway, hot pot food-​wise, I was definitely not impressed by the quantity and price. It was nothing outstandingly special in my opinion. This place is way overpriced for the amount of food we get. Upon leaving, we were not even full and we ordered a lot of food too!
Perhaps the only good thing about this place is their unique soup base and interesting décor. That is about it. Good-​bye. We will not return for sure.
—- UPSET CUSTOMER HERE —-

I went there last night for the first time. I wasn’t too keen on the attitude of the waiter. He definitely needed his attitude checked when we asked for a soup base that wasn’t too spicy or too oily. On top of that, we asked him what were the vegetarian soup base options. He provided us with a list and we chose the Tom yan soup.
The soup was good but upon further inspection, noticed pork rinds in the base. There was nothing in the menu that said there was PORK in a soup. Second why would a customer ask for a vegetarian base but then get a base with PORK? Where’s the logic in that? I left annoyed and upset.

It’s more like 2.5 stars. They are 100% trying to be like Mister Hotpot. They don’t do a good job of copying them though. The food is about the same but their sauce is not as good. You mix it yourself in the back of the restaurant. The wait staff is always very slow. But the thing I hate the most is that its cash only. The soup bases aren’t cheap plus things add up once you keep ordering.

This place feels like a typical hotpot place to me. The food is OK at its best.
One major down point was that they charge just as much for the soup base compared to Mister Hotpot but the flavoring in the soup was just missing something.
The vareity of food is same as other hotpot places, but I feel like hotpot the most important thing is the soup base it self. It was an okay experience for me, probably wouldn’t be coming back here since there are so many other hotpot options to pick from in the area.

3.5 stars good food, subpar service.
I come here on a regular basis, at least once a month and the service has only gotten worse over time. The food is fresh as long as you don’t get seafood and the broth is very tasty. This is the cheaper alternative to the other popular hotpot joint. My favorite broth is the winter melon and dried scallop pork broth which is full of flavor and has tons of goodies in it (winter melon, dried scallops, fried pig skin). The place is clean and there are tons of condiments and toppings you can get at the sauce station. The drinks here are subpar and watered down. I would recommend getting the beef tongue, 3 second bean curds, fish roe balls, hong kong style noodles, kimchi dumplings, korean fried tofu, and the fried fish skin. I would not recommend the cooked foods, they are pretty much sauced up versions of the hotpot items that they couldn’t sell.
ON the weekends you need to arrive either before 6 or after 8. Otherwise you will be waiting for an hour for a table. They will tell you it is only a 20 minute wait but I have experienced much longer waits. They are definitely not attentive and will rush you to order something but afterwards you receive almost no service from them even if you wave them down. I still frequent this hotpot joint because it is cheap and yummy. It is fine as long as you aren’t expecting decent service.

Was craving hotpot on a cold Wednesday night, so we decided to head to 18Hipot. I rarely ever do hotpot outside of my own home because I love the variety I can buy at supermarkets to customize what I like most. This restaurant sticks out because of how chic it looks with its obsidian-​like décor and dimly lit atmosphere. It almost reminds me of a fusion place, but this is very much what traditional hot pot is all about.
Upon entering, we were seating immediately. The way that this works is that you order a broth from the menu and you pick platters that you would like to go with it. They have a wide range from beef intestines (highly recommend, Chinese favorite) to pork blood. The seafood platter I feel is a must because they have a wide variety of shrimp, clam, even lobster. Then, they put the large pot in front of you and turn on the stove and you can cook your food. Also — it might seem like boiled food has no flavor, but go towards the bathrooms and be sure to make use of their sauce station! This part is what made me love it the most — the variety of Asian sauces (BBQ, Soy, Siracha… oh my!) and garlic, parsley, scallions, etc.
Now note — the service is very friendly and the wait for food is not long, after all you do boil it yourself, they just prepare it and make it look outstanding with their little flower decorations and neat arrangements. Now, is the food fresh? I would say that it is pretty fresh, we had seafood, a basket of greens, and a platter of beef. All of it was fresh, no wilted leaves or bad seafood (or else I would have been sick already! Haha). Also, the broth is delicious in that it’s not just a pot of water with a package of MSG mixed into it. They put pork skin, tomatoes, mushrooms and even give you a complimentary basket with greens, mushrooms, a raw egg, etc. to go with it.
Also note — free icecream at the end! The green tea and red bean are good :) Plus, totally forgot to mention, 10% off on weekends and holidays and 20% off on weekdays!
I absolutely love this place, I would just say it is a bit pricey and not suitable for people who do not eat meat as it is a Chinese-​themed restaurant without many vegetarian options. However, it is awesome for large groups as each pot only costs about ~$ 10 and sharing food is no problem, plus you can experience different broths and the restaurant has enough space to seat many.

Came here because Mister hotpot was fulled booked. Read other reviews before coming here and it seemed like everyone only came here because of that.
Pros:
I think that pork bone broth is very good but I dont think it is as good as mister hotpot as some ppl say it is. It is too oily in my opinion.
But still good compared to some other places.
Prices were super reasonable. you get 20 percent off the already reasonable prices on the weekdays and 10% on the weekends.
We got ice cream
Cons
I didnt feel like they had a lot of choices… and watermelon juice hurry up and get on that. Watermelon juice with mr hotpot is such a great combo.
I didnt like the service at all. its like they were trained by monkeys.
My friend asked to add water for table. in chinese «add water» because all of our glasses were empty… The waiter gave us one new cup of water.
I thought maybe because she asked in mandarin they didnt get it so I asked in canto. nope still only one cup of water. I then asked can you add water for the whole table pointing to each up. NOPE didnt get it.
Finally I asked again one more time. That our two other friends need water. AND FINALLY I think they got it. No matter the excuse you see that other glasses are empty. you fill it.
Instead standing around while almost 7 tables are empty at 8pm. I think they shouldve been more attentive.
I gave it three stars because the service in general was terrible. It makes a difference in a dining experience even if the food is mediocre, if the service is good.
If they want to get more business, they really need to improve that.

Read the reviews and everyone is comparing them with Mister Hot Pot. Since i wasn’t able to get rsvp for Mister Hot Pot until after 10:30pm, I decided to call them up and they were able to put me in for an earlier time.
Parking was easy, though they do have a parking lot right next to it but i’m unsure if that solely belongs to waldbaums supermarket.
Their décor is very simple with christmas lightings, black chalk board wall on one side, with some photos hung. I like the idea of the coat hangers right next to the table. Thats very convenient especially for the winter. Its pretty spacious, can get from ur table to the bathroom without bumping into anyone. They have free wifi, just that the sign is only posted in the middle of the restaurant and at the top so not a lot of people would notice it if theyre sitting in the back.
So the soup bases – they have several to choose from! I tried the tomato one and japanese pork bone, i liked both very much!!! They put a lot of stuff in their soup base which i like.
They have the 3 second rings which is similar to Mister Hot Pot’s fried tofu skin. We ordered several items and i think they give a very good portion with each dish. they have a station for u to make ur own sauce, so u can get creative. (However, i couldnt make the same exact sauce they serve at mister hot pot. Lol)
The staff were lacking. I had to ask for water several times because they forgot. And the lady from front register noticed our soup was running low and had to tell the guys to refill it. Hopefully they will improve on that part.
Overall, i did like this hot pot place. It has potential to improve. They are decently priced and the atmosphere was good. It isnt super dim in there and they dont blast their music so u can actually see what ure eating and have conversations with each other. I will definitely come back for more hot pot!

Fantastic broth selections. For a cuisine where u need to cook your own food, it’s one of the important things I look for and the broth really held up its end. If u haven’t tried the congee broth, it’s definitely worth a shot.
The sauce selection would’ve been complete if they had satay sauce. They even had the small hot chili peppers that many places fall short of. Even though I don’t use it, satay sauce is pretty common for hotpot so I’m surprised they didn’t have it.
The food selection… Great! Nicely organized on the menu, It’d leave u wanting everything. They had all the basic items and some original plates on the side. Like cuttlefish stuffed mushroom, a 3sec tofu skin roll (amazing) and rib eye beef. Their shrimp paste is light, fluffy, well seasoned, full of shrimp flavor and crack-​addictive. And if variety is your thing, they pull together combination platters for u at a semi-​reasonable price.
I also ordered a spring roll which was terrible, but I try not to count it too much against them. Cuz who orders spring rolls at a hotpot restaurant? They also have a good number of oysters. Cooked or raw. I had the grilled garlic one cuz they ran outta the raw oysters. It didn’t disappoint.
Herbal tea was too bitter. My friend had a plum drink that wasnt the best. Far as drinks go, I’d stick to the classics.
Staff was nice n accommodating but there just wasnt enough of them. Idk why they only have four waiters on a Saturday night. What was supposedly a 10min wait easily turned into 30mins for me. And lastly. 20% off on weekdays. 10% off on weekend n holidays. Deals never hurt. Bill came out to be pretty reasonable for my party.

It’s hard not to compare this place to Mister Hotpot. They present their food just like how Mister Hotpot does it. I love their pork bone broth so much more than Mister Hotpot, it’s richer, creamier and comes with tomatoes and pig skin which I love. Their Herbal soup base is not as good as Little Sheep’s but the pork bone broth makes up for it. The server has recommended me the Tomato base soup but I’m not ready to try that yet.
I’ve been here more than once and the first time I came, we had great service because it wasn’t crowded and busy in the restaurant. But the second time I came, it was packed, busy with groups of people crowding the entrance/​exit and waiting outside. The service was weak. Their way of organizing the reservations lacks because I’m sitting watching them ignoring customers and trying to figure out tables the last minute. The guests can be confused as to what may be happening and since they’re speaking in Chinese, the guests wont understand. I saw a group walked out because of that. I know this is just my assumption and opinion but part of my job is being a reservationist so it really cringes me when I see customers being mistreated or reservations not being organized.
Their menu lacks creativity because it’s just black and white and I’m not sure if it’s just me but I don’t understand some of the translation. I love their pig skin, 3 second tofu skin, tofu with cuttlefish, and their beef tongue. Their japanese green noodles looks like ramen, is good too but just not worth the price. I like their selection of drinks because I like the salty lemon seven. (example of weird direct translation on their menu)
Other than that, this place is much bigger, spacious and convenient for me and my family to come here.

Who said this taste as good as Mister Hotpot?! I was really hoping this place would win my heart the way Mister Hotpot did being the fact that it’s more convenient for me. It’s just right there from where I’m always around plus it’s a little bit cheaper too. A Mister hotpot knock off from the décor, the way they present their food; they put the same flower on everything, to the food&menu, also the homemade soysauce to dip your hot pot food is trying to exactly mimic Mister hotpot’s. We made a reservation Sunday night at 8:30 for 6, it was my boyfriend’s mom’s birthday and we weren’t seated til 9:10.
I really like their soup base, it has more variety such as their tomato broth, which is REALLY GOOD here. Their Japanese pork base is good too, but still not as much flavor as Mister Hotpot’s. Everything else was just sub-​par to mister hotpot’s. Their wagyu beef doesn’t have as much marbling, the cuttlefish paste comes no where close, even something easy and simple like my favorite thing; the 3 second fried tofu skin wasn’t as good!!! :(Like I said it’s only a little bit cheaper but not comparable, I’d still prefer mister hotpot. For the quality and in-​between prices, you’d rather dive down to 99favor or pay a little more at MHP for way better quality and service. I didn’t mean to compare it so much, nor did I want to write this review since I am friend’s with an insider from here, but I gotta keep it ONE HUNDRED WITH MY REVIEWS! SORRY :/

The best about this place is that it got the 3 second tofu skin; which is somewhat special. It’s newly constructed with a better bathroom. This is not the usual all you can eat buffet that you can get from Favor Taste 99 or shabu shabu. Basically; if you want to be full & you’re really hungry. Just don’t come to this place, go somewhere else. They have everything you would get in an all you can eat hot pot place. However, each plate is below $ 10 except those labeled special price. We tried a fish which was nicely made for $ 25.
I came here with a group of 4 including me, it was nicely decorated; the bill came up to be $ 98 because there was a 20% discount on friday-​sunday. That’s because they have pricey dishes which comes out to be about the same. Each paid about $ 25 & we get free icecream in a cone; but they only fill it up to the edge of the cone.
Honestly, ONLY the gold hair waiter & the girl waitress was good. They were nice and everything. But the others seem so moody & doesn’t seem like they give a crap about the customers. The only reason I gave it a star was because there wasn’t anything special about this place than a all you can eat one. The soup was slightly better than the others, & the dipping sauce bench had more variety. That’s for the star. Other than that it is expensive.
Really $ 6 for 3 pieces of razor clam? wdf. it didn’t even labeled 3 pieces & there were 4 of us.
I would rather go to Favor Taste 99 at 7^th Ave & 61^st.

In a week, I’ve already been here two times! Like most of the reviews, this place is similiar to Mister Hotpot on 8^th Avenue. They have the 3 second tofu skin (I believe) and the fried fish skin which is some of Mister Hotpot’s specialties.
Both times I came here, I really didn’t have to wait long. Perhaps because this is still a new place near 18Ave, which is more convenient than Mister Hotpot. It can be hard to find if you don’t look closely. There is dim lighting and located near Waldbums.
There are chalkboard walls on one side, which is great for children to draw on when they are bored… and free wi-​fi! I can’t complain. The restaurant is dim inside, a good place to just relax and mingle with friends and family.
Sauces are located in the back of the restaurant. Another thing about their soysauce… it is a bit too sweet for my liking. They were really trying to mock Mister Hotpot’s soysauce for dipping and they failed. I rather just use the regular soysauce instead.
I ordered the Pork Bone Soup, which was a bit salty for my own taste, but it is still good. I have yet to try the half-​half (Pork Bone Soup and Spicy), but I love the pork bone soup too much to try any other soup base selection.
For the hotpot food choices, I had the drunken chicken (big pieces of chicken that is soaked in wine for taste), which is a really good price considering the size. I also had the cuttlefish paste (Mister Hotpot is better), fatty beef slices, fried fish skin, fish roe balls, udon, razor clams (fresh, and comes with 3 – 4 pieces), wontons (shrimp inside), and of course, vegetables. The items were pretty fresh, no problem about that. One small complaint is that there was no wintermelon, which was not available the two times I’ve been here.
I would recommend the fried fish skin and the drunken chicken. 18 Hipot also offers a complimentary side with a small amount of cabbage, vermicelli, egg, and quail egg.
The waiters are really friendly here, but they seem to be understaffed. Sometimes, they forget our order or water and we’d need to remind them. They are soon getting their liquor license, which would probably lighten up their business, since they are open late on Friday and Saturday.
Sauces are located in the back of the restaurant. Another thing about their soysauce… it is a bit too sweet for my liking. They were really trying to mock Mister Hotpot’s soysauce for dipping and they failed. I rather just use the regular soysauce instead.
Last, there was 20% off for their grand opening and 15% was already included for the tip. I already feel like coming back this weekend though… hmmm…

This place opened up about a week ago and I was excited to check it out since it was so close to where I live.
When I walked in, I immediately thought of Mister Hotpot (8^th Avenue and 53^rd Street). This place has the music, dim lights and the overall vibe of this place reminded me so much of Mister Hotpot. Time to check if the food is as good!
I just HAD to order their pork bone soup and fish skin (because the main reason I always went to Mister Hotpot was for their soup and fish skin) and boy was I happy! Their pork bone soup was delicious but the only complaint I have is that there wasn’t any pork bone in the soup, not even ONE piece. Maybe next time, I’ll get some?
Their beef was fresh and they even had cuttlefish paste. Their staff still seemed like they are lacking experience but was friendly and nice.
Since it is a new place, they gave us 20% off the entire bill for grand opening. Oh, and another thing that bothered me was that they included the 15% tip in the bill as well. I was going to give more but since they already included the tip, I just paid whatever that was on the bill.
Overall, Four stars!