Hot Hot Hot Cuisine

Yes! My favorite Suchaun (if it counts anyway lol) restaurant in town! LOVE the spices they use. Seafood and Frog Leg dishes were pretty good. Pig Intestines were really great. They do tend to put too much onions in the dishes though, but i love onions anyway: P Good atmosphere, surprisingly not too busy, There’s the custom dishes and I think the staff does okay when showing non-​chinese people what to do in making their own combination of food at the counter.
Overall pretty good place for some spicy fixings ;)

My wife and I were regulars here, sad to see a great restaurant shut down. I hope they reopen in another location, have not found a place as good.

I’ve been here several times and the first times were great with no problem and I LOVE their stir fry… You are greeted by the host, go up to the counter and pick what you want and then take a sit and your food comes out.
Now, the last few times I came here they changed into table service and their service was HORRIBLE it took them about 40 minutes to bring out our food and it even wasn’t busy, we didn’t get water until about 15 minutes later and that is ONLY because we went up to ask for cups. So not only did we have to ask for cups but we had to get up and get the water ourselves, and to top that off we got no straws and had to wait 5 more minutes to go ask for them.
They were understaffed and the only one server they did have wasn’t that great and it wasn’t his fault but management. I hope they read this, take notes and recover. I understand they want to make more money by switching to table service but you gotta know how to do it. Most of the times they do have more than one server/​host but they are sitting down chit chatting. I didn’t want to leave a tip but my gf convinced me too, that’s how bad of a service we got. I always leave tips no matter what, I know how hard it is to be a server but that’s how bad it was.
The food is EXCELLENT but the service I have gotten the last two times I went their defeats how good the food is. I really hope they change their service back to how it was or really improve their new one or I just don’t see myself coming back here.
So please if anyone reads this and knows the owners or people that work there, let them know. I would love to come back frequently like I use to!!!

I’m a fan of 麻辣香锅 (hot and spicy pot stir fry?) back home, and when I was told there’s a place for this, I just can’t wait to try it out.
I recommend this place if you know what I’m talking about: though not 100% authentic, this is good, even better than some place we tried last year in Beijing.
If you don’t know what to expect, chances are you probably won’t like it…
Our first attempt was about two weeks ago, on a Tuesday evening. We were about to walk into the restaurant when we realized that the restaurant was literally empty when all other places in the plaza were packed with people… Not a good sign… A little bit conservative, we went to the Tofu Village next door…
But last Sunday noon we decided to give it another try. We were glad to see lots of young people this time lol. Then I figure the previous situation was probably due to that the young folks/​students were cut back by traffic or busy during weekdays.
Décor was all right, ambience is casual and noise level average. There are more than 10 table+booths, we were greeted by the waiter and told to pick whichever table we like.
It seemed to me the waiting staff was a little bit short handed. There was only one waiter taking care of all the table. I don’t have any complaint regarding this except for the waiting before we could order the pot.
They offer several appetizers to choose from, if you need any. I had some spicy wontons and it was just ok… Well it’s a hot spicy hot specialty place, so don’t have too high expectation for other stuff… For the pot, you can order their specialty pot dishes with chef selection, or you can make your own at the counter. Then the pot will be cooked to your selection or spiciness: they have a scale of 4 hots, 1 the lowest and 4 the hottest. We made our own «3 hots» with veggies, pork belly, pork ear, beef, pork stomach, chicken, and some seafood. They will add other spices and herb when cooking the pot, so if you have any allergy/​things you don’t like, you can let them know when you order the ingredients. The pot came after 15 minutes after with 2 bowls of steamed rice, and it smelled and tasted great :) The 3 hots was a little bit too spicy for me, but the bf quite enjoyed it.
They don’t accept Discover here… Visa and Master only.

Went yesterday on 12÷07÷13. Good spicy food. We had spicy ranking #2. If you like spicy, should try at least #3.

I pass by this restaurant frequently and I always see young people (college students maybe) feasting over a large bowl of what appears to be a bowl of delicious lip-​smacking stir-​fry. Intrigued, I finally decide to try it one night.
The door to the restaurant is huge and right away you know the interior is going to be nice. I stepped inside and was immediately greeted by the hostess. They allowed me to sit wherever I wanted and then explained that it was Mongolian style; meaning I could select whatever vegetables, meats, seafood, and level of spiciness I wanted and then they will cook it up for me. The vegetables bowl was a standard 6.99 price I believe and then the meat were priced at 10.99 per pound. I didn’t want to add too much food because I knew that my table and I could not finish it all but the server assured me that I needed to choose more food so that it would be enough for everyone. About ten minutes later, they served me my food…
Pros: the interior is beautiful and I love the concept of how you can add whatever you want into a bowl and they’ll cook it up for you. The servers are attentive and this would be a good place to take someone on a date. I really love how the szcheaun flavors were highlighted in the stir-​fry. The peppercorns and dried chili peppers really gave the dish the distinct szcheaun flavor however…
Cons: the food was too salty. It was painful to eat and I had to force myself to eat it; not because it was too spicy but because it was too salty. I would love to see them give you the choice of a level of saltiness too. Now that will make things better. Some people say its over-​priced but my bill came to $ 32 for two people with a side dish (mushroom and egg soup), which is not that bad for the experience. The only reason why I would say it is expensive is because its located in Chinatown where other restaurants are cheaper and better. I also didn’t like how they circled the tip box and line at the end of the receipt; I hate it when people ask for tip.
I left feeling hungry because I couldn’t eat the food. I had a lot of leftovers (the server lied!!!) and I went home and tossed it with extra noodles to tone down the saltiness. I think the reason why the server may have asked me to select more food is because they either have a set standard on how much seasoning they add or they wanted to get more money. Overall its not that bad of a restaurant but I will make sure to ask for less sodium if I do go back.
Final verdict: I wouldn’t come back on my own unless a group of friends made me.

I wanted to like this place more than I did.
Basically you go in, pick what veggies you want, pick what meat you want, they fry it up and serve. Sounds good, right?
Everything comes back with the overwhemling flavor of anise, reminded me of the seasonings in spicy hot pot. Way way way too much anise, overpowered the dish. we got 3 star which we were okay with but if I ever do it again (which I doubt) I think I’d step it down to 2 star. My temperamental daughter was with us and she didn’t like the mix of textures and meats — I was okay with that but I could see her point.
The other problem is they let you select as much as you want, fill up a couple bowls. We ended up with about twice as much as we needed. I was surprised I was so over cause I’m a cook and I’m pretty good at portioning. What I think would help would be serving-​sized bowls. Fill this bowl full of veggies and that’s good for one serving, ditto with the meat, charge extra if you want extra.
Our bill was like $ 32 which still isn’t a bad value for 3 people, should have been more like $ 20 if I’d portioned right.
I dunno. Good concept, fails on execution.

The restaurant is nice and clean and the staff was pretty friendly to me as a first-​timer. Subway style, you pick at the counter what you want in your pot. You point, they put it in your bowl. It was not initially clear to me which items were free and which were extra, so ask if you are not sure. They do have a big selection here, especially with vegetables. As a tofu lover, they had fresh tofu, fried tofu, and bean curd sheets, so that was a plus.
Some day, someone needs to come up with a universal rating for how spicy hot dishes are. I ordered level 3 and it was not that hot to me. The taste was good though. A little salty, but I liked the fried tofu rolls and the mushrooms. I had a huge lunch earlier before this meal for dinner, so I went vegetarian on my order. That also kept the bill pretty affordable. Next time I will give the meats and seafood a shot.
They do also have a few other sides you can order, like chow mein. It was ok. Decent restaurant overall that I will visit again if I am in the mood for Szechuan and in this plaza. But for me, there are more enticing options within blocks, so I’m not sure when my next visit will be.

Never again am I going to Hot Hot Hot. Avoid this place. BEWARE! They will try to scam you to get extra money from you. They already charge us 18% in the bill for tip and yet still ask us to fill in the tip portion of the credit card.

I’ve come here more than 5 times, I have the mix feelings about this place. Something good something bad. I was very happy when i heard a szechuan pot restaurant was gonna open. Cuz Szechuan pot is my favorite food in china. I have ate this in more than 200 hundred different restaurants in china. It is very very popular in there. There style is same as all szechuan pot restaurant in China, but it is probably the first one in here. So I was very excited and highly expected here even though I know It is not gonna be good like in China. At the first time, food was so so, beef was very hard to bite, I was very sad and disappointed. But I gave them the other chance cuz this is my favorite food. It was better. Third time, it was better. very good news!!! it is better and better. even it’s not very like real szechuan pot taste, it is still good.
1 star: Szechuan pot is my favorite
2 star: Szechuan pot is my favorite
3 star: nice waiter staffs, good service
4 star: food is ok enough to get this star
The reasons i take one star off are: There chef should be more professional. Keep in the same way of cooking. Sometimes food is salty, sometimes is light, sometimes Level 3 spicy is not spicy at all, sometimes is very very spicy. I know chef have to control how much salt or sauce he needs to put in the food cuz every customer order different weight food., but i hope they can do their best to keep food quality and taste. I take half star off on this point. The other half is about Groupon. Why you charge me 18% of original price as the tip when I use groupon? Thats weird, They should consider about this. Its very important. I think no one is gonna feel very well if they use groupon in here. this is where is the half star at. I will be back if I m available.
Hope here can become better and better.

Not bad of an innovation, kinda. Food is okay, a little salty, and I could not get my mind off the high sodium and water-​retention issues every bite of food I had…

BEWARE! AVOID THIS PLACE! Their food is absolutely disgusting. I paid $ 32 for absolutely awful food and left there hungry. Everything was disgusting. If you look closely, they take the stuff you put in the bowls up front and switch it out with lesser quality items in the kitchen. YOU WILL REGRET THE DECISION TO COME HERE. I CERTAINLY DID!

Way over priced for what you get. Good thing I had a groupon or else I would have felt completely ripped off.
Don’t get the crab sticks, it was super doughy. Chicken was a little chewy, I agree with everyone else that the seafood probably tasted the best. We got number 4 spicy which is the spiciest and it had the perfect amount of heat. Not too spicy to the point where you are dripping sweat into your food.
Load up on as much vegetables as you can since they charge a flat price for each bowl.

First visit. Parking space was a bit scarce in the Dun Huang Plaza given a Saturday. There were less than ten tables occupied when we arrived. Wait staff was curteous, greeted us and explained the order process. Veggies were $ 7 for the whole bowl, and meat was weighed in at $ 11 per lb.
Food was cooked and served in about 15 minutes. Veggies were a little on the soft side, especially the green peppers and celery, and those beef tripes were broken up in such small pieces they were impossible to locate. Other than that, the meal was good. 2 was just the right spice level for us, flavorful without being tearful. Shrimp and frog legs were fresh, and our favorites were the fish tofu and baby corn. The house plum juice was awesome with some extra ice.
We will probably return, but not often since we’re limited to the selection of one dish.

My wife and I tried Hot Hot Hot for the first time tonight. I would say overall we were satisfied and may even come back, although I’ve taken one star off for being slightly overpriced.
Pros:
* Friendly service — The guy behind the counter asked us if this was our first time after catching us standing there not sure what to do for a few seconds. He introduced how things worked very patiently and clearly.
* You can get a lot of vegetables.
* REAL mala! — This may or may not be a pro to you. I personally love the Sichuan mala flavor, which is characterized by the distinct taste of the numbing Sichuan flower pepper. You either love it or don’t, very few people are in between.
Cons:
* Slightly confusing system, at least for first timers.
* Beef was chewy, although all the seafood tasted great! Stick with seafood.
* Slightly over priced. For my wife and I, it ended up being about $ 17 per person (including tips) I felt like it was worth $ 12 per person at most.

Wandering around for a place to eat and saw they had free refills on sodas which is rare for chinatown, so I decided to try this place because I was really thirsty. It turned out to be like Mongolian stir-​fry, but the meat is weighed by the pound which I didn’t realize. Apparently the dinner price on the wall is only for veggies (I did notice later that underneath it noted the price of meat by the pound). It is served in a big bowl, with rice and a bowl of soup for free. There are 4 levels of hot. I chose #3 and my nose was running. It was decent, but IMO a bit pricey for what it is (a small scoop of pork was almost $ 5) especially given the neighborhood (Chinatown) where there are a lot cheaper tasty eats around. I actually could’ve spent less ordering diet cokes by-​the-​can next door, and actually this place’s diet coke tasted a little off. But the main complaint I have is that there was a piece of plastic wrap in my food. It was crinkled up so at first I thought it was a tomato or red pepper, but then I noticed I could not chew it and after I spit it out I unraveled it to see it was in fact a piece of plastic wrap (not small when unraveled). I’m uploading a picture … I so wanted to barf.

The uniqueness of the concept alone is enough to encourage would be diners to try something different in Chinatown.
They offer a customized spicy stir-​fry akin to the Mongolian grill places around town. The order is split into Veggies (large or small size) and meat/​seafood which is charged based on weight.
They have a wide variety of veggies (~15 types) and meat/​seafood (~15 types) but keep in mind this is catered to at least parties of two.
ALWAYS order a large veggie because the price difference is negligible. The final touch is the spicy level (1 to 4) and any accompanying house made drinks (lemonade, melon tea, sour plum).
Price /​10 – 20 per person depending on what you order.

Reminds me of szechuan hot pot (chili peppers, pepper corns, and all)…sans liquid.
We ordered 2 pounds of meat for 4 people at ~$ 11/​pound. The total ended up being 45 dollars. We ordered a tea and suan mei tang (sour plum drink) — so I’m not sure how they charged us for the vegetables.
Personally I thought the beef and chicken came out tough and chewy. I would suggest ordering fish and shrimp because they held up better during the cooking process and were more tender.
Abby Y. is right — the spiciness builds. We ordered 1, which was too spicy for C’s mother who can’t take any spiciness. I thought it was pretty mild until the end of the meal. I think I’d go with a 2 or 3 next time (and I like heat).

So there are so talks about this place on the the Chinese sites and I was able to make a visit yesterday.
This is like a self served kind of place. You go all the way to the inside and they will give you a table number. After that based on how big your party is they tell you what bowl size you will need for your veggies. I went with my husband yesterday and they suggested a small bowl be enough, @4.99. Then you ordered meat by pound.
The veggies section has a lot of common veggies like cabbages, broccoli, onions, some Chinese green, mushrooms, lotus roots, etc. I would have preferred to have some typical Chinese hotpot food like fresh tofu, dry tofu sheets, fried tofu, bamboo shoots, etc. Maybe I will suggest to them next time.
The meat section has seafood and different kinds of meat including pig intestines, tripe and frog legs. It has been a while since I last ate frogs and I have to admit that I was a little intimidated. I only ordered a couple and still didn’t finish it. It was good but I am just not so into it any more.
After you order you find a table to hang up the number they gave you and they will bring your food to the table. You will have to get your own water and utensils and napkins.
You can say there is essentially only one kind of you food they are offering since the flavor is the same just with different spicy levels. The taste of the food is pretty good. It’s a little too salty and greasy but it’s just the way this kind of cuisine is. If you don’t like obviously you can find a hundred things to complain but since I like it, I can overlook the flaws.

On a cold and rainy night, the hubs and I were out hunting for grub and found ourselves out on Bellaire. As we were about to head over to our tried and true locales, he happened to spot the «Hot Hot Hot Cuisine» sign located next door to the original Banana Leaf restaurant. The chill drew us there, as did the really interesting front door décor (broken noodle bowls set in a mosaic pattern around a grand wooden door).
We walked in to a very clean and simple restaurant. Making our way to the front counter we were greeted by friendly and courteous servers. We took a look at the grand array of fresh veggies and meats behind the glass and asked how this all worked. Hot Hot Hot Cuisine, we were told, is essentially Szechuan style hibachi.
Here’s how it works:
1. First off they hand you a cute cut-​out letter in lieu of the standard laminated number card to hang at your table. Depending on the number of people in your group, they fill a certain size bowl with your choice of vegetables. There is no limit to the amount. =)
2. Then you select the meats you want and they charge based on the weight. Their selections range from plain chicken or beef to flounder slices to spam to crab meat filled fish balls.
3. Next you select the level of spiciness from 1 – 4 (4 being Szechuan spicy).
4. Then you pay, take a seat and rather quickly, your food is served piping hot.
This spot has newly opened so I’m sure they are still working some kinks out. Taste wise, it was pretty good. I just wasn’t too big a big fan of crunching on occasional peppercorns that they used for flavoring. The sauce was tasty, a bit on the salty size for our liking, but it was definitely spicy! Be warned, it’s a slow heat. By the end of our meal we were both sniffling.
Overall, it was a good meal. Like I said, they just opened… so I look forward to giving it another go.