Xiangbala Hotpot

Been dying to try this place out for a long time. Went for dinner at around 6:30 ish and it was very busy, luckily someone vacated the seats about 2 minutes before we arrived so we were promptly seated. As you walk in its a steamy warm environment with tables set out with what looks like a halogen panel to heat the broth.
Its pretty simple to order, its all you can eat, you pick your size of bowl, your type of broth then from a selection of ingredients covering veg, noodles, meat, fish and shellfish. All the veg was clearly very freshly cut, the meat was arranged on the plate very nicely and was all very fresh. A nice little touch of this place is that you can go to the ingredients at the back and make yourself pretty much any dipping sauce you want to accompany your meal. If you run out you can reorder things from the menu as well. The drinks are the usual fare of spriits along with the lovely tea options and aloe very juices as well as bottomless soft drinks. All this for the tiny price of around 17 quid! Also just to make sure people know this is a cash only establishment, no cards here!!!
The reason its a 4 is for a couple of reasons, firstly is some of the waiting staff only have basic english if that so it can be a little difficult if you need help and that our drinks were forgotten about to begin with. These minor niggles aside though and bearing in mind it was our first time in here this was a great experience of hot potting/​buffet and i will be going back soon!

I had urges to try hot pot for a very long time but always had excuses to avoid it. This was clearly a bad plan as this hot pot restaurant was fantastic.
When I first entered, it was busy. The smell of the combination of different broths and foods filled the air. It did make the room a bit warm but that’s to be expecting in a room filled with boiling pots. After sitting down, we were quickly explained how to order on the menu and left alone. We ended up with a dual pot of hot and spicy broth and of tom yum kung broth. I’d like all of the meats and vegetables we ordered but it’s best to say that the options were plentiful and I was able to get fresh shellfish. Yes, I could even get seasonal crab, razor clam, and scallop.
It didn’t take very long for the pot of broths to come out, along with the giant plate of foods we ordered to go along with it. I’m a big eater and even this looked overwhelming to me.
And the quality of food matched the quantity. All of the vegetables were clearly freshly cut and the shellfish was clearly fresh. It was a very fun experience to cook foods in the pot. Occasionally they’d come around to add more water to the pot as it boiled off. They also offered to bring us more food. I never needed it but it was good to know I could get it. In hindsight I could have used more crab because it was clearly worth the price on its own.
I really would want to go back. It’s not exactly a cheap place but at £16.99 per person it was such a good experience that I’d happily go back.

I’ve tried a few hot pots in Scotland, I would say this one was value for money and there was a good selection. Walked in on Friday night and was seated straight away and the staff are very attentive. I would recommend going. I look forward to going again soon.