Hometown Hotpot & BBQ
“We ended our night with our bellys full, but with room with the muo muo cha cha dessert which was soo delicious.”
“Meat quality for either was good and you eat get individual pots to cook in so you can pick the soup base you like.”
“Free ice cream if you check in on Yelp and I got a watermelon juice there which was a nice finishing touch!”
Hometown Hotpot & BBQ
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Hometown Hotpot Dos:
1. Go with a big group. The more people hotpotting, the better.
2. BYOBeer or wine. Their selection is limited, and corkage is affordable.
3. Appreciate the amazing sauce bar. The Hometown sauce is tops.
4. Check your pocket for raw sausage (if you're friends with clowns named Drew).
5. Appreciate having your own pot, so you don't have to share (with Drew).
6. Order all the meats, fried dough, fried tofu and fried tofu skin.
7. Order all the veggies, especially enoki mushrooms and greens.
8. Find the broth for you. I'm partial to Chinese Herbal and Curry.*
9. Appreciate how clean and new and wonderful it is, compared to other hotpot spots.
10. Go on your birthday. They'll turn the lights down and sing to you, AND you get a discount (if you can actually prove it's your birthday).
Hometown Hotpot Don'ts:
1. Be friends with clowns named Drew.
2. Get distracted by conversation, and accidentally spoon broth from your hotpot (instead of your bowl) into your mouth. Yes, I'm basically saying don't pour boiling liquid directly into your mouth. You should already know not to do this, but then again, so should I.
3. Order the balls. They have beef tendon balls, fish balls, pork balls, cuttlefish balls, geoduck (not balls)…I have yet to find one I really enjoy.
4. Order liver, if you don't like liver. I never really learn.
As you can see, there's a lot more Dos than Don'ts, mostly because after a few visits, I can confidently say that this is my favorite hot pot place in the city. Check it out.
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*They are made daily with freshest ingredients (it's written on the wall), and my taste buds agree.
Very, VERY interesting dining experience. If you have never been to a place like this, prepare to be utterly confused, at first. Luckily our server (who totally left us high and dry near the end of the meal) walked us through the process when we first got there.
You get your choices of the options that come with the hot pot meal, and they bring it out for you to either boil in your pot, or cook on your little grill ( or both.) We opted for both and there was so much food! It was fun and neat to experience something so different, but damn were we a hot mess doing so. Meat, seafood, noodles, veggies– you name it, they have it. You can eat them on their own, or mix them all together. It is completely customizable and you have the freedom to do whatever the heck your heart/ taste buds desire.
Be prepared to work for your food!!
I walked by hungry two weeks back (Why I always walk around hungry is still a mystery) and came upon this AYCE hotpot place. Now, I love hot pot, and I like AYCE, but have avoided both like the plague here in NYC in fear of inferior quality and food poisoning, but this place looked clean and professional, so I took a risk and decided to give it a shot.
*BTW, there's a pokestop here that you can access while eating. Just thought I'd note that.
The service was really great and attentive, and it was really nice of them to accommodate just one hungry cat (me) at a table for four (that is, till I decided this place was so good I called up a few other folks to join me for dinner). The ingredients are good quality, the veggies are washed (thank goodness), and the soup bases are a little heavy on the MSG, but otherwise good.
The items do come in pretty sizable portions, but not a problem if you have 4+ people there. Price was reasonable, I think overall after tax it was around $25, and if you check-in on Yelp you get a free ice cream as well (although I found their red bean dessert to be much more attractive). Look forward to coming back and happy to have found this new discovery!
All you can eat. Not much more to say. Lots of variety and fast service. Reasonable price.
The place is a lot bigger than it looks from outside. There is a hidden back with many more tables.
We had the hotpot, and the soup base was superb.
Only 1 complaint. The three of us sat down and asked for 3 plates of lamb. Only 1 came. It was finished within 2 minutes. We ask for another 3 plates of lamb. 1 came. We ask again for 3 plates of lamb. 2 came. This was incredibly annoying and resulted in the loss of a star.
Hometown hot pot and bbq is the newest and most spacious of the hot pot places in Chinatown. They will take reservations if you have a party of 6+. They also will give you a free hot pot plus or minus 3 days from your birthday as long as you bring a cake.
I've been coming here more often than I would care to admit since they first opened. Some recent upgrades include a printed menu with pictures. My personal favorites are: shrimp, beef, taro, fuzhou fishballs and fish tofu! While the food and produce tend to be fresh, the service here is mediocre. You sometimes have to ask for items several times because somehow it never gets delivered. The good news is beers are only $3 (they also have ginger beer and alcoholic root beer too) — so drink away but save some room for that hot pot!
Originally, my sis was going to take me out to her go-to AYCE hotpot/bbq spot, 99 Favor, but they were booked for the night. Instead, we looked up Yelp to see if there were any near her place and it led us to Hometown Hotpot & BBQ. This place does not accept reservations but they do allow you to order drinks while waiting, which made the experience better.
We ended up sticking with BBQ..the hot and humid NYC weather definitely did not put me in any mood for hotpot. I personally think Hometown has a great selection of items to grill: You have your usual meat cuts such as pork belly. And then there are other items such as sausage, an assortment of jerkies (I recommend the beef), beef tongue, lamb, duck (yes, duck!), prawns and veggies just to name a few. I like that they bring out your order in smaller portions just so you don't go overboard and waste food.
They also have a sauce bar, which allows you to mix and match to your preferences. You can find sesame oil, wasabi, chili sauce, fried shallots, satay and many more. All were tasty but you really can't beat the simplicity of just sesame oil with salt. Goes well with everything!
I'd have to say that this had to be one of the more satisfying AYCE bbq experiences I've had overall. At just $28 a person, I think Hometown is worth it. Just don't forget to wear stretchy pants…or a mumu.
Cleanliness: A
Sauce selection: A
Hotpot menu: A — they've added to the available options since opening and I'm don't sorely miss anything
Broths: A- : not as flavourful as 99
Desserts: A: they actually have free dessert — the "sweet soups" that you normally get in China, love that stuff — also check in on yelp for free ice cream!
Service: B — sometimes they hate you if you ask for too many things (like water, and napkins…maybe they should just leave it at the tables — or maybe they're understaffed)
Also prefer their ambience over 99s (they actually have natural lighting in here!)
Came here for hot pot the other night. Restaurant is really big, with 2 floors. They also do BBQ here but didnt try that.
I liked the fact that each person gets their own pot, u place order w the waiter and it gets sent directly to the kitchen staff and by the time ur waiter is walkin away, ur items are already on their way to ur table.
So why the 2 stars only? Well, my original soup base was SUPER plain w no taste. They have a sauce station but maybe cos i am so hooked on Mr Hot Pot's sauce, i wish they had a specific or original sauce base so it dont leave ppl in the unknowns and mixing sauces on their own.. My sauce turned out bleh.. Too sweet. The hotpot items were not really fresh. The fish tofu we got were super frozen. They also gave us things we didnt order.. Like Spam. Lol
It was also very hot.. They had AC and fan but i felt like they needed more fans especially ppl were hot potting. Some of my friends said it was way too hot inside to continue to hotpot so they did not end up eating alot.
I probably would not visit here again.