HaiDiLao Hotpot

Reviews 5

NA

Natalie Kusonruksa

Yes, I went back. What can I say...Im a little masochistic when it comes to my restaurant experience and I decided to go back for more punishment. Luckily, or unluckily, this time around, my visit resulted in me actually having a meal at Hai Di Lao. I had to bump them up to 3 stars for their effort. At least I feel that they are taking the yelp reviews more seriously and are actually doing something about the complaints. We called and the person on the phone spoke perfect English this time around. Our waiter also spoke English and they added an English menu to their iPad ordering system. The food is crazy expensive and not worth the money. For 2 girls our bill was over $70 and we didnt even order that much food! Thats with the $3 additional per person we had to pay for sauce. I have never seen anyone just eat their hot pot bland with no sauce so Im going to think of it as paying a $3 cover to enter this joint...except theres no dancing (unless you count the little dance the noodle stretching guy does) and no alcohol. They did go out of their way to be nice. It was so obvious that they had a pow wow about their service and this has all the sudden became their focus. Our waiter was actually genuinely nice and helpful. He also saved me from having soup spill all over the table and myself when I stupidly dumped a plate of crap into my pot all at once. I would have honestly rated them 2 stars if not for him saving my life. Saving my life = automatic +1 star bump up. I would recommend the ox bone soup because the spicy soup is basically like drinking chili oil. You have plenty of opportunity to spice things up with selection from the sauce bar. The best sauce combination Ive concocted consists of sesame sauce, meat sauce, soy sauce, seafood sauce, vinegar, minced garlic, tofu sauce, thai chili, and green onions. Want to try to eat your moneys worth? Take advantage of the Korean pears they have at the sauce station. Those things arent cheap. Those guys were so lucky I didnt have a ziplock bag handy or I would have definitely stolen some...Asian style. Conclusion, C for...effort? I still wouldnt come back again to waste my money. I would rather go to Lu Gi for this style hot pot and either Boiling Point or Jackpot for the individual pots. Its much cheaper and tastier.

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Re becca

I had the pleasure of trying Hai Di Lao In BeiJing, China, before making its wave to the states. From my understanding, Hai Di Lao in China, was very well known and very popular due to its great customer service skills. I wasnt sure of this since customer service in China seemed to be less than satisfactory ,but boy was I surprised and impressed at how almost overly attentive they were! The great customer service skills sure didnt fall short as they moved its way in to one of the most Asian populated location that is known to be Arcadia, Ca. We were greeted by a hostess and with a 20 minute wait we were welcomed to their "Fun zone " quarters. With heat lamps, water and cup accessibility and our choice of Jenga , four square and other games. When you enter you immediately get this feel of elegance and class from the decor. Our server brought over an ipad so we can place the orders that we wanted. The ipad def. brings a more personal, interactive attraction. It was easy to use with our selections of Broth to the combo choices and extra side dishes. After we placed our orders we were given an apron so we dont stain our clothes from the splatter from our hot pot. As we wait for the food to arrive we moved our booties to the sauce, desserts and appetizer station that was all included in our food. The vast amount of sauces made me took a bit of everything and the mixture actually came out not so good. I actually asked my server Mara if he can conjure up a better concoction than I. He was nice enough to mixed me a little something! The appetizers were also quite good, tofu skins and cucumbers (my fave) with string bean mixed were cleaned out as the night went on. The sweet Joanna was more than helpful, she threw in a noodle dance on the house since my friends was a noob to the restaurant! I really enjoyed the chewy texture from the noodle dance and def. suggest everyone to give it a try! You can tell the attention to details with every thing that they do, from making sure our bowl was always filled with the RIGHT broth ( since i am a vegetarian ) to filling our cups with fresh Pineapple juice. It was simply put, an amazing experience !

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STEVEN VONG

Quality hot pot at a higher price. I had this chain when I studied abroad in Shanghai and was excited to try this place in the US. Its still very Chinese as they basically only spoke Mandarin, but still serves a solid hot pot meal. After basically being demanded to be seated, I was given a table and allowed to order on my iPad in the seating room beforehand. I got the herbal broth soup which is comparable to Little Sheep, and the beef and veggie combo. Before waiting for the food, I made my own sauce at the customization bar which had lots of options ranging from cilantro, garlic, ginger to soy and sesame sauces. The bar also has oranges and red bean and grass jelly dessert, (the red bean is rather bland but the grass jelly was herbal and refreshing). The hot pot set itself was pretty satisfying- with good quality beef and a nice array of vegetables (woodear mushrooms, cabbage, enoki). The noodles are also made fresh and have a nice firm texture even after a long time soaking in broth. When I went they had a noodle dancer available for other tables, so we got to watch the show for free! Another highlight is that you are given an apron to avoid ruining your clothes. Although this place is pricey, you can mostly expect a quality meal and experience that is a nice treat once in a while. Itd probably also help to bring a mandarin speaker. And extra points for mouthwash in the bathroom!

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Richard Bradford

Super clean, upscale hot pot. On a crazy rainy day in California and a full house, the atmosphere here is quiet and controlled. With no customers pushing in line for sauces at the all-you-can-eat sauce and dessert bar, unusual politeness abounds here. I was the only Caucasian while dining here, but I figure were just getting through the door on dumplings in the Arcadia area, so spicy (anything) for the bland palette we are so conditioned by will undoubtedly take a little while longer to break. Ive been talking about restaurants going to digital (iPad like) menus for 6 years now. Haidilao is my first experience with this. Its done well but needs tailoring to a more familiar interface. Hidden choices and pull down tabs make initial use a learning curve. Moving to a globally familiar setup like Amazon will minimize this issue. However the staff are phenomenal at their jobs making sure we understood. Food quality: 5/5 Atmosphere: 5/5 Staff : 5/5 Price/portion : 2.5/5 Its pricey. I left hungry and worse, not satisfied. For two people that eat hot pot regularly (Taiwanese wife!) this just wasnt good enough to warrant a 20 min drive, again. If youre in the area though...check it out.

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Nikki Than

Im so glad I gave this place another try. We visited the Beijing location last year it was ok because we didnt speak the language nor did they have a English menu. Which made ordering food a bit challenging. First off, theyre customer service is impeccable. You rarely dont see this in Chinese restaurants. From offering hair ties, gum, mouth wash, refreshments while waiting for a table, entertainment, kids balloon artist, traditional folk dance, and catering to children. I highly recommend making reservations in advance, we tried making one a few days earlier but they were booked. We took our chances and drove from Irvine to Arcadia without reservations on a Saturday. We were so lucky to get the last walk in table at 6pm. We ordered individual meats and veggies rather than their combo (you get more for your money). All broths were delicious but my favorite was pork and mushroom broth. I cant remember exactly which meats we ordered but they were all great. You must try their fish ball with egg filling its​ to die for. My favorite picks were pork broth, mushroom broth, fish ball with filling, & dancing noodles.

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