Hot Pot Chinese Restaurant
| Address: | 29255 Three Notch Rd, Mechanicsville, MD 20659, USA |
| Phone: | +1 301-884-8188 |
| Site: | hotpotmechanicsville.com |
| Rating: | 4.3 |
| Working: | 11AM–9:30PM 11AM–9:30PM 11AM–9:30PM 11AM–9:30PM 11AM–10:30PM 11AM–10:30PM 12–9:30PM |
Location
Photos 36
Reviews 6
A
A Private User
What a surprise!!!! I have lived near this place for ten years and never ventured in because it does not look like much from the outside. Wow, talk about not judging a book by its cover!! There are two other local Chinese food restaurants within 3 mile of this one, and they dont even come close!! I have eaten so many times at the other two because that was what I thought my choices had to entail. Well the other two will NEVER be frequented by me again as long as this place is around. My wife and I couldnt help but be stunned by the quality and taste of the food. We both agreed we had never had better or fresher tasting Chinese than Hot Pot. Really folks I cant say enough about how this restaurant is so good! They offer carry-out and I think delivery but really do yourself a favor and eat inside. It is nicely decorated and very clean inside. They obviously take great pride in their business and is really shines. The Wonton soup noodles were still firm and tasty not soggy and mushy like ever other place. The egg rolls are made to order in house by hand and served hot and fresh. The egg rolls have a unique and delicious flavor, nothing like the pre-made, pre-packaged egg rolls from most Chinese restaurants. My wife raved about how the chicken in her Lo Main was the most tender chicken she had ever eaten. My shrimp egg foo yung was served with a golden sauce instead of the brown gravy I have always had with egg foo yung. The sauce is delicious!! The egg foo yung had a flavor that was somehow "light" tasting and too good to be true. The fried rice.........perfection. Last but not least was the dessert. The waitress recommended the fried bananas and we agreed to sample them. OH MY GOD!!! I would never have thought frying a banana could be such a wonderful dessert. I was heavenly. The only thing was the wife felt it could benefit from a light sprinkle of powdered sugar, but while I agree that would kick up the sweetness a notch I was fine with the sweet but real sweet flavor. Please give this place a try and then post the results on here. I want this place to stay around a long time. Just wish I had tried it 10 years ago when we moved in down the street. Ignore the plain brick outside-you will not regret it!!!
BA
Barbara Hurry
Were always looking for a good Chinese restaurant near us and have yet to find one. I really wanted to post a happy rave review. We tried Hot Pot based on the google reviews. Too late, I realized most of the good reviews were over a year old. We got Spicy Tangy Dumpling Szechuan Style (based on a rave review), Moo Shu Chicken, Shrimp Egg Foo Young, and Hot and Spicy Bean Curd. None of it was good and some of it was truly horrible. The "tangy" dumplings sauce tasted exactly like canned Spaghetti-Os (watered down ketchup) and the dumplings themselves were thick, rubbery and you needed a magnifying glass to find the rancid tasting meat. The Moo Shu Chicken didnt taste fresh and the pancakes looked more like tortillas. The last time I ate moo shu was many years ago at a different restaurant and the pancakes were totally different (they were really good, these were not). The Shrimp Egg Foo Young was mediocre and I didnt like the golden (too sweet) gravy that was thick and clumpy and probably came out of a can. The Hot and Spicy Bean Curd was SO hot I couldnt eat it (and I specifically asked "not too hot please"). It looked like they used a half jar of crushed red pepper! The "bean curd" was tofu cut into cubes. I like abura-age style bean curd, which is pre-fried and has a lovely chewy texture. (Thai Inter Restaurant has the good kind of bean curd). I can make stir-fried tofu at home. The side dishes, which we paid extra for instead of the white rice that comes with the meal: The brown, smelly fried rice was inedible. I hope my chickens will eat it. The lo mein was the only thing I liked. We paid over $30 for this meal and we wont be back again.
WI
Wil Chiera
Ive driven past Hot Pot more times than I could count, but it was too far from home to be a reasonable place to eat until a recent move. I finally got around to trying it last week, and couldnt have been more impressed. I did not dine it, but from what I could see the decor was your standard fair for a Chinese restaurant, but thats pretty irrelevant to me anyway since I got take out. The service was courteous and prompt from ordering to pick up, and the food itself was excellent. So far I have sampled their Egg Drop Soup, rice, Double Cooked Pork, Szechuan Style Dumplings, and, and Crispy Sesame Beef. The egg drop soup was tasty, but the least remarkable of the items that Ive tried-- lets face it, its hard to ruin this menu standard, and hard to make it anything other than "normal", so it was fine. Everything else has been exceptional though. The Double Cooked Pork was extremely tasty, with large pieces od tender porked and delicious cabbage with just the right amount of crunch. The Sesame Beef was cooked perfectly, good quality beef, and flavorful. The Szechuan Style Dumplings were simply outstanding. There are not your typical "potsticker" type dumpling that every other Chinese restaurant has, but obviously freshly made dumplings, perfectly folded, stuffed with pork, and swimming in a wonderfully spicy red sauce. I dont think Ill ever want the typical dumpling again after trying theirs. I couldnt recommend them more highly- the dumplings and the restaurant.
JO
John Davis
After reading good reviews I decided to try it. The outside sure was disguising, because once inside it looks quite nice. I was seated and looked over the menu and ordered the hunan shrimp. When it came out, it looked and smelled great. There were plenty vegetables, shrimp, and fried rice with it. The shrimp were jumbo (maybe even larger), which was surprising to me. Im used to it being above popcorn size. The vegetables were nice and crunchy still, and the rice was not overly doused with soy sauce. Even the eggroll that came with it tasted very fresh and homemade, and the sauce that came with it (duck sauce maybe?) was great. I definitely recommend this place, and I will be coming back for more.
JI
Jill Hutchison
The Hot Pot has tasty American-style Chinese food at good prices. Their dumplings are especially good! Theyre friendly and very willing to make adjustments & special requests. They do not cook in peanut oil- confirmed this ahead of time for my allergic fiancé, & weve eaten there several times with no problem. Carryout orders are always ready quickly, but table service when dining in tends to be a little slow because the counter staff is usually doubling as the server. If youre on a limited lunch break, use their website to order ahead for "express dine in."
RI
Richard Joseph
Went there today I ordered a combination fried rice and because of my seafood allergies I told them that I didnt want shrimp .I speak with an accent so they didnt quite hear me clearly so when the food came out shrimp was in the rice I told them I had requested not to have any shrimp in my rice no attitude was shown very polite and understanding they asked me if I was allergic I said yes they started a new batch and brought it back out. Love the service this is why I come here.
