Urban Hot Pot - Columbia, Maryland

Isabelle Ku

Sept 2024
We were spending the day in Baltimore and decided to check out the Columbia location. I called ahead to make a reservation, since we were going to be dining during busy dinner hours on a weekend. The person on the phone was polite and professional, though they got a bit flustered when I asked them to confirm the details I gave them. They sent me a text confirming my reservation.

The restaurant is part of an apartment/retail complex, but I'm not sure if they have an attached garage. They are right across a small street (with a crosswalk) from the parking lot of a mall, and I noticed a lot of customers parked there. It takes a bit of hunting to find parking, but there is enough parking.

The restaurant is on the corner of the building. They have a few tables and chairs outside, likely for people on the waitlist. The inside is dimly lit and a little bit loud. They have booths seating 2-6 people. And two booth-chair tables seating 8 people. There is a conveyor belt in the middle, with non-meat food items coming by. There was a larger car thing on top of the conveyor belt that probably delivered to those tables from the kitchen. But I think they discontinued that when they got the bigger robot that delivers orders. The staff use the robot a lot to deliver food and drinks. I think while we were there, we had our stuff delivered to us by a human only once.

The sauce bar is on the left side of the restaurant, by the 8 seat tables. It was pretty depleted at that time of night. There was a freezer with cup ice cream next to it, but it seems they require you to order the ice cream through the tablet and it will be delivered to your table. They offer strawberry and vanilla flavors.

Each table has a tablet on a swiveling, extending mount. Though the joints are very tight and it takes some effort to actually extend it. In the top left corner, there is a clock icon and the remaining time you have to eat. You have a 90 minutes time limit. The tablet resets when your time ends.

The food quality was the same as the Rockville location, though I noticed that the portion sizes were about half the size. The veggies were all fresh and crisp. The meats were good, if a bit fatty. Of the non-special meats, the lamb is the least fatty. I also appreciated them serving the different types of meat on their own plates instead of putting all the meats we ordered on one big plate. The Tom Yum soup was also spicier than I was used to. I was interested to see that the vermicelli noodles were served to me dry instead of wet.

The staff were polite and quick. Though they generally have a hands off approach unless you order something over the tablet. Even then, they prefer to hand deliveries to the robot. They are very quick when clearing off and cleaning tables.

There are 2 single men/women bathrooms in the back, on the right side. They are decently clean and dry. There is also a separate sink outside the bathrooms, presumably for people that eat with their hands (like the crab legs).

Overall, a decent hot pot location. I may consider coming back if we're in the area.

Robert Anderson

First time at a hot pot. It was not easy to find. We parked in the mall parking lot but you should park toward the street and walk across the road to get to it.

Ordering was easy via touchpad. We ordered many different times throughout the meal. The waitstaff was polite, helpful and attentive. I chose the spicy soup base. It was spicy as described.

I found the little dishes a little too small for placing the cooked food on, but it looks like I could have found a regular plate judging from other review pics They had a robot server bring out the item plates. Interesting.

The controls on the hot plate were not straight forward. Mine were in Chinese. The burner next to mine was in English.

They have a sauce fixing bar. Grab some salt while you are there because the soup needed it. (I like salt)

The place was clean and the food was fresh. The soup was delicious. After the soup we ate little ice creams and cakes included in the price and ordered on the app.

The atmosphere was laid back. Definitely will return.

Khan

If you're looking for a halal hotpot in the DMV area, this might be the only option! $35 plus tax for all-you-can-eat, which is a steal for the quality of food and variety offered. do note that only chicken, lamb, and Angus beef are halal—be sure to check with your server for specifics.

The broths are flavorful, though keep in mind that all spicy soups contain pork (chicken and miso broth are good options, chicken being better). Overall, this hot pot restaurant is a must-visit.

Mireille Merilice

I’m not much for the delivery by the robot, but the food was awesome. The staff had their favorite sauce mixes and I tried a few which were BOMB! $35 all you can eat per person.

Fatin A.

Absolutely love this place. Comparing urban hotpot to a couple of other hotpot places I've been to, this one always takes the win. Haven't been here in a while and was surprised to see robots serving the food, the service was alot faster than it used to be. I got the spicy broth this time, it was a bit oily from too much hot oil I think but very flavorful. Our orders came out within minutes from sending them through the tablet. They have a large variety of ingredients, everything looked and tasted fresh. Can't wait to come back here.

Samantha Cuatro

My first time and there are no negatives.
There is an average wait on weekends. However location helps so much to do while you wait.

I had the original broth and it was delicious just by itself.
Service was on point. Claire was amazing she always checked on us and tables around us.
The music choice was on point as well, really helped the vibe.

They can be a bit loud with the dishes but overall A+ experience and will definitely return.

Stacey Hug

My fiancé and I were really excited to try this restaurant based on a friend’s recommendation, but we left feeling quite disappointed. While the staff was friendly, we weren’t given any guidance on how the restaurant worked. We sat for several minutes before figuring out we had to press a button on the tablet for assistance, which wasn’t explained to us. Once we started ordering, it was unclear which dishes were cooked and which we had to cook ourselves, leading to a lot of questions that took away from the experience.

To make matters worse, most of our food was delivered by a robot, which felt impersonal. I was hoping for more human interaction, but many of the staff were just sitting around or on their phones. It left me wondering why we were even tipping when a robot did most of the serving. Overall, the experience was more frustrating than enjoyable.

Restaurant Lover

A nice place to visit on a cold day and have a lot of food.
You have a huge variety of soup bases, meats, fish, salads, sauces, etc. if you know how to do Hotpots, then you’ll enjoy it.
We came here on a Sunday night and paid $35 per person and for that we got so much good that we couldn’t even finish it.