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Today I dined at the Four Season's Hot Pot. I had never been there before but we thought we'd give it a try. A nice elderly man showed us to a table. He asked if this was our first time. We answered yes. He explained a little about the the meat and veggie bar and that we pick what we want. He pointed out the beverages and that there was a chest of ice cream for us to choose from also. He asked us what kind of soup we wanted. We didn't know what to order, he never brought us a menu. After he listed about four soups we chose the Hot & Spicy. We went to look at the meat and veggie bar, all the foods were raw. We were a little confused but then decided or realized that maybe we cook these in our soup. A pot of soup was brought to our table and placed on a hotplate/food warmer appliance. We chose our meats and veggies, the gentleman explained how we put these items in the soup and let them cook for a certain amount of time. He gave different time frames depending upon the item. He also brought some dipping sauces for us to use. We were shown where a rice steamer was and to help ourselves to the rice also.
We tried a variety of things: beef, pork, chicken, shrimp, crab, mussels, tofu, tofu skins, seaweed, potatoes, squash, cabbage, zucchini, bean sprouts, and mushrooms. We thought the food was very tasty. We of course had to take advantage of the ice cream to cool off our mouths from the hot & spicy soups and sauces. I found these to have a good balance of spiciness and flavor.
At first we were the only customers. Then three other tables filled up. We kind of felt neglected because after we were done eating it seemed to take a long time to get our check. But, we were also aware that one of the tables was a fairly large group. We got our check, we weren't sure what to expect since we never saw a menu, but we were pleased with the price. It was under $20 for two people for the hot pot buffet. Our check was brought with a delicious sesame candy.
I would visit this place again, but would like to get a menu and try the dumplings.