Wook Chung

Hot pot is a pretty "crowded" market in the San Mateo downtown area. There are many and it takes effort to stand out. To be frank, the broth is easily replicated, and the quality of the meat starts to matter less when you're so starved from waiting and it is sliced thin so pretty much everything is tender. HL (Happy Lamb) stands out for a few reasons. The presentation of the dipping food is impeccable. It almost elevates the hot pot experience to a premier, high-end fashionable restaurant. The interior is super clean and modern which again makes us feel good about what we're putting in our mouth. And finally, the hot pot is sunken into the table so that it is super easy to dip. Of course, the taste is great. Awesome broth with decently fresh meat, veggies and noodles all come together well. The place always has a wait but the queue tends to move quite fast as the restaurant has a lot of tables. My only feedback is to make the sauce / dessert buffet a bit more richer as there are barely any choices for pickles and side dishes, and the ice cream machine was somewhat broken. Even then the entire meal was amazing and my family had a great time. Absolutely will be returning.

+7

Abby Y

Tried the special combo for the Valentine’s Day with my friend. It’s really tasty and the portion is quite large! $99 includes a lot of things, including 2 lobsters and 2 abalones! We didn’t order more than this combo because it also contains the pot, 2 drinks and a dessert! Really a good deal!

+2

Cali Native V

Had an amazing experience dining here! Can't stop raving how fresh the food was as well as the excellent service. They checked on us several times, refilling the broth and made sure we were comfortable and truly enjoyed our meal. Loved the lamb, mushroom combo, fresh thick noodles and fresh fish fillets. Sauce bar was clean and well-stocked although the servers don't recommend using a lot of it as it can make your meal very salty. Don't recommend the shrimp balls or the ice cream machine. The robot servers were really cool. Contactless payment available. We even received a $10 coupon towards our next visit. Recommend a late lunch or early dinner to avoid the crowds.

+21

Great hotpot place. All you can eat is the best value I believe. Fresh vegetables and quality meats.

Will Yan

Typical AYCE hotpot chain. Service is good and food is average. Came here for an early dinner and food was acceptable. Don’t expect to be blown away…meat was fresh and average quality.

+1

henry l

Meat quality's pretty good, gotta give them that. Service was also quick, didn't have to wait long. The hot pot soup was tasty too. Definitely coming back if they keep up the good work. Hope the quality stays consistent! Most people when they eat hot pot they use or make a sauce for dipping. This hot pot style recommends that you don't use a dipping sauce but you can make one at the sauce bar for $2.99 extra per person. Which includes sauce bar, appetizers, and a few type of fruits.

+8

Jackie L

Update: it’s been roughly 6 months, tables seem cleaner, food presentation looks better (the meat rose is back!) and the stalks of the veggies and enoki mushrooms were nicely cleaned. ————————————————————————— Lamb & Beef combo was good, the portion has gotten smaller but is consistently good. The corn was old today but the other veggies we got (pumpkin, bok choy) and enoki mushrooms were fine. Other days I’ve eaten there the corn was better so it’s a hit or miss 🤷🏻‍♀️

Tony Yeung

"All you can eat" is no longer my preference. This hot pot restaurant is my first time here, and both the service and environment are good. The ingredients are of high quality, and the portions are adequate. Overall, I'm satisfied.

Dharma M

The first time I visited after the changes. I used to come here ofter before the name changed. It has been a while. We came here for lunch. Until 2:30 pm you can still order lunch special. We barely made it. We arrived around 2:29 pm 😎. We order beef and lamb. They came with veggie and one type of noodle. You can choose the soup based. We chose hald and half. Original Marrow and spicy Marrow. Both are delicious and rich. The spicy one is not really spicy, and the thing I like is that the soup is not oily. You can make your own sauce and also have cooked appetizers and fruit. There is a small charge for it. We order New Zealand lamb and angus beef. Both came with generous potions of meat and veggies. It also comes with fish ball, tofu, tempura, and special wide noodles. When you make the dipping sauce, you can make spicy or non spicy. The options are almost the same as other hotpot houses. For me, chili,sesame seed paste, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, and green onion are the must. Both are yummy. The beef is all lean and not the same as the picture. Overall, we are satisfied and could not finish all. Our server is very friendly.

+3

Jade Chen

Really great hotpot place! Good quality meat and various other options to order from, and you can get unlimited soft serve and access to the sauce bar if you pay a few dollars, I think it was like $2. It was also really cool because they have really cute robots that help deliver food to tables!

+3

Selim Mert Bayar

We’ve been coming here for almost three years, and we recently heard that they now offer an all-you-can-eat option, so we decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, it was a completely different experience this time. The service was extremely slow, and it just didn’t feel the same anymore. We waited nearly 30 minutes for our meats to arrive at the table—and it was only a Tuesday, not even a weekend. They didn’t even seem busy. Sorry to say this, but they should consider renaming the menu to “If You Can Eat” instead of “All You Can Eat.”

Sang Kim

We were seated right away, which was great for a family visit. Unfortunately, the service went downhill from there. The waiter who escorted and seated us seemed careless, and throughout the meal we had to flag down other servers just to place our orders or get assistance. The most uncomfortable moment came at the end. After we asked the busboy for the bill and paid, the same waiter rushed back to our table to look at the receipt and check the tip, which felt very unprofessional. That said, the food was excellent. The broth was flavorful, and there were many options to choose from, which we really enjoyed. If the service improved, this place would easily be a higher rating.