Food - 5/5 Pretty much everything is frozen except the vegetables (not that that's a problem) so the taste of the food is pretty much all up to you since you're the one who decides how long to cook something and what type of sauce you choose. The broth only gets tastier as you dip and cook more ingredients in it and I love broth. Service - 3/5 Staff is very friendly but be prepared to wait a long time for subsequent orders past the first or second one. There have been a couple times where I left after the 2 hour limit still kind of hungry at an AYCE... Hot Spot is very popular so it's often a full house so I can understand that not everything is going to be perfect but honestly it's the norm for there to be missing items, items I didn't order, etc. It's annoying that I've developed an expectation that an order is going to come out inaccurately someway somehow every time but oh well that's life. Atmosphere - 4/5 Restaurant feels bustling as everyone is moving to cook something in their pots that adds a lot of charm to the atmosphere. Only complaint would be that some table seatings can be really crowded/cramped so you don't have a lot of elbow room. read more

I had a horrible experience at Hot Spot yesterday. I came with my mom who is 78 years old and my boyfriend. We were having a good time until the last minute. The male waiter told us that we had spent more than the 2 hour limit and we had to leave. First of all, the place is always crowded, they don't have enough servers to serve. We had to wait for the food to come out. Every time we wanted to order more food, we had to wait longer than expected. Secondly, my mom who is 78 years old, don't you know elderly people are slow eaters. NO RESPECT AT ALL. Lastly, if you think we eat more food during 2 hrs then we will happily to pay more money for the time we stay there. JUST ASK. I KNOW YOUR RESTAURANT IS POPULAR NOW, BUT IT DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN TREAT CUSTOMERS HOWEVER YOU WANT. FOR OTHER CUSTOMERS WHO READ THIS: This restaurant below has WAY BETTER FOOD AND SERVICE. LITTLE SHEEP MONGOLIAN HOT POT 6799 Wilson Blvd, Ste 10, Falls Church, VA 22044 Seven Corners read more

We absolutely love this place! They are being very responsible with the COVID guidelines! Everything is always so fresh. The staff is very responsive and you never leave hungry:) read more

The manager constantly promises tables for reservation, however, the do not keep their word and do not save the table for the guests, even when showing up on time or earlier. They prioritize customers that walk in and get on the wait list over those guests who have made reservations prior. I am extremely disappointed because a reservation and a waitlist differ entirely and they don't understand that. Reservations should have priority over the waitlist especially since reservations are time sensitive and people call ahead for a reason. What's the point of a reservation if they're just going to give the table to anyone who walks through the door. The food is fine, however, they should really reconsider how the manager runs this establishment. read more

Pretty average hot pot. The vegetarian broth was extremely bland. It tasted like watered down vegetable broth with no flavor. It's not hard to make a spicy soy-miso broth with no animal bones. After I went to the toppings bar, I made the broth much tastier after adding chili oil, soy sauce, and garlic. My husband and I went for dinner and it was very busy. Several times we didn't get the veggies we ordered or straight up never recieved an item. Drinks were very light on the alcohol too. The service was very friendly, though stretched thin. I would return back another time though when its less busy. read more

Hot Spot is my favorite place for all you can eat hot pot and my most frequented restaurant in the DMV area! I've been here more times than I can count since discovering it a couple years ago. At $22.99 per person, it is well worth it! I've found Groupon deals a couple times as well so be sure to check before you go for some money off your bill. They have a huge selection to choose from - two of my favorites are the beef tongue and scallops along with the tom yum or spicy soup base. They also have individual hot pots, which are surprisingly convenient when eating in larger groups. When I do traditional hot pot, I always forget when things get put in until I fish it out from the bottom of the pot completely overcooked. The individual pots make it much easier to keep track! Servers are also super friendly and the music is upbeat and fun. Highly recommended. read more

As if saying the name of the place wasn't fun enough, wait until you try the food and concoct your own sauce... Hot Spot Hot Pot is an ACYE, cook-it-at-your-table restaurant. Control your meal by picking the broth(s), protein and veggies. Spice it up by combining things like soy sauce, garlic, house chili, chili oil. The possibilities are endless. Service is great, music is fun, food is fresh. Expect to burn your tongue here (but for good cause). Hot Spot is worth the drive in from Maryland and the long wait times! read more

Ok, so my mother and I went on a weekend.... We went early, super crowded.... Our waiter was spread too thin.,..we literally had to find him...my mom would be like "there he is"! And I would have a mouth full and say mommy, "there he is, get him"...we just wanted a water...(I ended up drinking mommy's water) Aside from that, I liked the place....we had a groupon....I think it's over priced without having gropuon.....so dine at your own risk....the bill would have probably been 80 bux without having the groupon.... our waiter was very informative....and it's all you can eat....but if you don't eat it all, you will be charged.....huh????? Folks like to try stuff......if you order tripe and don't like it, they still want to be petty about that???? (That's a super cheap meat!).... Oh they have communal seating...one big ole long table with many diners....seating is on bar stools...no place to put a purse or jacket.... read more

This is my favorite place for the type of cuisine..always fresh vegetables and the meat selection is always good...come early...it is always busy read more

I always enjoy coming here, whether it's burning or freezing outside. Quality is consistent, not the best but definitely good. So far, this is the only AYCE restaurant that hasn't changed their menu during the pandemic, which is great. Now they got the menus online which you can get by scanning the QR code at the table, saves them paper. Service is still good, very attentive and brings out food fast. read more

Update as of August 2017. Been back here a few times since my previous review. The staff and management have gotten friendlier and the sauce bins never get too low now. The food quality has improved tremendously. Note: I've found that sitting at the bar gets you the most consistent, high-quality meat and vegetables. read more

I've been here more times than I can count. They aren't perfect, but they're at least a 4.7 star rating. Their broth has enough flavor so that you can eat it on it's own and taste it, but it's not so flavorful that you can't use their sauces. I won't say that their food is super high quality and amazing, but it's at least average or better and their meat/seafood quality has been pretty consistent among all my orders/visits here. I can't say much about their veggies or noodles though because whenever I come here, I try to see how much meat I can comfortably enjoy. I prefer this place more compared to other AYCE hot pot restaurants in the area because of their sauce bar. Out of all the places I have been to, Hot Spot has the widest variety with the freshest ingredients. I dig the atmosphere. I feel a bit old being here, but it's still a nice feeling. The staff are courteous and friendly like 99.99% of the time. Only downside might be how if you come during peak times, you will need to wait 30+ minutes for a table. It's not a big deal though, and it goes to show how well they're doing that they can be completely full and need to make a wait list. read more

This is quite a brilliant place. I loved the food. It was great: the taste, the spread, food quality. The vibe was great. I wish it was a bit cooler but I bet this would be perfect joint in the winter. read more

Hot Spot - Asian Fusion Near Me - Fairfax, Virginia

Great spot for a night with friends or family. Have taken work colleagues and my family (wife and 2 boys 12/10) and all had fun. At a restaurant like this service is paramount and it is top notch here. Food is up to you to cook, but their broths are excellent and love their sauce bar. It get super busy quick and since it is all you can eat make sure you go hungry, but you should go and enjoy a long meal with whomever you want to connect with more. read more

What a fun place with excellent food, a full bar and family style meals! This place gets packed so be prepared to wait and eat a lot. Unlike some other hot pot places, Hot Spot has a flat price for unlimited rounds of meat and veggies...Just make sure to finish everything. All the tables are equipped with a burner with the option to have multiple broth flavors; although the veggie broth was very bland. My favorite is the spicy broth with scallops, shrimp, octopus, squid, napa cabbage, bean sprouts, mushrooms and glass noodles. With all the combinations of meat, noodles, veggies and broth each visit is a bit different. Definitely try the sauce bar using either one of their own recipes or creating your own. I do wish that they filled the waters more frequently. If you have a large group, try to make a reservation as this place fill up from 5:30 onward weekends and weekdays. This is a great place to try new foods without committing to a whole meal... always a fun experience. read more

For a first timer, I can see how it can be overwhelming with the different broth choices, customizable sauce bar, and the massive checklist of meats, seafood, and veggies (among other choices!!!!!). Luckily, you can choose the portions of what you order (on a scale of 1-3), and the staff will talk you through the broth choices. If you get individual pots, it's fun to see how different everyone's broths taste at the end, but make sure your friends are OK with that before dumping your spoon into their pot lol. Easy 10/10 for me. read more

$23/person all you can eat hot pot tucked into the same center as Bonchon. The place is wasn't clean as I would have liked, the broths aren't the best, and they were missing some items when I went. Also, it's a paper/pencil ordering system, yet they missed a few of our items and even substituted with others and didn't inform us. When we penciled in a serving of enoki, they gave us about 3 servings. I understand they're trying to fill us up but that felt excessive and wasteful. Dipping sauces tasted fine but I couldn't help but notice a ring of dried up sauce around some of the containers. To be nit-picky, the worn off labels, sticky counters, dried up sauce, and lighting gave a somewhat dingy nightclub vibe to the place and it would be so low-cost and effort to wipe counters frequently and redo the writing. I know this place gets busy so maybe they don't care because business is good. I'm not really clamoring to go back because I've had better elsewhere and would go maybe if a large group of friends decided to go. read more

One of the best hot pot places in DC/the only one of two that I'll go to. The births are really good and they have an extensive ingredients menu to choose from. It's AYCE and pretty cheap - around 23/24 dollars for everything. The only thing I'd advise is to either go in off peak hours (aka avoid weekend dinners) or out your name on the waitlist via Yelp an hour or so beforehand. Definitely saves some of the heartache since you need a car to get there. read more

It is ALWAYS packed. There's a 1.5-2 hour wait if you try to show up without a reservation. That being said, the quality of the meat is great, I love their sauce bar, there was prompt service, and I never felt like I got judged if I ordered a lot. Their portions are reasonable, but I would still suggest ordering more on the conservative side and then getting more if you want more. I highly suggest the beef, lamb, and the scallops! The last time I went the scallops were HUGE. Thanks for the great time, Hot Spot! You lived up to your name! (There are individual pots and shared pots available.) read more

Delicious! A great experience, with extremely fresh food. Would definitely recommend for a treat meal

Idk where the 4 stars came from. The unsweetened ice tea is a disaster. The food is a mess. read more

I've been a happy customer of Hot Spot for 6 yrs ! I have to compliment them on their delicious variety of clean food, friendly service and cool modern decor. read more

This is one of my favorite hot pot place ever. I usually do individual pots and order tons of food. I think its about $23 for all you can eat, i think its a pretty reasonable price. I love the small sauce bars and all the servers are cool and professional. read more

This place is great! I've been to a few other Hot Pot places and I really like the AYCE style of this place and also the fact that they have sooo many different options of meats, seafoods, and veggies. We love all categories! I also like that they have different broths rather than their standard spicy/non options at other hot pot places, but they ones we tried were blander than we would like. The spicy one was good, but needed more oomph and the veggie one was just pretty watery. Hence, you really need to take advantage of their extensive sauce/toppings bar. My biggest complaint, and it does make a big difference for me, is that they don't have pure sesame paste. They have their house sesame sauce, which I really don't like because I don't like sweet sauces. I made do with sesame seeds when I went, but man sesame paste with chili paste, chili oil, garlic, cilantro scallions and a dash of soy sauce is my JAM. Sesame paste would just make this place so much better. Overall, not the best Hot Pot I've had, but good enough to come back. read more

So inflexible. We walked into Hot Spot in Chantilly. The woman at the maitre d stand asked whether we wanted a certain table based on what we were to order. We only have been there once. Couldn't tell. She seemed adamant that we decide. We walked out of there as a result so pissed. Never again. read more

Got my hotspot fix today using their new online order option. As good as I remember eating at the restaurant. Can't ask for more on this rainy day, chow down on delicious soup and fresh ingridents. Highly recommend, hope ya get your fix by getting using the to go order option. read more

Hot Spot - Asian Fusion Near Me - Fairfax, Virginia

So delicious! Dine-in is open and we didn't have to wait at all. Workers were wearing mask and gloves. And you get to use wax paper for sauce bar. In general the place was clean and I could tell they take this virus seriously! I got my favorite soup, shabu shabu and it was delicious as it always has been. Servers were all attentive and friendly too. Definitely one of my fav nova place! read more

Hot Spot - Asian Fusion Near Me - Fairfax, Virginia

I give this place a 3 out of 5 because of the service we received. They had 6 soup broth to choose from as well as different types of proteins and veggies. The service was lacking- we wait for 5-8 mins to reorder and no one came to check in on us. I had to go ask a waiter. read more

I've been here once before and I was not a huge fan. However, I was craving hot pot one night, so decided to give this place another shot based on all the good reviews from Yelp and friends. I stopped in Friday night with three others after work. Not super busy, but there was a wait for the individual pots. The host told us 15 minutes which then changed to 45 minutes (we noticed they gave away our table because he forgot we wanted individual pots even though he asked us three times). We didn't want to wait the 45 minutes for individual pots so decided to get the family pot and were sat immediately. I wanted to try different broths since last time I didn't have the best luck choosing. Since we only had the chance to try two, we ended up with the Tom Yum broth and the Shabu Shabu broth. The Tom yum was good, but I wasn't too fond of the Shabu Shabu. I do want to go back to try the spicy broth though. The food was much better this time around. I enjoyed it a lot more. They seem to bring very little food out at a time, especially in the beginning which is a bit weird. They gave us 3 clams.. (not even one per person?!) lol. Anyways, for the price- all you can eat is not bad at all. I'm hoping I'll be able to get the individual pots next time! read more

Hot Spot - Tom yum broth & shabu shabu broth - Asian Fusion Near Me - Fairfax, Virginia

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Pretty good hot pot and as expected toppings and flavors. I had herbal and my husband had shabu flavored broths. I tasted it at the end and it was pretty good by itself. Fairly light and not too salty. The broth can take a while to boil as their stove things did not appear very strong. It was a bit of a slow cooking process. I am not patient so that was irritating at first. It is all you can eat so come hungry. We liked the lamb and marinated pork. Brisket was pretty good too. Fish balls were pretty typical but you need to boil them for a while as they are very much frozen. The variety of toppings was nice but we definitely didn't try everything. A lot of people did seafood but i don't like using my fingers to peel shrimp and get mussels out, etc. The sauce bar was yummy and my husband made our sauces with ponzu and sesame. Tasted pretty good! We only ordered a small round of second orders but it was too much. Just one round of the basics is pretty filling: lamb, beef, pork, fish balls, napa cabbage, clear noodles, tofu (soft and firm), enoki mushrooms, bamboo sprouts. Parking is in a strip mall so no issues for us. read more

Loved the ambiance of the place. Generally attentive and friendly staff. Parking is not a fave and the bathroom is a bit dirty. The selections of hotpot meat are good and we always leave the place with a content belly. Wish there are more locations throughout Virginia. read more

Seated right away, easy to follow menu with check off for items, all you can eat, pot comes out right away, sauce bar. Great modern atmosphere with a hip feel. My wife says we are coming back for sure. read more

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Who knew that cooking your own food, in the company of friends, could be so fun, and not have to involve cheese and chocolate? I'm talking about the way-cooler sister to fondue, HOT POT cooking! I never knew until I had the opportunity to visit Fairfax's Hot Spot restaurant, that this type of DIY-style cuisine existed. Mad props go out to Gretchen P. for organizing the event, and to Sean F. and LanChi N. for being so helpful in my navigation and discovery of this awesome, social, and (most of all) flavorful dining adventure! For $22.99, you can stuff yourself to the gills in a truly satisfying and belly-warming manner. It felt atypical from other all-you-can-eat offers in that I truly felt content and fulfilled after my meal, as opposed to feeling simply stuffed and gross from eating too much of everything. Must have been the smooth, savory, and never-heavy broth bases. Personally (no surprise), I selected the "Xtra Spicy" broth, and worked with the expertise of LanChi and my other new friend Melina for our meats, seafood, poultry, and veggie selections. Personally, I was thrilled that we could select multiple options per sheet of paper, and the "limitation" of no more than a quantity of 3 of a single item, per sheet of paper, was never an issue. I wanted to stick mostly to chicken and seafood, plus tofu, as I wasn't feeling like red meat that evening, but even for chicken and seafood, the "boring meats" to some people, Hot Spot made it easy for me to concoct my own amazing creation. What's great is that, unlike fondue, you receive your VERY OWN hot pot to do whatever it is thrills your taste buds, so you don't have to worry about appeasing or appealing to anyone else at your table. Why, you ask? Well, let's start with the Xtra Spicy broth, which imparts a thrilling combination of Szechuan peppercorns, peppers, and chili flakes to whatever it is you're cooking. Add in some bean sprouts for crunch, some bok choy, and other fresh veggies, and now you're cooking. Toss in that chicken, and maybe some shrimp, DELICIOUS calamari, fish cakes, and puffed tofu...now we're talking. BUT WAIT - my favorite part - THE SAUCE BAR! Here you will find a seemingly endless concatenation of spices, herbs, oils, and more that will lead to a unique experience for all of your senses. There are ample suggestions written on the chalkboard above the sauce bar suggestions various sweet, savory, spicy, etc. combinations, or you can just be free to concoct your own. I, of course, opted for the hottest combo on the board, which consisted of all matter of chili oil, chili flakes, wasabi, hot mustard, fresh peppers, etc., etc. The service we received was awesome - especially for a party of 14-ish - seated at the large table in the center-front of the restaurant. Alex was our waiter and took great care of us! Hot Spot in Fairfax was the perfect way to kick off my first Yelp event, albeit informal (but super fun), of 2015! read more

The atmosphere is really awesome. I enjoyed the music and trendy style. The unlimited food in a hot pot is an experience I enjoyed and will come back for more. read more

Hot Spot - Asian Fusion Near Me - Fairfax, Virginia

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I honestly love this place when I don't want to make hotpot myself. It does get really busy on weekends so you have to come earlier or later after the rush hour. But when you walk in, totally worth it the smell of the place just punches you in the face with delicate flavors of hotpot. It brings you back to all those awesome nights you had having hotpots with friends, or being in China eating hotpot. I really like how they have a such variety of different foods you can put into hotpot, and as long as you can eat it, keep ordering more. The only thing I don't really like is that when I ask for potatoes 4x they give me like 4 pieces of potatoes... So sometimes, you get gibed on food, but just keep ordering it so it doesn't really matter. I recently tried their kimichi broth and was pretty amazed how it does taste like kimchi with some spiciness to it. I really like the lamb, and any meat, and I feel like it's always fresh because there are so many people that come through the place that food gets constantly eaten so food isn't left out. Also, only thing is sometimes you can't get individual pots or family pot, vice versa depending on their seating so just keep that in mind. I love love this place, been here 11 times and probably more in the future! read more

I'm not crazy for hot pot, but if I ever get the craving for endless amounts of soup boiled beef, veggies, and seafood, Hot Spot is THE place in the DC area to binge. Look nowhere else, with prices comparable to AYCE korean bbq, this place is a great alternative for a change from grilling meats. +Lively atmosphere. +Super friendly bartender. +Dipping sauces make everything taste good. +HH deals on beer. +Seafood options. +Lots of Veggie options - so you feel somewhat healthy. I have no real complaints, only that parking is the worse. Try it with friends, family, work mates. No disappointment here! read more

Had an awesome time eating dinner here! I got the Thai soup and ordered a crap ton of things to put into it. I think I liked the soup a lot - it had a strong lime/lemongrass flavor like I expected, and all was going well until I decided I wanted to try it and burned the crap out of my tongue. The sauce bar is cool, but no matter what I seemed to mix together, I couldn't get a decently spicy sauce unless I was just eating a ton of the little green chilies. Not even the chili oil seemed that hot to me, which was interesting. Overall, I left extremely stuffed and had a good time eating at the bar counter. Was also happy to see that they carry Stiegl, which was sooo good and refreshing with the meal. I was also really happy that there was no unpleasant gas fumes coming from the burners, as I heard that was really unpleasant at other places like Little Dipper. They have some cool drink I saw them make called something along the lines of the "jeju island"?? which is their cool idea of a korean long island. Would definitely want to try that the next time I come! read more

The concept, the food and the atmosphere are all great. This is actually our second time here. Unfortunately, I'm forced to give them one star today because the host is HORRIBLE! He is a big giant ball of attitude to EVERYONE not just us. Here are some of his comments WITH an attitude!: "Move aside so I can help the people behind you". That was his comment to someone that was shocked to the 2hour wait! And when people ask him to repeat what he said, he raises his voice at them!!! What the frexx!! "Don't touch the screen just type". He yelled this at someone when he turned an iPad over to them to put their name on the list. I'm actually going to ask if he is the owner or not and if he is not I'm complaining directly to the owner. This is just horrible for any business. CUSTOMER SERVICE is a big key to success. read more

I'm no fan of hot pot, but I do love cool settings and good deals. Hot Spot Hot Pot is a winner for these reasons as well as the great customer service and quality of the many options on their a la carte menu. Additionally, the drink menu is huge and features many unusual items, such as butter beer (yes, beer with butter) and pretty mixed drinks. Pay $23 for endless refills of seafood, meat, and veggies to dip into your broth of choice (kimchi, Sichuan shabu shabu, and vegetarian). Honestly, the broths are rather bland, and depending on when you go, can be almost water-like. However, with the right additions (shrimp to sweeten the broth, all kinds of greens, a trillion delectable condiments, etc.), the plain-Jane soup can be transformed into something wondrous and satisfying. I guess the fun thing about hot pot, and the reason it's so popular, is that you get to personalize and improve upon the soup to your liking. The possibilities abound. The option of an individual pot or a pot to share is an added bonus of dining at this Fairfax restaurant. read more

We went for mother's day dinner. Took advantage of the yelp wait list and they were ready for us when we arrived. The manager and our server were attentive and very nice. The food came out fast and things are run very efficiently. The broth was flavorful (I had the Tom Yum) and all the proteins and veggies were fresh and good quality. We will definitely be back! read more