What an adventure! Stopped here after a nearby pho joint didn't have any veg options available. We had no idea what to expect, but the server helped us by explaining how to order and how long to cook things. Lots of meat and veg options, only one vegan broth though (the mushroom, #8, I think). You simply check off what you want on a paper menu, and it's brought out to you on a rolling cart. There is a heater in the table in front of you and your broth goes on that. The broth was topped off for us once during our meal, and the tea came with a large teapot and we never ran out (highly recommend the tea, no idea what it was but it was good). Docked a star because the ladies restroom was ABSOLUTELY atrocious, I won't go into details but opted to hold it till I got home. Thankfully we don't live very far. read more

Lao Pot - Various soy products, veggie platter, enoki mushroom, wide vermicelli noodle, and mushroom broth - Hot Pot Near Me - Madison Heights, Michigan

This was my first ever hot pot experience and it was sadly not a great one. The space is arranged into two separate areas, one is just closer to the bar area than the other. All tables have hot plates for your pot to be placed on. Now given this was my first ever hot pot experience, I really hoped that I would be walked through how to assemble one, but there were no instructions at all from the staff. We were just handed menus and told go pick what we wanted in our hotpot- and that was it. The menu itself doesn't detail all the items you get especially if you're selecting one of the platters like seafood or vegetable. The prices are also high in my opinion, each add in costs anywhere from $3-8 which can easily lead your bill to be about $50 just for 1 person. They didn't explain that you're supposed to go into the area for all the sauce add ins to additionally season your soup base, and I wouldn't have known to do this had I not seen a video on social media about it. Hot pot itself was just ok. The vegetarian soup base didn't have a string flavor and it wasn't anything too remarkable. read more

Lao Pot - Hot Pot Near Me - Madison Heights, Michigan

Food was great! Very happy that I was able to eat hot pot and bbq skewers in one place. I got the Spicy Soup and Tom Yum soup base in Mild. Just the right spice for me to start sweating. We also ordered beef and lamb skewers which was also tasty and perfectly cooked. Service was very good. Our server checked on us regularly and made sure we had everything we needed. She even gave us crab! This place was huge. The tables were extremely spacious, so there was no issue with fitting all the food we ordered. read more

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Always amazing! We come here at least once a week. The Tomato and Tom Yom are soo goo!

Tara was an amazing server and made us feel very welcome. everyone was very kind and they checked in often. thank you Lao Pot!

Best Chinese hotpot in the metro Detroit area. Soups are delicious, services are great. If you like authentic Chinese hotpot this is the place to be! read more

So thankful we have an authentic Chinese hot pot restaurant here in Michigan! My favorite hot pot broths are the house special spicy, house special (the white broth), mushroom, and seafood broth (sooo basically all of them lol), but definitely start with the house special spicy & white broth if you are new! Those are def my top two broths. All of their meat, seafood, and veg are really fresh. The wagyu beef is surprisingly good quality as well. I also like the self-serve sauce bar. It's nice that you can either do AYCE or pay per plate. Our server, Yan, is also so nice and sweet!! She works really hard and I love that she remembers us whenever we come (often lol). The restaurant itself is also super clean and I love the decorations in the front. read more

Food is good but service is not. Staff is curt and a bit stern, as if they are too busy to help or are impatient to wait on you and your questions. But as one of the most popular hot pot spots in the area, I'll give them the credit. I'm sure they're busy - highly recommend the tomato and ox base soup. My other favorites were the fish balls, shrimp balls, and thick clear noodles. Love the make-your-own sauce station. read more

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Decent selection for lunch buffet. Affordable price of 21$ per person and 90 min time limit. I'm glad we did not do the dinner as the additional items were not worth it, in my opinion. Good service, fast, attentive. Refilled items twice and pretty much tried everything that we wanted. The atmosphere was nice. The only complaint is that it is a bit geasy, and they definitely put msg, but this is typically unavoidable in Chinese restaurants. Would return for hot pot craving. read more

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If you go for lunch, there's not much if you don't eat meat. Be advised that everyone at your table has to get the same thing. For example, one of us wanted the soup and the others didn't we all had to forgo it? Not really worth the cost at all. read more

This place was a lot of fun. I had been wanting to try hot pot at a restaurant for a while now and one of my friends suggested Hot Pot City down the street. However, when I looked on Yelp, Lao Pot looked more authentic so we went here instead. Plan on spending about 20 to $25 a person, depending on what you get. I got the Tom Yum broth and I can't really do spice so I selected mild spice; however, it was a bit too spicy for me so I ended up switching bowls with my boyfriend, who had ordered the Lao Pot special. I later asked our waitress and she said it's chicken broth with some fruits in it. Our friends did the half and half broths in which you get a pot with a divider in it which is kind of cool. I ordered the regular beef but next time might try the Angus beef, one of my friends did that and it looked delicious. I also regretted not ordering dumplings but luckily they shared theirs with us. I got regular beef for my hot pot and also the mushroom combo which was pretty tasty. My boyfriend got beef, pork, and the veggie combo. I liked the mushroom combo more than the veggie combo but the veggie combo did have squash and potato and a few others that I liked. I would definitely come here again and I would mix and match what I order next time, everything I tried today was pretty tasty though. After you place your order they also encourage you to go to the sauce bar which kind of reminded me of Mongolian barbecue, there are a lot of different flavor combos you could mix together and they also had a cheat sheet of sorts with suggested combos; I of course loaded up on the fresh garlic (yum!) and also added some sesame oil, hoisin, and other sauces. Waitservice was also pretty good, we were all hot pot newbies, for the most part, so she explained how to pick and choose things on the menu. read more

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Server were so nice , broth is soo good I got the extra spicy ... so good . Over all servers were all so nice and the food is amazing 10 out of 10 read more

Lao Pot was so much fun and everyone loved it. They sit you at a table with burners and I was pleasantly surprised because I was picturing more of a hibachi type place which I love but HATE when I leave smelling of my dinner and smoke. You will receive a menu that is a check-box menu so you pick your soup base (I did a divider of tom yum and the signature spicy), meatballs, fresh cut meat (I did sliced beef), seafood, vegetables, (I did broccoli, potatoes, and trumpet mushrooms). The veggie portions are HUGE so I would recommend getting 1 side per 2-3 people. You can always add more. The hot pot will be placed on the burner at your table and you basically boil your own bowl (controlled by a remote you have), and place it into a smaller bowl in front of you. If you end up having a ton of sides leftover you can ask for more broth and cook it and take it to go. There is also a sauce station in the back which I thought was cool. There are tons of different sauce bases, seasonings, spices, and mix-ins that you can add to any of your bowls or dishes. Overall, it is a really fun experience and its fun to see what other people put in their bowls, etc. There is a lot of interesting things on the menu if you are adventurous and there are simple things if you want to play on the safe side. I think this would be a fun first date too! There is a full bar and also there are other sides you can order aside from the hot pots. Try Lao Pot out and hope you enjoy! read more

Lao Pot - some of the sliced beef, broccoli, bok choy, (you can see the hot pots in the background) - Hot Pot Near Me - Madison Heights, Michigan

Holy hot pot! I'm used to big group hot pots, so I loved having my own mini hot pot to cook to have an feast for one! Hot pot is all about the shared experience, so I love that I can get that even with my individual pot. Can anything here be bad? Don't believe that's possible. Love the spice levels of the broth and the DIY sauce station, which included bean paste and some other stuff I don't remember seeing in NYC hot pot restaurants I've been to. Some of my menu faves here are the tofu fish balls, the mushroom platter and clear, wide hot pot noodles that I've had for the first time. There's also an extensive drink menu that includes cocktails, wine, sake and soju, and apps and other types of food that's not hot pot, and there's even a nice hot pot lunch special. This is a great place for group dining (tables seat up to 8) or honestly, just coming by yourself! If you're new to the hot pot experience, it might be overwhelming, but the menu layout is straightforward: choose 1 or 2 broths for your hot pot, the type of broth(s), spice level and then your items! This is an awesome addition to the area. And FYI, the entrance does not face John R read more

Lao Pot - Lobby - Hot Pot Near Me - Madison Heights, Michigan

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My third time. And its just consistently good. The service is good, and its one of the best condiment/dipping sauce bar Ive seen. If you havent had chive flower paste, do it. Beware, if you order Hot Tea, Its the buckwheat tea. Hot pot can be pricey when you want a lot of stuff, and its pricey but the portions are great. My favorite is getting a mini pot (they refill with hot water), and always getting a meat and a veg broth. The mushroom broth is AMAZING. The hotpot noodles takes forever to cook, but are so good. We always get so many eggs, because eggs in hotpot is the way to go. We got popcorn chicken when we took my toddler, and it was the best popcorn chicken Ive ever had. read more

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I came here kinda of expecting things to be a lot worse than they were considering some of the reviews, but overall the food was GREAT its the service that could use some work. I came in hoping to have someone explain to me how things work here, instead I was escorted to a table and given a menu which I look at for over 10 minutes before I had to ask for assistance. The server was shocked as if someone forget to let her know I was even waiting. Would I come here again? Maybe read more

Lao Pot - Hot Pot: Signature Spicy & 3 Delicacies Soup Sliced Beef Vermicelli Noodle Enoki Mushroom Total: $19.26 Before Tax - Hot Pot Near Me - Madison Heights, Michigan

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Just Tried this place for the 1st Time .. We were a party of 15 & everything was very good including the customer Service.. I would definitely recommend read more

Took a few friends for dinner the seating is plentiful and the set up to cook at your table is spot on. They offer all you can eat. We opted to share a few pots as we had first timers and did not need a large meal. The waitress went over the process to order and offered recommendations. The veggies were fresh the steak skewers were tasty the beef for the hot pot was a nice cut. read more

my family and I had a beautiful evening here. they closed later than a lot of other places our server explained everything to us and made everything so easy for us to order. we got the all you can eat and it was more than enough for everyone. the experience was a 10/10. we will be back. read more

I did not realize there was a hot pot in Michigan! This place is pretty clean and a wide selection of different veggies/meat. I like how there is a hot pot bowl for each person. After you choose the broth you can make your own sauce in the back. I prefer to have the peanut base and add some chilli oil and like garlic etc. Worth trying out :) read more

Lao Pot - Hot Pot Near Me - Madison Heights, Michigan

First time trying hot pot! It was delicious and super fun. The menu is a la carte. They have individal pots and you can choose either 1 or 2 broths and choose your level of spice. My favorite broth was the signature spicy. You can also order variety of meats, veggies and noodles/rice that they bring out for your table. For 2 people we ordered 4 meats, 2 veggies and 2 noodles and had plenty left over. They also have a sauce bar where you can make your own dipping sauce. All the food was fresh. The restaurant itself is large and plenty of seating. read more

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Lao pot is the best hot pot around! Any time I meet up with my parents, they always want to eat here. The atmosphere here is like being transported back to Asia... Fun Chinese decor, plenty of space, and very clean. Lao pot can be pricey when you individually order everything, but it's very affordable during lunch time. I usually get the surf and turf combo (2 meat and 2 seafood) for $18. I like their lao pot special soup broth and my husband likes their signature spicy soup broth. Service here is great and they will refill your broth when they see you running low. I also like to get their udon noodles whereas he would prefer rice. They have a sauce station where you can create your own dipping sauce - ranging from hot sauce, sesame, to bbq sauce. I would highly recommend trying this place out, you won't be disappointed! We always leave extremely full and satisfied. read more

Lao Pot - Hot Pot Near Me - Madison Heights, Michigan

So my friend and I 'figured this out" ourselves. First, choose your soup base. A single or double/split mini pot. It was 2p, so it was assumed the trellis pot is only available for dinner (lunch was til 3p). Then, choose balls, meat, veggies, hotpot specialty, seafood &/or soy options. MULTIPLE sauces buffet style are available once ordered. Finally, your additions & pot are brought & placed on a mini glasstop stove in front of you, just far enough toward the middle of the table so that hair/clothing/limbs don't touch the hot top, & heat turned on (to 5). Simply add additions to soup, cook to desired doneness, & eat up! It was fun! Similar to korean bbq! read more

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This was such a unique experience. Went here with my family after talking for quite a while about wanting to experience it. We went on a Friday night and it was busy! The staff was super nice, but having been our first time, they didn't have a lot of time to explain the menu and process to us. It seemed very unorganized and overwhelming for us as the guest and them as the staff. It would have been helpful to have a guide, maybe even a laminated piece of paper, with the process, how long to cook everything, etc. At the end, I kept saying, I wish I could spend a week here revamping their processes because they have so much potential! If you give it a try, and it's your first time, do it on a weekday so you can enjoy yourself more. read more

Lao Pot - Variety of Food - Hot Pot Near Me - Madison Heights, Michigan

The only reason I did not give this spot 5 stars is because of the service. When you go here it is important to get a waitress that has experience. Especially if you are going for the first/second time and you are not familiar with the hot pot process. The first time we went the service was amazing. She told us all the times to cook each food. We got so much food! Seafood, steak, the Waygu was my FAVORITE. There is also a station to make your own sauce. The waitress created one for us that was delicious! Now the second time I went. We got a waitress that didn't tell us the cook items. She had to go ask someone because she wasn't sure. She did not bring us a sauce and we had to keep tracking her down for any questions or service. I def love the food quality here. The lunch specials are great. Don't order too much at first. We seriously couldn't eat everything we got the first time. Just order small and then add things later if you are still hungry. I def recommend the watermelon juice get the pitcher. Also, the nest on skewers were not worth the price and the quality for those weren't good to me at all. I tried one of each kind they have. I just stick to the hot pot. read more

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Food was good, should be I cooked it myself lol Nice ambiance. Several deal breakers with this place. For one the prices are pretty ridiculous. For 2 people we ordered maybe 6 or 7 ingredients and rice, bill was well over $100...for vegetables and thin sliced meat. I mean a couple heads of bok choy was 3 dollars. Imagine my irritation when I was told I needed to take my raw food home uncooked a half hour before closing because the waitress wanted to go home, and when I went to get some dipping sauce another waitress chastised me and said if I wanted to take some home I had to pay again. That is the most cheap miserly thing I have ever seen. For the prices they're charging that is just a really bad look on this place. Won't be coming back. Food was good, as good as any other hot pot I've had, but I don't need that and they clearly don't need my business. read more

Been here quite a few times since, consistent service and food quality. Spicy tallow is the way to go, my favorite out of all them now. Dining room is always clean, and I appreciate them constantly prebusing the table. read more

Lao Pot - Hot Pot Near Me - Madison Heights, Michigan

Totally a cool spot for dinner! Many choices from vegetables, red meat, seafood and poultry. Good variety of different dipping sauces which you can customize. There's a full dipping sauce bar area where you can add different things- spices, oils, ginger, onions, etc. The broths were all flavorful. The whole experience was great! Recommend coming here for anyone wanting hot pot or something different. Good prices too but they do add up with all the different things you can order from the apps to actual food. read more

Lao Pot - Hot Pot Near Me - Madison Heights, Michigan

First hot pot experience so I didn't know what to expect. I'll break it down for you in different categories: Menu: extensive, lots of options. Could provide more explanation for those that are not familiar. Wish they had more higher quality seafood. If you order broccoli or other vegetables for your pot, you have enough to share with at least one other person. Not necessary for everyone to order their own everything. Service: Fairly quick, however not a lot of help for ordering. Language barrier does not enable much support with menu. Cleanliness: the same person seating our table, took the order, and cleaned up other tables. This led to rush cleaning. Tables could have been more thoroughly cleaned as reside was visible on each table. Ambiance: It is clearly an experience. This is great group or date outing. The restaurant is oddly huge. Never have seen anything quite like it. Food: asked for vegetarian broth and it had some spam or ham in it. I was not happy. Once I got past that it was decent. Not fabulous. But decent. Refills of broth were available. You have to go to the spice/sauce table. I was never directed there. We just saw others and decided to go. The sauce made all of the difference in the food. Without it, could have just picked vegetables from the garden and swirled them in boiling water and had the same effect. Cocktails: Extensive list and the one I chose, strawberry something...was excellent! I would go back. But it can easily be $50 per person for your pot. If you share some items that can bring the cost down. Also, remember everything is a La cart. read more

My friend and I went to dinner this past Friday and both wanted to try something new. I suggested coming here since it's been on my radar and we've both heard good things about it. Walking in, the entrance is strangely in the back? Place is well decorated with plenty of seating throughout. We scoured the menu and basically got a lot of the same things. While neither of us had any clue what we were doing, we figured it out. I guess you choose a broth first and then add stuff on and it's priced a la carte. Can get expensive if you overdue it, from what it looks like. The selection of items was huge, and there was no shortage of options to choose from. All sorts of vegetables, meats, so on and so forth. The options are endless here! My only concern and reason for a star docked was the following reason. We are clueless about how to do the hot pot thing and had no clue what the spice counter was for? The selection was mediocre at best. Mostly pepper stuff and a few random sauces that I wasn't familiar with. I stuck to Soy Sauce and added a few things like green onions, but played it safe. My friend made a weird concoction and we just kind of went with it. Also, while the service here's fabulous, it was hard to understand our waitress due to a language barrier. I told her we were new and she did her best to explain how it works, but I only got so much information from her. While it's reasonably straight forward, it can be overwhelming when walking in here the first time and looking at their huge menu. We got like a million different things added on to our meal but the meat slices were fabulous. I couldn't tell the difference between the waygu beef and the regular beef slices, so maybe something to set them apart since they looked alike? Not the end of the world, but something I thought about on the way home. My experience here with food, service and décor was top notch and awesome. I would gladly come here again as it was a great experience but for a first timer, it was kind of overwhelming. Honestly, I'd rather go here any day of the week versus the hibachi grill stuff that never impressed me to begin with. Place isn't cheap but worth every penny. Go check it out if you can! read more

Food was fine but had the absolute worst service that ruined our dinner and made it completely unenjoyable. First, we were seated all the way in the back with a literal bench wall in front of our table despite the restaurant being relatively empty with lots of other tables open. For visualization, it was a friend and myself and we had to sit next to each other staring into that bench wall. We were then given the wrong menu with no instructions on how ayce worked here and how there was a separate menu for that. All ayce restaurants typically ask if the table would like ayce or just the regular menu when getting seated so idk why we had to ask to finally be given that. They also advertise they're an ayce restaurant with a huge sign outside so like... wtf? We were then ignored for over 20 minutes when asked for the ayce menu sheet. OVER 20 MINUTES!!?! For the piece of paper that allows us to place our order?! We then continued to get CONSTANTLY ignored and unattended for throughout our dinner. Could barely order anything and was not worth paying the ayce price given that we literally had to wait 20 mins just to get someone's attention each time. At the end, one of our servers apologized and gave us a bowl of sliced bananas. I got a severe stomachache after dining here which is just the perfect cherry on top! Will never be coming back here. read more

We come here often and always have great service and food! We also got a free live lobster for spending over $100! read more

Lao Pot - Hot Pot Near Me - Madison Heights, Michigan

Yum, yummo, and yummy! Now I could have walked in and had the $19.95 special, but nooooo I wanted to experience it all, and experience it all I did. Be prepared to pay a small fortune, just a small one, (lol), to try all your hearts desires. I ordered two different types of soup, a spicy base , and a flavorful savory base. Both were delicious. Don't play with the hot unless you are ready. I was ready, and I took it a step further by adding a hot bear. This mini orange, butter bear, a literal teddy bear delight was a violent addition to my already hot soup, but a violence I welcome any day. I got the lobster special for posting to social media.. A FULLL LOBSTER! They cut it expertly so I didn't have to. I had pumpkin, squash, all sorts of mushroom, waygu, lamb, shrimp, the bounty was endless!! The service was delightful. The cocktails were delicious and plentiful with the good stuff. I'm no longer participating in the good stuff, so I cherish the memories of that day!!! Thank you Lao Pot for feeding me well, and making me feel like family while you did it! read more

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Came here to have a meal with my family that I haven't seen in a while, and while the food was ok, everything else was horrible. There was a screaming kid 2 tables away that screamed and threw tantrums for 45 minutes straight. We ended up talking to the waitress, but they did absolutely nothing. Would definitely not recommend for the ambience or service. read more

Lao Pot - Hot Pot Near Me - Madison Heights, Michigan

We tried it again today for lunch, the service seemed to be better, we went at 11am when no one was there. The options were pretty much the same as dinner except for the appetizer portion. I would have rated it much higher but the reason for my rating was that the dishes that we mix sauces in were dirty, and I checked about 3! Also that the server asked me to change my tip to a minimum of 18 percent. I'm for tipping higher than 15 percent when I think the service is great, but overall this was disappointing! read more

All you can eat tasty hot pot on a cold day!!! everyone gets their own pot and soup base! read more

Lao Pot - Lobster Hot pot!!! - Hot Pot Near Me - Madison Heights, Michigan

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Lately, I've been over the moon with the Hot Pot concept and have been frequenting man different places to compare. Lao pot happened to be one of my favorites, the tomato ox bone soup that you cook your foods in is so flavorful and I love eating the oxtails after they've tendered up on the broth. The foods are always very fresh and the experience is just what I love when dining out. I feel we're too comfortable just sitting down ordering and servers bringing us prepared foods. This way, every bite is pipping hot and fresh. Lao pot gets two stars deducted though because, I've been a few times and the dishes presented to eat out of have no been clean. Usually it would deter me from coming back but the food is so good. Just inspect your dishes and ask for clean ones if yours are not, other wise, great restaurant! read more

Lao Pot - Hot Pot Near Me - Madison Heights, Michigan

I did not expect to get this much food! Next time I will definitely order less! Lao Pot was clean and our server was very nice and helpful. A great experience, definitely a place to eat and have a good time with people. read more

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Visiting the area from Hawaii and my daughter suggested this hot pot place. She had never been and I was worried, but honestly their all you can eat experience was better than the Hawaii hot pots I've eaten. They had a gluten free clear broth that was tasty. Meats and choices and sauces were abundant. Service was great. Veggies, meats, and seafood were fresh. We had a great meal. read more

My wife and I discovered Lao Pot while visiting Madison Heights a few months ago, and we're pretty impressed overall. It's located in a part of the city with a number of legit Chinese restaurants (and near the best Chinese market I've seen in Michigan; but I digress). Lao Pot is authentic -- that goes for the food, the vibe, and the waitstaff. It really does feel like we stepped into a 火锅店 in China. Interestingly, they serve BBQ in addition to hotpot. I saw a few reviews complaining about the service and I'll just say: that's authentic too. Maybe pad a little extra time if you're going to visit for lunch or dinner. The staff are very nice folks. But they're not overly friendly and they are certainly not in a rush. Lastly, the price is reasonable compared to other hotpot places in Michigan. For two of us at other restaurants it's normally $100 in the brave new COVID world. At Lao Pot the bill is normally more like $70 - $80 with tip. read more

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