Chong Qing Lao Zao is a never-to-be-forgotten absolutely amazing hot pot restaurant…read more I will offer my own extensive comments at the end ... But the Eater review of Chong Qing Lao Zao absolutely nails it. * * * Eater sez: Fans start lining up well before the wooden doors swing open at noon, eventually to walk through corridors that lead them to a bi-level dining area that evokes an old Chinese village, complete with a water wheel, koi, and a faux fire at the foot of each table. One private section is elevated on stilts. Chongqing Lao Zao stands out from the high concentration of nearby hot pot spots -- Hai Di Lao, Liuyishou, 99 Favor Taste. * * * Samuel C sez: a) Like many hot pot restaurants, there are lots of exotic ingredients including all parts of many animals. I did lots of those included thousand layer tripe and beef liver coated in egg. At this restaurant, simple is actually better than exotic. The most famous boiling oil (there are nine to choose from) is a scorchingly hot Chongqing drowning in hot peppers concoction. The oil is hot as blazes in both senses of the word. The simpler the ingredient we put in the oil, the better the results were. Plain old Chinese Cabbage was to die for. Plain old ramen noodles and plain old fish cake became superstars in the hot oil. Thousand layer tripe, not so much. b) Shiitakes are not such a plain ingredient. They become ultimate gourmet delights in the hot oil. c) All the tables around us were ordering some form of Wagyu beef roll. Or rather all the Chinese tables were ordering Wagyu beef rolls. The Anglos were more random. I suspect the Chinese customers were on to something. d) It is tempting to order tons and tons and tons of ingredients for your hotpot because they look so damm good. In practice, three hot pot dipping items per person plus a side dish for the table will leave you waddling out of the restaurant barely able to walk. If that means you just have to come here multiple times to get all the good stuff, Well ... multiple times is not such a dumb idea. e) You definitely want at least one side dish. We ordered a Fried Sesame Bread with Chinese green onions inside. That was the best thing on the table ... On a day when there were a zillion amazing things on the table. The Chinese tables often ordered a fried rice with spicy organs inside. I strongly suspect that fried rice is well worth doing as well. f) They make their own rice wine which is sweet and very milky. They sell it by the jar. You want a whole jar of it. If your table has sake lovers in multiple, you will want several jars of it. g) The room decoration is magical between the sturdy oaken village-gate door, to the waterwheel inside to the stairs and levels and platforms which make you feel like you are in a mountain village. The room would have made this a destination experience even if the food had been mediocre. That the raw ingredients, the prepared dishes, the wine and the boiling oil were amazing sends Chong Qing Lao Zao over the top. * * * Does Yelp offer an eight star rating? If it starts one, Chong Qing Lao Zao would be first in line to get the eight star rating. Even with all the amazing restaurants in Flushing's Chinatown, This is one experience you do not want to miss.

They don't take reservations. You need to go and get on the wait list. The text they send you says…read morethat when your called, you have 3 hours to show up... after waiting an hour, we didn't want to risk losing the resy. We choose to sit on the tatami mats, so shoes come off. The tell you to go get your sauces, but don't tell you that there's a $2 charge for them. We got the meeting spicy broth and the mushroom broth. The spicy broth was covered completely in dried red peppers. It definitely infused the food with spice. The broth themselves weren't amazing. They were fine. Their homemade rice wine on the other hand is absolutely delicious. I would go back for that alone. Their snacks, the fried broad beans, and seeds were very good. The cabbage was also delicious and fresh. The duck tongue was absolutely delicious, as were the beef balls. All the mushrooms were very good. The beef tongue was eh... the premium lamb was better. The taro balls took a very long time to cook.. the glass noodles disintegrated in the broth. Overall, the ambiance is what made the meal great, it was cozy and pretty. The broth, the meat were okay. Glad I tried it, but there are better spots for the food hot pot... just not as good of an ambiance as here.

I saw some videos about this stand and had made a mental note to check it out next time I was in…read moreFlushing. I came around 11:40am on a recent weekday. It was a little hard to find but tracked it down. There were a few people waiting ahead of me in line, but the wait wasn't too long. I saw the guy take out some of the freshly baked bread and saw how juicy the chicken looked, so I was excited. I got one of the roujiamo sandwiches, which was $6. Great deal and feels so good to get a substantial food item for $6 in NY these days. Really feels next to impossible in 2026. Upon receiving the sandwich, I went across the street and tried to eat it ASAP on the street as other people suggested. The sandwich felt really good in my hands as the bread had just come out. Chicken looked really good and I asked for it to be spicy. I took my first bite and it was pretty amazing. First thing I noticed was how flaky the bread was. Such a pleasant and satisfying texture. The chicken had a lot of flavor and I think there is some cabbage in there. I devoured the rest of the sandwich in about a minute and I was very happy. The sandwich is fairly substantial; might not be enough for a full meal for some people and I treated it more as an appetizer before I went elsewhere for a bowl of noodles. I think this is easily a 5 star establishment. Great value and one of the best ways to spend $6 in NYC.

Food: This small food stand offers a Chinese version of chicken shawarma gyros which are very…read moretasty! There's a rotating vertical spit with marinated chicken cooking. The chicken is sliced off the spit and continues grilling at the bottom of the spit along with onions. Once the chicken and onions are ready, they're placed into a flaky pocket/bun and served to you hot and fresh. Each chicken "sandwich" is $6. The chicken is very moist and flavorful with the spices and onion. It tastes best eaten hot as soon as you get them. I would highly recommend you give this a try! Service: Staff was friendly and welcoming. Ambiance: This is a food stand/store front with no seating. The food is meant to be ordered and taken out. Overall, I would highly recommend this eatery!