Chong Qing Lao Zao is hidden behind an unassuming entrance, but inside is a massive, bustling hot…read morepot restaurant that's clearly worth the hype. Check in at the kiosk when you arrive and stay close by--we missed our name being called and had to wait another 30 minutes after an already 2-hour wait for our party of five. Once seated, we understood why it's so popular. The restaurant features a beautiful water wheel, multiple levels of seating, and a lively atmosphere. You customize your meal by choosing your broth, meats, vegetables, and sauces. We started with the spicy broth, but it was overloaded with chili peppers for our taste, so we switched to the herbal broth, which was rich, fragrant, and absolutely delicious. The fresh ingredients were the highlight. We enjoyed the water spinach so much that we ordered three servings. Other favorites included the milky beef, lotus root, beef balls, bean curd sheets, and several other fresh selections. The extensive sauce bar let everyone create their perfect dipping sauce. Considering the generous portions and quality, the prices were very reasonable. The wait is long, but the outstanding food makes it worthwhile. I'll definitely be back the next time I'm in Flushing.

Food: 4.1/5 Service: 5/5…read moreAmbiance: 3/5 Overall: 4/5 We came on a Friday morning around opening time and were lucky enough to not have to wait for a table (though many parties did have to wait). We were seated towards the back of the restaurant where we found a cockroach crawling on the bench seat. Also, the straw decoration on the bench seat was uncomfortable throughout the meal for me particularly. Our waiter, since it was our first time, helped us a lot in choosing the broth and its spice level (we ended up getting tomato and mild chongqing), as well as helping us with the amount of food we would be ordering (which turned out to be almost the perfect amount of food for our party of 6). Some of my favorite dishes that we got were the: - Wide Potato Noodles - Doesn't take that long to cook, SO chewy and nice, pairs well with any broth or sauce - Enoki Mushrooms - My favorite kind of mushroom, even more chew and great noodle substitute - Fried Breadsticks - Very crunchy and don't lose that much crunch whenever dipped or soaked in the broths. - Sliced Beef - Standard and really good meat option for hotpot. Some of their specialty beefs are also interesting, but I ended up just preferring this over those. - Beef Tendon - I lied. This was the best meat option. Extremely soft and melts in your mouth. Doesn't take more than 5 seconds to cook. Just so good. Even with everything that I liked, I didn't find that much that was superior to other hot pot places that I have been to. I did enjoy the food that we did have, but with the insane wait that I would likely have if I came back as well as the high price of the meal, I don't know if this would be worth coming back to in the future.

Service is great, food is amazing. There's a wide variety of soup bases and food choices that you…read morecan choose from. The panda theme is also very cute and you can exchange your points here for freebies. Definitely one of the best hotpot restaurants in flushing

NYC's Only Panda Hotpot!…read more Cutest hotpot vibe unlocked here! From panda details to cozy hotpot moments, this spot is such a fun experience From hotpot meats, seafood, and sides to so many variety of options, there's something for everyone. Choose from 3 flavorful broths, including the must-try Fermented Chili Bean broth. Plus, the Guizhou 8 Classics bring flavors inspired by the streets of Guizhou. Don't skip the dessert bar for a sweet ending. Save this for your next hotpot date, foodie hang, or panda-loving moment. Follow me @foodie.elite on IG, Tiktok and Rednote for more great finds.

A wonderful experience with the family and our son! They really set the bar high for great food and…read moreservice! We had a pretty large table and upon entering we were seated pretty quickly. You place your order on a tablet and then as the food comes out you can check out their sauce bar which also had egg rolls, fruit, jelly dessert, and some other items! Ambiance is casual and relaxed. They gave us aprons to wear to protect our clothes which we appreciated and they even had a mini one for our baby who was in a booster seat on the booth! Love their tom yum, tomato, and house regular broth. We ordered a ton of meat and veggies. Of course we also got the dancing noodles which was both delicious and very fun to watch. The staff was so nice to our baby! They gave him a free toy and also some kids food!

Met a friend for lunch and got there right after opening. It was not crowded but started to get…read moremore filled as time went on. Cute waiting area with game and snacks if needed. Seated very quickly and got the lay of the land. Ordered on the iPad. It is not all you can eat so items can add up quickly. Items are usually delivered with the robot. The soup base came by a server. Staff is very nice and checks in occasionally without rushing. Pork stomach and chicken broth was very flavorful. This can double as a soup dish. Ordered wagyu which was buy one get one free. It's a good deal since a decent amount came. The Angus short rib wasn't bad either. Lobster isn't usually what I order at hotpot but added a touch. Taro was flavorful. Even though it's a la carte, one can get filled fast. There is ice cream, fruit and jelly to seal the deal. Got some cute toys for saying the magic words to the wait staff. Big clean open space. Enjoyed for lunch since it wasn't overly busy.

You probably smelled the aroma from this restaurant if you've shopped in Tangram. The hotpot spice…read moreand broth smell carries throughout the mall. There's often a long wait on weekends, especially during the peak lunch and dinner hours. Lucky for us, we usually eat early dinner around senior hours of 4pm-5pm and less waits. Our kids go to Goldfish swim school which is literally across from the restaurant. This is the most convenient choice for us to sit down and have a quick hotpot meal. The food quality is one of the best around the area in my opinion. The broth is comparable to the other ones around Flushing. You order via a tablet and the food comes out fairly quick. The service has been great every time we been here. The sauce station carries some snacks as well, such as pigs ear, seaweed salad, peanuts. I think this may change from time to time. I also recall them charging everyone $2 to access the sauce station when they first opened, but I didn't see that on my bill last week. Overall, this is a 5 out of 5 for quality, service, convenience, and overall experience. The space is big and you're not being crammed next to another party.

Literally felt like I walked into China. I like the historical decor…read more Food: Fresh scallops, fresh meat, and assorted side dishes. I like the idea of unlimited side dishes and desserts (with an additional price). The service was okay, the waitresses were able to answer our questions about price ranges. But, 1. Why am I asked to wait before seating when I made a reservation? 2. Workers didn't pay much attention to our table, especially when we needed to more soup base. Probably because we didn't order as much food. ‍ (Additional info: this place is not ACYE, therefore, you pay by the price of each item)

Came on a Saturday for a party of 5 at around 7 ish? We had to wait around 15-20 minutes but any…read moretime after that  - the line was loong.   It's a huge place though and the only thing you pay additional for is seafood and beef/pork.   I enjoyed how clean the sauce was and the variety of noodles and veggies.   I also liked how everyone gets their own individual broth and soup base. I had a great time and did enjoy their matcha soft serve at the end.

I haven't been here for about three years now and so much has changed, and not for the better. We…read morecame around 6:30pm as a party of four (3 adults and 1 infant) on a Friday and were quickly seated, which was different in years past where we had to wait. Pricing has increased since the last time we were here which is understandable with the increase in cost. They do not validate parking anymore. Waitress had greeted us and asked for the soups right away since we had been here before. We had requested if we can get a pot of plain water for the baby so that we can boil stuff without any sodium. She said sorry that will have to cost extra. But then I referred back to their ad that children under 3 eats free. And the whole explanation was yes but they could not have their own pot. She says this is just company policy and that it's not my decision. A few minutes later she came back and said I talked to management and they said it was ok for you to have a pot of plain water. After this, she doesn't come back to check in on us or ask for any refills on the soup and had to flag her down. Plates were slow to be cleared. Food - in the past we loved the fresh noodles here, but not anymore. Maybe it's due to less people, but the noodles are old and stay clumped up together. Everything else was pretty typical with the vegetables and the various types of fish balls. I don't think we will be returning here anytime soon. There are so many hot pot places to go to that are higher quality and better service. It's sad because they were once so popular, but I don't think they have adapted to the changing restaurant options in flushing.

Good quality food and attentive service. Ambiance is good, kid friendly. Love that they have drinks…read moresuch as soy milk with grass jelly. My usual go to hotpot spot in Queens!

The soup base is nice as are the veggies but as others have noted the meat cuts aren't great. Felt…read morelike very cheap cuts of meat. Also the place is a bit dirty as other reviews have noted. The price is reasonable but it sort of feels overpriced for what you get. My wife and I have visited two other locations of this chain. The one in Princeton, NJ is great but this one and the one in Ottawa, Ontario are just so-so. I asked my wife what she would rate this one. She said "3 and no more Liuyishou Hotpot. Done with them." Wife is from Chongqing and LOVES hot pot, so take that for what it is worth.

Enjoyed my first experience with Thai hot pot/bbq. Waitress friendly and explained everything. Cute…read moredecor. We got the Tom Zap beef and Chicken broths since it's against my religion to have blood. The Tom Zap taste like Tom yum soup. The meats and seafood were very fresh. The sauces delightful. We enjoyed the mild and spicy sauce. It didn't bother my stomach so I'm happy they used real peppers and not chemical spices. One thing I didn't expect to like so much was garlic fried rice. It was delicious! We also enjoyed grilling the marinated beef and pork belly. The mango salad and spring rolls were delicious. The waitress teased us for stopping after 1 round. The drinks were good too we got a coconut smoothie with milk and Thai iced tea, definitely need that to cool you down from the spicy food. Next time will be back again and hopefully hungrier so I can enjoy more food!

'GO SOMEWHERE ELSE' We were extremely disappointed with our…read morerecent visit to this restaurant. Having traveled from Pennsylvania based on positive experiences Ive been here few times before, I expected a much better experience. The service felt off from the start due to I was speaking Thai and waiter/waitress likely judged that I do not speak English. My husband heard the whole conversation and it bothered him at the moment led him to feel unwelcome, but I told my husband that I don't care what they think so we can enjoy our meal. The overall atmosphere was rather strange for an all-you-can-eat buffet. The total bill for two adults came to ~$74 We ordered two sets of pendant bread () for takeout, and we left a $10 cash tip on the table. Almost immediately after placing the cash down, the waitress approached and asked if it was a TIP making a VISIBLY DISPLEASED expression before walking away. As we were leaving, I was confronted by the owner or head manager (me and him spoke Thai) inquired what was wrong with the service. He stated that the waitress had complained about the TIP amount less than 10%. We explained that we had not included the approximately $30 takeout order in our tip calculation, especially considering it was a buffet restaurant. A quick calculation would have shown that the $10 TIP represented roughly 15% on the dining portion alone, and the waitress's primary contribution during our visit was simply providing water and choice of 'appetizers'. I gave them 5 stars on google and yelp 6 years ago (going to delete it) I have always recommended this place to my boss and colleagues from NY, NJ to PA But I will have to retract my recommendation to them after this. I REPEAT 'DO NOT COME HERE' We will NOT be returning. While the food itself was decent but the UNGRATEFUL ATTITUDE and handling of the situation completely ruined what had otherwise been a pleasant meal. I REPEAT DO NOT COME HERE! They will not appreciate shit from you if it TOO LITTLE (for them). This incident was HIGHLY UNPROFESSIONAL. I wish I can get my $10 back. Just because you want more, then you DESERVE NOTHING

As I sit here and watch my hot pot boil, I might as well review. $26.99 all you can eat Monday to…read moreFriday. How can you beat that? Food is great. Service is attentive. A make your own sauce bar? The best. Also who doesn't love a cozy booth over a steaming pot of soup? A definite must try. This is my second time here and I can say its great.

Food: 4/5 - three different tiers with the most expensive one costing $48pp after tip&tax. We got…read morethe premium tier for more variety. You can only get a few meats once but overall lots of meat options to choose from, more so than other AYCE I think. The buffet for the first/second tier was more limited but still lots of veggies/noods/fish balls and misc. to choose from. Service: 4/5 - fast and efficient. They took our order before we even sat down fully and picked up our plates the moment we took the last item off of it Ambiance: 4/5 - spacious and clean. I was surprised by how packed the place was by late dinner time when we were leaving (8pm) on a weekday