Chiba Hot Pot

All the major houston foodies are posting about this place right now. I've been wanting to try this place and now that I have, I won't be returning. I will say it is a cool concept, but it's a one and done for me. The train is a gimmick. Our food only arrived on the train once. The rest of the time, it was an employee from the back walking to our booth with a plate of meat or food. Why make the train a highlight and not utilise it? Service is nonexistent here. There are rarely any meat selections and our waiter never visited our table and ask if we needed any refills or more meat. Both times when we wanted more meat we had to raise our hand to get her attention. One of our beef plates was comical, the pieces were all broken and were about the size of your thumbnail. The only way to cook it was to put the beef on the soup spoon and dunk it in. The options for sauce is not great either. None of the sauces were tasty. The desserts are what you'd find in a Chinese buffet and the egg tarts tasted like pure baked egg, it tasted like it had 0 sugar added in. We opted for the ice cream that was offered, I asked for vanilla bean since it was on the menu and our waiter said they don't serve that. We asked for chocolate and strawberry and she brought us green tea and strawberry.. If you're not going to remember something that simple, then use a notepad to write it down! If you're looking for personalised hot pot/shabu, you're better off going elsewhere.

Chiba hot pot is not the best food, in my opinion. The meats were not as fresh as I would like from a hot pot restaurant. The service was good, and the server was attentive. The ambiance of the place was not for me. You do get what you pay for sometimes.

This place is fantastic if you're a fan of hot pot! I consistently go for the house broth--it's incredibly spicy--and my husband loves the Tom Yum. Both are bursting with flavor! The selection for your hot pot ingredients is extensive, ranging from veggies to meats, seafood, and beyond. The staff are consistently attentive and friendly, adding to the overall great experience. Hot pot isn't my daughter's thing, but she still indulges in the delicious chicken wings--I don't blame her! They're consistently crispy and incredibly tasty.

Visiting parents for Thanksgiving, so we followed Yelp's rating and gave Chiba Hot Pot a try. We called to make sure they are open and to see if we can make a reservation. The lady was nice to explain that no reservation is needed for lunch. And she was right, when we got there at 12noon, about half the tables were filled. Although the place is not as big as other buffet places, it is nice and clean. After our family sat down, within a few minutes the waitress came to explain to us the process of ordering. The lunch was $18.99 per person, all you can eat. Other than the chicken/beef/pork meat slices, and the fried buns and fried chicken wings, she told us we would be able to find everything else on the menu on the belt. She then pointed to the list of soup choices - we are to pick a soup base first, then indicate the spicy level we want. Each person is to pick their own cause we all get our own hot-pot bowl.As a good eating habit, we started right away with the veggies. About 10 mins later, an automated toy train above the belt delivered the meat slides. Everything - especially the veggies - is super fresh; the blue crab and shrimps are hit or miss (had 5 crab pieces and 4 of them smelled). Apart from the food at the table, there is a section on one side of the walls with self-serve dessert (cake pieces and fruits) as well as different sauces. When we were all done eating, the waitress came by to get our free ice-cream order; there are at least six flavors to choose from. ---Overall, here are the great things about Chiba Hot Pot Buffet: 1) The service is great; they have people who continue to help clear out empty plates, and they never once rushed anyone to finish, 2) Most food is fresh and the place is clean, 3) So many ice-cream choices compare to other competitors. The things that have room for improvement: 1) Please do not place "water/empty" crabs on the belt, 2) The mushroom soup base is a bit too heavy in ginger, 3) Maybe add one more option to the fruits instead of only oranges and cantaloupes.

Pretty solid individual hotpot spot, I only wish it was closer to Chinatown/inner loop!$18.99 is a decent lunch price for all-you-can-eat hotpot, there's quite a bit to choose from. The food is pretty fresh and you can make your own sauce to get just the right flavor you want. Their house spice broth isn't crazy spicy but it tastes pretty legit!Whichever protein you order, it'll come by the little train, which would make any little kiddo happy. The conveyor belt has a plastic sliding doors to help limit contamination, assuming others actually slide it closed. There's a range of seafood, vegetables, and other hotpot stuffs to choose from, my favorite was the meatballs, which you normally don't see!The only thing I'm sad about is them not having sesame oil, but they do have plenty of minced garlic.Don't forget to get the fried buns! So yummy

You select your broth. Chicken beef or pork. As the conveyor belt goes by just grab whatever you like to put in your bowl of broth as it cooks. There's a variety of veggies noodles mushrooms you name it. There's an abundance of other items you can order as everything is including. I enjoyed the concept and my Chiba hot pot was so delicious. The little train bring other items right to you. Can't wait to return.

I am a regular customer of this restaurant. I love their house spicy soup base; even the mild version is very tasty. The service is always consistent, and the servers are very polite and fast. I deducted one star only because of the poor selection of desserts. Overall, it's a great hot pot place in Houston!

We such a wonderful experience! The staff is incredibly friendly, the food tasted fresh and the soup base was so delicious. I wish there were more options at the sauce bar but the ones they have are great! A super bonus were the chicken wings that were crispy yet so moist with good flavor. I loved that specific items were delivered by the train making it a fun and unique experience!

I applaud them for trying something new and gimmicky. The train that delivers food definitely drew me in. So I popped in with some friends on the way back from College Station (otherwise I would not have gone out of my way). We came in at opening and we were the only ones on a cold day. It started filling up around noon. But we had the run of the place to ourselves for 30 mins or so. Which was why I was so stunned by the incredibly poor service. You mark which meats you want on a piece of paper and they input it in a system. Our meats didn't arrive after 30 mins and no one came to check on us. So we asked and they said the computer in the back wasn't working so they had to input it again. All in all, the items we checked off took about 45 mins to arrive. But others who were seated after us got their food much faster. The worst part was, the meat was not worth the wait. I know it's all you can eat but there are some amazing AYCE hotpot places with high quality meats for great prices. This is not it. It was about $29/person for weekend lunch. The meat disintegrated when put in our broth pots. Also, I'm pretty sure our broth orders were wrong. The grilled meats were chewy and hard to eat. The items into the conveyor belt were not fresh. The sauce options are limited and not good. No ponzu?! And the desserts were horrific. I didn't even try them. We just paid and went elsewhere to satisfy our sweet teeth. Weirdly, the restaurant is not well furnished. My dining bench was not secure so it kept moving around. It had another seat behind it for another table and moved around until someone sat behind me. I recommend going to Shabu zone in Chinatown or just driving to Austin for Soup Leaf. Don't waste your time or money here.

Love this place! I'm surprised by the reviews on the bad service because I've been here at least a dozen times and have never had an issue.There are more high end hot pot places, but this one is really good in my opinion. I love the convenience of the conveyor belt as I tend refill my noodles often :) The only downside I would say is it could be a little cleaner. The handles to get into the conveyor belt always look dirty so I just use my napkin to open. Also, the benches do tend to shift when you're seated at a table, but not a big deal. Overall, it's a good pick and I would definitely recommend trying it out!