Friends Station

Absolutely loved this experience! Me and my boyfriend decided to have a Friday date night here. You pick your meat and broth, they deliver it to your table and you cook the food yourself. The rotary line contains many fresh veggies, noodles, etc. It is a beautiful restaurant and the service was excellent from the host to the waitress. It is worth every penny spent. $40 unlimited hot pot, can't beat that.

Friends Station was a little disorganized. I made a reservation on Open Table, though there was plenty of seating available without one. We had a party of five but their hotpot tables only have seating for four, so we were a little confused when they tried to seat the five of us at a table for four. Parties larger than four will have to sit at the bar in a line if everyone wants their own hotpot station.After getting seated, it took a while for a waiter to bring us menus to outline the protein plans (Select - $28, Premium - $35, or Ultimate - $48). After you pick your soup base (limited options - veggie broth or shoyu broth), you also order your proteins. I'm used to AYCE hotpot places where you order the proteins for the whole party. At Friends Station, everyone orders their proteins individually and they are brought out in small individual servings. Requests for more protein must be done with the waiter. He didn't come around very often, but he came around enough to say that he came around. The rotary items (veggies, noodles, dumplings, etc.) are grab and go on the belt. They have little menu cards to label the items and indicate the cooking time as they run along the belt. It's nice that each item was covered with a cloche to minimize contamination. One of our favorite hotpot items is taro, but unfortunately they were out of this item on a Sunday evening (we even checked with the waiter).The hotpot bowls are very shallow. With only two broth choices, it's less about the soup and more a vehicle for cooking your food. There is a sauce station, which is what you must rely on for flavor. They also have fruit pieces at the sauce station to grab for dessert. Other dessert options included mochi and regular ice cream and tiramisu. I'm not sure where the disconnect was, but several proteins and items that we requested from the waiter never came. The ordering and bringing out of sides and proteins came at a slow pace, so you really don't get to eat your fill for an AYCE place. There is a 90-minute time limit. We would've appreciated more orientation at the start of the meal. As we began pulling items off the rotary, it's unclear where to stack the empty plates, so things start to pile up and your eating station gets crowded. They did not come around to clear empty plates. Aside from the minimal ordering of the proteins at the beginning, there is limited interaction with staff. They rely on signs posted around the rotary to communicate messages, such as not putting items back on the rotary, notifying you that gratuity is added automatically to the bill, and warning you to eat what you take or you'll get charged for excess waste. However, the signs are spaced out along the tables, so depending on where you sit, you won't get to read them all.We went with the premium (mid-tier) dining option, which was a fair price point. But overall, the experience was a bit lacking and service is kind but not super attentive, as they primarily rely on the rotary for service.

After doing the Lakefront speedboat ride, my friend and I came here for a late dinner since it was 9 minutes away from my hotel. It was nice eating something hot after riding on the boat. It was our first time eating a rotary hot pot, usually sushi. The service was slow... the first server forgot about us after asking, and we waited another 15 minutes for another server to take over. For the price, the selection can be more, especially the vegetable selection from the rotary. It was very limited.

I am hotpot obsessed. I would go daily if given the option. So when I was downtown and walked by this place, I knew it would be love before I even went in. You grab a table and the rotary ingredients find you. There are three price points with extras like beef and dessert for the more expensive choices. I went basic because my favorite for hotpot is fish and that's on the basic price point. There are some things that they don't have here that they usually have at other hotpot places like woodear mushrooms and quail eggs. I missed those and would love them as additions to the rotary. Also, I'll be honest and say their three broth selections aren't my favorite. I have done the shoyu broth both times that I have been in and it's fine but not my favorite option. I tried the vegetable and Tom yum last time as samples and I'll stick to the shoyu. Also, the sauce bar is super basic with just like 8 options on there. Overall a great and fun experience! I would definitely do this one again!

Have been to rotary restaurants before, and this place falls a bit short. Really wish they would have more variety on the rotary, and for what they have on it, provide a larger portion. One leaf of cabbage for 1 plate just leads to me getting 3 plates of the same thing. Meat you also have to track down a host to get more for; what is on the menu you have to ask for. Our waitress we saw only twice the whole time, ended up having to have the bus boy serve us most of the night.Nice atmosphere inside, really wish the plates process would improve.

I have been to many restaurants with the conveyer belt food delivery system, but they were all sushi restaurants. This is the first one I experienced that delivered hotpot ingredients. For an all you can eat restaurant in the heart of Chicago, the price is super reasonable. I had the lowest price point option and it was lovely. The servers cleaned up used plates super fast and was very friendly. Will recommend.

I came through a Yelp event when Friends Station first open, and just finally made it back this weekend! Same great experience with some improvements! They now offer 3 broth types - all vegetarian. I got the soy broth, but we sampled the truffle which was also great. On slow days, they don't put the meat on the rotation belt, but they were very attentive in making sure everyone had as much meat as they wanted. They also offered us other items that weren't on the belt but were included in the AYCE, like a delicious green tea ice cream. They had more types of noodles too, like gluten free glass noodles and rice noodles! And more sauces like an insaneeee sesame garlic sauce. I was super happy with my second experience. I crave hot pot all the time, so I know I'll be back.

This place isn't large so make a reservation if you can. It is set up very well. You have your own little individual hot pot. There is a conveyor belt running beside all the tables with vegetables, noodles etc and you just take off what you want. Depending on the package you choose, the proteins are brought out to you but this is an all you can eat place so you can get as much as you want. I loved the experience as even on the conveyor belt there was so much to choose from. I counted at least 5 different types of noodles and the vegetable selection was good too. There is a sauce station where you can make up your own dipping sauces which is always fun. Staff are sweet and very attentive and always willing to help. In terms of seating, if you are going with more than 4 people, they are going to put you at the bar which means you can't talk to everyone at your table. But it's still a great experience and I definitely recommend this place!

Great, friendly staff. Good food options. The pork belly and kurubota were my favorite. Really appreciate the sauce station to add more flavor. The most a table can seat is 4 people so larger parties may have to consider being split but I did see a bar type area facing the conveyor belt so that could be an option too.

I love friends station so much! There are so many food options, the pricing is incredible, the staff are amazing. I recommend this place to all my friends and family. I have eaten here over 5 times in the past 2 months and I love it so much. I love getting the Wagyu, dumplings, and buldak noodles, This was such a unique dining experience also, there is a rotary that you can pick unlimited ingredients from. I forgot to mention that my favorite drink there is the lychee martini. So unique, and a hidden gem! and don't forget to try the MATCHA TIRAMISU for dessert!