Szechuan Mansion Hotpot

Where do I even begin? I love this place and will miss this place the most when I move back to my home state. This place has really great dry hot pot and their intestines and pork belly is SOOO good and umami. Something about their mala sauce makes me crave this. Their hot pot hits the spot so well too. Combo C with add ons is our go to. It may seem expenensive but when going with a large group, it evens out. The fried rice they give with the dry hot pot is SO SO yummy and it feels like fried rice that you had as a little kid because it's so home-style. I love the variety of sauces at their sauce station too. Don't be afraid to go overboard with your garlic, green onions, and cilantro. Get:-dry hot pot and make sure to get the wide glass noodles, some veg like tongho or spinach, intestines, pork belly, beef belly-hot pot combo C -fried rice

Great spot for the pot of hot. For the unfamiliar, it's make your own soup! Except it's not soup, you're just boiling meat or veggies until they're cooked and then you eat. You eat either straight from the broth or add some condiments to kick it up a notch. Bam!No condiments for me. Just get me that beef tallow broth, medium spice. Anything above that is a recipe for disaster, and when I say disaster I mean the toilet. Recommends...braised beef, pork liver (comes with an egg), shaved beef, all mushrooms, and the veggie platter. Skip the popcorn chicken and order another meat option. Our host forgot our order of pork belly and a cup of rice. Aside from that service was typical of your usual hot pot establishment. Ambiance is wonderful, especially in the Asian room lol, aka the backyard patio. Yumzy...

We are regulars at their Cary location and just started coming to this smaller location in Durham. The food is fantastic and so is the service. I'd say the two Szechuan Mansions are the highest quality meats of the hot pot places in town. Definitely recommend.

Honestly, I've been to Szechuan Mansion more times than I can count. So many varieties of hot pot toppings & broths to choose from; the sauce bar is also comprehensive. They have a good amount of appetizers; next time I go, I want to try a dry pot as well. And of course, I love getting a mid-hot pot sweet treat with their fried mantou buns and condensed milk. Service is fast. Ambiance is nice & accommodating of large groups. Convenient location on Ninth Street with accessible parking across the street. 10/10 would recommend!

Right across the street from Harris Teeter. The amount of food that my fellowship had ordered was perfectly enough on June 29, 2024. The table that we used was big enough.

Atmosphere: Szechuan Mansion on 9th Street is surprisingly big with a bright, extended patio area in the back. Service: Our server was friendly and accommodating, helping us through the ordering process at our first visit at this location. Food: We got the Yin-yang pot, which comes with beef tallow mala broth and pork bone broth. The mini spicy level was still quite spicy! For the hotpot, we ordered sliced prime beef, sliced pork belly, enoki mushroom, spinach, pumpkin, and glass noodles. All the components tasted fresh and of good quality, though the meat quantities were a bit small. Overall: Szechuan Mansion is a convenient restaurant for hotpot in Durham, especially with it being on 9th Street. However, we felt that our meal was on the pricier side, especially because we've eaten AYCE hotpot at similar price points. We'd recommend Szechuan Mansion if you're in the area and don't want to trek out to Cary for your hotpot craving!

I came here with 2 other friends on a weekend evening and it was packed! We waited about an hour for a table but once we were seated, the service was very fast and efficient. We ordered Combo C and it was enough food for 3 people. I liked how it has a variety of many different foods. In my opinion, the key to a successful hot pot is the sauce, so I appreciated the sauce bar where you can make your own sauce. My go to sauce involves a mix of soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, sugar, garlic, and garlic chili sauce. I thought the food was great and we had an enjoyable meal. We sat outside which was pretty hot considering we visited during September but they had fans to keep us cooler plus it was a shorter wait if we sat outside. Ideally, I would sit inside during the summer and maybe consider sitting outside in the fall/spring season. Overall, I had a great time at this restaurant and I look forward to returning!

hot pot trinityA good hot pot place just needs 3 things. Flavorful broth, good meat, fresh produce. This place has these things. I was a fan of their prime beef and shrimp paste. Veggies were def fresh. I made the mistake of getting the medium spicy broth which was hella spicy. Bone broth was excellent tho. Service was superb. No, this place is not AYCE blah blah blah. But we were very full at the end and ended up spending about the same amount of money as an AYCE place. Worth

Some meals are nothing more than a means to get calories in your body... others, such as the lunch I had today at Szechuan Mansion Hotpot, are truly an experience of the senses and a challenge to the borders of flavor combinations. This is my first experience with a hot pot style of dining establishment, so please indulge a newb as he dives in with all tastebuds and tries to paint a picture of the method behind the appearance of madness. You are greeted upon walking in and asked if you are wanting the hot pot experience or simply ordering a kitchen meal for one or two. I decided to peruse all options and was handed an array of menus that were festooned with check boxes and filled on both of the laminated sides with meat options, veggie options, broth options, all from mild-mannered to crying in a fetal position spicy hot. The one that immediately caught my eye and attention was their Yin-Yang hotpot that is literally a split vessel containing hot and spicy broth on one side and a more mellow umame on the other side of the pot... best of both worlds... but I was solo this round and decided against an entire table full of food for a lunch. I will be returning with reinforcements for that one though...I was greeted by the server and given a water as well as a plate with long chopsticks, a split bowl of peanuts and pickled veggies, and given plenty of time to sort out my options. I decided on the beef bowl with a one-pepper spice and discussed the level of spice with the server. He asked how hot I like things and, when I said somewhere between jalapeno and habanero; he recommended the single pepper hot because it could always be made hotter if it wasn't spicy enough, but could not be made less spicy if I went a little too far. In hindsight; I should have opted for the two pepper spiciness as the one pepper was mild by my standards and could have used a little more kick. The rice was cooked perfectly, sticky enough to handle with the chopsticks and balanced the depth of flavors in the bowl... oh yeah... the endless bowl of everything, everywhere, all at once... it had cabbage, seaweed knots, mushrooms, potato, crab rolls, beef slices, onions, peanuts (note for those with nut allergies..), and a broth that you just wanted to slurp all day!Now, if that wasn't enough to satisfy your tastebuds; there is a DIY dip bar to the rear of the restaurant where you can literally craft your own dipping sauces from scratch, or from their guided menus above the various ingredients. Talk about a flavor explosion! All in all, two chopsticks way up and absolutely a great place to take a handful of friends or family for a truly unique food adventure!

The short version:Szechuan Mansion Hotpot's new second location in Durham is just as good as the original location in Cary. I think these are the best Szechuan *and* Chinese hot pot restaurants in the Triangle. I'd only come to this location if it's more convenient for you. The Cary location is bigger so there's less of a chance of waiting there. Both locations are popular and deservedly so.The long version:Szechuan Mansion opened this second location in Old West Durham, near Duke East Campus, in June 2023. You can park for free on 9th St. Signs say two-hour parking, 8am-6pm.This isn't a small restaurant, but it's not huge either. I counted 10 tables in the main front dining room, an additional large table by the sauce bar towards the back, and a few more tables in the back dining room. Most tables could seat up to five people each. We saw a group of 12 literally squeeze around the large table by the sauce bar. We overheard the manager say that table is this location's biggest table.Szechuan Mansion doesn't take reservations, but you can call and put your name on their waitlist. I suggest doing that. When we arrived on a Saturday just before 6pm, the place was packed. The manager told us our wait time, for a party of two, would be one hour "at least." My wife entered her name and phone number into their touchpad. We were able to see our place in line. We checked in with the host later and were able to see how many tables were ahead of us. We ended up getting seated around 7pm, so the one-hour estimated wait time was fairly accurate.The food here is really good. While Szechuan Mansion is known for their hot pot where you cook most everything yourself, their non-hot-pot dishes are excellent as well. We've gone to the Cary location multiple times just for their appetizers, malatang soup combos, dry pots, and boild [sic] pots. While the DIY hot pot experience can be fun, if you're not feeling up to it, the aforementioned items are just as satisfying. The food is legit and "authentic."Some hot pot restaurants do mini or individual hot pots. Szechuan Mansion does it the more common and traditional way with a big communal hot pot for each party. At the time of our visit, hot pots started at anywhere from $8.99 to $18.99 for broth(s) plus a la carte ingredients at $3.99 to $15.99 each. The prices can add up quickly if you want to feast and try lots of different things. However, I think the cost is relatively reasonable. For example, after tax and tip, my wife and I ate for $106.13 and had enough leftovers to fill us up for a second meal.I counted over 80 dishes on the menu for hot pot alone. They included all sorts of meats and vegetables. There were five kinds of mushrooms and various Asian veggies like Tong-Ho (chrysanthemum), Bamboo Shoots, Taro, and White Radish (daikon). Some of the more exotic dishes included Goose Intestine, Ox Aorta, Duck Feet, and Pork Brain.The menu can be overwhelming, especially for first-timers. To make things easier, combos designed for one to four people were available at $14.99 to $66.99 per combo. Combos offered a variety of meats and vegetables plus apps/sides, with some customization. Combos didn't include broth(s). Adding broth(s), total combo prices worked out to $23.98 to $85.98 per combo, before tax and tip.Here's what we got:Yin-Yang Two-Flavor Pot* Beef Tallow Mala Hotpot ($5.99) - medium spicy* Organic Tomato Broth ($5.99) - with pork brothHot Pot Dishes:House Special Stewed* Braised Beef ($6.99)* Braised Beef Tendon ($6.99)Meat* Enoki Mushroom Beef Rolls ($9.99)* Sliced Pork Belly ($5.99)* Fish Ball with Pork ($5.99)Hotpot Special* Kungfu Beef Tripe ($7.99)Mushroom* Shiitake Mushroom ($4.99)Vegetable* Fried Tofu Puff ($4.99)* Napa Cabbage ($3.99)* Watercress ($3.99)* Bean Sprouts ($3.99)* Winter Melon ($3.99)Rice & Noodle* Greenbean Vermicelli ($3.99)Everything was delicious and good quality. The "medium" spicy was plenty hot for us and we love spicy food. My wife's favorite items were the Napa Cabbage, Fried Tofu Puffs (because they soak up the soup), Enoki Mushroom Beef Rolls, and Shiitake Mushrooms. My wife's favorite part is cooking the vegetables at the end since cooking the meats beforehand makes the broths more flavorful. My favorite items were the Braised Beef Tendon, Enoki Mushroom Beef Rolls, Sliced Pork Belly, and Kungfu Beef Tripe.The important sauce bar was fully stocked with over 20 condiments and mix-ins like soy sauce, black vinegar, MSG, sesame oil, minced garlic, cilantro, spring onion, chopped peppers, oyster sauce, shacha sauce, and chili oil. Sauce recipe suggestions were available at the bar. I loaded up on garlic and MSG.Something that sets Szechuan Mansion apart from other hot pot places are the sauces *enhance* the foods that have been cooked in the broth. This is a testament to Szechuan Mansion's broths as you don't have to rely as heavily on the sauces for flavor.Service was good.