Been hearing a lot about Haidilao and finally got a chance to come here.
It's lovely that these big stuffy sat there to greet us. Also a great way to not have guess waiting at the reception and crowd up the place. By the way, reservations are highly highly recommended.
As we sat down, the sever gave us these. A plastic bag for your phone, so it won't get splashed or if you happen drop the phone in the soup. The black circle is a hair tie for you ladies with long hair. And the red pouch is a lens wipe. They think of everything.
We started out with a 4 soup based combo: (upper L) Classic Spicy, Pork Tripe and Chicken Soup, Signature Tomato Soup base, and Mushroom Soup base.
Sauce bar plus dessert. It has variety of sauces and you can make combo with them. There's 2 type of Chinese Dessert soup, some fruit and salad for starts. That is extra charge.
Let's see what we got: Lobster fish balls, it's basically fish paste made into a ball with lobster filling in the middle. Bottom has 'Chinese Donut/Cruller' - which is amazingly good when dipped into the soup for a min or less - nice and soft. Then thinly sliced beef. Not pictured: Mushroom combo with 4 kinds of mushroom and cabbage.
Here, on top sideways is the Tofu combo that has Tofu slices, tofu skins, dried bean curd skin.
Bottom row: Fried Pork bites, Fried steamed buns, and fish paste squares.
Also got the Seafood combo that comes with sole filet, scallops, squid, shrimp, and mussels. On the lower right is a plate of duck tongue, probably second time in my life having that.
Anyway, each soup brings in different flavor of what you put in there. Each one is worth trying, having a 4 soup base is the best way to go, to try them all.
They also have entertainment, in case cooking your own food is not entertainment enough. They have a Face Changing dance, which is a traditional Chinese dance, but somehow it got paired with Kpop music.
Also, if you order the dancing noodle the chef will come and pull the noodle for you and have a show too. We suspect the guy that's doing the Face Changing dance is the same guy that pulls the noodle, but either way, it's entertainment.
There is actually a patio outside for you to wait for your table. Meantime, you can enjoy the snacks, water and tea they have out.
Couple of things: reservations is highly recommended, especially on the weekend. We arrived at 5:15p, folks are just casually walking about. By 5:30p, the place got intense with folks waiting outside and squeezed in front of the check-in desk at reception. So, book ahead and arrive early. By the time we got seated the place was 85% filled.
They are very thoughtful on a lot of parts. Like they have a robot that delivers your food. If you want an apron, they offer it to you so you don't splash. If you want to pack your left over, they will do it for you in big to-go bowls where you can heat it up easily at home.
Downside? Well, unless you come here during the week at lunch, do not expect to get squeezed in without reservations. They do come by and check and rumor has it that around 2 hrs they will kindly get you to close out tab. If you have a big party, don't expect to get seated in big tables, they can accommodate 3 because they have 3 big tables where you and your party can sit together. It does get crowded, which means, parking is also a challenge. They do have parking at the back of the building, and there are walkways in between shops that you can walk thru, but not many people use them. And if you snooze, you do lose.
Haidilao
23220 Grand Circle Blvd
Ste 100
Katy, TX 77449
832-802-6666
https://www.haidilao.com
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