The place is always packed for dinner on a brutally cold winter day. It's definitely a comfort food spot to warm up our chilled body and belly.
Although they say this is a Mongolian hot pot joint, I have to clarify that the hot pot style is Northern China - something very different from Southern China (Cantonese) style. The soup base is full of medicinal herbs and exotic spices, whereas Southern style got pot like to use actual soup base.
That being said, you really don't need much dipping sauce as the food will be strong in flavour after cooked in hot pot. I keep a small bowl of self mixed dipping sauce on the side just for kicks.
Aside from the soup base, I don't see anything else that would make this place unique. The selection of food is very standard and lack cleanliness. So if you are not used to greasy dirty hot pot joints, you might find it repulsive. And yes, this place stinks (only if you don't like herbal medicinal food). And in that case, you might be better off dining at a Cantonese style hot pot restaurant (which is likely as greasy and dirty).
Although the meal is about $25 after tip and tax, the true cost is likely 40-50 as now you will need to send everything you wore to dry cleaning to get rid of this hot pot smell. Hope you wore something cheap and replaceable in case you need to trash/burn it!