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| - This place has so much potential in my eyes, but I have to be completely honest, my first visit was a letdown.
First and foremost, I would highly recommend others to make a reservation if you plan on eating here. Fortunately, my friend and I did, but I could see others coming in disappointed, not realizing they would have needed one. The space is quite small and can really only seat 6 or 7 parties at a time. That being said, I really did like the ambiance here. I think they paid a lot of attention to detail. The artwork fits with the space, and while it is cozy with the small space, I felt there was sufficient space for the hotpot spaces so you didn't feel crammed against the person next to you. I also felt like the lighting, fixtures and decor were all cohesive giving it a pretty upscale feel.
Next, I have to be a little critical of the service here. For such a small restaurant and the amount of servers, I estimate each server probably has only 3 or 4 parties at a time maximum. With that in mind, I think servers should have ample time to spend time with each guest and ensure they have an experience where they feel really taken care of (in comparison to a family style hotpot restaurant where the service would be far less). Our server did greet us right away and inform us that they unfortunately did not have their liquor license yet. After ordering our drinks though, she didn't come back until several minutes later to ask us if we were ready to order. Keep in mind that up until that point, she hadn't told us anything about the menu other than that they didn't have their liquor license. Although I've eaten hotpot several times in various capacities, I still asked for her to give us a rundown of the menu setup and portion sizing. She didn't seem very prepared to sell the product, and had this been my first exposure to hotpot, I think I would have been really lost. All she told us was that the hotpots were sized for one, but didn't describe the different offerings or explain anything on the menu. I kind of felt let down by the service here, as I said, hotpot may be unfamiliar to a lot of folks, and also I think for any new restaurant, it's important to help the guest understand the basics. My friend and I ended up ordering on our own anyways, we got the pork belly appetizer along a hotpot for each of us. At about $25/hotpot, I do think the menu is priced fairly. It's not generously sized by any means, and most hotpot restaurants will give you a lot more for that price, but given the ambiance, I didn't feel ripped off. The hotpot menu itself is ordered by protein- pork, beef, lamb, seafood, vegetarian, or a combination of any two. After choosing your protein, you can choose from three different broth options: ginger chicken, spicy miso and kombu (a seaweed base). Each hotpot comes with a medley of vegetables including cabbage, daikon, carrots, mushrooms, tofu and udon noodles. There are also several add-on options, but most are protein based. They didn't have a lot of add-ons I was hoping for such as tofu puffs, shrimp balls and different greens such as cabbage and Chinese watercress.
Our starter, the pork belly, was absolutely delicious. While very rich, it was very well balanced, and one of those dishes that made me want to lick the plate. As for their namesake the hotpot however, my friend and I were totally disappointed. The broths were really lackluster. My friend had ordered the spicy miso, but unfortunately it had little to no spice to it whatsoever. My broth, the ginger chicken, was virtually flavorless. I've had hotpots before that were a little on the milder side, but they are typically served with more rich and robust add-ons, such as pork blood or seafood balls. For me, since the hotpot ingredients were also unflavored, it really felt like there was something missing. They did give us three sauces on the side for dipping, but it didn't add enough for me to make up for the lack of flavor in the broth personally. I'm accepting that perhaps this restaurant is attempting to slowly introduce hotpot in a way that is more palatable for those that may be unfamiliar with eating hotpot, but I still think there needs to be more in terms of flavor.
My final thoughts were that while I was glad I got to try Ushabu, and even more glad that there is finally a hotpot restaurant in Cleveland, I couldn't see myself coming back here just for hotpot. I might come back for the small plates, if they are all as good as the pork belly, I'd be really happy with that, but again, the hotpot was a miss for me. I think if you have never tried hotpot and just want to try it out, you'll probably enjoy the experience, but on the other hand if you're a hotpot veteran, this may be a letdown for you. I will also add that I really do think the servers should be more prepared to explain and accommodate customers in order to give them the best experience possible.
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