Me and my partner and friends come here a lot if we are looking for acyce. They have a decent selection for soups and for the meat and seafood. For Chinatown area this is one of my top two hot pot places to go. The other ones I lao Jie. I would recommend both those hot pot places for bang for your buck. This place service is good. It's dark inside but who cares. You have all you can eat, drink (non alcoholic) and ice cream. Plus side I don't get a stomach ache here. So we come back here very often. I have a sensitive stomach if anything is not cooked well or is not clean I have stomach issues. But I don't have that problem here.

fantastic hot pot and really kind staff - I love the ice cream at the end it's a great addition.

Great spot for ayce hot pot! The place is not a looker, but for the value the food was great. A big plus that nonalcoholic drinks were included! We got two different types of broth, spicy and pork; the spicy brother was mild and was my favorite. Service was great and fast. I will definitely return!

Why was this one of the best hot pots I've had in the US. For some reason, I was able to call ahead of time and make a reservation on Lunar New Year Eve which was pretty incredible. We got seated immediately when we came and just FYI, the clock starts ticking the reservation begins so if you arrive at 6:15 but your reservation time is 6, 15 minutes has already gone by. Here's my favorite things about the place: - There are so many side items that were included in the price including all of these different Asian beverages and so many different flavors of ice cream. I couldn't believe you could get as many grass jelly drinks AND 王老吉 as you wanted which I definitely capitalized on. Not sure if that's the best of use of stomach space, but oh well. The free ice cream also included wafers and you can just take it to go. Honestly, it was incredible. - The hot pot itself had so many ingredient options. I think there was 5+ leafy vegetables which was already very notable as I feel like in most places, they only have napa cabbage and that's about it. I love that they also had daikon which is such an underrated hot pot ingredient. - The meat cuts here were also amazing. All the meat was incredibly tender, especially the lamb, and dipping it into the sauce you can make by yourself is just wow. - The service was incredibly quick. You order and within 5 minutes they have all the food brought to your table. I literally cannot rave about this place enough and I will definitely come back for more hot pot in the future. You will definitely feel extremely full after coming here and it's fun to come with more friends so you can try out all their different things they have to offer. Ugh, I'm already dreaming about this place.

One of the best AYCE hot pot places in NYC. Not only is it AYCE hot pot, but it's also AYCE drinks (non-alcoholic) and ice cream! Not only do they serve unlimited soft drinks, but they also have a variety of Asian drinks like tea and soy milk (the soy milk is SO GOOD). Aside from the amazing AYCE options, the menu also offers more meat options than other AYCE places. The outside does look somewhat questionable, but it's clean inside. The food quality was great - no complaints aside from the time limit. It does get pretty crowded inside (especially when people are lining up for the sauce bar), but they also offer outdoor seating. Definitely recommend this place if you are looking for a good AYCE place in Manhattan.

Excellent hot pot, great service (thank you Sandy!), and comfortable setting. Love this place, go when you are hungry ($40+ pp all you can eat in 100 minutes). On a cold and rainy day, go early, otherwise, be prepare to wait. We went at about 6pm on a rainy Saturday, it was quite busy but we only had to wait about 15 minutes. But afterwards, I think people had to wait quite a long time. We were quite happy with the very extensive selections of spicy and non-spicy soup base. We tried a beef based and a vegetarian based, both were very good. There is also a large selection of meat, tofu, balls, vegetables. Try a bit of many things and they are very prompt in getting seconds and adding soup when we needed. Alcohol drinks are extra, but all the soft drinks and ice creams (!) are part of the deal, including coconut drinks, lychee drinks, and yogurt juices! There are also many different flavors of ice creams after you are fully satisfied from the hot pot, so be sure to save just a little bit of room. Excellent Service: several servers were all pretty friendly, our waitress Sandy was particularly warm and helpful. She offered us to the drinks while we were waiting for our table, and she was prompt, courteous, and patient during our meal. I know the servers are pretty busy and stressed in these types of busy hot pot places, so I think it's worth noting. The other thing about the service was: I think they set up their processes very well. As we walked in, we can see all the vegetables were organized neatly in the front, so when they get our orders, they can quickly get everything for us in a few minutes. Tips: the shrimp pastes were pretty special, you can put it in with the tofu dishes as soon as they start heating the soups. They should be ready once the soup boils. Restroom: just one unisex room, they kept it pretty clean.

Hou Yi Hot Pot is not a place for subtlety. It is a place for indulgence, for adventure, for excess. It is a place where you can cook your own feast in a bubbling cauldron of broth, choosing from an array of meats, seafood, vegetables, noodles and sauces that span the spectrum of spicy, sweet and savory. It is a place where you can eat as much as you want for a fixed price of around $40 per person, as long as you finish within 100 minutes. The restaurant is located in Chinatown, on a busy stretch of Hester Street that teems with life and color. The interior is simple and spacious, with wooden tables and chairs and red lanterns hanging from the ceiling. The outdoor seating is more cozy and intimate, with heaters and curtains to keep out the cold. The service is friendly and efficient, with servers bringing you plates of raw ingredients that you order from a one page menu. You can also help yourself to some ice cream desserts and specialty drinks from a buffet table near the entrance. The servers will also help you set up your hot pot station, which consists of an induction cooker embedded in your table and a split pot that can hold two different broths. The broths are the soul of the hot pot experience. Hou Yi offers 10 varieties, ranging from mild to fiery. I recommend the mild spicy broth, which has a rich flavor and a gentle kick; and the tomato broth, which has a tangy sweetness that balances well with the meaty ingredients. You can also mix and match your own sauces from a sauce bar that offers soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, garlic paste and more.

At ~$36pp, this is about as good as it gets fro AYCE hot pot in NYC. The ingredients were all very clean and fresh, and the broths were flavorful. The bonus ice-cream with tons of topping choices was just icing, with classic flavors like chocolate, cookie dough, strawberry, mint chocolate chip. I just wouldn't come here with a big group unless you can absolutely guarantee enough seating indoors. We were a group of 8, and even though we'd made a reservation, they clearly hadn't configured us in the small seating area, so they put us one of the outdoor shacks. Which honestly wouldn't have been too bad (there are heat lamps, and the steam of the hot pot keeps you nice and hot), but it was raining hard outside and rain kept leaking into our shack. Plus, we were definitely too many people to be in the shack, and were practically on top of each other--not something you want when handling hot soup. I'd still come back....with about 50% fewer people.