Ipot Restaurant - Sydney

Anyone who ever experienced a communist county will know within 10 seconds of walking in what to expect, westerners will get a shock, at least you don't have to wait for it in line like they do across the road at Mamak.We used to go to the Chatswood store, the food was yummy but the staff act like they just woke up with a headache from a bad sleep and don't want to talk to anyone... and you're the one responsible for it. The city store is probably worse. The Chatswood store is now closed down replaced by a different Chinese restaurant with much friendlier staff.Anyways, once you sit down and understand that this is just how things work at iPot, and fight your way to ordering the food, and your interaction with the staff is no longer vital, things start to get better. Each person has a small pot (you choose the soup base) that boils in front of you. Once the vegetables, seafood, meats, noodles etc arrive you cook them in your pot and eat them when you feel they are ready. (Don't put everything in your pot at once, just cook enough for a bite or two at a time) I love this concept because I love my food extra hot! Especially in winter. Don't forget to pick up some sauces from the front of the store to dip your food in just before eating.Note that the fish comes much later after other items because it is frozen so it takes them a while to prepare. Also the noodles come out last just when you think that they forgot about them. I recommended the handmade noodles. They look like fettuccini and taste delicious.We had a spacious booth for just the 2 of us. The interior of the restaurant is nothing special so you will not impress your date if you take them here.The bill for 2 of us was just under $90, with no alcohol, but we ate a lot of food. To close off, yeah, the service is horrible, we look past it and enjoy the food.

Was here on a Sunday for lunch with some friends.The service was the absolute worst!They had pretty much ran out of everything we wanted and on top of that it took so long for our order to come out! Mind you, they didn't have to cook it.Very bad table service as the waiter we had would lean over you without any notice. It was also about 2pm where the waiter came over to us and said "can you pay your bill now"... and we hadn't received all our food yet!Extremely rude.. The only plus side is that their sauce bar is USUALLY... but they had run out of a lot of it.

Never had worse!!!!!! We have a booking and confirm 10 minutes before arrival. Upon arrival i was told the table was given to the boss's friend who walk in TWO minutes before us and just took our table and no more table available!! Definitely worst experience ever!

Ipot is the perfect place for those who love hotpot, but hate sharing. This describes us to a tee as we are germaphobes to say the least - hence why we tend to avoid hotpot with large groups. Ipot allows you to enjoy your own hotpot with individual soups. What an interesting concept right? How does it work? Have a look below! It's a unique experience however be warned, the soup is extremely hot, like, piping hot! You can adjust the temperature of the electric table from low, medium to high allowing you to cook your selection of ingredients to your liking. This place is also not cheap but it is definitely worth every cent if I can eat hotpot again!

We went here on a recommendation that the food was brilliant. The food was okay, but it was the service and the attitude of the staff which really let the place down. We arrived at nearly 12.30 (the place opens at 11.30) and were told they were not ready for lunch. We were invited in anyway and didn't have to wait long. They didn't have one of the drinks we ordered and they got our other drink order wrong. There was also no explanation of how it works, but luckily a member of our group had been before. The waitress was rude and it seemed we were an inconvenience. She told us they only serve rice at dinner time and so we had to have noodles because it was lunchtime. We questioned one of the dishes we ordered as it wasn't what we expected, the waitress gave us a response full of attitude, shook her head and shrugged her shoulders as she walked away. We were the only people in the restaurant and not once were we asked if the food was okay or if we needed anything. We had to get the attention of the waitress for a top up of soup and water.The staff were standing in the restaurant on their mobile phones which seemed unprofessional. The food was nice but the customer service and attitude of staff were terrible. Had this been better we would be tempted to return but with so many other great options in Sydney, we won't bother.