Four Season's Hot Pot

User Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

The first time I ate at this restaurant, I thought the food was decent but the service was questionable. My second trip confirmed my suspicions. We were the ONLY three people in the restaurant. A grumpy, old chinese lady walked over and before she even talked to us, she handed us a notice that said we had to order our pot stickers (or whatever they are) a day in advance. She was clearly upset that we had chosen to visit her restaurant unannounced - apparently it takes a long time to make everything by hand. After allowing us a short time to look over the menu, she returned to take our order. We had not yet decided on anything and we asked for a recommendation. She then told us that she DID NOT HAVE TIME to give a recommendation. This was astonishing to me, so I asked her, "You're too busy to serve the only customers in your store?" She replied that she was, so we got up and left. As someone who thoroughly enjoys eating out, I do not hesitate in saying that this was my WORST DINING EXPERIENCE in Provo. Don't waste your time or money. There's a restaurant called "Rice King" on center street that, although not as authentic, is a much better choice.

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User Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

I was really excited to try but was very disappointed with pretty much everything. We walked in and the first thing that was said was, "You like a little spicy broth"? confused, I said yes followed by an inquiry about their menu. I never received one then got a huge pot of really spicy broth with no explanation of what to do with it. Mind you we went to get the dumplings. As we sat there we were anxiously awaiting our menus but they never came. Another table told us that we were to go to the buffet and gather up random remnants of raw sea creatures and stale raw veggies to plop in our spicy floaty broth to cook them. Hmmm... we thought we would give it a try. We went to the meager buffet and pecked around the ice filled dishes to fish out poor cuts of meat and parts of who knows what. Nothing is labeled so you may think you are getting an innocent crab wrap/ pork dumpling. To your awful surprise after watching it roll around in suspense among the red hot fiery floaty filled water you fish it out of the giant hot pot and sink your teeth into....gasp...a squid wrapped dumpling full of fish eggs/ crab entrails/ gut tasting sea creature mush. After being disappointed by almost everything that went into the cauldron of fish sewage soup and watching the other three at my table cringe with every bite I felt like I was on a episode of fear factor. At this point the rolling mixture of hot pottedness began to voilentely boil and toil as if it were alive. If you looked closely you could see market rejected sea food rise up with each frothy boil bubble to take a hopeless breath of air before then being reclaimed by the horridness of what is known as the hot pot. To my dismay the boiling became so intense as to dismember the tenticles and limbs of a whole shrimp and make its saddened deep black beady eyes nearly explode their ocular aqueous content all over us table guests. To wash down the feeling of intense digestive malaise we headed towards the soda machine. There were four of us and only three glasses left. I then realized that I would be the one to have to stomach my nausea without the aid of a refreshing beverage. The other three were disappointed as well, three of the eight beverages were spouting and sputtering only soda water. Perhaps the most alarming and mysterious event that happened was that the "four seasons", (no- this four seasons is not synonymous with quality and comfort) a chinese restaurant, ran out of rice. No rice at a Chinese restaurant? After scavenging through our repulsive self made massacre of a meal we went to the only redeeming quality of the restaurant- a small sliding door freezer awaited us with promises of unlimited frozen treats and goodies. I tried the handle but it seemed to be booby trapped the door wouldn't budge. I panicked thinking of the endless supply of heavenly delight that taunted me behind the heavily smudged and well used glass door. I pulled and pulled with all of my might and the thick grime of a conglomeration of all that is unholy released its hold on the door's sliding hinge track. The door flew open and thick mists of frozen fog began to clear to reveal my treasure. All my hopes were dashed as I saw glacier masses forming over the wilted and ink faded cardboard boxes of various expired unheard off frozen"treats". After removing several large icebergs with my now numb and raw hands; I uncovered in an archeological fashion a "Toffee Pop". The initial leathery feel and texture eventually gave way to a sludgy consistency that regretedely found its way down my esophagus. Emerging from the front doors of the fish steam sauna we vowed never to return. Yes, all this can be yours for the mere price of $14.00 a person (aka highway robbery).

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User Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Best food ever. Very authentic. I've only had the hotpot there but i can't imagine the others to be anything but excellent. Sometimes when there are a lot of people, you might get a little lousier service, but otherwise, the couple is very nice and friendly.

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