My boyfriend and I’s favorite pastime is watching Youtube. He’s gotten me into quite a few things that I probably wouldn’t have scouted out myself. One of the things we love to watch is Mike Chen. Mike has a few different channels that usually have food videos. He essentially travels and tries out some of the best food there is.
For a while now, we’ve wanted to try out the particular type of thing… HOT POT! If you don’t know what hot pot is, it’s a Chinese cooking method in which you cook your meats, veggies, and seafood with soup stock. The soup stock can vary too.
Since I live in Central Florida, I have many more options for hot pot than my boyfriend does where he lives. We decided to try out Nine Spices Hot Pot in Orlando, Florida.
How Did You Land on Nine Spices Hot Pot?
Lucky for me, I was in charge of planning this day out. So, I did what I do best… Google! I knew there had to be some great hot pot places in Orlando and/or Tampa, and I was going to find the perfect one for us. I scoured Google, Yelp, and TripAdvisor before going to Nine Spices Hot Pot.
I chose Nine Spices Hot Pot because of the good reviews. Plus, it seemed the best bang for your buck, and that is probably what drew me in the most, haha!
The Food & Atmosphere
The place was nice and clean. We got seated right away. Their menu consisted of certain hot pot types such as seafood, chicken, pork, lamb, etc. But their biggest contender was all-you-can-eat. Before we even arrived, we had already scoured the menu (we were too excited not to!), so we knew that the best thing for us was to do the all-you-can-eat option for $24.95 per person. With the all-you-can-eat option, you get to choose your broth. They offered original, spicy, herbal, bone, and others.
This place wasn’t like the other all-you-can-eat places where you either A.) have to wait for your waiter to request more food or B.) get up and get it yourself. Nine Spices Hot Pot had a conveyor belt loaded with food, so you could pick and choose what you wanted from the comfort of your table.
However, if you would like to check out their menu before arriving to see what they offer. You can view the Nine Spices Hot Pot menu here.
I loved the conveyor belt a little too much. I might have grabbed more food than I wanted. And I might have snuck another beef plate on the table even AFTER the boyfriend said, “No more until we finish what we have.”
What you need to know about Nine Spices Hot Pot is they will charge you $10.99/lb for any food waste. To not get charged that price, do not waste food. Take a plate or two, eat that, and repeat the process.
Nine Spices Hot Pot To Go?
Yes! Nine Spices Hot Pot is now offering online ordering. However, do not get your hopes up because you cannot get traditional hot pot to go, but you can choose from soups, dumplings, and fried rice. If you would like to enjoy hot pot for what it is, you will still need to dine in.
The Verdict
Did we like it? Will we be back? Was this what we thought it would be?
To be blunt, we didn’t care for the broth whatsoever. My boyfriend got the spicy soup base, and I got the bone soup base. The spicy soup base was not spicy, while the bone soup base had no flavor. Even after adding in seasonings (they do a seasoning bar by the front door), we either spiced it up too much, or it didn’t turn out as we had hoped.
I will credit that the food we saw on the conveyor belt was fresh. The portions on the plates were big. They are big enough to share, which we did.
Need More Recommendations for Restaurants in Central Florida?
If you want to find your next favorite restaurant, you’ll be glad to know I have a treasure trove of places I’ve tried throughout central Florida. Please take a peek at what Central Florida offers food-wise, and let me know which is your favorite below.
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