J’s Mini Hot Pot

I have tried it all around town, 89 hotpot, shabu shabu, 99 hotpot which closed down, happy valley unlimited hotpot and I have to say, Mini hot pot is still my favorite hot pot place of all. Reason to be, well, first of, the quality of the food, it is always fresh and consistent. The pricing is very reasonable as well, you do get to mix your own soup flavor, anyway you like, so the flavor itself, you cannot blame anybody. I will usually stick with the house sauce if I don’t know what I want for my flavor. The quantity is exactly enough, although some might like the feeling of unlimited portion, but how much can you really eat? Mini hot pot’s portion is exactly enough, either lunch or dinner, at the reasonable price that it is, it’s way over the top for me. Their comfortable seating, clean setting, friendly customer service and everything else is also top notch. I really like their way of doing hot pot, in a simple system of portion by portion. It helps to keep things clean, organize, and easy to eat portion. The fun you get is doing your own flavor on the soup, but the rest is made simple for you. That’s all I want for my hotpot.

The shabu here is pretty good although the few times I’ve gone to eat shabu the real difference were the veggies and sides come with it and whether there is a sauce bar or not. I guess if the broth was poorly done or the meat was of low quality it would be considered bad, but J’s does it well. We ordered the Beef Hot Pot ($ 14.95), which came with 15 slices of beef. The Seafood Hot Pot ($ 16.95) came with a variety of items like clams, crab sticks, fish, octopus, and a few other things. A rice bowl costs $ 1 but it could have been a little bigger though. Each order of hot pot gets a pretty large plate full of veggies and the obligatory and traditional half hot dog weiner.
The service was very friendly and helpful. They explained things we weren’t familiar with. The place is well maintained and can hold about 50 – 60.
If you’re into shabu then this might be of interest to you.

Well I have been here so many times. I have come on a casual date, with family, with friends, for lunch, and dinner. I have had the ramen, sweet potato noodles, the beef, the lamb, the beef balls, the dumplings, and just about every combination that did not involve sea food. Out of all the Broths (Except the beauty cleanser) my favorite is the vegetable-​spicy.
This place is just good. Good service, good food, and amazing smoothies (watermelon is the best, mango second best). It is a place to go if you are HUNGRY! you get a lot of food, and lots of fresh veggies too.
Love this spot.

Great place to go with a group of friends and this spot in particular has always been pretty good to me. Think they have changed names and possibly decoration, but the food has stayed constant.
Overall I’ve never been super impressed with the Hotpot experience I think of it more like fondue with friends Asian style. You. choose your main item (I usually do seafood) and then pick your broth and veggies and they bring you the pit and help you with judging the time to leave items in for and what order is best. There is a great deal of custom ways you can create your meal and design your own sauce, but it can sometimes be a little disappointing of an experience. More than once I have been with friends upset with the taste they created or unhappy with overcooked items or that famous fondue followup where you are still hungry after finishing an expensive meal…
While my best experience of this was in San Fransisco this spot is not bad. Pretty good quality meats and veggies and It is cool to share with a large party because you get a taste of different items. Only I don’t have this on the top of my list of places to eat in the area, so while it is worth trying I would have a hard time finding myself returning anytime soon.

I’ve never seen a hot pot place before now but I am so glad I went. Food was amazing, waitress was super kind, and the experience was so much fun. SUPER Fresh food. Amazing hours. I WILL be back soon. LOVE IT!

This was my first hot pot experience — and I can’t believe it took me this long to go do it. Asian food is my favorite, and as soon as I got to J’s I had a feeling it would be a positive experience.
We walked in with a party of 7 with no reservations and I was immediately impressed with the way they managed that request. It was very crowded as we came on a cold Friday night (when it’s cold everyone wants hot food!) and they were very friendly to us despite the crowd. They told us it would be a 30 minute wait but it was more like 15. The woman at the front checked on us several times as we waited, brought us a menu and overall really looked out for our comfort. I liked that.
The menu is huge and you want everything! All pots are individual (hence the «mini») and you can choose from a ton of options: Beef, pork, chicken, lamb, snow crab, sliced fish, seafood… there are also tons of vegetables and sides to choose from. With everything from fish ball to pig liver and quail egg, this is a pretty serious feast.
There’s also a sauce bar. This is where it’s at. You can mix a ton of different types of Asian sauces, garlic, green onion, fish sauce… make your own deliciousness. Then bring it back and dip all your goodies in there.
Our waitress remained 100 percent on checking in with us, refilling our water, and taking dishes away. Great attitude too. It made an already good experience great.
I had a lot of fun and it made me want to do hot pot again. I got the beef bone broth and beef at the recommendation of another Unilocaler and I wasn’t disappointed. Worth the trip, worth the wait!

5 stars for my favorite place!
Awesome points for:
— BYOB (just a $ 3 charge for cold glasses per table)
— Make your own sauce bar
— Large portions of meat and veggies
— Free shaved ice dessert at the end
The staff is hit or miss. They’re really busy in there so don’t be shy about getting assertive about what you need. Usually for more broth or to order additional side items.
My favorite is the meat combo with miso broth and a little bit of spice. DELICIOUS!
Enjoy!

Excellent service, helpful staff, and all around good food. We spent around $ 100 for 5 people eating their hearts out. We brought in a cake from sweet Hut as well. The Thai broth is Tom yum flavored. The miso has onions, and any broth can be spicy. The red and white meat is thin sliced, and the seafood is plentiful. It’s a bit overwhelming with the amount of plates, plus you can create your own dipping sauce at their diy station. Overall it was a great experience. We had to wait about 10 min for a table on a Sunday night.

I really like this location, to bad it’s a hike from Atlanta. It’s a great place to take folks for their first Chinese hot pot experience. I tell them it’s like fondue only better.
1) You start with a broth: I love beef bone. Make it spicy for .75 extra.
The Chicken broth is ok, if you like mellow flavors you might prefer it.
2) Then pick your meats. I always pick the Beef Hot Pot-it’s thinly sliced beef (all the meats are thinly sliced to cook faster). All combo’s and meats come with a giant plate of Asian veggies that includes cabbage, an egg (crack it in), roots, corn, hot dog slice, tofu,
radishes, etc.
3) If you dare you then get sides ($ 2-​$ 6 extra). Here are my favorite:
Beef ball combo– it comes with both beef ball and beef tendon ball. The tendon ball has a better flavor that I prefer. Think of it as a meat ball you throw in the soup.
Shrimp paste– it’s fresh ground shrimp that you throw in the soup in pieces and out comes a marvelous shrimpy ball.
Some folks get udon or raman noodle as an extra. You don’t need the sweet potato noodle — you already get some on the pile of veggies.
4) Make sure you go to the sauce bar. Create whichever sauce you will need for dipping-​nutty, spicy, vinegary, etc.
5) First you throw in the veggies, give them a few minute to cook. Then your sides if you want. Fish out what you want to eat with the handy ladle and net they provide. The fresh/​raw meats go in next. A big rule to keep in mind is that you don’t pull anything out once the meats go in. Wait the the meats cook to prevent getting food with raw bacteria. Never throw it all in at once. As a friend told me, you end up with a big mushy mess. Most items only need a few minutes to cook. Meats will need 3 – 4 minutes.
I love that we got to have 2 broths at not extra charge so we shared a combo. We were told that when you get 3 or more sides you get an extra broth at no charge. A total meal will cost about $ 20-​$ 30 and I always share since it’s so much food. They offer you aprons which it seems like only the amateurs wear, and me of course.
They also offer an assortment of bubble teas and smoothies. I’m partial to the mango. At the end we got shaved ice with red bean on top. I love Azuki bean anything.

Wow! This place is amazing. Think of it as a giant crock pot where you throw veggies and meats in. If you come in with someone, definitely share because the portions are enormous. We got the shrimp paste as a side which is basically what it sounds like. You scoop the shrimp paste into balls and put it in your soup. I recommend the beef tendon balls instead of the beef balls because they were definitely tastier. I’ll definitely be back and I’ll be sure to bring in my appetite.

I tried this place for my first hot pot and it was amazing. We told the waitress it was our first time for this and she was great showing us how to order and fix our sauce. When our food was ready she brought it to the table and showed us how to make and put together, it was absolutely delicious i cant wait to do it again.

Hotpot is one of my all time favorite meals. I love having my own individual steaming pot. It’s perfect for any time of the year but especially more so now that we are approaching fall.
They offer different types of proteins but I always go with the beef. As for the broth, I’d normally go with beef but I decided to try their Thai broth for an additional $ 1.50. I can’t discern the flavor differences since I forgot to taste the broth before pouring in my sauces.
For my sauce, I mixed scallions, tons of garlic, peanut sauce, yummy sauce, pre-​made house sauce, and general tso’s sauce.
Their veggie and noodle platter has always been plentiful. Spinach, bok choy, bean thread noodle, mushrooms, tofus, potato, taro, daikon, hotdog, corn, and an egg. (I am probably forgetting some other items.) You can also switch out your noodles at an additional cost. I’ve tried udon before and it was awesome.
The service here is also great. During my last visit, our waitress noticed that we were wearing light colored clothing and offered us aprons. I was pleasantly surprised at the thoughtfulness.
I definitely recommend J’s Mini Hotpot! Great service and great food.

First time at this hot pot place and have to say I was very pleased with it! Ordered the Thai soup base with the seafood hot pot. The amount of veggies that come with the order was insane and good! The seafood was good as well. However, I was not impressed with the quality of the imitation crab and the clams had a sand in them so couldn’t eat about half of them… oh well it happens.
Really liked the variety at the sauce station. One funny thing is they had an MSG shaker… I thought most people were trying to stay away from it (shrugs) to each their own right? Just thought it was interesting…
Overall, it was a very enjoyable lunch :)

This is my first time trying Chinese hot pot and it was delicious!
First time diners are given this handy dandy «How to Chinese Hot Pot» guide. It was perfect. It told us exactly what we are getting into and how to eat it.
The portions are served huge. I got the beef and shrimp hot pot. You can ask them to serve your shrimp peeled if you don’t want to deal with peeling after you’ve cooked. The vegetable plate is ginormous and almost overwhelming. You have to make your own sauces and that’s super fun and adventurous!
You get a complimentary desert too. Shaved ice with jelly or boba. Delish!
The service was great. The staff is extremely friendly and knowledgable. Susan, our server took the time out to explain the vegetables and even showed us her favorite sauce mixture.
I’m only visiting Gwinnett from California for a week but if I ever come back, I’ll definitely be sure to come back again!

My first time trying any sort of mini hot pot, and I’d have to say, I’m quite a fan! I’ve never been a fan of the idea of hot pot, and it’s never really been my thing, but due to such large requests to try this place, D decided to bring me here with his pops. His dad was not a fan because apparently there is an all you can eat hot pot down the road, but D and I both agreed that this place isn’t bad.
You each get your own soup base of your liking, and you can cook our own food without having to all decide on one soup base for the entire table, which worked out of us because D’s dad and I enjoy spicy foods while D does not.
We all ordered varying meat dishes including lamb, pork, and beef, and added a side of meat dumplings and udon noodles.
You would assume that it would not be enough food, but it was definitely more than enough for ALL of us to get full, and we ended up paying less than at the all you can eat. We were able to create our own sauces, and enjoy our own broths.
Overall, I deemed it a good first experience, and is looking forward to stopping by more often! :)

It has really great, generous portions.
I had the beef soup with beef broth. They didn’t offer me the lunch menu, which sucks bc I had to spend $ 15 on lunch! Expensive if you ask me! Overall it was ok. I need to come back with a person who comes here all the time.

Don’t let the new name trip you up. Everything is exactly the same, including the servers. I have been here a couple times, and every time I go, I end up staying for at least 2 hours. Maybe I talk too much, eat too slow, or eat too much. The last time I went, I ended up finishing pretty much everything on my standard veggies/​noodles plate including the pork meat that I ordered. I have thought about ordering the lamb (maybe next time), but I always end up ordering pork (with beef broth). So good!
If you go on a friday night, I recommend that you call a day or two in advance to make a reservation because it does get really busy (and once it’s packed, it will stay packed for a while).
Once seated, take a couple minutes to look at the menu to figure out what you want to order. Order your food, then go to the sauce bar to make your special sauce concoction. I am not a hot pot expert, but I like to make two bowls. One bowl is for the broth of my soup (jalapenos, raw garlic, green onions, sriracha etc.), and the other bowl is for the sauce I want to dip my meat and veggies in. :) Be creative and put mix whatever you think is yummy! Plopping in your slice of radish into your broth first makes your broth taste so much better.
When it’s really busy, it gets sorta difficult to flag down your server, but I figured you could just look around until you get the attention of one of the workers, and just raise your hand (not too embarrassing, right?). It’s important to ask for more broth when it’s getting low, so you don’t burn it.
When you’re done, and you don’t feel TOO full, you can ask for some shaved ice. There are a couple different toppings including pineapple, red bean, and lychee. They all taste great!
Enjoy your mini hot pot!

This place has been around for years but it recently changed it’s name from Mini Hot Pot 2 to J’s Mini Hot Pot. The layout, menu, and employees of the restaurant is all the same from before. It has a sister restaurant in Chamblee called Mini Hot Pot. It is located in a small Asian plaza so there is limited parking next to the restaurant. Hot pot is essentially the Asian version of fondue where you place meats, seafood, vegetables, and noodles into a broth and then dip it into sauces.
The menu has a wide selection of different base combos including various main meats or seafood such as beef, lamb, pork, chicken, shrimp, and others. The actual main meat or seafood portion is kind of small. Each combo comes with a large plate full of side items mainly featuring vegetables. Some of the items include spinach, napa cabbage, corn on the cob, tofu, an egg, noodles, and potato. You can also order other items a la carte or additional portions of items that you already receive such as more meat or seafood. You can also order bubble tea or flavored iced teas with your meal for a few dollars extra.
J’s also has a sauce bar in the back corner of the restaurant where there is a wide variety of seasonings and sauces that you can blend to create your own dipping sauce. If you make a sauce blend that doesn’t end up tasting good, just keep trying out new combinations until you find out the perfect combo. The key to making your hot pot experience delicious is making sure you have good sauce!
For our outing, we each created 2 or 3 different sauce blends and ordered some extra meet and vegetables so we could have more of what we liked. I decided to go with the meat combo that came with the combination of beef and chicken but I ordered an additional side order of beef. All the food seems to be pretty fresh and the meat is pretty lean with minimal fat on it. Service tends to be slow when the restaurant is packed so you have to flag someone down for water or to order additional food.
At the end of your meal, each person gets an individual portion of shaved ice and you can choose what you want as your topping between options such as red bean, green apple jelly, and lychee. J’s Mini Hot Pot has good food for a reasonable price and is great for a cold day to warm up!

I have been coming here for years now when it was Mini Hot Pot 2. Now, it has changed to J’s Mini Hot Pot. Nothing has changed but the name. I have went to other shabu shabu places, but this is my all time favorite place ever for shabu shabu.
First, you get to choose your main entrée and a bunch of veggies & noodles come with it. I usually order the seafood combination or the lamb combination. Then the server brings you your both and you turn on your stove. I like the chicken broth. You can get it spicy or regular. I like to get my broth regular, so I can prepare all the different sauces I like. There is a variety of sauces and veggies to make sure you get the sauce you want. Every time I come here, my friends like to taste each other’s broth because it’s all different. They all think my broth is super gross because of how sweet & spicy it is. I like my broth like I like my people. Super sweet with a kick (; All the servers are nice. Service has never been a problem. Also, it comes with shaved ice for dessert!
PS: Their lunch menu is like $ 10!

If you love Japanese shabu shabu or American fondue — there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy Chinese hot pot too. I love hot pot. It’s fun to create your own, and it’s the perfect meal for cold weather. The space is nice too esp. compared to their Chamblee location which is more like a dive. Service is super friendly and attentive too.
The menu looks overwhelming b/​c there are so many options — but basically just pick your meat (vegetarian option available too!) and broth, you’ll also get a huge plate of veggies to go in your hot pot, and then make your own sauce for dipping your meat and veggies!
BEEF HOT POT — $ 14.95
Broth:
I ordered the Beef Bone Broth (very good) — but tasted my friend’s Miso Broth ($ 1.50 more) and I think I’ll get that next time (yum) … also b/​c Miso is good for you :) FYI they will ask if you want the hot & spicy broth but save the $.75 and get the spicy flavors from your homemade sauce. As your meats and veggies soak up the broth (also from eating the broth, haha) — the servers will come by to add more broth.
Meat:
The beef cut is the thin beef brisket — the pile of meat slices looked like a lot but they really do shrivel up and shrink when they boil :) The meat cooks w/​in seconds so you really just want to put in 2 pieces at a time and then immediately remove and eat w/​your dipping sauce.
Sauces:
The key to a tasty experience is the dipping sauce. The condiment bar may overwhelm you but just take a little of all your favorites and stir. If you don’t like the final result, go back and try again :) Mine had sweet seafood sauce, soybean sauce, garlic chili sauce, garlic, green onions, cilantro and jalapeño. I put some in my broth but mostly I used it to dip my cooked meats and veggies.
Vegetables:
The veggies are fresh and diverse. Don’t put all the veggies in at once — think about what veggies take more time to cook. Just to give you an idea what veggies are provided — corn, cabbage, spinach, taro, fish cake, radish, enoki mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, tomato, tofu, tufo skin, fried tofu … also an egg and hot dog slices (surprisingly good!). The veggies taste great w/​the dipping sauce :)
Noodles:
Hot pot also includes noodles — I got the Sweet Potato Noodles which taste like the jap chae noodles (clear vermicelli) … but I was too full to eat them. You’re supposed to add your noodles at the end after your broth has soaked up all the flavors from your meats and veggies. Next time I’d probably get the Yellow Noodle ($.75 extra?) — I tried my friend’s and it had more flavor and I loved the chewy texture.
Dessert:
Oh yeah and you’ll get a complimentary Red Bean Shaved Ice for dessert!
Overall great food experience esp. if you’re adventurous. Also fun for groups!