So Hot HotPot- Cary

Popular location for family style hotpot. All you can eat menu ordered on tablet, it comes promptly to your table. There are so many choices to choose from, and it is vegetarian friendly too. The sauce station is complete and self serve. There are side dishes there too. Single serve ice cream is next to the sauce station. There’s even a cotton candy maker. Bubble tea is a popular drink I see many customers order, can take with them if they don’t finish (they come in a giant size too). We have come here to celebrate birthdays, and they serve an Asian treat with a small fireworks stick. It is great for the kids, but also for adults. The staff are very welcoming and accommodating to your requests. Broth is refilled without needing to ask. I recommend this restaurant and location.

Beyond disappointed with this hot pot restaurant. We used to come here often but hadn’t visited in a while. When we recently returned, we were shocked by how much the quality had declined. What was even more concerning was the safety of the broth. After it had been boiling for some time, we noticed a layer of black foam forming on the surface of the plain broth. The vegetables and meat we cooked were also covered with the same black residue. We called the store manager over. He claimed it was caused by the lotus root we had added, but in all our years of eating lotus root—both in China and the U.S.—we have never seen it turn broth black. We suspected it may have been related to the condition of the pot, especially since we could see a clear line of residue around the inside where the broth level had been. However, the manager continued to argue rather than acknowledge the issue. Sadly, we cannot recommend this restaurant to anyone. The photo below shows how dark the lotus root became and what the black residue looked like after we wiped the surface of the broth with a clean napkin.

Absolutely amazing service every time I come out here. I live an hour away so this is a special occasion spot. Sandy was our server this afternoon & it so happened to be my birthday. They brought out a yummy treat for me. 🙂

Andy 💀 was our server and he was helpful in guiding me through the vegetarian options here. The vegetarian spicy broth had a savory flavor with a numbing spice, I recommend it. I also talked to the bartender, Clark, who like me is also from Maryland which we talked about it in detail. Overall, the experience was great. Good quality for all you can eat and attentive, personable, & friendly service.

Had a wonderful time, I was meeting a friend and was checked in on while waiting outside, very sweet staff our waiter Gio did a great job explaining and helping us get used to the system. Food was out of this world and was overall a great experience. 10/10 recommend this location as it feels more homestyle and easy to hold conversations! Will definitely be returning again soon!!

Delicious food. Great atmosphere. Wonderful experience. It was so cool to cook our food in front of us. So filling. Clark our server was great.

My partner and I LOVE So Hot. We've gone quite a bit over the past two years. The staff are always friendly and attentive. The food and sauce bar are high quality and fully customizable. It's definitely a popular spot on weekends and may have a wait for dinner, so we tend to go for lunch on a weekday. I recommend trying one of the slushie boba drinks - delish!