Cao's Hot Pot

Excellent food in a friendly, family-like atmosphere!! The food was fresh and served with care. The broths were delicious! Awesome flavors! You can tell they take pride in their business! One of the best hot pot restaurants I’ve been to in Central Illinois!

Food is fresh, soup bases are super flavorful. They have a wide variety of vegetables, meat and noodles. The owners are so sweet and very accommodating & attentive!! They have a nice little selection of fresh fruit and desserts.

Love this place. The owners are friendly and helpful, their service is great. They included the tips in the bill, but I think they deserve the charge. The service is decent and warm. All the ingredients are fresh and delicious, will definitely recommend my friends coming. One thing to notice, don’t come at peak hour, they might be short of staff.

The sauce bar didn’t have all the ingredients to make the sauce. The fruit plates were emptied the whole time I was there. The broth could use more flavoring and seasoning. It was bland otherwise meat was good thin cut and veggies was fresh.

The hotpot here is actually pretty decent, I forgot to take picture before we eat, but here is their soup base and fruit. The quality of their ingredient is phenomenal, fresh and delicious. Definitely a good hotpot place to go to on campus. It is a little pricey, but worth the bucks for the quality of food.

Tl;dr: Cao's Hotpot is arguably the most authentic hotpot joint across the continental United States. If you want to have THE hotpot experience, this is the place, period. An authentic spicy hotpot base should consist of the proper amount of chilly red peppers, base liquid, and, most importantly, beef tallow. During our first and only visit, the hotpot base served had just the right amount of peppers that made the dish not spicy enough initially but also not too spicy as the dish gets boiled over time. Many hotpot joints simply use water as the liquid for the base. An authentic hotpot dish, however, employs more sophisticated liquid such as chicken soup, which I believe is what Cao's uses for their bases. Last but not least, beef tallow. Many don't understand why beef tallow is one of the most crucial components of an authentic hotpot base, but it simply is. The reason is that the beef tallow not only significantly increases the richness in flavors of the base; the beef tallow also traps the flavors disseminated from other components in the base and retains them not only in the pot but also in your mouth. I was born a Chongqingese; however, I've lived in the United States for the better half of my life, and I have traveled across various places in the US and have experienced countless hotpot joints, from the ones in Chicago, New York, to the ones in California. From my experiences with Cao's and all the ones I've gone to across the states, Cao's taste is arguably THE most authentic hotpot joint across the continental United States. I understand that the taste of a dish is ultimately subjective, and it's definitely true that different people might also have their own preferences (e.g., some people prefer not to have too many spicy peppers in their dish or just simply no beef tallow.) And I have no doubt this is why some people left negative reviews about Cao's for their taste. Simply put, hotpot is certainly not for everyone. However, if you ask me to speak myself as a Chongqingese where one should go for an AUTHENTIC hotpot experience, I'll answer Cao's every time. There are many paintings around the interior of the restaurant. At first, I didn't even pay much attention to them since many restaurants simply print random pictures online that might fit the theme of their restaurant. However, the chef, Mr. Cao himself, came out and pointed out to me that all of the artworks on the wall are the works done by professionals back in the Szechuan/Chongqing region, including but not limited to art professors at Southwest University and Chongqing University, artists working for the Three Gorgeous Museum in Chongqing, etc. The fact that Mr. Cao et al. went above and beyond to acquire all of this artwork from professional in the Szechuan/Chongqing region, and decorated the entire restaurant interior with them, along with small notes on the side that explains the stories behind each of the artwork, really demonstrates how much Cao's cares about its customers' experience. As for the general hygiene and cleanliness of the restaurant, from my experience, they are impeccable. The dishes, silverware, and tabletops are spotless. In fact, Mr. Cao was so confident about his restaurant's hygiene that he straight-up invited me to the kitchen. In there, he demonstrated how the dishes are prepared, washed, and how all the raw materials are stored. The kitchen is so clean that the whole room literally smells like nothing. Everyone was wearing gloves and masks. Separate cutting boards are used for veggies and meat, respectively. And most interestingly, all the raw materials are stored orderly in the freezer with small tags on every one of them that indicates the prepared date and the expiry date. I mean, who in their right mind would invite customers to their kitchen if something sketchy is going on back there? The fact that Mr. Cao invited us in without hesitation really goes to show how passionate and confident he really is about the quality and hygiene of his food and product.

It seems to be a new hot pot restaurant in Champaign. I tried it today because my friend who was visiting UIUC wanted to have some Chinese food. The dining experience was perfect, both in terms of service and food. As soon as we went into the restaurant, a waiter greeted us warmly. I was also amazed by how clean, bright its dining area, and its restroom were. We got a Chicken soup+Pork bone soup base. Both soup bases were delicious. For meat, we got shrimp pasta, petite tender, clam, lamb shoulder and beef tongue. My friend enjoyed the beef tongue most, saying it was super tender, while my favorite food was shrimp pasta, which was fresh and savory. For veggie, we tried the combo plate and tribute. The combo plate had a generous serving size so I suggest you order only this one for veggie unless you really like vegetables. We also had some rice cake and fresh noodles. The rice cakes were among the best I had in US. Throughtout the meal, the stuff asked about our experience and explained how different dishes were prepared. Another important thing is that almost none of the dishes were greasy/oily. Plus, the flavor comes mainly from the ingredients, instead of tons of condiments. That is, you are really enjoying the food and nature! I will take my other friends there if possible. However, the English skills of the stuff should be improved. In this way not only Asian people, but more people from other countries, could feel more comfortable to dine in. Since it is a new restaurant, I will still give 5 stars and hope it can make improvements in the future.