After running some errands including a nice stop at the Creve Coeur Farmer’s Market, we had some time to kill, so we thought what better thing to do than try out another local restaurant! We discovered Hot Pot in an online search to find good quality restaurants around us. Their restaurant believes in whole foods and follows the Paleo diet, which is one that I have tried to follow in the past. Their menu is designed for you to make your own dishes with the foods that you love, using fresh and local ingredients. (Miriam)
Overall Rating ★★★
Food ★★★
Their main menu item is a create your own bowl. You start with an option of meat, including beef, chicken, shrimp, pork, or tofu, then you pick your veggies, your grain with options of udon noodles, rice noodles, brown rice, quinoa, sweet potato or zucchini noodles, and finally your sauce. Each order is personalized and freshly made. In addition to their hot sauteed bowls, they also have salads, sandwiches, smoothies and juice items. Their smoothies are also a create your own style which allows you to choose the base and the fruits.
We each tried a “HotPot” bowl with an assortment of veggies, quinoa and sweet potatoes, and the misoyaki and Bone Broth sauce.
The HotPot bowls were simple but very delicious. Unlike some other restaurants, Hot Pot is not cheap with their veggies. They loaded them on enough that we could barely finish our bowls.
Tried and True Favorites:
- Sweet Tater Chicken Bone Broth Bowl
- Zuknoodle Veggie Green Curry Bowl
- Pink Flamingo Smoothie
Quality ★★★
The quality of their food items was impressive. We spoke at length with the individual taking our order, who appeared well versed on the food sourcing and quality.
We were told that the chicken and beef are local and pastured, but are finished on grain. The produce is locally sourced when possible, and sometimes organic in practice but not certified organic. We also found out that unfortunately their water is not filtered in any way.
Only cane sugar and agave nectar are used. Stevia and raw cane sugar were both available to add to the on site made, unsweetened teas. The soda machine was quite unusual in a good way. While soda is not a health food, they served specialty soda brands out of their soda machine made only with natural cane sugar.
When I asked about oils used, I was told that while pastured butter and coconut oil are the healthiest, because of cost the restaurant has long used processed canola oil. They recently switched to sunflower oil, which is GMO free and an improvement.
In addition to their higher quality oil they also use Bragg’s amino acids in the sauces instead of soy and the soy used in the tofu is GMO free. For those avoiding gluten, all items are gluten free except sandwiches and udon noodles.
They seem to be aware of being eco-friendly and have a store policy of composting and recycling trash used in the restaurant.
Overall, we felt that this restaurant is making a good effort to try and use high quality ingredients whenever possible, eliminating the worst food found in most typical restaurants. (Michelle)
Atmosphere ★★
This is a small eatery with quick, to go type foods. There was a casual feel to the restaurant, with food ordered at the counter and brought out to the table. It had a sort of hippie vibe to it with some decorations that looked hand made and natural.
Service ★★★★★
The service was quick and efficient. Our food came as we requested with no problems. The individual taking our order was tolerant and respectful of our questions, plus she offered us free drinks which was a nice bonus.
Price $
The price is quite reasonable for the quantity of food served. Each bowl was around 10 dollars a piece.
Location
They are located on Manchester road in Kirkwood, not too far from West County Mall and downtown Kirkwood.
Address: 11215 Manchester, Kirkwood, MO 63122
Check out their website for more information: The Hot Pot
