Wendy B.

I am impressed. It has been my past experience that it's hard finding decent, non-Americanized Chinese food when traveling out of state. But my Yelp friends in Arizona didn't lie. It seems we had found little Chinatown in the outskirts of Phoenix, better known as Mesa, Arizona. This was so authentic, we had great difficulty communicating to the staff due to the language barrier. There were 4 of us having lunch. The menu had attracted me because it contained some unusual dishes, even though the menu was somewhat smaller than some. But it was diverse and priced reasonably. Mr B's choices were a pigs feet dish and the eel claypot. My 10 year old granddaughter was all excited that she could have the Hong Kong wonton soup with noodles, my daughter had her eye on the pork rib with black bean claypot rice, and I selected some pork eggrolls. There were so many more dishes that I was dying to try, but massive amounts of leftovers didn't work well on this vacation. The wonton were particularly delicious and quite a few in the soup. Plump and tender, each came filled with a big chunk of shrimp and ground pork. There was a huge amount of noodles, all pulled together in a big bowl filled with good broth. The black bean spare ribs were nicely cooked, exactly what I would expect for dim sum, only much more. While typically we eat family style, the eel and the pork knuckles were primarily for Mr. B. I tasted both, and they tasted flavorful and good, but not really something the rest of us craved. The only disappointment were the eggrolls, primarily because of the heavy wrapper which was not crisp and thin. The filling was lacking in flavor as well. It was the general consensus that these would not tempt us again. Definitely a place I would return, if I lived nearby.

Gretel Y.

Had a nice dinner with friends at Claypot Kitchen. Arriving a bit late, we found our group already seated. Despite visiting on a Friday evening, the restaurant was busy but not packed. Service was fast and friendly. Our server was attentive to our group. My husband and I ordered the following: Iced lemon tea $4.50 Spicy fish claypot $18.50 Mapo tofu claypot $16.50 The iced lemon tea was a treat. It was quite refreshing. Our claypots were flavorful and filling. I managed to finish all the fish and most of the rice in my claypot, while my husband opted to take his unfinished mapo tofu to-go. Overall, we had a good experience and could see ourselves returning to Claypot Kitchen in the future!

Joyce W.

Q: What's a chicken's favorite vegetable? A: Bok bok bok bok bok choy! What better way to spend a Friday than with some gal pals and good food? I ordered a #21 Spare ribs clay pot and a HK-style lemon tea for myself while some housemade fried fish filet, beef chow fun, and deep fried buns with condensed milk was shared between the four of us. All were oh so good. First things first about those who haven't had claypot rice: The rice is supposed to be crispy. That's arguably the best part of claypot rice! Yes, it takes 20 minutes to make (and it says so on the menu). Why? Because it is made to order. The rice goes uncooked with your chosen topping/entree, and it gets baked together. It's essentially an individualized casserole dish. Some soup gets served on the side, and while it is tempting and tasty to eat on its own, you pour the soup into your claypot rice towards the end to eat with the crispy rice. It's essentially part two of your meal. Claypot rice is also served with a special soy sauce based sauce you can use for your rice once you eat all the yummy toppings. As for all the other good eats, they were good! The housemade fish filet is incredibly delicious. Don't be assuming you're getting frozen stuff here. It's moist and tender and comes with a nice sauce on the side. The beef chow fun showed great technique with no broken noodles and lots of flavor. As for the deep fried buns with condensed milk, it's a nice sweet treat before the start of the meal. As for the HK-style lemon tea, just get it! I love this place! I can't wait to introduce more friends to this great eatery. I'm wishing Claypot Kitchen much success!

Lei G.

The Pork Rib black bean sauce Rice 排骨饭 was moist & tasty. The Spicy Dumpling ( 5 pcs)红油抄手 had a kick and lotsof saucy. The sauce on the Deep fried Shumai(6 pcs)炸烧麦 was sweet & sticky. Looking forward to trying more items.

Amy F.

Recommend: Absolutely Yes! Food: 5/5 everything so delicious. Service: excellent, made sure we have everything. Ambience: casual and clean Been here a couple times now and tried different food. If you never tried claypot, you have to give this place a try. Everything we ordered was delicious. I love their chicken mushroom claypot. They recently got new dishes too. I recently tried their braised beef noodle soup. It was flavorful! Definitely satisfied with the dish. I can honestly say everything is so good. The dishes definitely reminds me of food from China. This is one of my favorite restaurant now.

Amanda C.

Pretty solid claypot spot!! Not a big restaurant but not tiny either. Very family friendly and local vibe. Service was friendly and they were happy to male recommendations. We ordered: Beef noodle soup: it was just OK. Broth is definitely Canto style and we definitely prefer other Chinese versions. The broth wasn't very meaty or flavored with spices. Fish and picked veggies claypot: Fish was tender and the dish has good flavor BUT it was not nice to bite into so many whole peppercorns whenever eating the dish. The peppercorns should have been strained out or put in a cloth bag when cooking. We've never had to chew onto the peppercorns at other spots where we've ordered boiled fish. Chinese sausage & pork claypot: This was the winner here which makes sense since claypot rice is their specialty!! Definitely would return for this. Gave my husband a lot of nostalgia from his childhood eats in Taiwan. The rice was nicely crispy on the edges but not by much and meat was tasty. If you are familiar with Korean bibimbap the crispy rice is similar. You just don't have to mix everything up unless you prefer to. Overall, not a bad spot! Lots of Cantonese family and elderly when we ate there so seemed legit!

Sandy C.

The service was very good. I felt like the restaurant reminded me of home in the sense that it was very much a Chinese restaurant. The atmosphere was very relaxing. I ordered my food based off the recommendation that I found on Yelp. I enjoyed the food, but I wish there was slightly more flavour to it; it felt like it was missing something, but I just opted to add soy sauce to it until I felt satisfied. I had enough to take home for leftovers, so I felt the portions were a good amount.

Alex L.

Another great addition to the East Valley or the Asian District as this has replaced Nan Zhou. The interior and layout is still the same but the restaurant is now a claypot rice speciality. I ordered the beef noodle soup and it was great. The black pepper onion ribeye claypot was flavorful but the burnt rice does become gummy/ sticky after awhile I'm sure that's just the experience lol. The service was great, attentive and nice! Keep in mind it does take 20 mins to prepare the claypot rice

Jenny K.

I love clay pots and I was excited to try this place. We went in on a Sunday afternoon and it was pretty packed. My friend and I ordered spicy tripe, chicken and mushroom congee, and pork rib clay pot dish. The spicy tripe had good flavor to it. It went well with the steamed bean sprouts that they had on the bottom. The congee was good but not the best. The pork rib was a bit disappointing... it lacked flavor and the meat was tough and chewy to eat. The congee and pork rib were both served in a clay pot so I thought the foods would be nice and hot. But to my disappointment, the food was not hot at all. I've had foods served on a plate that would be hotter than theirs. Maybe their clay pot rice would be served hotter? Not too sure. Overall the service was good and the place inside feels like a mom and pop kind of shop. I would give this place a 3.5 stars

Sherry B.

I was so sad to find out the hand drawn noodles place was closed, and this place is is successor. And I really wanted to like the new place more as well, since we used to come here often before the noodle shop closed. The interior had some minor upgrades and new crew was really nice and attentive. That being said, the clay pot rice really wasn't that great. It's kinda tasteless and I'm pretty disappointed as I do like it as a dish in Canto cuisine. I don't know any other places in town that specialize in clay pot rice (煲仔飯) so this should give them the edge since competition is limited. But with how mediocre it was, I still don't see myself returning anytime soon even if it's the only choice in town. This could totally just be a subjective take on the tastiness of their food. If you haven't had clay pot rice before it's still worth a try!

Rico M.

10,000% would recommend this place. It used to be a one my favorite ramen places but now it's clay pot rice and please come try it. The food is soooooo delicious. This is the only place where's I've found ma po tofu and I'm in love every time I get it. It's so good, right amount of spices and just *chefs kiss*. Try their seafood shumai. It was soooooo yummy and tasty. Their house sauces on it made it even yummier. I haven't tried their clay pot yet but they always recommend it and say it's some of the best. The servers and runners are so sweet and nice. They're always the best and love talking with you about your meal and hearing your opinions on it too. I have no negative things to say about this place. Come try it.

Emily L.

It's pretty thrilling to have a claypot restaurant in the area, and while this spot didn't totally hit home for me, I'd say it's still worth another try. First off, I had to order the claypot dish with Chinese sausage and cured pork belly -- such a classic, authentic meal. The rice was perfectly crispy, and their nonstick pot allowed them to achieve this without the standard excess of oil. The only thing is, there was A LOT of rice. The rice to meat and sauce ratio was pretty high -- I never add soy sauce at restaurants and I found myself adding quite a bit here! However, the soup that came with the claypot, which had winter melon and tender meat, was delicious. Keep in mind you'll have to wait 20-30 minutes for your claypot meal. This is standard for any restaurant that serves this dish. The porridge was average, but I liked that it came with bits of Chinese crullers, peanuts, and green onion. It's not as flavorful as what you'll find at dim sum restaurants since the century egg is an add-on, not cooked in with the porridge. We also did ask if the porridge was vegetarian and, while our server assured us it was, we found a few small pieces of meat inside. I'd still give it another shot since it's only a soft opening, but I'd probably go for a noodle dish or their sparerib or chicken claypot next time.

Anna H.

I love a good claypot rice, it gives me such a cozy and nostalgic feeling. I felt at home when the server greeted me with some peanuts right away and was so friendly. The restaurant is very spacious with lots of booths seats and tables. I asked the server what their best claypot rice dish was and she recommended I get the black pepper steak claypot. Wow, I was blown away! The best part of any claypot rice is the crispy rice at the bottom of the pot, and it did not disappoint! It was perfectly browned and crispy, probably one of the best claypot rice I've had in the states. The steak was thinly sliced and absorbed a lot of the sauce and pepper flavor. The bok choy created a great balance between all the rice and meat. This claypot is good for two meals for me, it's a big portion! If I lived in AZ, I would definitely be a regular here. Highly recommend.