Would give this place negative stars if possible. The absolute WORST customer service experience I have ever had. I went on November 19th with 2 other friends to try out one of the newer restaurants in the area. Upon sitting down, we noticed that all of the staff did not speak very much English which is fine and not in any way a negative as long as the items on the menu can be clearly explained and the customer knows exactly what he or she is purchasing with their money. The menu was very confusing, full of misspellings and not clear in terms of the pricing: whether for the combo if you had to pay for the pot PLUS the combo price. Therefore, we decided to ask and were given answers by TWO separate staff that we would only be charged $11.95 for the combo, and not $17. In terms of the food, it was nothing special. The chicken that was given was cut into very very thin pieces and you barely get noodles so you don't got your value's worth of food especially because WE were cooking and not them. Nonetheless, for Collegetown prices $11.95 did not seem completely outrageous given this new dining experience. Once we received the check it said that we each owed $17. Trying to ameliorate the situation, I asked the waiter why this was true if we had been given the information that it would only be $11.25. What started off as an easygoing question to clarify turned into the waiters laughing at us, ignoring our questions and referring to our friend who understood Chinese (but had no part in this argument) to "translate"on their behalf. Not only that, but they proceeded to put the blame on our friend for her "poor translation". After the waitress continued fighting with us, I said "Either I pay $11.25 or I am leaving" did the waitress automatically begin to speak rather great English and told us we can leave. So, we did. Point is, it was a horrible experience and I will be telling everyone I know to avoid that place at all costs. There are plenty of other great Asian restaurants in the area and please do not waste your time and MONEY (especially as a broke college student). Having a language barrier is understandable but to be rude to customers who are not of Chinese descent is incredibly rude and disrespectful. Giving customers inaccurate information and then blaming it on them is unfair, unprofessional and unacceptable and I will never tolerate that. read more

One of the worst experiences I had in a restaurant. Halfway through our meal, a group of intoxicated college kids arrived. They brought their own sound system and started listening to music at a very high volume. They were so lound that we were not able to have a normal conversation at our table, which was on the other side of the restaurant. Even after kindly asking to reduce the noise to a tolerable level, the manager was not able to control te crowd. The food however was excellent!! read more

An excellent restaurant with a large amount of options. There are many (~20) sauces to choose from and a wide variety of vegetables. Unfortunately, when we went, we were confused about how everything worked, and there seemed to be a language barrier with the staff when ordering. Also, the restaurant is pretty expensive for the area. However, it is very thorough and you get a very legitimate experience. Be careful - sometimes the waits are very long for the restaurant. read more

Terrible service, cold food, and automatically charged 20% gratuity (without ANY warning on the menu) for a party of 5?! Come on, be better.

I have never ordered hot pot, only their regular menu. Excellent selection of entrees and seems very authentic. Definitely go for the lunch specials (~$10 per person), otherwise it can be relatively expensive. They easily accommodate larger groups which makes sharing several dishes easy. Highly recommend their strings beans and wok-tossed chicken with peppers. read more

I came here for a hot pot. The price is ridiculous. It cost me $25 for a single hotpot without drinks. They listed shitake mushroom in the beef combo, and I got 3 "needles" of it, literally. Seriously, for $25? I was entirely a rip-off. Never coming back. Service was also pretty terrible. Servers werent't responsive at all. read more

This place is absolutely terrible. How does this establishment even consider itself a restaurant with their inadequate service and oily, low-cost food? The service was awful. It took us 70 minutes before actually getting our food, then the waitress only brought out one dish at a time. There was no one to get us water, rice, or a serving spoon. Hell, there wasn't even a person in sight that we could complain to. On top of that, the food was very oily, and it's obvious that they try to lower food costs by filling their dishes with crappy ingredients. I mean, we ordered a spicy chicken dish and the plate was literally 75% dried up chili peppers and 25% over fried popcorn chicken. This place needs to stop being so cheap by hiring more staff, incorporating better ingredients and serving fair portion sizes. Better luck going to Panda Express. read more

Real Chinese food. Nice environment. One of the go-to place in the whole college town!!

Best place in Collegetown. Most authentic Chinese food near Cornell. A little pricey though. Lunch specials are the most worth in terms of quantity of food and price. ***Paying with cash is 10% off! read more

I love coming to this restaurant because of the food and memories I get each time. It's best to come here with a lot of people so you can order more dishes and share them family style. In particular, I really like their beef dishes and their spicy fish soup. read more

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The hotpot taste is good. However, food is not that clean and baby flies dancing around the source bar.

This restaurant has received warnings from inspections regarding hygiene and food storage. And that's not surprising. Twice have I had dinner here, and twice did at least one person from our table get sick afterwards. The restaurant is shabby and dirty, and most food looks (and probably tastes) like the remains of a jellyfish that has been decaying on the beach for a few days. I just hope that this is not authentic Sichuan cuisine, because if it is, it would be up there with humanity's most primitive cuisines. read more

This restaurant is definitely the best one in Ithaca. Check this place out for the best hotpot and Sichuan food in town. The owner is very welcoming and warm. I particularly love the hotpot here. Highly recommend! read more

The food is not bad but the attitude of the lady who appears to be the owner or the manager is insufferable. This is probably something that a language barrier would help to ease, but both being Chinese we communicated in our mother tongue. She was extremely rude to me probably because we didn't order nearly as much as the two ladies sitting next to us who apparently had a very good appetite (she intentionally or unintentionally disclosed the total cost of their large order to me when I simply asked whether what we ordered would seem to be a reasonable portion for two people) or probably because I was not as white as my husband (she smiled and offered my husband a refill of his drink but completely ignored me and gave me a dirty look when I smiled at her to be courteous). When I asked how we could get some sauce (not knowing how it works there), she snapped at me yelling (literally translated): now if you want the sauce, go get it yourself. I am not going to fetch it for you!" This was one of the WTF moments of unexpected hostility from strangers. And by the way I asked very nicely and I did not indicate in anyway that I wanted her to bring me the sauce. Yes I did not by any means expecting a five star service at this type of restaurant. We read reviews about the poor service of this restaurant and still decided to drive over an hour to have dinner there, because we heard the food was supposed to be authentic. I thought I could care less about the service, but the level of the service (or human decency) I received from this lady is a new low even for a place which is notorious for its service. But you will probably have a very different experience with her depending on how light the color of your skin is, or how much you order there, or how often you bring her business, or for some unknown reasons, because she apparently liked some customers much more than others and she was able to change her face for different customers in a split second. I don't know what I could possibly have done to offend her and yes I have better things to do at 7 o'clock in the morning than writing a restaurant review, but I feel compelled to write this. I will surely not return to this restaurant and lady you are the reason why. Next time when you yell at your employees for a bad cleaning job in front of your customers (like you did last night right in front of us), maybe you need to know that you are doing a way worse job than them. read more

I'm so reluctant to go to a Chinese restaurant because it's usually a very typical American Chinese. This place is actually authentic and has the kind of strong and rick flavors that an authentic Asian place should. I was quite happy with the vegetarian options and the variety of flavored available (which is quite rare in vegetarian food) read more

I'm giving this 5 stars because in spite of some small issues, the food is delicious and Collegetown needs all the decent restaurants it can get. The recently defunct Gates has been renovated into a clean and spacious environment. We went when it wasn't so busy, but expect that your party might share a table with another depending on the number of group hot pot orders. Enjoy the adorable misspellings on the menu, the utter confusion regarding how and what to order in the first place, the fact that the restaurant is pretty hard to locate for people not familiar with the Gates or who approach from the wrong side of the street, the fact that Korean persons in your party WILL be spoken to in Mandarin, and the fact that they might run out of chopsticks. Our group went for dinner and we didn't experience any of the options off the hot-pot menu. Our suggestion is to go for the spicy broth and have everyone get their own little cauldron (instead of one big pot) and choose their own options. read more

Would give this place negative stars if possible. The absolute WORST customer service experience I have ever had! I went on November 19th with 2 other friends to try out one of the newer restaurants in the area. Upon sitting down, we noticed that all of the staff did not speak very much English which is fine and not in any way a negative as long as the items on the menu can be clearly explained and the customer knows exactly what he or she is purchasing with their money. The menu was very confusing, full of misspellings and not clear in terms of the pricing: whether for the combo if you had to pay for the pot PLUS the combo price. Therefore, we decided to ask and were given answers by TWO separate staff that we would only be charged $11.95 for the combo, and not $17. In terms of the food, it was nothing special. The chicken that was given was cut into very very thin pieces and you barely get noodles so you don't get your value's worth of food especially because WE were cooking and not them. Nonetheless, for Collegetown prices $11.95 did not seem completely outrageous given this new dining experience. Once we received the check it said that we each owed $17. Trying to ameliorate the situation, I asked the waiter why this was true if we had been given the information that it would only be $11.25. What started off as an easygoing question to clarify turned into the waiters laughing at us, ignoring our questions and referring to our friend who understood Chinese (but had no part in this argument) to "translate"on their behalf. Not only that, but they proceeded to put the blame on our friend for her "poor translation". After the waitress continued fighting with us, I said "Either I pay $11.25 or I am leaving" did the waitress automatically begin to speak rather great English and told us we can leave. So, we did. Point is, it was a horrible experience and I will be telling everyone I know to avoid that place at all costs. There are plenty of other great Asian restaurants in the area and please do not waste your time and MONEY (especially as a broke college student). Having a language barrier is understandable but to be rude to customers who are not of Chinese descent is incredibly rude and disrespectful. Giving customers inaccurate information and then blaming it on them is unfair, unprofessional and unacceptable and I will never tolerate that. read more

DO NOT GO TO THIS RESTAURANT. ABSOLUTE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I'VE EXPERIENCED IN COLLEGETOWN, IF NOT EVER (NOT KIDDING). Decided to give this place a shot with my friends because there aren't a lot of new establishments in Collegetown, and by the time we got our food we were already turned off from the experience. Let's be real: we're cooking our own meal, and paying triple to do so. But that's not even why I'm livid. The absolute disrespect I was treated with during the following experience is evidence that this restaurant will not stay in business for more than a few months (god willing): It started like this. The menu at Hot Pot (why again is it listed as De Tasty on Yelp?) is horribly designed. Besides from being rife with spelling errors -- which I can look past, because if anything that screams that the place is authentic -- the hectic/unclear design poorly communicates the pricing of its combo meals. So, like any normal customer, I asked my waiter for clarification. And it went a little like this: "Hey, so, quick question! All of the "broths" cost $4.75, and then you pay separately for items to put in them, like chicken or noodles, right?" "Yes" "So, the $11.95 Combo says it comes with 1 meat and all of these veggies (bok choy, corn, etc..). Do I still have to pay for broth too?" "No, included with." "So if I buy the Combo, I don't have to also buy broth for $4.75?" "Yes, all together." (At this point, I can sense the fact that our waiter is uncomfortable because of his limited English. No problem, but the prices are a rip off [I see that the nearby table has really small portions] so I figure it's worth getting a second person to confirm the pricing.) So I flag down another staff member, who is presumably the manager. We go through the same process and she confirms exactly what the waiter before her did: Combo comes with broth. I don't have to buy broth in addition to the $11 combo. GREAT! RIGHT? WRONG. The bill comes, and of course, everyone at the table has been charged for an $11 combo in addition to a $4.75 broth. Exactly what I was trying to clarify/avoid. So, we flag down the manager--the second woman we spoke to--and tell her that we were charged for both combo and broth CONTRARY to what we were assured of. At this point, we're all pretty damn calm, because this is NOT a big f**king deal! Note: we are willing to pay $17-something each, but simply would have liked to have known ahead of time, hence the effort put into figuring out what the hell the menu items cost. So I attempt to calmly request that we don't be charged for broth since we were misinformed about its cost, But noooo, NOTHING IS THAT EASY AT HOT POT. The woman proceeds to laugh in my face (LITERALLY, cackle in my face), and deny that she ever told me the broth was included. She brings over the waiter. He denies it too. They both pretend that they have no idea 1) what I'm talking about 2) what I'm literally saying ("We have bad English. We don't understand."). This is highly frustrating, since all interactions prior have been in English. So I press on, because now it's just about integrity. This is a business, and I'm a paying customer, and there was clearly a mistake on their end. At this point I just want to be told "yeah sorry, my bad" and I'll pay the damn bill. But again, the wait staff was trying to fight. All kinds of crazy shit then happens. The manager begins addressing my Asian friend in Chinese--which, to begin with, is extremely rude racial profiling--and tells her that she is responsible for this miscommunication. Things like (later translated to me) "we explained to you in Chinese that the broth is not included, you didn't explain it to them this is your fault." WHAT??? FIRST OF ALL NEVER BLAME A CUSTOMER, SECOND OF ALL THAT'S A BOLD-FACED LIE. Then the woman tells us to pay or leave.....so we left! This horrible business would rather see customers leave angry and without having paid than just own up to a simple communication error and leave with what would have been a $60 bill (~$20/person, which, let me tell you, IS NOT WORTH THE BOILING FLAVORLESS BROTH DELIVERED WITH A SMALL TRAY OF UNCOOKED VEGETABLES AND SHAVINGS OF FROZEN CHICKEN). Bottom line: DON'T GO. If you've made it this far in my review, you've only experienced a fraction of the frustration that you'd experience by stepping into the literal dungeon of doom that is "De Tasty." read more

In my eyes, this restaurant deserves 1 star--solely because I like hot pot and it's really hard to mess up hot pot (since you're essentially cooking your own meal). If it was not a hot pot restaurant, it would deserve NO stars for the reasons listed below: 1. AMBIANCE | The space is dingy and there is very little lighting. 2. STAFF | They are extremely understaffed and barely speak any English. I understand that English can be a difficult language to pick up, but if you're opening a restaurant in AMERICA, you or at least one person on your staff should be able to speak English. 3. MENU | Unless you can read Chinese or want to spend some nice quality time deciphering the poorly written menu, good luck placing your orders! 4. PRICE | Extremely over priced! I ordered the pork combo. The only thing that could have been "expensive" was the literal pot (which they wash and reuse) and possibly the pork. Besides that, the combo included: half a plate of cabbage ($0.50), 2 SLICES of mushroom ($0.02), 2 1/2-inch thick slices of corn ($0.50), 3 SMALL PIECES of fried tofu ($0.50), 2 PIECES of wood ear ($0.10), and a small bundle of vermicelli noodles ($0.50). All of that equates to just under $3.00; add on the pork and maybe it would be $8.00, max! So, when I got my check that read $17.77, something seemed off. Turns out, they charge $4.50 for the pot & broth--and it's NOT included with the combo price of $11.95. So, what if I just wanted the combo? No, I have to get the broth too or I can't COOK my food--literally. Bottom line: OVER PRICED! 5. CUSTOMER SERVICE | Their customer service is HORRENDOUS. Besides lacking the ability to communicate in English, I was the victim of racial profiling. I was the only Asian at my table and after 1 waiter could not communicate to us adequately in English, another came over and began speaking to me in Chinese--assuming that because I have ASIAN features, I spoke CHINESE (what about Korean? Japanese?). Turns out, I am Chinese and I can speak basic colloquial Chinese--but, if I couldn't, they wouldn't have even been able to take our orders. Regardless, we ate our dinner and then the check came: $17.77. Aside from what was mentioned above, we were explicitly told our meal would only cost $11.95--because we were told the combo included the broth (which would make sense since you can't eat it without the broth). I am not a confrontational person and I usually handle these situations by paying the bill, writing a Yelp review, and never returning. However, my friends are a lot more vocal than I am and wanted to speak to the manager because we were told false information. While they spoke to both the waiter and the manager, each of the staff members would not respond directly to my friends, instead, they spoke to me--involving me in a conversation that I did not ask to be a part of. Not only was this extremely rude to my friends, but also extremely rude to me--abusing my ability to speak their language so they could get out of talking to unsatisfied customers directly. Then, they had the nerve to tell me that previously, they had told me how the pricing worked--COMPLETELY FALSE. All conversation about pricing was done in English. All ordering of food was done in Chinese (since the menu was predominately in Chinese). This situation was so shocking to me and I will NEVER go back again. TL;DR | The ambiance, staff, menu, pricing, and customer service are all SO HORRENDOUS that by the end of your meal, you forget what the food even tastes like. read more

This is an updated review. My last one was 4 stars. This was the best Chinese restaurant in Ithaca but now they went the way of the rest of the Collegetown restaurants. I would always get tasty Szechuan and northeastern Chinese food here. Today they treated me like a transient hillbilly. Gave me a 16.95 beef dish which should be a tasty Szechuan specialty with plenty of numbing and spicy flavors. What they brought me was this goo with only a few slices of beef that had no flavor or heat. And they charged me more than the menu. If that's the way the customers are treated they should go out of business. Or is it they way they treat someone who is not from China? read more

Best experience i had. Hot pot is always my favorite food, and this restaurant is soooo authentic. The szechuan style food also makes me happy, can't believe i can have this kind of food in college town read more

Ok so I got f15 and it was p good would come again on a February break Like, comment and subscribe for more reviews !!! read more

We ordered online and waited over an hour for it to deliver. However, after waiting for that long and getting billed, we got a call from the restaurant to tell us that they were busy and simply weren't going to prepare our food. So rude. Will not be ordering from again. read more

Their service is TERRIBLE. I usually don't post reviews, but my experience at this place is so awful that I feel I have to say something. The old lady who appears to be the owner has always being extremely rude to me for all the times I dining there (yes I really love their food, so visit them so frequently that one of the servers knows me). Having a meal here, you might: 1. Being yelled at although you did nothing wrong (When she yells at people, she doesn't turn her face. So if you happen to be right in front of her, you will get her angry face.) 2. Get food thrown at your table. Happened to me so many times that I actually have gotten used to it. 3. Be forced to watch Falun Da Fa show and negative news to Chinese government. 4. When you say thank you to her (such as when you are paying), she would not even look at you. Two detailed events: 1. There was once I was arranged to sit at a small table right by the walkway. I put my coat at the back of my chair. The old lady came out of the cashier counter, walked by me, knocked off my coat, and just left without even a "sorry". I picked up my coat, put it more inside. And she returned a few minutes later, knocked off my coat again, and left as nothing happened. There were many people walking by my table that day for picking up to-go food, yet none of them touched my coat. As I was facing back to it, I didn't know how she managed to make my coat on the floor every time she passed by me. 2. Another time I was dining alone again. When she about to serve my food, another table just left. She asked the server who was cleaning up that table how much tips they gave, while facing to me. The server said a number, maybe lowered than expected? She suddenly got so angry, threw my food at my table, and yelled while facing to me, "Are you kidding me? Do they treat us as human?!" I was so frightened and felt I was threatened to leave a good tip... But I have to say their food is great... How sad is it. read more

extremely small dishes, especially the lunch special. If u are a man with normal appetite, I would not recommend this place.

I actually left before all the food came out but the place has potential. Pretty understaffed so expect long wait. Conversational knowledge of Chinese highly recommended. Also hot mainland waiters! read more

This place is fantastic if you want to get some Chinese food that is far more authentic than any other restaurant around. The hot pot itself has great appeal, again keeping to traditional ingredients and I love the sauce station they have by the counter to add my own flavors. I've only ordered a couple of non-hot pot dishes so I can't say too much but they've always been quite good from what I remember. The only reason I put 4 stars though is that the service was quite slow at the beginning although it seems to be improving now that they have hired more waiters. Secondly, the waiters themselves don't seem the happiest to be working there, one has even voiced that the pay is far below minimum wage with very little tip to make up for it. Otherwise, an all around good restaurant. read more

We had hotpot here. Great food and nice staff! It's worth it to drive all the way here from Corning for some authentic yummy Chinese hotpot! read more

De Tasty Hot Pot - Hotpot. Yum - Hot Pot Near Me - Ithaca, New York

This place has the most authentic Chinese food in the area. The hot pot is expensive, but the actual dishes are reasonably priced and made really well. It looks a little sketchy when you first get there since it's in the basement, but the inside is clean and well lit. read more

THIS IS NOT FOOD! I love hot pot more than any human should. This hot pot scores 2 (at most) out of 10. I ordered their noodle soup expecting some sort of udon, what I got was flavorless noodle trash. Looked like Taiwan noodle breakfast soup but flavorless and awful. With all the alright Asian restaurants in this town this is not only the worst, but one would find a better meal in s common garbage can. How you can call yourself a restaurant when the product you serve hardly counts as food? Do yourself a favor, never eat here for the sake of all real food and your personal health. Asia cuisine makes this look like roadkill. read more

Cannot speak of dishes but we had very good and authentic spicy hot pot here tonight. We are from Northern NJ and frequently visit Chinese restaurants in Flushing, New York and Philly Chinatown so we are fairly picky when it comes to food. We were pleasantly surprised to find good and authentic Chines cuisine in Ithaca, during our weekend trip. The spicy hot pot base was very authentic and service was fairly good. We will definitely come back if we are in the neighborhood to try their dishes. read more

It's more authentic than the other Chinese restaurants in Ithaca. I definitely recommend the Ma Po Tofu as it's very tasty and filling. You might want to ask for extra rice. Service is okay, sometimes disorganized as the place gets busy. Haven't tried the hotpot, but have heard mixed reviews. read more

Not far from Cornell and Chinese food is great. The only bad thing is that they included 20% tips without asking us!

TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE RESTAURANT. I do not recommend. If I could give it a half a star, I would. As a person who has been to a multitude of Asian restaurants, from NYC Chinatown to Vietnamese to Korean, I can safely say that this place holds no candle to any decent establishment. To make things short, the service was terrible. We did not get our menus until 20 minutes after we sat down. Order, 15 minutes after that, Water (we had to hunt the waiter down) 20 minutes after the order, Food 25 minutes after the water. When we asked why our food wasn't out, the waitress screamed, "Yeah, WHY?" In addition, when ordering, the waitress was no help and did not explain anything. She barely knew English. Maybe this is why, when my friend and I ordered beef, we received this spongy red stuff that was initially unidentifiable. (Even though we circled we wanted beef on the menu.) When my friend asked the waitress if what we were eating was spam, she confirmed it. Apparently they thought we ordered "Lunch Ham." NOTE: According to Hot Pot, Lunch Ham = SPAM. If you are any sort of fan of minimally decent service and have any sort of respect for Asian food and Asian restaurants, do not give your business to this restaurant. The experience was terrible, and although their broth is not bad, it does not make up for the terrible, terrible service and actions of the management staff. read more

It should be the best Chinese food in ctb. Traditional Chinese cuisine but not the one with lots or sugar and sauce. We order the pickle fish and pigs feet every time. Also the dessert are great. You'll feel at home here. read more

Love this authentic slice of Sichuanese cuisine in a surprisingly spacious basement restaurant. Clientele is 99% Chinese so you know it's good. Food came immediately. Love their egg tomato noodle soup, Dan Dan noodles, lamb with cumin, and cucumber salad. On par with some of my favorite Chinese restaurants in NYC. read more

Food is good, but take-out order takes too long. The lady told me to pick it up after 30-40 minutes, but it turned out taking over an hour to get the take-out ready. read more

I was very impressed with everything I had there. It is almost certainly the best Chinese food in Ithaca. Our service was solid too, with the exception of a mixup in the kitchen that caused a massive delay in one of our dishes (which isn't a big deal when you order 5 dishes and share them family style). The negative reviews here all focus on the service, which is pretty ridiculous considering the food is a step above most other asian restaurants in this town. read more

Was there once on a Saturday night for dinner. It was quite busy but the service was fast and friendly. Two of us got hot pot and one ordered off of the menu. The hot pot was really good but the other items not so much. The atmosphere was a bit lacking but I would definitely go back for hot pot. read more

AVOID AT ALL COST! Extremely poor service. It's sad that it's the only place in Ithaca that offers hot pot because the concept is great, but De Tasty Hot Pot is very poorly managed as a restaurant and the service is just awful. I have returned there a few times hoping I had just gone on a bad day, but alas they have not improved in any way. The food is pretty good, but it is not worth the horrible service & extreme long wait time: wait time for a table (even when reserved in advance), for the food itself (which most often comes with items missing that they forget to include in your order), for the checks (which are most often never split correctly), and for your cash back (which is never the correct amount you are owed). If you have standards of any kind, you will surely be disappointed coming to eat here. read more