Located on Parnell Street, Dublin's unofficial "Chinatown," Lao Chinese and Korean sits among a dense concentration of East Asian restaurants, supermarkets, and cafés just north of O'Connell Street. The exterior is relatively understated, with large windows looking into the dining room rather than elaborate street-facing décor. Inside, the restaurant is noticeably larger than many neighboring establishments, with multiple dining areas and table setups designed to accommodate both standard meals and tabletop barbecue. The atmosphere feels practical and comfortable rather than trendy, allowing the focus to remain squarely on the food. There's also a large make-your-own sauce bar at the front, and a buffet station at the back full of fish, noodles, and vegetable options to complete any hotpot order, along with Chinese snacks and even some desserts! Our group of nine made a reservation in advance, though on a Thursday night, the restaurant was about only half-full, and probably could have accommodated most walk-in parties. The menu is extensive, ranging from Westernized Chinese favorites like Fried Rice and Kung Pao Chicken to Korean BBQ to individual-sized hot pot dishes, which are convenient in that they allow everyone at the table to customize their hotpot to their liking (along with their own little heated section of the table) - particularly with the soup broth flavor and various toppings that they choose. For meats (options of beef, lamb, pork, and chicken), you order with the server, and for everything else, you may go up to the buffet as many times as you'd like. As with most hotpot buffet places, there is the risk of cross-contamination with the communal tongs that they use, so people with dietary restrictions, beware! Other than that, the buffet selections were extensive and quite fresh. I ordered the Extra Hot & Spicy Hotpot (€33 for AYCE hotpot), and the broth was rich, comforting, and "Ireland-spicy" (which is to say, not very spicy at all). I ordered one plate each of their beef and lamb, both of which tasted fresh, but quite fatty. Each plate of meat comes with a generous portion, and two portions was quite enough for me. Prices are moderate by Dublin standards; most entrées fall within the typical city-center range, while barbecue and group-style meals can push the per-person cost somewhat higher. Expect roughly €20-40 per person depending on how extensively you order - from hotpot to KBBQ to classic Chinese takeout fare, there's truly something for everyone, and this is a great place to go if you have a large party with diverse food interests/preferences. read more

Lao - Extra Hot & Spicy Hot Pot - Korean Near Me - Dublin, D

Hot pot for the rainy and cold UK land. I was craving for Chinese food when in Europe and this was the spot to get my fix! Not bad. Stir fried noodles were oily and seafood was okay. They serve up nice selections for hot pot and the condiments are adorned! I used it for my noodles even though I didn't do hot pot! I like the lamb skewers with the fennels. Spicy and it helped with the satisfaction of lamb. read more

Excellent authentic Chinese food in both food & prices. We were here dinner last night & came back for lunch today.

The best meal I had in Dublin was here. I guess you can take the boy out of the San Gabriel Valley... I got the AYCE hot pot with a friend, which was reasonably priced at 16.95 Euros per person. And this was AYCE! This would be way more expensive in the states. Got the half spicy/numbing, half regular broth. Both tasted good. The meats were also really good. The beef and pork were especially fresh. We got the chicken as well to try, but that was tough. Loved the lamb/Beef meatballs that were offered as part of the buffet area. The dipping sauces also had a good variety. I really liked how each table had a dry chili powder mixture that you could dip your meat in if the "Mala" broth wasn't spicy enough. The service ranged from good to bad. The manager of the place was super nice and made sure we got a table quickly when we were waiting. Some of the waitresses had a bit of an attitude. I asked one of them to refill the hot pot broth and she just replied "行." The meal I had was so good though. Who knew a legit Chinese hot pot place would be in Dublin? read more

Can't tell you is the best restaurant ever but it is a great experience. To try a new cuisine (never tasted korean food before) in such a nice atmosphere is something I can recommend anyone for a night out. The dishes were ok, very honest, lots of food on the plate, very tasty. I was intrigued by the "taps" above the tables, I still don't know what are they for. PS. Our dishes came a little late so they gave us prawn crackers for free... Man, they are THE BEST PRAWN CRACKERS I've ever tasted. Ask for them! They really taste like prawns! Finally! PS. 2. Our waitress was very kind (a Korean girl working in Dublin who can speak Spanish, take that!) read more

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This place is great. Lovely authentic Chinese hot pot buffet. I only got to try the a la carte menu today as I was here with my vegetarian girlfriend but the hot pot stuff looked great. The hot pot is not really suitable for veggies; lots of meats and many of the sauces are meat based, although their is plenty of mushrooms and tofu at the buffet. One thing this place has that everyone should try is the BBQ skewers. They are a nearly as good as the ones I got from street food vendors in Beijing. The lamb ones are especially good. We got the kung pao tofu, the potato, aubergine and pepper dish with some delicious egg fried rice. All were amazing. If you want to try some good traditional Chinese food come here. I will definitely be back to try the hot pot buffet at some stage. read more

I came here twice, both were special occasions where we had booked a private karaoke room which costs €100. However, you can either order €100 worth of food/ drink and have the room free, or just pay €100 for the room and no food, or if you order food less than €100 worth of food, then you pay that plus the remaining balance up to €100 for the room. There are about 5 karaoke rooms which are big with the large round tables used in Chinese restaurants with the spinning thing in the middle to share food. Food: They have two separate menus; one for Chinese customers and one for everyone else as we had one girl in out party who spoke Chinese and tried asking for the Chinese menu to see it there was anything different! (I'm not sure if there was). But they a very extensive menu, mainly Chinese food with a bit of Korean food like Bibimbap and BBQ, and some sushi. Although if it's sushi you're after, then this is not the place as the ingredients are not very sushi-like. I had bibimbap which was ok, the portion was massive compared to other places I've had it so we shared. Most of the things on the menu seemed to be served for sharing, in that everything was served on large plates and placed in the middle. I'm not a huge fan of Chinese and Korean food so the food wasn't my cup of tea, but my friends who love that food said it tasted good! The number of vegetarian dishes are limited to half a page, but I'm not sure if they are 100% veggie as they could've been cooked in a meaty broth so it's best to check if in doubt. Service: The service was ok, the staff were friendly and accommodating despite their English not being exactly perfect. I had a bit of trouble getting my order across, but luckily my Chinese speaking friend ordered for all of us and it all went smoothly. I don't really know what we would have done without her to be honest! If you speak Chinese or are with someone who does, then I'd say make use of that! Karaoke machine: It's a Chinese machine so the controls are only in Chinese, but they have almost 1000 or more songs in English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese mainly. The search function on our machine was broken so we had to sift through 100s of artists and songs, but you can filter it by Foreign artist (which means American, Japanese and Korean), and then I think the other categories were Chinese, Taiwan and Hong Kong. You can also filter songs by language which made it a bit easier although they weren't in alphabetical order. Another thing, I think the songs on the machines vary in each room, like a few song we sang on our previous visit was not in this machine. We've probably tried almost every karaoke bar in the city and Parnell street, and I'd say this one is the best with the biggest collection of songs, lovely rooms and a very Asian atmosphere! Overall: A hidden karaoke gem and also made our "regular karaoke place", food was cheap but taste-wise I'd give it 4 or 5/10, and the staff could work a bit on their English perhaps. read more

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Very eeeenteresting. The hotpot caught my eye so I decided to try this rather than the bog standard Chinese dishes. The staff were really helpful (and are very nice in general) but forgot to tell me basic things like how to switch on the hot ring on the table because obviously even a child knows where the switch is, right? Alas as a novice in this situation, I am not as smart as an Asian child. A very nice fellow guest sitting beside me helped out. I was given a tour of the sauces and the bowls involved as well as the buffet of side dishes. The buffet contained greens, tofu, noodles and various forms of small silvery betoothed and betentacled seafood. Feeling I had already been adventurous enough by choosing the hotpot, I stuck to the greens. So, I had my sauces in my sauce dish, I I had my plates of greens and then the staff brought a simmering bowl of broth and the meat I requested, slices of lamb. All set! It was a lovely meal which you can cook at your own pace and, thanks to the buffet of sauces, to your own tastes. The hotpot at Lao is not too challenging, quite delicious, and kind of fun. It's also healthy as there was no salt or MSG in the ingredients, it's as fresh as it could possibly be. I'm definitely going back for more, and now that's it's not at all intimidating to me, I may even try the seafood parts of the buffet. All credit to the serving staff, they really wanted me to enjoy my first experience and I did, tremendously. read more

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That was divine i recommended just make sure you alert the server you need attention because they're not too attentive i'm guessing they assume you know what you're doing. i went for hotpot with my girlfriend and the tables were stoves for your pot it was awesome. at the front of the shop you can make a sauce to either dip your food with or season your broth... SO AWESOME read more

As usual when I go to Chinese restaurants with my Chinese friends they always order the food which is a good thing and also a bad thing... Only because they order too much (even though it still gets eaten) This place is great. They have hot pot available which is hot plates on your table to keep your hot pot.. Well hot! It was a nice surprise when our friend told us she had booked a karaoke room.. SOO MUCH FUN! These are in the basement.. The table maybe fits 8 but they can probably fit more. The food was really good, some things were a strange texture as it wasn't what I was use to but everything had amazing flavour! read more

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Really liked it here! If your looking for real Chinese food, you've come to the right spot you can always rent out a room as well which includes your own karaoke machine and waiter or waitress for the evening. I love it here! Literally nearly ate everything on the menu and loved it all sushi is a definite and I would highly recommend it here read more

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This was my first time trying hot pot, and they made it easy to understand here. Basically when you come in you order the all you can eat hot pot and choose your own meat. There's a buffet of veggies and sauces and they are all amazing. I ordered the spicy broth for my hot pot and it was very spicy! I don't recommend getting it if you can't handle extreme spice. Anyways the food was great! I also recommend their chicken and lamb skewers. Oh and for the meat for the hot pot chicken beef and lamb are all good options! read more

Really disappointing experience! Food was actually of good quality, but the BBQ was not hot enough, we felt it was our fault, and we were bothering them, unfriendly staff. read more

Korean/chinese Restaurant. I had the lunch special for 9.90€ + 3€ for a beer. Food was acceptable, nothing to write home about. Service was friendly, but not attentative (there were only 3 other guests at the Restaurant, so they werent in a hurry). The Restaurant itself is decorated nicely, good asian athmosphere. read more

A bit pricier than I remembered it last year. I shared a BBQ set for two with a friend and the portions were just fine, managed to finish it all off. The only thing I felt was missing was more 'Korean' influenced items with the BBQ set. I'd love to see Bulgogi marinated beef one day. read more

I had my Chinese colleague's leaving party on Friday. We had a big room for 20 people down stairs. There was a toilet in the room right beside one of the table so we moved the table as far away from the toilet as we could.. we ordered 10 dishes for each table. The waiter was new so he didn't got any clue of menu or ordering process. I thought he didn't understand Chinese nor English (just joke). Food served one at a time so 10 people had to fight over one dish each time.. We got full after 5 fishes so we wasted a lot of food. I can only compare the food with Sichuan Chilly King because I had 4 dishes over there too. 锅包肉, Mapo tofu, fried aubergine and dumplings. Only Mapo tofu was better than Sichuan Chilly King. 锅包肉 was too sweet, dumplings were a bit gamey for me and the aubergine dish was average (overly sweet tho). There was a karaoke machine. The karaoke system was better than Sichuan. Good price. I'll come for hot pot again not for a la carte. read more

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Worst service I have ever come across. Extremely rude waiters. No one can speak English. Would not recommend to anyone!!!

Was curious to watch this place's service. My first time there. We walk in, me and my partner (I am European, she is Japanese). I can sense an air of disquiet amont the nearby staff as they turn their heads towards us. By experience, i am familiar with this sort of attitudes to 'mixed' couples. This restaurant is purely Chinese. One of them walks over to us looking like she was going to say something like 'ok, what again?'. We tell her we'd like a barbecue. She leads us to a table in the back which at first sight looks great to me: spacious, almost plush, equipped with a barbecue stove set-up. Then we sit down and I discover that underneath the table, in addition to its proper legs, there is some sort of supporting metal frame running all under its perimeter, so it's impossible to move your legs any slight inch inside. Another waitress comes with a menue. She stands over peering at us with a concerned eye, sais nothing. While we are uttering our first mumbles, she bites her lip repeatedly. We realize it's not going anywhere, ask for two minutes to decide, leave... read more

Didn't have the opportunity to eat here, but that was probably for the best. Upon entering the restaurant my husband and I were seated at an awkwardly placed table in the rear dining area, in spite of the fact there were better tables for two persons nearer the front. I got the feeling our server did this because we are a gay couple, so we left the place immediately. Perhaps the bigger problem with this restaurant is orderliness and sanitation. The area behind the staff counter was dirty/dusty and strewn with personal items. The condiment buffet near the front entry was a total mess, and the buffet for hot pot items was situated in the restaurant's mid-section where people also wait for seating. I noticed several customers handbags dangling over raw food. The entire place appeared in need of reorganization and deep-cleaning. Dine here at your own risk! Kim Chi across the street is a better bet for quality Korean food. read more