I was skeptical about trying this restaurant since hot pot has never found success in Tucson. However, I heard praise about this establishment and decided to give it a shot! Food 4/5: You have the choice of a dual broth or a single broth. I chose the dual broth option to sample Potwhale's variety. Typically in hot pot, you choose a spicy and nonspicy broth for balance. Besides broth, sauces are additionally crucial for hot pot. Potwhale provides a respectable sauce bar for meat dipping. Be aware though, they charge for sauces! The wide range of hot pot fixings is a la carte, selected from a menu with dry-erase markers. I got the beef and lamb combo, but I could barely tell the two proteins apart. The meats were decent quality and tasted delicious with the broth and sauce. I must confess: The idea of boiled non-marinated meat never appealed to me, but Potwhale's broth had so much flavor that it compensated for its cooking method. Atmosphere/Vibe 4/5: The neighborhood and business complex did not provide any favors for Potwhale's curb appeal. However, the inside was simple and updated. This restaurant is perfect for small groups of people (2-6) to merrily cook and socialize. Price 4/5: They do not offer all you can eat which creates two scenarios. For lighter eaters, the price is reasonable; for heavy eaters, the price of each item will add up. Service 5/5: Our waitress was very friendly and offered her recommendations. The staff refilled our water glasses often. Tips: Put in your vegetables first to soften and soak up the broth; put in the noodles last to absorb the flavor of the boiled meats. Sesame paste and chives is an excellent sauce for first-time hot-potters. read more

Potwhale - Ying Yang Bases: Spicy & Mushroom. Noodles, prime combo (beef and lamb), golden mushrooms, wintermelon, fish tofu. - Hot Pot Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

I've since returned and it seems like they are making improvements on service, which makes me happy because I want to see this place succeed! I love a small-owned business that is open to receiving constructive criticism. Don't sleep on Potwhale, Tucson! read more

特别特别特别特别特别特别特别特别特别特别特别特别特别好吃的天津式火锅 阿姨叔叔的手艺特别好 Super good southern style hot pot definitely worth to try read more

Potwhale - several people sitting at tables in a restaurant - Hot Pot Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

Very clean and delicious! The hot pot is amazingly delicious nice spice! The ambience was mellow and peaceful! Will be going back. read more

So good and I love that it's dinner and an activity! We got 2 bases (1 spicy) and there are lots of veggie and vegan options that are delicious and filling. Highly recommend! If you are familiar with Hot Pot, check out your preserving options ahead of time to get a game plan. read more

I had hotpot in California, so good, so I was excited to find a place in Tucson. While it was a different experience, I enjoyed it. The food was good. Our waitress was knowledgeable and saved us from ordering really spicy food!! The jasmine tea was delicious and we will definitely go back. read more

Amazing food and the server was always present getting refills and helping us. The store looked clean but the outside it looks closed without the open sign. Great restaurant and I would recommend to anyone I know. read more

Potwhale - Hot Pot Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

I love this place. It's probably the best hotpot place in town. The cost per person is pretty good compared to other places in the area. It's very customizable which I love and I have never had an issue while I was there. read more

Loved the golden chicken broth. Veggie were so fresh. Delicious Service was excellent.

Should give it a try if you like to share a big hotpot with family and friends. Few flavors and level of spiciness to choose from. But be careful, it can be very spicy, it's best to add chili oil into your personal bowl as you treat yourself. The fun part is to experiment with different kind of noodles. Each present a different texture in your mouth. Would have loved to see more fresh meat ingredients, not impressed much with the processed meat balls. read more

I had dinner here tonight with three friends. We had beef and mushroom flavor-base soups, with prime beef, quail eggs, squid, dumplings, noodles and white vegetables to cook in the soup. We enjoyed it, though the soup bases were too salty. The frozen dumplings looked identical to the frozen gyoza you can buy at Trader Joe's or Sprouts, so that's probably what they were. The bill came to $60 including tax and a generous tip; that worked out to just $15 per person, which we thought was very reasonable. read more

I love this restaurant. This place is fantastic! They have a large selection of food and meat and I would highly recommend coming here! The service is quick and impeccable. read more

Delicious food. Friendly service. Many options! We got the mild spicy broth (we wanted medium, but the waitress recommended mild- I'm glad she did!) and the mushroom broth- delicious! read more

Potwhale - Hot Pot Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

Been craving for some good hotpot in this area and found this place on yelp with decent reviews. Went there on Saturday on or about 4:30pm-ish. Ordered several entrees and appetizers. Sadly, food was all frozen except for the shrimp. I get it - when you dunk it into the hot steaming soup, it'll be just fine. The sesame balls and fried steam buns were very greasy and the oil used smelled like it's been re-used multiple times, over and over again. Young man (server I think) on the counter was busy with his phone and was inattentive to the customers who were dining at the time. Our bill was over $75.00++ for the frozen items.....Not going back, ever! read more

We've been multiple times now and each time love the food we got from Potwhale. Great food and the service is good too

The partner-in-dine and I were craving some gut-warming hotpot on a cold winter night and decided to venture into the steamy world of Potwhale. We got a nice, long table for two. Although after all our orders came out, we realized then that even our table wasn't long enough. But the restaurant had the foresight to station a two-tiered cart next to the table for the purpose of holding some of the overflows. We got the YuanYang Base with two choices of broths. We went with the Spicy & Special House Beef Broth and the Spicy & Tomato Base (spice level for both bases: medium spicy). For our protein, fiber and carbs, we got shitake mushrooms, bean sprouts, meatball combo (beef, pork and fish balls), prime lamb, pork belly and their handmade noodles. In short, we went overboard. But as the saying goes, "Go big or go home!" And we didn't want to go home with empty stomachs. The pork and lamb were sliced paper-thin... the taste and quality were excellent although we wished the meat had been a tad thicker. The shitake mushrooms were of the smaller variety. The partner-in-dine found the meatballs a bit strange and he quickly surrendered all of the balls to me. He was thinking of meatballs with ground meat, but he quickly learned that Chinese meatballs are of the fish-cake type. As for the soup base, we both preferred the spicy tomato base for its spunk and kick. We didn't avail of the self-serve sauce station (which comes with a minute fee). The soup bases were enough in our opinion. Basically, it boils down to individual taste and preference. All in all, we came out of the restaurant satiated and in hotpot heaven. Just a side note, they had mistakenly charged us for the self-serve sauce at first but when told about it, they immediately revised the bill. The price for two big eaters was reasonable considering all the food we got. Potwhale is definitely on our bookmarked list of restaurants to go to in Tucson! read more

Potwhale - YuanYang soup base - Hot Pot Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

You can tell authentic because they are judgmental about what you order and demand a tip even though they are rude to you the majority of the interactions. Will continue to eat here though. read more

This is an amazing authentic hotpot spot here in Tucson! Tucson doesn't have much authentic Chinese food so I was really surprised when I found this place. The taste of this hotpot is absolutely amazing, beware it's extremely spicy and numbing so pick your level carefully. The brisket meat is plain awesome, and the sauce station has everything you need to make a marvelous dipping sauce. Customer service is amazing too! Very friendly and helpful. It also has great pricing compare to other hotpot places. Safe to say this is the best hotpot in Tucson! Authentic authentic authentic! read more

Potwhale - Hot Pot Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

Wow finally a hot pot restaurant has made it to Tucson! My parents love hot pot and I promptly treated them to a hot pot dinner on a cold winter night. The decor is modern, minimalist, clean, and spacious. With the bench seating you can cozily seat up to 6 people at a table with a single induction cooking plate. This makes it easy for big groups to stay together and close. You choose the soup and ingredients with a markup menu to order. Be careful with the spicy soup, because medium means hot! I think I burned my insides with the spicy-ness but it did taste darn good. The meats are nicely sliced thin and had the right amount of fat content. We had beef and lamb and they were both spot on. There is a sauce station that costs $1.50 per person which seems kind of steep. A supra-cheapskate could skip the sauce station and just use the free soy sauce. Even with this cost, the entire meal stays relatively cheap per person. I'd estimate we spent about $15 a person that night for everything, which is very reasonable for hot pot. Service is solid and they staff is attentive with water especially when you are scorching your mouth with the spicy soup. Don't forget to drink the broth at the end because it will be concentrated with the meat and veggie flavors from what you just cooked. Potwhale: the seriously good hot pot restaurant with the funny name. read more

Potwhale - Hot Pot Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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Potwhale is great for groups as a way to try a variety of foods at a favorable price! You select the items a la carte to cook at your table in a pot. The yin and yang shaped divided pot allows you to chose multiple broths. We picked the tomato and medium spicy Yuan Yang base to cook mushrooms, tofu, dumplings, and beef. Note, I have a moderate tolerance for spice and thought the medium spice was VERY spicy. It wasn't just me though because that was also the consensus at my table. As a result, we finished the tomato broth but not the spicy broth. My favorite thing about Potwhale is the self-serve sauce bar. It's similar to a salsa bar. You select the sauces you want to dip your hot pot cooked food. I chose sesame sauce, vinegar, garlic, cilantro, green onion, chive sauce, and fermented bean curd. Shhh, don't tell anyone, it was finger lickin' good! read more

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Portion is huge and price is beyond reasonable. My lamb and beef combo was super fresh and loaded. Crispy pork can be a bit bigger piece. I would love no more numbing peppers in the heavy spicy broth, not very spicy at all. A bit too salty though. read more

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Absolutely amazing hot pot . . . . . every single bite literally made me feel like i was back in china . My friend and I personally really love 麻辣火锅 , and at first we felt like the medium spicy wasn't really "麻辣" enough , but as we started really making out way into our soup, we finally felt the peppercorns and a buzz on our tongues and we were soooooo happy !!!! The food was seriously INCREDIBLE , so yummy and nostalgic !!!! The meats were plentiful, the woodear was great, the broth was delicious, everything made for a great meal. Portions are of a good size and they have a large variety of items available to add to the broth. The sauce bar also had the perfect variety of oils, sauces, and spices to create unique flavors to pair with your hot pot and rice. Again, every single bite was so delicious and enjoyable!!! You guys have such good food; This was seriously such an amazing meal I have been here just this once , but I love this place and I think anyone looking to have true and authentic hotpot should come here. Will absolutely be coming back :-) read more

This was my first time trying hot pot and I couldn't have picked a better place. The meat was incredible and the staff were very quick and helpful with their service. Cannot recommend the beef and lamb enough read more

Potwhale - Baby bok choy, beef and lamb, dumplings, chicken wings, and lotus root - Hot Pot Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

The food was amazing. We stuck to a vegetarian menu; the self-serve sauce station really upgrades the flavor.

I was surprised to see a hot pot place had opened in Tucson so naturally I just had to go. Apparently they've been open for about 2 months now but havent actually marketed themselves until just recently. Because of that, there was a pretty long waitlist. Boyfriend and I came in at around 6:40pm and got seated about 45 minutes after (we were #8 on the waitlist). The waiter was visibly having trouble keeping track of who came in first and had to check frequently with who was next. One thing I thought was nice was interesting was that for the menu and waitlist, they used expo markers to mark things rather than pen/paper. There aren't many seats for those who were waiting, especially since there was a cute, but random giant stuffed panda and dog taking up sitting space. They have slow piano music playing in the background, which I thought to be unfitting--mainly cause it made me sleepy haha. After we got seated and orders taken, our broth came out around 20 minutes later, followed by the meat 10 minutes after. So yes, it was a lot of waiting time. I felt bad since there were tables before us that have not yet gotten any broth/food. Apparently, there was a mixup with menus and miscommunication in the kitchen. This in addition to the waitlist struggle was definitely due to a lack of organization. Food: Despite everything, the food was really good. There was a self-serve sauce bar, which ran out of some things due to the crowd, but nonetheless still nice. We ordered the tomato and special house beef broth, 1 plate of prime beef and lamb combo, lobster meat balls, vegetable combo 2 (napa, choy, spinach), and handmade noodles. The beef cut was not too thin and had nice flavor. My favorite part was the handmade noodles; they were firm and definitely had that "homemade" taste. It was a good portion for 2 people since we both left happily full. Cost: Total came out to be ~$33 not including tip, which is definitely a fair price given that it's hot pot. Overall: The only thing stopping me from giving Pot Whale 5 stars is the disorganization of the restaurant. However, I understand that they are just now experiencing a sudden wave of customers due to marketing and are simply in the process of getting used to it. It's nice to know that even after ~2 months of opening, the food quality is still pretty good. I do plan on coming back and hopefully updating my review to 5 stars :) read more

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I'm so happy that Tucson has a hotpot restaurant again! I was able to go with some friends that had never experienced hotpot before, and they all loved the experience. The process is straightforward, where you pick your broth, meats, veg, and noodles to cook. I recommend the combo of mushrooms and veggies, you really get a good variety with it! Another quick tip - when they say spicy, they really do mean spicy. I was sweating A LOT just from the medium spice. They definitely do not play around with spice. Nonetheless, the broths were so flavorful. Unfortunately, there were some surprise charges to our bill that we were unaware of. The first is the self-serve sauce bar. They charged us $6 for 4 people! I've never been to a place before that charges for the sauces, so be aware of that hidden fee, as I did not see any signage about it. They also gave us some dishes that we didn't order, which we ate without questioning. Overall, I would definitely go back. It's a great experience with a bigger group of friends so you can really enjoy a lot of different things. read more

Potwhale - Spicy and beef broth duo. V spicy, not for the faint of heart. - Hot Pot Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

Tucked away in a plaza on prince and 1st, this is a great find. It's a hot pot style restaurant. You get a laminated menu and use a dry erase marker to mark your selections. First, you choose the broth and spice level. Beef broth and tomato broth with various spice levels are your options. The tomato broth is much more flavorful. The beef broth is reminiscent of pho. Then you choose your meats, veggies and/or noodles. They are a la cart and charged per selection. You can add as much or little as you want. When served, you get a large bowl of the broth that you bring to a boil on the hot plate on the table. Once boiling, you add the meats, veggies and noodles as you wish and cook to your own liking. There is a sauce bar, where you can create your own dipping sauce. I highly recommend the tomato broth with prime beef, homemade noodles, soup dumplings and veggies. Definitely worth returning. read more

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I originally wanted to eat here on Chinese New Year but they were closed. I gave Potwhale a second chance and it was definitely worth the visit. Order the half beef/ half lamb to try each meat. The lamb adds flavor to the soup if you're also into drinking soup while eating hot pot. Finish off the meal with their fried buns. They're soft, crispy and the condensed milk on the side compliments the dish superbly. read more

Potwhale - Fried Steam buns - Hot Pot Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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I'm literally addicted to hot pot so maybe this is gonna be biased. You get a large pot of broth (or maybe two broths) and plates of raw meat, veggies, roots, and various carbohydrates. You also get a self serve sauce bar that you can dip your cooked stuff into. Stars of the show: 1. All the broths are really amazing. I love the spicy broth because it has more flavor than just spice. It's got a good amount of garlic and some beefy flavor as well. The beef broth is amazing too as a break from the spice and the tomato is good. 2. The beef here is thinly sliced and FATTY. Which is what you want in hot pot. Some of that fat melts into the broth to flavor more of your broth. The rest of that fat complements the tender beefy goodness. 3. The housemade noodles are amazing. You get a big bowl of raw freshly made noodles for three freakin' dollars. Boil them for like 5 minutes and they come out bouncy, chewy, and flavorful. Pour some sesame paste over for a complete meal within a meal. read more

Potwhale - Hot pot for days - Hot Pot Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

This place is great if you want Hot Pot or noodles. Friendly servers and a nice looking restaurant with a lot of seating. I got the dry pot (Like hot pot but no soup and already cooked) and it was super tasty. If you ask for it to be spicy it will be very spicy so be ready. To order, you mark your menu with the expo marker they will give you. Overall a fun place for dinner. read more

Potwhale - The soup menu. To order you mark what you want with an expo marker. - Hot Pot Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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We were finally able to try this place since they are open for dining again. I was scared they wouldn't be open because their phone was disconnected but luckily the owner answered my question here on Yelp. This was our first time trying hotpot and it was a bit overwhelming. It would have been helpful to have some advice. We tried asking questions but not much help. We just started experimenting and it all ended up good. The staff certainly could have been more helpful and friendly (like saying thank you when we paid) but the food made up for the lack of helpfulness and manners. We ordered mild spicy and house broth and both were equally delicious. The mild spicy was plenty hot and had delicious tongue-numbing Szechuan peppercorn in it. We had beef and lamb, squid, spam, assorted mushrooms, assorted veggies and bean sprouts and three varieties of noodles. The house-made noodles were sooo good, although my teens kept eating them uncooked, lol. The sauce bar had plenty of choices too. We also ordered fried dough sticks which were just basically a nice chewy bread and I'm still confused what those were for. We just dunked them in broth and ate them. The one thing we were all perplexed about was the lack of a bowl to actually ladle things into. We each had a tiny sauce bowl but that was it. We ended up getting noodles, sauce etc. everywhere. We just swirled the meat in the hot broth and dipped it in sauce and ate it but there was really no place to put a nice ladle full of noodles and broth. My birthday is tomorrow and this was my choice for my birthday dinner, so I'm happy with my choice. We will definitely return at some point and we will be better versed on eating hotpot next time! read more

Everything was really yummy. You dump whatever food you want in there and cook it up. The noodles were the best! I would skip on the meatballs. They tasted more like gizzards. The mixed mushrooms were fantastic! We had the beef and lamb combo. I think next time I would also get cabbage. You look around and see what everyone else has for ideas! Good reason to come back. read more

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Stop by for a late dinner with family, we order yinyang soup base (heavy spicy and tomato basil), both soup base taste delicious. They have a lot of choices and also have menu for the non hotpot. We all enjoy the food. The service is good and quick. We didn't need to wait to get a seat, they have plenty tables. It's a very good choice for the winter season and also they open till late. But the location is in a small complex with kinda small parking lots. read more

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First hotpot restaurant experience! Selections were great, good variety for vegetarian options as well. Chose the udon noodles, crab sticks, dumplings, fried tofu, we recommend all of these. We chose the two broth option which was nice to try the different flavors. Making the dipping sauce was tricky read more

Went here on a little hot pot date with AJ! And the food was yummy! We got beef and lamb and a mushroom combo and some veggies. Food was so delicious and filling. I loved the make your own sauce bar as this time i actually made a yummy sauce at a hot pot restaurant!!! read more

I wish that I could give it an extra star. I have been coming here for a couple years now, and it NEVER fails. I can't tell you how many different restaurants I've been to, and this is my favorite place to eat. I can't say enough good things about potwhale. read more

The food is amazing! The spicy broth is my favorite kind to get at any hotpot place. I've tried many different hot pot places. And this one is my go to for Tucson. read more

Different..... just not for me or my family. Not impressed McDonalds is better. Limited choice of everything including drinks

Tucked away inside an ugly strip mall is a warm, adventurous eating spot. We had never done this type of hot pot. Don't expect directions or any level of pleasant customer service. You are given a sheet to check off what items to add to the pot and another to pick the broth. It was very good and probably will be even better next time when we know more what we are doing. The place is cute and was crowded on a Friday night. Fun eating adventure! read more

Husband and I went here for a late night date on a whim and we loved it. A fun and delicious experience. I like that you are able to customize your meal and share it, too. Staff asked if it was our first time, it was, they were very helpful. I can't wait to go again with friends and family. read more