Red Cape Hot Pot - Champaign

I was super excited to try this place. I went in during non-busy hours but the service was honestly pretty bad. They have an 90- minute unlimited hot pot so I went as a part of party of 4. The initial order speed was good, however they failed to bring out 2 dishes we asked for. For the 2nd order, they brought everything out 15 minutes late as our 90-minute was coming to an end. Along with that, they once again failed to bring 2 other dishes we asked for. In terms of food quality, it was a 3 out of 5. I went to check out the kitchen and prep area, and things were uncovered for a long time, so not very sanitary. I would definitely not recomment this place. The only reason I would recommend it would be to confirm my comments.

This is my go-to-hot restaurant in CU. Good selection of food and broth. Sauce Bar and everything you can drink (NA) are nice touches. Definitely not cheap, but it's all you eat and quite authentic.

I dropped four in the afternoon. The restaurant was thinly populated, clean and neat in appearance. The greeting immediately met me, showed me my choice of the table, and explained the menu items, the drinks options and the sauce bar. I ordered the menu and got a drink from the self-service cooler. Sauce Bar had a number of sauces, peanut sauce, chili paste, BBQ, were some of the options. The food came at the table in typical hot pot fashion on various serving dishes. All dishes were fresh and pleasantly presented. The broth was excellent, I ordered the mid-seven house broth. Overall, it was an excellent experience. I will return in the future.

When it comes to hot pot it’s all about the broth, this place does have a particularly well made broth as well as multiple variations of the broth for you to try. The sides of meat and vegetables were fresh so that is good news. This place models itself after the hot pot place in Chicago, Little Sheep. This means you have 1.5 hours to eat all the food you want and any excessive leftovers will be charged onto the bill. If your craving hot pot this is a good place to try, just expect to pay $58 dollars for two adults. Be warned, the Max Spicy hot pot broth is very spicy, and may not be enjoyable for your first time here.

Some of their items are good, but others are just okay. I like their fried pork and crispy bun. I would recommend getting the sliced lamb beef and pork for the hot pot. Those are the best items. The garlic beef isn't very good. For vegetables, the oyster mushrooms are good. If you get spicy broth, be careful not to eat the mala pepper beads. It'll numb your mouth.