Master Mix HotPot

I’m not a big fan of self-​serve raw buffet especially when it’s out in the open and looks like it was sitting there for a while.
Ordered the sa cha soup base but it didn’t have as much flavor as I hoped.
Selection wise it’s decent with a variety of veggies, mushrooms, fish/​meat balls, and seafood. If you want actual sliced raw meat you have to ask the server (which is fine… Better to not leave it in the open).
Service was polite but very sparse. I was curious about how this hot pot place was compared to Celebrity across the street but I don’t think I’d visit again even if it’s cheaper.

We went around 4pm and there was just one table occupied. Self serving was a good aspect of it, they had some spring rolls on the side but they were really cold and hard so I didn’t enjoy them. The unlimited fountain drinks and tea was a nice touch. But they add 10% tip and it’s mandatory. They didn’t even clear our oyster shell plate which was filling pretty high. Disappointing. The floor was sticky and the tissue box was almost empty. We got charged $ 53 for two people… why? I thought it was $ 15.99 for lunch? Definitely wasn’t dinner. Not going back, way too pricey. Didn’t like the service so I didn’t want to pay the tip. But I had to. Wouldn’t come again.

Ugh where do I even begin?
Don’t worry, the food was edible.
I’m rating this place 1 star because of how things run here. Also, I will never come back again!
As mentioned, the food was okay but one of the seafood balls I got was sour. And my sister got a sour beef ball too. So just be careful. Also, if you wanna order their meat, order it first because we waited about 15 — 20 mins for our meat! Bonkers!
They have unlimited fountain pops and teas and juice but they tried to sell you the drinks from the bubble tea shop downstairs. Same owner I believe.
Let’s talk about the service. There was only one server serving 7 tables! The lady boss was there but she just walked around and did nothing to help.
The lady boss was monitoring customers, including that one waitress. She walked back and fourth or sitting by the staircase as if we were her prisoners. She made the environment to be so uncomfortable. Even she walked past some tables and saw our soup was empty, she didn’t try to fill it for us. Ugh.
Now lastly, when we asked for our ice cream, we were told they don’t serve ice cream during winter — lame! But whatever. We asked for our bill. It came with fortune cookies with candy and no receipt. The waitress verbally told us the amount. The amount was higher than expected. They added 10% tip after tax. I don’t mind that they include the tips but it was just shady imo. No receipt? We asked for it anyway just so the lady boss can’t avoid her bloody tax payment. I know some restaurants in Chinatown automatically include tips in the bill but at least they give out receipts.

Maybe it was just a bad night that I went.
My friends and I went to this hot pot place last week to 1) warm ourselves up, 2) cheapest one in the area. It seemed like an optimal place with bubble tea and billards downstairs. When we entered, there was only 2 tables occupied. We went at approximately 8pm so we thought maybe we missed the dinner rush (I don’t think that ever happened).
We stood around for 5 minutes since no one was there… then a girl came out and escorted us to our table. The service overall wasn’t good at all. When we were paying, I think the girl made a mistake so she kept on swearing to herself and didn’t give a crap about us paying.
Food wise, it was alright. Not the best I’ve had (given it was only for $ 18), it was decent. I wouldn’t necessarily come back to this place again given the shitty service.

Came here Friday night and it wasn’t too packed. Service was quick.
As for the food, the soup base was typical. However the veggies were on point — nappa, tofu, bokchoy, you name it. They even had oyster mushrooms, which were awesome.
The balls and the meat were just okay. They do have a decent variety of frozen seafood (salmon, some kind of white flesh fish, squid, clams, etc.).
3.5 out of 5. I went there for dinner on a weekend night so it was a tad pricey at ~26 can. I would probably go back for lunch or on a week night.

2.25 stars
from the outside this place looks ghetto… especially since there is a 168 attached to it … some sort of ghetto pool hall downstairs with wanksters and a tiny convenient store to the right… its located upstairs inbetween both of these places…
once up the stairs, its not as bad as i thought it would be. service was poor, the tea throughout my stay remained empty. i saw endless amount of people try to pour tea but was never refilled. luckily i sat next to all the food. i saw when the «good stuff» came out. such as lobster. but guess what. it rarely ever gets filled and they put the nastiest garbage pieces. im talking pure shell and no meat pieces at all. no exaggeration. they put the head and just shells… i dont know if that is because people want the flavor for their broth. or people like to eat boiled lobster shells… maybe its just for looks.
all the meats were really frozen to the point its in one big clump. and i see this old guy who keeps bringing things to the back. and bringing it back out with maybe one or two more items added to the bin. which makes me think they are recycling the food. wilted vegetables. and they kept advertising icecream all over the walls and flyers. but guess what. NO ICECREAM. in fact no dessert. only dessert you will get is a sour orange if you want.
i had to chase for service… beef had 0 fat … 0% marbling. therefore it was chewy. stick to the lamb. 18.99 on reg day dinners and extra 2 dollars for weekend … i rather go sushi ayce

First visit here. Have been to a few hot pot places and this one was great. Amazing selection and all self serve which we really like. I would definitely choose this over others on the street. The price is pretty comparable with other hot pot restaurants.

A hot pot place opened by Taiwanese. Their hot pot is not spicy enough even if you ask. They provide a lot of seafood, which is not normally provided including lobsters. But I have to say the quality is just so so. At lunch time, you can try their beef noodle. It’s quite delicious. But as a hot pot restaurant, I can only give it 3stars.

This place is not terrible. Yes, the meat is served frozen… not very appealing. I am a vegetarian so I don’t order meat anyways. The shrimps are often also frozen. The Chinese doughnuts are a hit or miss. I have been here at least five times and on two occasions they were fresh (slightly crunchy skin but relatively soft inside) and were rock hard on three occasions. I appreciate their selection of vegetables and sauces. The beverage options are very limited. I saw plum juice on two occasions. They usually only have water and tea. This is a downer for me since I like to drink soy milk when I have hotpot. To their credit, they have a pretty good selection of soup base.
This is an AYCE hotpot place, you go and get your own food, with the exception of meat, so really there’s not much serving required. The waitresses and waiters are quite nice, I just wish they would smile more. Their lack of smiles, at least to a certain extent, may be attributable to how they are treated by management. During two of my stays, a female who is presumably the manager/​boss (or whatever position she holds) of this place was continuously demanding the waitress to do things and criticizing her work. That was a little disturbing.
10% tips is mandatory; It is automatically added to your bill. If you don’t see it on your bill, don’t worry, you WILL be automatically charged regardless. Our bill says a little over $ 35 for 2 (if I remembered correctly), my friend paid by credit card, the cashier entered the amount on the machine, my friend was automatically charged $ 19.87 (again, if I remembered correctly). I paid by cash. I gave the cashier a $ 20 bill, she asked me if I want change, I said yes, and she gave me back a dime.
I understand that it is polite to tip (I worked as a waitress before so I always tip generously), but I dislike any business that makes it mandatory to tip. I believe that customers have the right to decide whether or not they want to tip and how much they want to tip. For me, their mandatory tipping policy immediately knocked one star off.

My AYCE lunch hot pot experience was underwhelming. It’s the feeling one gets when expecting a guy to open the car door for you (if you’re into that) and then he fails to do so.
So the deal breaker here was that ALL the meat selection here were served frozen rock solid. Just looking at it makes me lose my appetite.
The variety is decent — sauces and everything except for meat is self serve. The DIY soda pop section was a dripping mess with spills everywhere and all things were sticky to the touch.
Service was attentive — they offered us coat check which was funny considering this is a hot pot restaurant in the heart of Chinatown.
We came here for lunch on a Friday and were charged $ 2 extra since it’s a «weekend». I felt a bit ripped off because we clearly didn’t have enough time during work lunch break to get the most of this price.
They don’t deserve a one-​star but Ive certainly been to better quality hot pot restaurants than this, so won’t be coming back here anytime soon!

This place is way better than Celebrity Hot Pot. But most people do not know about this place. The reason why is because this place is too hidden. This place is just right beside the Tea shop 168. This place is better because you can just get up and pick whatever food you want. Also some free drinks and food at the counters. It’s very convenient and you don’t have to keep asking waiters for items and stuffs. The only cons is that they don’t offer beers. BUT SO WHAT THEY HAVE BUBBLE TEA RIGHT BESIDE IT. Overall great place. People definitely should check this place out.

Bad layout of the self serving shelves. When crowded with people, average waiting time can be five minutes. The plates are too small, and have to go to the shelves multiple times for only one round.
The meat is not provided on shelves and needed to order from the waitress. We asked four times about the meat. However it didn’t come until we almost finished eating. When ordering, the waitress told us meat is coming in big portion so she suggested six plates for us seven people. Actually, there’re only six or seven pieces each plate.
The plus side is there’s plenty of food you can choose from, and sauce and pops are included.
The waiter didn’t told us tips are included until I saw the comments from Unilocal.We weren’t presented with menu and the waiter didn’t mention that. How can we know that tips are included?

This place was awesome. I was in Toronto for a week with family, and came here twice! (and have since returned)
Pros:
Great value. Roughly $ 20 gets you amazing variety… including all the usual hot pot stuff, salmon, octopus, mussels, occasionally lobster, plus many many more things that I have not seen at most hot pot places in LA (and don’t even recall seeing in China)
Drinks are included in price
Wifi
They don’t rush people out
Service is good
Clean
Only con I can think of is they do not sell beer
Tip is automatically added to the price, but they do make this quite clear (and it is appropriate)
Will definitely return.
Open late (till like 2am I think), just in case you feel like hot pot at 1am

This is a fine Chinese hot pot place. For those who have never tried, you get some broth, and you cook your own food at your table using the broth. Master Mix starts you off with some basic choices for broths such as pork bone flavor or milky pumpkin but you’re welcome to add more seasoning.
This can be AYCE or a la carte. I think 3 – 4 dishes = price of AYCE (18.99) so AYCE seemed like a better deal. We were hungrrryyyy. I’ve had cheaper AYCE hot pot but it’s way on the east end in Markham.
In the back is where all the food is. You help yourself. Grab a bowl and go get some stuff. They have a big section for vegetarian stuff like vegetables and tofu. The other side has mostly seafood. Yes seafood!!! I love their selection. They have all my favourite seafood balls like lobster, squid, and fish. I like their grouper skate wings. If you want meat, they have to prep it in the kitchen. They have lamb, chicken, beef, pork.
Most of the food is unflavored (not marinated). The taste comes from the item’s natural flavors, your broth and any condiments you choose to get. So there isn’t much to talk about in terms of quality since it’s up to you. Seafood is of course the frozen variety. The cuts of meat are also pretty standard for hot pot.
For drinks, they have water and free fountain pop. That’s pretty good. Most places would charge you per can.
Chinese hot pot places are not difficult to find. Master Mix is in a decent location. The prices are reasonable. It’s also connected to the Tea Shop 168 so you can get dessert and bubble tea.
All in all it’s a fine place. It’s a very self serve experience. If you want fine dining with a server pampering you, this is not the place. If you want chill with friends or family while cooking food, this is not a bad choice.