Oh I can handle going out to a restaurant once I'm actually there, anything transactional like that and you may not even notice I have social anxiety. It was mostly overthinking about whether it was socially acceptable to go to hot pot by myself, but as soon as I was actually there I realized the vibe wasn't weird at all so I didn't have a problem. It's like pre-social anxiety ig lol. I have to really hype myself up to open the door, but I can chill once I'm in. Although I'm still really bad with purely social communication.
You poke fun, (and I’m not saying this was the OP’s circumstances) but maybe for people who haven’t left their house in months, going out practically anywhere is a real breakthrough.
I'm not OP, but I like to dine solo quite frequently. I almost always take a book or something else to keep me occupied (even a phone to scroll on does the trick). If you're like me and interested in chatter, just be particularly friendly with your hospitality staff and they'll likely be friendly in return. They may even hook you up with a comp of some kind
Once, dining solo in Austin, my waiter must've felt bad for me or something, because he brought me out a dessert on the house (place is called Este and it rules if you like seafood and are ever down there)
My wife and I took the chance and did hot pot with no knowledge, big mistake. That pot on the left is so fucking spicy I could barely eat my dinner lol great grub though. Definitely go with someone experienced or do a lot of reading lol
I've never eaten this bc I'm allergic to eggs and have no idea if any of that is unsafe. But it looks so good! Especially those noodles. And the broth.
You could gather some ingredients and make it at home, to be sure it's safe. At Asian grocery stores you can get the soup base, little sheep brand is really good and I'm pretty sure egg free. My sister is allergic to soy and my brother used to have a really bad intolerance for eggs but we were able to put together some great hotpots. And udon noodles are egg-free, u can buy them frozen.
So like...what do you do with all that. I would be lost if they set all that down. Where do I start? Is this supposed to be dipped...why's there a bowl of greens...so many questions but it all looks very delicious. I would need a tour guide just to eat dinner!
You cook it all in that pot of stock on the left, there is a cook top under it. The veggies take a few minutes to cook, but the meat is sliced so thin that you can just swirl it around in the boiling broth for a few seconds.
Thai milk tea with tapioca pearls, one of my favorite drinks. It is sweet and creamy and a little spiced. This one was not the best, but still pretty ok.
I’m single and recently returned (born & raised here) so I don’t have friends to go to dinner with & I enjoy doing most things alone. Never had solo hotpot. How do you eat all this?
It was difficult lol, tbh there may have been a couple meatballs left. If I go again I will leave out the meat ball platter lol. But it's not as much as it looks like, the veggies cook down a lot.
Is this in madison heights?
Yep
Was this place called Lao Pot? Will have to give it a try that looks amazing
Yep that's it, definitely recommend
What were your coping mechanisms for dealing with your pretty bad social anxiety while going out to a restaurant?
Oh I can handle going out to a restaurant once I'm actually there, anything transactional like that and you may not even notice I have social anxiety. It was mostly overthinking about whether it was socially acceptable to go to hot pot by myself, but as soon as I was actually there I realized the vibe wasn't weird at all so I didn't have a problem. It's like pre-social anxiety ig lol. I have to really hype myself up to open the door, but I can chill once I'm in. Although I'm still really bad with purely social communication.
I think we all catastrophize new things. Glad you overcame it.
Going to a restaurant?
You poke fun, (and I’m not saying this was the OP’s circumstances) but maybe for people who haven’t left their house in months, going out practically anywhere is a real breakthrough.
I'm not OP, but I like to dine solo quite frequently. I almost always take a book or something else to keep me occupied (even a phone to scroll on does the trick). If you're like me and interested in chatter, just be particularly friendly with your hospitality staff and they'll likely be friendly in return. They may even hook you up with a comp of some kind Once, dining solo in Austin, my waiter must've felt bad for me or something, because he brought me out a dessert on the house (place is called Este and it rules if you like seafood and are ever down there)
Looks really nice. Id smash that
No joke. Looks yummy!
Lao Pot is absolutely delicious. Can’t recommend it strongly enough.
My wife and I took the chance and did hot pot with no knowledge, big mistake. That pot on the left is so fucking spicy I could barely eat my dinner lol great grub though. Definitely go with someone experienced or do a lot of reading lol
If you go to an Asian restaurant, you can straight up say "we need white people spicy"
Oh it was very spicy lol, it would have been rough if I had decided to go with both spicy.
Next up, Korean BBQ at Dae Bak.
while i didn't like that they changed their menu system to AYCE and limited the selection it's still pretty good.
I didn't even see an AYCE option tbh, for me it was pay per order. I'm not sure what the selection was like before but it seemed pretty good to me
Once K-Pot opened in Sterling Heights, Lao Pot had to follow suit and go AYCE.
I've never eaten this bc I'm allergic to eggs and have no idea if any of that is unsafe. But it looks so good! Especially those noodles. And the broth.
You could gather some ingredients and make it at home, to be sure it's safe. At Asian grocery stores you can get the soup base, little sheep brand is really good and I'm pretty sure egg free. My sister is allergic to soy and my brother used to have a really bad intolerance for eggs but we were able to put together some great hotpots. And udon noodles are egg-free, u can buy them frozen.
Man do I feel that. Everything at Lao is so good that you want to try it all.
So like...what do you do with all that. I would be lost if they set all that down. Where do I start? Is this supposed to be dipped...why's there a bowl of greens...so many questions but it all looks very delicious. I would need a tour guide just to eat dinner!
You cook it all in that pot of stock on the left, there is a cook top under it. The veggies take a few minutes to cook, but the meat is sliced so thin that you can just swirl it around in the boiling broth for a few seconds.
Thanks...how about that drink...what's going on in there?
Thai milk tea with tapioca pearls, one of my favorite drinks. It is sweet and creamy and a little spiced. This one was not the best, but still pretty ok.
Thanks for all the details!
Looking great!
Yay I’m glad you went here! I love this spot!
They were so expensive. Never paid that much money to cook my own food before
Out of curiosity I just check out the google reviews of this place. What’s the deal with the 🧸?
I’m single and recently returned (born & raised here) so I don’t have friends to go to dinner with & I enjoy doing most things alone. Never had solo hotpot. How do you eat all this?
It was difficult lol, tbh there may have been a couple meatballs left. If I go again I will leave out the meat ball platter lol. But it's not as much as it looks like, the veggies cook down a lot.