This is about Chongqing... or, specifically, about the famous, perhaps overrated, Chongqing speciality - Hotpot a la Chongqing.
Overall impression: It leaves much to be desired in the department of hygiene. If you go for the original "Red Stock" (reddened by chilli, of course), then you must accept that the stock (including the oil, grease, chilli, garlic, other people's saliva and what-have-you in it) is recycled... what do you get in return for this level of hygiene, or lack of it? Apparently, it tastes better, hence the name Lao Huoguo (Time-Honoured Hotpot), and you pay nothing for the stock.
If, however, you are willing to fork out 20 yuan for the stock, you can have fresh ingredients for the broth and it normally comes in the form of "Mandarin Duck" hotpot - with compartmentalised spicy-and-tame flavours: There is a free-standing cylindrical container in the centre of the chafing dish, completely insulated from the rest of the container. The rest of the pot looks mean and menacing, but this oasis in the centre, pristine and gentle, brings comfort to the chilli-phobes.
Thumbs up: Um, I am not sure.
Thumbs down: Definitely the Wangpai Zhengzong Dongzi Lao Huoguo (literally, Ace-Grade Authentic Cave Old Hotpot), in the vicinity of Jiefangbei (Liberation Monument). I will upload a photo of the staff and you can kind of suss out the ambience and decide if it's your cup of tea.