I watched about 60 episodes of Hunter x Hunter and didn't really understand the praise it gets compared to other similar long-running shounen anime, personally. I kept waiting for it to get good, but was told if I didn't always think it was good while watching it, I probably wouldn't change my mind.
Fair enough, it's definitely not for everyone. I think that's also before the Chimera Ant arc, which is the point at which the anime becomes incredibly dark and changes tone.
They were in a tournament in York New City, if I remember correctly.
Perhaps the bar was set too high for me by all the praise. Maybe I wouldn't have liked Dragonball either if I went in thinking it was the best anime ever made, haha.