MISS VANCOUVER PIGGY
My parents wanted me to have dinner with them at Kirin and I agreed, with a different choice of restaurant in mind. I suggested Richmond Sushi because the restaurant is constantly busy, so the sashimi is always fresh. Of course my parents hesitated at first and insisted on going to Octopus Garden if I wanted sushi, but I pretty much forced them to go to Richmond Sushi. On the way there however, I had a bad feeling in my stomach like perhaps Richmond Sushi is closed on Tuesdays. And evidently when we arrived, the restaurant was indeed closed.
So since I had a long day, my second choice was something fast, like Tak Heng, a reliable AYCE hot pot restaurant. My parents only like Landmark, but I insisted that Tak Heng's chicken wings and goji jello are really good. Tak Heng is also a regular restaurant of mine and I have been visiting almost biweekly ever since my last visit. Although I have noticed as more visits progressed, the owners are less friendly and have become inattentive, but I could care less about the service as long as the food tastes good. Or so I thought…
We arrived around 6:00pm and like my usual visits, the restaurant was not busy. Throughout the duration of our stay, there were only six seated tables. Starting with the positives, for the first time out of more than fifteen visits, the owner mentioned their "special sauce" comes at a $5.00 charge. There was always a charge for the sauce, but it was never mentioned until now and this is appreciated.
"What do you want to eat? Hot pot? Is it worth the drive and $80.00?", lmfao this is how the conversation started when deciding on a place for dinner. A big reason for visiting Chubby Lamb Hotpot in Richmond is because the restaurant serves the best Chinese chicken and herbal soup base! The broth is consistent, tastes rich, and the owner always encourages us to have a couple of bowls each before starting on the hot pot!
However, the restaurant is now under a new ownership and management. Chubby Lamb has been closed for a couple of months and I assumed the restaurant was being renovated, but the biggest sign of a new ownership was the staff. The staff is different from the last few previous years and there are polaroid photos of the new team by the counter. The fish bowl sitting on the counter is another sign as well!
Walking in, the restaurant was empty but the room filled up fast. Both the waiter and waitress at the front of the house were friendly and inviting, especially the waitress. The waitress appears to be related to the owner and is a very hard worker. She is also extremely polite and even says "Hello, welcome" as well as "Please, right this way" in Chinese, which is actually a first for me out of 150+ Chinese restaurants I have blogged about. Furthermore, she followed up with every table and made sure to say goodbye to everyone.
As for the interior, Chubby Lamb is one of the smaller hot pot restaurants so reservations are recommended. There are only a couple of seating arrangements for parties of more than six and less than twelve tables. After ordering, every table is provided with soy, peanut and satay sauce, and extra condiments are $0.75.
MaThai is the newest Chinese hot pot restaurant to open along Alexandra Road in Richmond, and replaces the former AYCE restaurant Cattle Hot Pot. Being a big fan of hot pot restaurants and continuing to find regular ones for myself to frequently visit, MaThai has been on my list for a while. In addition, the director of MaThai invited me to try their restaurant. I received a coupon via e-mail, which was to be presented after my meal so I could blog about a true dining experience as a regular guest.
The interior looks similar to the former hot pot restaurant but the staff is noticeably different, as in they are friendly! The waitress was also attentive and continuously added additional broth to the pot without us having to request. This is worth mentioning because at many hot pot restaurants it is hard to wave someone down and I usually wait until there is almost no more soup base before making an effort to find the staff. Asides from the service, the restaurant is also fairly clean. Usually I wipe down the table setting with tea but did not need to this time.
When there is a restaurant you really like, the answer to "where do you want to eat?" is very simple. There is no need to be indecisive and choosing a restaurant is as simple as answering "okay". This was the case for Little Sheep Mongolian.
The main attraction about hot pot are the soup bases, but majority of the all you can eat restaurants in B.C have mediocre ones and Little Sheep Mongolian is one of them. Soup bases aside, the quality of the ingredients as well as the selection would be the second important component. Are the vegetables rinsed? How is the quality of the meat? Are there a variety of meat, tofu, vegetables and seafood? These are the questions that come to my mind because many AYCE hot pot restaurants are similar and I will select those that suit me.
Stumped on where to go for the first meal of the day at 5:00pm, my friend and I settled on Little Sheep Mongolian. Little Sheep Mongolian is a Chinese hot pot restaurant and there are three locations, with the newest addition located on West Broadway. I used to frequently visit the location in Richmond because the restaurant is very spacious and there are comfortable seating arrangements. However, I stopped visiting because the soup bases are not that great and there are plenty of hot pot restaurants in Richmond! So there is no need to settle. As for the location in Burnaby, well… the experience was not that great.
So, at first I was a bit hesitant to try out Little Sheep on West Broadway and kind of remembered the menu as being a bit limited. But, I was craving for tong ho and we decided to make the visit. Similar to the other Little Sheep restaurants, the interior looks very modern and the seating arrangements are comfortable.
What is Jang Mo Jib known for? One of the first popular Korean restaurants. What else? Being a chain restaurant with many locations. And? Having horrendous service! I have no idea why but having visited Jang Mo Jib in Richmond, Burnaby and Coquitlam numerous times, none of the staff (including the owners!) have ever been friendly! I really do not understand why. But, I have never tried the Jang Mo Jib in Downtown and with many recent mediocre gamjatangs, I really needed a good one. 
Walking in, we waited a good ten minutes without any acknowledgement including from the owner. At first, I did not really mind because I used the opportunity to take a panoramic photo without looking weird. But after a while it is like, hello? Is the restaurant making too much money?
After seating at a table that was not wiped off or sanitized, it was nice to see one of the waitresses cleaning up another table; next to our gamjatang which sat there for a while. The restaurant has plenty of booth seating arrangements as well as tables in the centre, and I believe there are even a few tables at the back. As we were ordering, we asked if it was possible to grab a booth seat because the amount of food we ordered would not fit a two person table. However, since the restaurant's policy is four people to a booth, we had to cancel three dishes. So… the restaurant choses to lose $60.00 when every booth seat was available?
Anyways, about our table which was neither sanitized nor cleaned and had bits of food; it was fine because I used tea along with napkins to wipe the surface and clean the dirty cutlery. But, when more dirty tableware arrived? Alright, I already used tea to clean the chopsticks, plates and spoons, but now this? This is just too much. Maybe I would not have been so mad if we did not wait ten minutes just to wave someone down for new tongs and a spoon. Do I need to mention that there were four waitresses on the floor, we sat right by the owner, and only the middle of the restaurant was occupied?
Go Gung was recommended by a family friend in Vancouver, and for her to rave about the galbi beef ribs at a Korean restaurant in Coquitlam? It must be a must visit. Go Gung is located in the Westwood Plateau neighbourhood which is past Coquitlam Centre, at the Westwood Plateau Village. When we arrived, we thought holy shit, this is the Korean restaurant to dine at.
Walking in, the interior shocked me. Go Gung is the nicest looking Korean restaurant that I have ever been to! There is a gorgeous water wheel fountain at the waiting area and the restaurant has window wrapped walls. Furthermore, there is a nice stonewall divider which separates two dining areas, and the restaurant has private rooms. In addition, although not pictured, there are cute little Korean figurines on the stonewall.
Go Gung means "the old palace" in Korean and it is our intention to make you feel like royalty during your time with us. Whether you are an experienced diner or new to Korean food, our knowledgeable staff witll help you discover the tantalizing flavours and aroma that will please your senses. From the moment you arrive, you will be treated to a memorable culinary experience including an extensive menu, specialty bar, spacious seating and an amazing view. And you are invited to participate! Every table has its own gas barbecue and ventilation fans [so] you can prepare our specialty meats to your liking in a smoke free environment. Experiment with a vast selection of condiments and satisfy every appetite with entrees, soups and salad from the main menu. Korean food is all about flavour! Our reasonably priced dishes are made to order using the freshest ingredients.
BF has been interested in trying out Cho Sun BBQ for months. Months. As for myself, I heard through Instagram that the food is average at best and typical me, hesitant towards wasting money on mediocre food (hey! Korean food is pricey…), never wanted to visit. However, since I was responsible for four below average to mediocre restaurants in a row, I caved and we finally came here for dinner (which actually ended our streak of bad luck restaurants!).
Cho Sun is a Korean barbecue restaurant located on Kingsway Street in Vancouver, and offers Japanese food as well. In addition, the restaurant is open late until 2:00am. As for the seating arrangements, there are divider walls everywhere and unlike some Korean restaurants, there is no push bell service! I never thought much of push buttons before, asides from worrying about annoying the staff… but, Cho Sun desperately needs one. The restaurant was only half full but because of the layout, it is impossible to get a waiting staffs' attention unless they happened to be walking by.As a self proclaimed "daily diner trying to find my regulars", I am glad to announce that Tak Heng is officially my favourite all you can eat hot pot restaurant (unless the third as well as fourth visits are not good)! When looking for a new hot pot restaurant to try in Richmond, I felt a bit hopeless since I have tried pretty much almost of all of them. So, remembering that I liked Tak Heng and labeled the restaurant as a possible "Richmond's version of Landmark", I decided to make the revisit. Before revisiting, I read my previous post on the restaurant (lesson learned to always check when revisiting) and was surprised that I thought the menu was limited. The menu has pretty much everything that I like and need!
Walking in for a late lunch, err... or early dinner at 5:30pm, the staff was still setting up. Tak Heng is newly renovated, has comfortable seating arrangements, and is one of the most cleanest hot pot restaurants. The restaurant offers a la carte as well as all you can eat, and we tried the AYCE again.
The restaurant offers complimentary drinks as well as sauces (chilli, bean spiral, vinegar, satay, soy and peanut). I am not sure what kind of drink it is but it tastes like the sweet basil seed drinks, minus the seeds. Also like the last visit, no cilantro, green onion or red chilli was available, but may be if asked?
Looking for something different to try, I thought of Shun Xin Hot Pot. And a few minutes after deciding to visit, a friend of mine also suggested the restaurant! Was this meant to be? I have mentioned before that I do not mind driving to Richmond with one exception, I will not have to park at the plaza where Chen's Shanghai Kitchen is. Well, turns out that plaza is called Park Lane which is also where Shun Xin is! Fortunately we did not need to circle around or wait half an hour for a spot (like previous visits) and as we arrived, someone was leaving.
The restaurant offers AYCE hot pot and their specialty dry style hot pot, which is a spicy crab and/or prawns stir-fried with selected ingredients by the customer. There are plenty of ingredients to add along with the seafood for an additional $4.00-$6.00/item. Also, I recommend reservations because on a weeknight, everyone had reservations and we waited forty five minutes. Although the wait was not that bad since I love spicy food, it was hard to refrain from walking a few doors down to Chen's Shanghai! The restaurant's interior is pretty well ventilated and has plenty of booth seating arrangements as well as a couple of tables for larger parties at the back. Gloves, napkins, chop sticks and a bowl for the broken shells are provided.
Having tried most of the known all you can eat hot pot restaurants in Richmond such as Cattle Hot Pot, Chubby Lamb, Claypot, Little Sheep Mongolian and Tak Heng Hot Pot, the next one on the list is K.K Dollar Hot Pot. The restaurant is located in the same plaza along with Oriental Dumpling King and is across the street from Tak Heng. When we arrived, we walked through the open door which lead to a… kind of odd stairwell and a shopping cart (my Instagram video here!) However after entering the restaurant, the atmosphere was a lot better. 
The interior is clean, spacious and well ventilated. K.K Dollar offers a deluxe as well as a regular AYCE menu and for an extra $3.00/person, one can order tong ho, mashed prawn paste and abalone mushroom. If it was not for the tong ho, we would have passed on the deluxe menu.
Sesame oil, spicy oil, chilli preserved bean curd, special satay, fish, peanut, beef, sha ha, K.K special, and hot & spicy. I stuck with satay since I rarely use sauce and if I have to, I love my satay. Asides from the unlimited garnishes and sauces, the restaurant also offers a few snacks such as bean curd, marinaded bean curd, roasted peanuts and edamame. The marinaded bean curd is quite tasty and has a flavourful star anise taste, while also tasting slightly sweet and juicy.
When I like a restaurant, I really like it. Meaning, I rave about the restaurant for days and do not shut up about how good it was. Sometimes, I even want to revisit the next day and lose sleep over thinking about it. Although rare, it happens, and Fatty Cow was one of them. Located in Vancouver on Victoria Drive, Fatty Cow is an all you can eat late night hot pot restaurant. We were seated at the same table as the previous visit and the staff was pretty much the same. 
So… imagine this, a 
So, avoiding the usual circling around for thirty minutes to an hour (no exaggeration), we went straight to Fatty Cow. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Fatty Cow? I rather eat McDonalds than come here or just have ice cream for dinner. I remember Fatty Cow when the restaurant first opened and the food sucked. Anyways… this visit was on a Sunday and the restaurant was 70% full when we walked in. The manager kind of neglected us, which I did not take personal because I expected my experience to "meh" or pretty crappy. After waiting ten minutes unspoken to, we were seated as he cleared a table for us.
A revisit to Toyotomi - an all you can eat sushi and hot pot restaurant, what is there not to like? The restaurant is located in Richmond on Anderson road and provides free underground parking, but we did not know and paid at the meter (12 minutes/$0.50). There are plenty of booth seating arrangements and the restaurant can accommodate larger parties, but the only issue that most people seem to mention is regarding the service.
On the revisit however, the service was not so great since all the staff members were working and we came during the regular dinner hours. This means that dishes get slammed as well as tossed on the table and the staff rush off to talk amongst each other, which I do not mind because how much service does a table need at an AYCE? Not much, so it is not an issue. Expect the worst and there really is nothing to complain about, right? However, if the food sucks and the staff provides rude service… then there may be a problem.
Potter's Garden is located on Kingsway Street in Burnaby, and is close to another Korean restaurant, Jang Mo Jib. Walking in on a Thursday evening, the restaurant was a quarter full and we were seated at a small coffee size table. Doing the usual if I think the table is a bit too small for our order, asked if we could move to a larger table. But, the waiter looked at us like it was a silly request and said no. After being rejected and looking around, I found it odd that a few tables of two with only an order of one hot pot, had a larger table than us!
After we finished ordering, the waiter constantly suggested for us to pass on table top barbecue, in hopes of saving some table space which I found even more odd. Regardless, table top barbecue or not, the amount of food we ordered would not fit at any coffee sized table. So, fortunately after insisting numerous times that we wanted to cook our own meats, he finally moved us to a regular sized table! As for the restaurant, it stayed a quarter full for the rest of the evening.
Potter's Garden has two sides, one for larger parties and the other for groups of less than four. The restaurant is fairly spacious, has comfortable seating arrangements, and a very strong aroma of BBQ meat along with hot pot. As for the service, there was only one waiter on the floor and despite his slow service, he tried to be somewhat as efficient as he could (after a few tables complained to him).
