Mama Liu & Sons — Restaurant in Vienna

The hotel concierge recommended thia place to me saying it was a local favorite, but I can't see why.

First and foremost, this place does not follow safe food handling procedures. Our food came with raw meat to be cooked at the table (fine) but they gave us nothing to handle it with. Our options were fingers or chopsticks, which means everything that we touched after cooking the meat was cross contaminated. I should have left then, because I don't want salmonella

The bartender ripped me off as well. Ordered a long island iced tea, which when sipped through the straw tasted extremely strongly of tequila. When sipped from the glass, there was virtually no alcohol taste present at all; just cola. The only possible explanation is that the bartender dipped the straw into some tequila to try to hide the fact that she short-poured the drink.

The mushrooms that they served me with my meal were clearly spoiled. The rice cake thing was more akin to a plastic wafer. The signature beef broth tasted like American instant Top Ramen packets (which cost 99 cents, for my european friends). Their dumplings got most of their flavor from the sauce that was on the table.

The service was also very poor. Took almost 10 minutes to even have our drink order taken, and we were never checked on. The stove was low on gas so it didn't get hot enough at first to not ruin the food (it was all soggy and waterlogged), and we tried 4 times to get our server's attention before eventually I had to yell "Excuse me" to him to get his attention for a new can of gas. Eventually after eating we had to try several times again to get our waiter's attention to get our bill so we could finally leave.

I left extremely disappointed and still very hungry, so I went and got food at another location a few blocks away which was MUCH better.

Also unacceptable in 2022 is that they do not take cards. I understand that there is a surcharge for the business, but if they feel so strongly about it then they can reflect it in their prices.

Unfortunately I am unable to say a single positive thing about my experience here. It's a good thing I live on a different continent, because otherwise I wouldn't be able to get far enough away from this place. If I could give zero...

It is definitely one of the nicest restaurants I have been to in Vienna. On different occasions I have visited this place several times and it was always very nice. The food is great. I tried different hot pot options and they all did not disappoint. First time I’ve visited was also my first hot pot experience. The waiter explained everything very well and was very helpful with our questions. Regarding snacks, I tried dim sum and different warm snacks, which were all great. I am just sad that over the years they changed the menu and took out fried tofu, which was amazing. I also have to mention restaurant’s cocktails, which are great. They have original twists on classic cocktails and their classic cocktails are also amazing. I do love this place, but I am giving 4 stars instead of 5 because of a couple reasons. Firstly, it is very hot in the restaurant from the hot pots. I understand that it is not entirely restaurant’s fault, but if your main attraction is amazing hot pots that everyone orders and you always have cookers on majority of the tables, you should think about air ventilation a bit more to ensure pleasant conditions for your costumers. Last time I was there we were thinking about also ordering another amazing cocktail after our food, but it was uncomfortably hot in the restaurant, so we decided against it. Another reason is that you feel that everyone is rushing. The place is usually packed and people without reservations are queuing, so I understand that it is also probably draining for the staff and you cannot always be happy and nice to all costumers, but in some cases as a customer you feel like you’re a bit of a burden and waiters just want you and everyone else to leave so they can rest at least for a second. Despite two reasons that lost a star from my review, I really like this place and will definitely come back. I recommend you to...

We made reservations for valentines day and took the first menu. A prepayment of 30 EUR per person was necessary to confirm the booking. Despite having made reservations for the specific menu, it seemed as though they had no idea regarding our menu reservation. After calling the waiter and checking, it took another 25 minutes until the appetizer was served.

The wagyu beef and tiger prawn appetizer was delicious, portion size was small. For the price, 2-3 skewers instead of just 1 would have been nice.

We went for the beef hot pot and so were told there was no other soup option but the beef soup. The ingredients were quite small portion, there was a container of beef, another container of pork, and one with veggies and some rice noodles. The sauce that was served at the table was just soy sauce, chili oil and some spring onions mixed together. My partner asked for some additional soup as the amount got less with some evaporation, we were charged for that.

Mango tiramisu dessert was very good. Just a small comment that they were served on plates that were chipped. Maybe some people don’t mind, but serving with chipped tableware in a somewhat fancy restaurant just does not leave a good impression.

All in all, as the main dish was the hotpot, I’d say that there are better places. Soup flavour suits the western palate, for me as an asian its just salty and lacking dimension.

I have never experienced being charged for extra soup at a hotpot place ever.. so that was really off-putting. In addition to charging for free tap water.

Last but not least, this place only takes cash. So not very convenient for people who like to go cashless. For the nice appetizer and...