Big Way Hot Pot (Kingsway） — Restaurant in Burnaby

This was my 3rd time at this location, and my mistake on coming during rush hour around 7pm on a Thursday, but that is no excuse for the lack of service and terrible wait list system.

We joined the waitlist online, and waited around 20 minutes when it said our table was "ready." Upon arriving at Big Way, we found that we still had to stand in line despite the waitlist saying our table was available. We had to essentially wait for another 1 hour before we were able to be seated, and that is unacceptable. Why make the waitlist here say table is available when you still need to stand in line for an hour until it actually was? Why not make the waitlist system the same as the Burnaby or Kerrisdale location, where when they say your table is ready, you are actually able to pick your food and sit down immediately?

While waiting, aka standing and holding our heavy bowls, I noticed that there was a long backup of cooked dishes waiting to go out (attached picture below). They had cooked all the meals and just had it sit there, waiting for it to get cold/soggy since there are no available tables for everyone waiting yet. So the customers have to wait even though it said their table was ready AND get cold food after standing for yet another hour? Unacceptable.

Waitlist aside, service was not up to par. The servers were really nice and kind, but there was a lack of attention to customers. We ordered two drinks, and got it AFTER we finished our meal. What is the point of ordering the drinks then if we can't enjoy it during the food? Since we had to still stand in line and wait for a table and eat the food itself, it was essentially 40 minutes before we got our drinks from the time of ordering. I also had to remind the workers that we ordered drinks before they brought it to us. We had finished our meals and were parched.

There was also slight sanitation issues, such as observing servers holding the receipt that is clipped onto the bowls in a way that had it dipped into the soup itself, as well as the drinks maker touching the ice in the drink with bare hands.

Gave +1 star for the food itself (only the miso broth is good though) and +1 star for the kindness of the workers despite the subpar service itself.

TLDR: HORRIBLE waitlist system, SLOW and UNACCEPTABLE service, food was okay

Would consider coming back if they changed the terrible waitlist system/not at peak dinner hours even though it...

All ingredients were fresh and tons of choices, tasty soup bases as always except that crab didn't taste right yesterday (around 2:30pm on Mar 10th), BUT I'd still give a positive rating, I very rarely leave reviews but I would for this experience. 4 stars for atmosphere cuz it felt a bit more crowed than the other locations to me. Some tables are kind of too close to each other, you can hear people and they can hear you too.

I've tried Big Way in all other locations except this one and I have been recommending friends to try Big way for a long time. But yesterday the crab from my lunch tasted like it started to turn bad, the crab meat was still kind of firm but it was the taste that was .....different..... I had my friend try it (he came from a place known for fresh seafood in China, so I trust his judgement), same reaction received, and he spit it out immediately....

The staff apologized and went immediately to check with the kitchen and came back to explain to me that nothing wrong was found and the crab came in frozen fresh every day morning, it's just how frozen crab tastes like. Well I don't buy that, if fresh frozen crab that comes in same day morning tastes like that, I'd never touch that in Big Way again. I have had crab at Big Way multiple times at other locations (the one nearby and also Richmond), and other places my whole life, I knew it's not supposed to taste like that.

I told them to have every single one of their staff to try it and they'd know what I'm talking about. I hope someone eventually did. At then end, I still enjoyed the taste of other ingredients and my conversation with my friend.

I thought I'd leave this review to: 1. raise awareness for their food quality control 2. giving praise to the staff that handled my case (a young guy and a young girl, the girl seemed to be more experienced and more like the team lead I think). At the end they insisted even though I explained again I wasn't expecting a refund, they refunded every penny. Before I left I ordered a milk tea and paid it cuz I didn't want to be one of those customers that come here for free meals.

I'll still keep coming back and would still be willing to try the crab, I hope their business can keep growing and stay as long as possible...

BIG WAY? NO WAY!!!

Our friend put down 5 of us on the waiting list, when it was our turn, the manager said they have a table of 4 for us. If we want a bigger table, we’ll have to wait for another 15 minutes. I found that amusing, as we didn’t add the fifth person last minute. The small table for 4 was so cramped, and literally no way to sit the fifth person at the end of the table.

We then were given pots and tongs to choose our own ingredients. They do offer lots of meat & fish balls, meat, seafood, veggie and carbs. We went up to pay and price is fair.

We were then seated at a larger table. Food came promptly, soup base is decent and bubble tea drink is pretty good too. There’s no technique of boiling food, so as long as ingredients are fresh and cooked thoroughly, they tasted fine.

Towards the end of the meal, the manager came over to our table and asked who had a certain number. She said that order was not paid, and sounded like it was our fault. When in fact it is their system’s and staff’s fault for a mysterious error. She asked if she could refund cash when my husband paid by credit card. My husband asked her to refund back to AMEX, after many back and forth, the manager said she tried but can’t. Well, then just find another way: which is to calculate the difference and we’ll pay the difference, but the manager was stuck in that ‘refund’ mode and couldn’t get her head out of it. After several more back and forth and interrupting our dinner, the manager finally decided not to charge the difference. As we finished our dinner, we were asked if we want ice cream. 3 out of 5 wanted it, and were given what they called strawberry ice cream. It’s the most disgusting flavour I’ve ever tasted. It is not strawberries at all, it tasted like cough syrup + public washroom hand washing soap. Since it is not shabu shabu, the food got lukewarm towards the end. With such unpleasant experiences, and so many other delightful options around Metrotown, we definitely...