Liuyishou Hotpot Burnaby — Restaurant in Burnaby

Liuyishou Hotpot is one of the many Szechuan hotpot restaurants that have opened up in Vancouver over the last few years. Specializing in Chongqing-style hotpots, this is definitely more suited to diners who have a thing for spicy food.

Recently, they opened a location in Burnaby, next to the 24-hour Pho Boi restaurant. This chain, which was founded in 2000, already has over 1000 outlets worldwide so they must be doing something right… I wonder if they’ll last longer than the last hotpot restaurant in this location?

The thing that first caught my attention to this chain was the pictures of a Barbie doll draped in layers of thinly sliced beef (at least from their Robson St. location). Sure, it’s a bit of a gimmick… and exactly how clean is that Barbie doll by now? The other thing that I noticed was the pictures of their impressive sauce bar.

As with most newly opened hotpot restaurants, the original nice and shiny sauce bar eventually devolves into something which is more functional than pretty. That’s not to say that the number of sauces and condiments here is not impressive… it’s just been reorganized to be more efficient. Instead of the roughly 27 round containers of sauces and condiments (in addition to fresh fruit), the containers have been switched to mostly rectangular-shaped to fit the counter space.

When I arrived here for lunch on a weekday, the place was dead… and I soon found out why. Their menu isn’t the most friendly for individual diners or people that are looking for a quick lunch. Unlike nearby Boiling Point which has individual hotpots, Liuyishou hotpots are meant to be shared with a large group of people. The serving sizes here means that prices quickly add up (especially if you want to add a lot of items to your hotpot).

I decided to try their Original Spicy Broth ($9.95). You can also pick two different broths and just pay the higher price if you want a bit of variety. I found the medium spicy broth was plenty hot for me. Chongqing hotpots are known for their spicy and numbing qualities and this was definitely numbing. Realizing that the family-size portions here could break my bank, I stuck with just a couple of items… the Spinach ($4.95), Frozen Tofu ($4.95), and the Beef and Lamb Combo ($13.95). Their unlimited sauce bar, by the way, is $2.50 per person.

After the first few bites, I quickly realized that I wouldn’t be able to finish all of this food during my lunch break so I just wound up cooking everything and then packing it to go.

All of the items were good and I like the unlimited sauce bar but if you’re not used to szechuan hotpots, you might want to stick to some of the milder broths they have available. Also, make sure to come in a group to cut down on the per-person cost because the bill...

4* food quality and presentation 1* customer service 2* pricing

This restaurant was something I had high hopes for as I had been looking for a restaurant like this in the Vancouver area as Winnipeg does have one (Asian Hot Pot on Corydon Ave.) where they provide a condiment and sauce bar. The sauce bar is something I find to be very helpful as it allows me to enjoy hot pot meals a lot more than those without said bar. The selection was not as large and the lattles they provided for the sauces were a tad small, which made people bunch up waiting on a single person to finish. I like that they provided us with fruit, seaweed salad, and edamame for you to eat as an appetizer or even dessert.

The quality of the food was good and the plate charisma was very nice, however the portions did not reflect the price I was paying. On that note, I feel that a portioned dish of vegetables should not cost more than $2 for common items- $4-5 per vegetable item ordered. I feel they could have provided a larger list of items in their menu as well. I was surprised that water crest wasn't on their menu. Anyway, he resulting bill turned out to be $83 for 2 people. A price that suggests that I look elsewhere, especially since i had a better experience at a similar place in Winnipeg for half the price.

Now about the customer service... We were not greeted, but instead we were corraled to a corner booth with hardly a word spoken (their English was clear, so it wasn't that they could not speak English). The BUSTERS were very helpful in clearing the table of unnecessary dishes and delivering food to the table without delay, however, with so many on staff, it is understandable that that service is fluent and it doesn't require much effort. We did not stick around to determine if they would bring the bill or not, so we went straight to the front with intent to pay. The girl that provided our bill did not say a single word at all so we paid in cash. She walked away to a cash box in the back (i guess?) and returned with change, but not before staring at us awkwardly as if she was hoping we would use a card instead. Upon returning with change she said to my wife while walked out the door "the price does not include a tip". My wife is Japanese and Japanese do not have a tipping culture. I could have reminded her myself, however, I wasn't paying or paying attention. She was quite furious and was very close to throwing $7 in change at the rude girl or hitting her.

To the short thin girl that doesn't wear make up and really should... YOU really NEED to work on your people skills and MANNERISMS while you are LIVING IN CANADA- from the angry Japanese wife.

I will not be returning, even if the house made noodles were of...

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