Pearl Hot Pot — Restaurant in Burnaby

I was first introduced to Pearl Hot Pot from my hot pot lover bf couple years ago. He has always told me that it was one of his favourite hole in the wall places so I decided to try it out. I vividly remember having a horrible first impression because their house dipping sauce tasted horrible!

We returned for the second time last year to give it another shot. I loved it! I remember everything from the sauce, taste, customer service and portions being good.

Yesterday we decided to go again. I give it a 3/5 because overall the meal was good but not fantastic. I ordered the prime beef combo which cost $21 and my bf got the meatball combo which cost $18. Mine came with 6 slices of super thin beef and his came with 10 pieces of frozen fish balls. They both came with small bowl of veggies (3/4 of the bowl was cabbage), choice of udon or rice, choice of green/black/fruit tea and soft serve for after your meal.

CUSTOMER SERVICE: We went at 2pm therefore the restaurant was quite empty. The waitress was was attentive to us but didn't bug us every second. When we got our bill at the end of the meal, she charged us for items that we didn't receive. My bf explained to her the mistake but she immediately fought back and said no he was wrong. After couple minutes of my bf explaining, she finally realized and fixed it up. When she came back with our new bill, she was quite cold.

TASTE: Overall the meal was good. The beef was super super thin and they rolled it to make it look like there was way more than it actually is. The bowl of veggies consist of mainly cabbage (3/4 of the bowl). They put everything else on top to make it look like you get a lot of other variety but be aware!

PORTIONS: I swear over the years the portions have gone down significantly. I always remember not being able to finish everything because there was so much food. But this time, I was able to finish everything but not super full.

PRICE: Their prices has also gone up quite a bit. I completely understand that food costs go up. I used to enjoy this place because it was an affordable joint that gave customers a good bang for your buck. However the price didn't justify the quality and quantity.

DIPPING SAUCE: Their sauce just tasted bland. It just tasted like a combination of Chinese 5 spice and oil. They give you one little portion of sauce and they charge you if you want more. Unfortunate for sauce lovers. I wish they have a make your own sauce option like most hot pot places.

I don't think I would come back for a while. I much rather spend a bit more $ to go...

My good friend invited me to try hot pot for the first time. Pearl Hot Pot is where she has been going her entire life growing up in Burnaby. I was not sure what to expect as I had never had hot pot before and I had never seen anything about it.

She knew to reserve a seat ahead of time because she said it is one of the busiest places in the area. Once we got there, it looked like it wasn't even open which was so interesting to see. I knew it was going to be good just because of that.

Once inside, we did have to wait for a bit but we eventually got to sit around the bar area. It was extremely busy in there so service was a bit slow but they only had a few servers and they were trying their hardest.

I was blown away by the prices! Soooo affordable! I ordered the lamb combo with a drink. The drink was really refreshing (got the yoghurt) but later, that cold combo with the hot pot was strange, haha.

When the lamb and veggies arrived, I noticed there was raw shrimp with the veggies. I do not eat seafood and was not expecting that, so that threw me off a bit but I eventually got it off my plate. Controlling the temperature of the boiling broth was interesting. Tricky but I eventually got the hang of it. I did get vermicelli added to my broth, which I will not do again. I could not get it out of the broth at all as it was too slippery. The rice is a much better option. The lamb was delicious. the sauce you dip it in was delicious. The veggies were really good.

Overall, a great experience for such a low price. And we got ice cream! Such a great deal. Will definitely visit again. Oh, and not to forget...they keep refilling your broth and...

To preface, we arrived for dinner on a Sunday afternoon at 4:30pm. The restaurant was not very busy so the customer service was great!

We were well attended to, the server was very kind and patient with us as we had questions in understanding the menu options and what was all included. They noticed when our broth was running low and offered free refill before we could ask. I dropped my spoon on the ground and they came by with a new spoon before I could ask! Very attentive, kind, welcoming and hospitable service.

The music was a reasonable volume, we could hear ourselves talk. The server was in a good mood singing along to the music and it was a cheerful, laid back atmosphere!

The food was VERY GOOD! Such good value for the combo meals provided. We all went with the house chicken broth that was included and the sauce they included was SO FLAVOURFUL. My husband enjoyed mixing the sauce with his broth for extra flavour. The vegetable bowl that comes with each combo is so full and comes with 1 shrimp, 2 tofu, 1 cheese mochi dumpling and 1 squid ball. We ate til we were very full and satisfied and still brought a lot of the food home.

I would recommend this restaurant to everyone! Just come during downtime to ensure quick service. The food, drinks, and ice cream was incredibly delicious and...