97 Hotpot 涮涮鍋 — Restaurant in Edmonton

I recently had the opportunity to dine at this restaurant and I must say that my overall experience left much to be desired. From the moment I walked in, I felt an underwhelming sense of ambiance that set the tone for the entire evening.

First and foremost, the service was disappointing. The staff seemed disorganized and overwhelmed, as evidenced by the slow service and lack of attention throughout the meal. Our orders were mixed up, and it took several reminders to get things right.

Moving on to the food, I was less than impressed with the quality of the ingredients. The meat selections were of mediocre quality, with some pieces appearing slightly discolored. The vegetables were not as fresh as one would expect from a hotpot restaurant, and the variety was limited. The broth options lacked depth and flavor, leaving me wondering if the kitchen was cutting corners on the preparation.

The cleanliness of the restaurant was also a concern. Our table was sticky, and I noticed crumbs and stains on the floor around us. This lack of cleanliness greatly detracted from the dining experience and made me question the overall hygiene standards of the establishment.

Moreover, the pricing did not match the subpar experience. I found the menu to be overpriced for the quality of food and service provided. It felt like a classic case of "you get what you pay for," except in this instance, I felt I was getting much less than what I was paying for.

Overall, my visit to 97 Hotpot was disappointing on multiple fronts. From the lackluster service and subpar food quality to the less-than-clean environment, this dining experience was far from satisfactory. I would caution others to manage their expectations before dining here, as there are undoubtedly better hotpot options available...

Went with a group. The waitors here tend to not have assigned tables but rather serve all the tables so you'll often get multiple people coming to check on you. It was good until dessert. The one waitress told us they were out of strawberry ice cream but still had Vanilla. This was fine and I ordered vanilla which came right away. I finished it quickly and when a different waitor came I asked him for another scoop and he flatly stated they were out of ice cream. This seemed odd since we had so recently been told they had some.

I thought that this 2nd waitor might just have been misinformed since they were out of strawberry, maybe he had thought it was all ice cream. When a third waitor came and asked us if we needed anything else I asked about the ice cream and he seemed confident they still had Vanilla but waitor two was behind him and said something to him in chinese and waitor 3 then said they didn't have any.

This is where I got suspicious. They both spoke perfectly fluent English so either waitor 2 was just being rude by saying something about our table in front of us in a language no one at the table would understand when he could have said it in a language everyone understood, or he was trying to cover something.

We stayed talking for another ten minutes or so when a fourth waitor came to check on us I asked again and low and behold they did indeed have ice cream.

When I brought up what happened with the hostess there was no appology, she just gave the excuse that he had been working a long shift.

So if you are okay with a place where a waitor will bald face LIE to you, and other staff will follow along I guess you can eat here. Personally I prefer to eat at more HONEST...

I joined some colleagues one weekday for lunch. The restaurant was quite clean and the staff were friendly and helpful. Given that this was my first hot pot experience, I definitely learned a few things that I would do differently the next time (eg. add items in smaller batches, especially noodles). The restaurant was fairly clean and tidy, as were the washrooms.

I opted for the lunch special, with a Tom Yum soup base, and 6 items varying from proteins, noodles and vegetables. The Tom Yum soup was very fragrant and delicious, and was not as spicy as I had thought it would be. The proteins, noodles and vegetables all seemed very fresh and of a decent quality. Given that I was with a larger group, we shared a number of different appetizers, the best of which were the cream cheese filled wontons in my opinion.

Parking in the area wasn't too hard to find, however it's particularly evident that the inner city definitely has homelessness and addiction problems. This did not influence my rating of 97 Hotpot at all, but it's something to be aware of if you've never been to Chinatown before, or the side streets where more parking is available.

Once I've tried other hot pot restaurants, I'll return to this review and reevaluate my rating if required. I just didn't feel that giving a 5 star review with no comparisons was...