Big Way Hot Pot (Richmond) — Restaurant in Richmond

This might be a hot take but I truly believe that Big Way Hoy Pot is the best hot pot in Greater Vancouver. Hear me out first! While the quality of their food may not be number one, when it comes to value they are second to none.

Firstly, I'm a big fan of their unique self-serve style where you pick your own ingredients & broth and they cook the food for you. Typical hot pot places are not designed for people dining alone because of the base price of their soup broth. So normally you go in with your friends/family and order a bunch of plates of meat, some other dishes, and a broth (sometimes multiple broths). However, a lot of the times you end up with some dishes that wouldn't necessarily be your first choice. At Big Way, you pick your own ingredients, you pick your own broth, you pick your own adventure - staying true to their slogan of "your pot, your way."

As a result of their pay-by-weight system, you are in complete control of how much you end up paying. Currently, if I'm not mistaken the price is $3.99/100g. The soup broth and sauces are included and you get a free ice cream at the end of your meal. I kid you not when I say that I have gotten a full hearty meal for only $15. That is ridiculously cheap. In fact, I would even go as far as to say that these prices are unheard of in this economy! I see McDonalds selling a burger, fries, and drink for over $10 nowadays! I dare to challenge anybody to find a hot pot place with all the additional add-ons included that comes anywhere near the prices of Big Way at the same level of quality. I didn't even mention the free jasmine tea drink they give during their happy hour (12pm - 5pm iirc).

Now I'll move on to some more generic comments that you could get from any other review. I would definitely recommend the miso broth if it's your first time at Big Way but I'm also a big fan of their Szechuan dry mix. I've tried one of their milk teas before and really liked it and my friends would recommend the yogurt tea. I normally just get a bunch of meat and noodles because I'm a fairly simple guy, but there are a ton of options that you should try and explore yourself. All of the servers are very friendly, service is pretty fast, the atmosphere is quite lively, and the restaurant is fairly clean. So those are all check marks in my book.

Quick side note apart from my aforementioned generic comments. At the beginning of my review, I said that the quality of Big Way's food may not be number one. But don't be dissuaded, the quality of their food is still excellent. You just simply cannot compare some $100+ Wagyu beef from some upscale hot pot restaurant to Big Way Hot Pot's beef - they are in completely different weight classes. Don't be fooled by those bougie social media influencer videos spending who knows how much money. Ignore that last comment. Did I mention that Big Way closes at 2am? That means it's perfect if you're a late night eater like me and my friends.

I will admit that I've had some minor issues with Big Way's seating arrangements and online line system. However, these are just very small hiccups that I doubt will happen again. I will also point out that some people prefer other hot pot places because they enjoy the communal broth and cooking the food themselves because it is in fact more fun and social. This is a very good point that a friend mentioned to me. Although, sometimes I just don't want to cook the food myself - if I'm particularly hungry I don't want to slowly watch the meat cook. And at the end of the day, I'm glad that other communal hot pot places exist and Big Way is unique with their "your pot, your way" style. In my eyes amidst the dark landscape of all the other restaurants, that just makes Big Way shine all the more brighter.

As long as Big Way does not drastically increase their prices or lower in quality in the future, I will continue to support them. I also hope that they will continue to thrive at their new location downtown! This concludes the first "Restaurant Review with Lucas Hu."

tl;dr: big way is the LeBron James...

I've been to Big Way downtown more than 5 times, and Big Way Richmond once. All very good food and service - especially service, and that's what I always advertise to my friends and colleagues. And even 1 minute before this issue happened, I was advertising the high-quality service to my friend. And it just happened.

Let me explain this - I always love the waitlist system as it provides alternatives for customers and enables customer to walk around while waiting. I used the system to book a couple of time in the downtown Big Way, no problem. There was always a staff standing next to the iPad with the waiting system at the entrance, helping to explain the waitlist rules and welcome customers. However, tonight it seems that the system was broken, well, at least not working for this staff.

"Reply 1 to confirm or 2 to cancel" - as per this picture, I replied 1 to confirm (I uploaded a screenshot and the first "cancel" info was my previous waitlist info and has nothing to do with this one, another proof of my multiple visits). There was a staff at the entrance but quickly left to help others - peak hours, totally understandable. I got the number 104 and at that time guests in the store were squeezed to the entrance when selecting food, so I didn't come in and wait. Then a party of 3 asked the staff about the waitlist and a couple of us heard 108 or 118 something. They understood and continued to wait. But suddenly, the staff Axxy came out and just brought them in. I was very curious so I came in and inquired him if me and my friend could get in (some restaurants separate tables for tables with different number of guests, so I think Big Way did this too) as it seems our number was earlier than theirs.

And then the most "exciting" part came: Axxy said "no I didn't get your confirmation" me: "I replied 1 for confirmation" and showed him my message. He: "oh it won't work because I don't/can't see it" me: "emmmm but this is how you system works right? And it works for the downtown one and the Richmond one before too". And Axxy: "OK that's fine you can get in now" (and even he asked the party of 3 whether they are okay with us "jumping in"). Man - I am in the right number showing up at the right time, and this is my right but how come you are showing your "mercy"? Excuse me? I questioned Axxy about this and his answer was TERRIFIC so I must share with all of you: "you know what, it doesn't really matter to me if one joins earlier and the other joins later" OMG so legendary. And he didn't even care how #105-107 think about this.

So Big Way - could you explain to me and all the potential guests if your waitlist system still works? Or could you explain if the Richmond store is adapting special rules? The restaurant is popular and earns a reputation for its high-quality service. But I won't try the Richmond one at least. I don't wanna wait for 40 minutes, spend a lot of energy and argue with the staff before I can "enjoy" or "beg" my food. It is...

Absolutely ridiculous

I used to come here regularly, usually 3–4 times a week, and almost always ordered Malaban, which is a Szechuan dry mix dish (ingredients cooked in broth and then mixed with a spicy sauce, without soup). Since the flavor at Big Way never really matches the authentic taste from China, I would always ask for extra green pepper oil on the side. Every time I came, the 麻 (numbing) flavor was missing—that numbing flavor actually comes from the green pepper oil—so that’s why I always requested it. Most staff knew us already, and sometimes even asked if we’d like it separately, which made us feel welcome.

But this time, the experience was very disappointing. The green pepper oil was not given separately, and when we asked again, a glasses-wearing, ponytailed, bigger woman came and said they couldn’t give it on the side but could mix it in the kitchen. We agreed and asked for as much as possible. However, she took our dish into the kitchen for 5–7 minutes, spent part of that time on the phone, and by the time the food came back, our dry-mix Malaban was already cold.

What made it worse was her attitude. She said again they couldn’t give the oil separately, which I could have accepted, but then she blamed the other employee for “not knowing” and repeated that several times—very unprofessional, especially if she was the manager. She also insisted that the flavors were “already in the soup,” which shows a lack of understanding of the dish. Malaban is made by cooking ingredients in broth and then mixing them with sauce afterward, not just scooping them out of the soup.

Previously, another staff member had told us that they do usually add a small spoon of green pepper oil at the end. So instead of simply saying they didn’t want to provide more, this staff member made it sound like we were “wrong” or “misinformed,” which felt very insulting. Honestly, we would have been willing to pay extra if they had asked us to—but the dismissive and unfriendly attitude was what left us truly disappointed.

I also want to note that in the past, the door at this place slammed so hard that it cut my foot, causing bleeding and bruising, yet I didn’t even complain. On another occasion, I got a very sour Szechuan dry mix that tasted off, and I thought the food might have gone bad. When I mentioned it, the staff gave no explanation—just said, “Ah, sorry, our fault,” and handed me a drink coupon.

That being said, most of the staff are actually very friendly. The male staff with glasses who can speak Chinese and the thinner female staff with glasses have always been kind and polite. Overall, the service has usually been good—but the glasses-wearing, ponytailed, bigger woman stood out for being unfriendly and even serving with her hands in her pockets, which felt very...