ChoCho Hot Pot Richmond — Restaurant in Richmond

I go to Burnaby location regularly. Yesterday, I tried this Richmond location, and it was not a good experience. Here is some feedback for the restaurant.

The table size is too small. Compared to the Burnaby location, this place had smaller tables. It was uncomfortable not being able to put food on the table comfortably, and the table felt cramped and chaotic

The induction cooktop was lined up in the middle of the table instead of in front of each person. Not only that, since we were all right-handed, we chose to use the stove on the right, and then we found out that the control for each person's stove was installed at the person across. So when we needed to increase or decrease the control, we had to ask each other. When we asked the server why this was designed this way, he said no reason. Who thought of this design and why? So the big meat platter dish had to be placed in front of the hotpot, then my plates of food and sauce. I couldn't put my food in a way that made sense. I would get cooked food from hotpot and drip all over my uncooked meat and other uncooked dishes before making it to my sauce. Everything got messy, and it was unpleasant.

One of the stoves kept going off. My friend couldn't eat. We were told this one tends to overheat. It seemed like it was a known issue. My question then is why are they seating people in this table? My poor friend couldn't eat while everyone else ate. After we complained a couple of times, the server said there's a table we can move to if we want. So we moved.

Service - our server was doing her best. I know it wasn't her fault, but what threw us off is that the manager kept letting her deal with it alone. I felt sorry for her. She said I talked to my manager and he is going to do xyz for u. If customers had to move table, I think that's a pretty good chance to come deal with it head-on, but it felt like the manager was hiding behind this poor girl who did her best.

Ribeye My go-to is ribeye, and last night, what I got was not ribeye. Or at least it was really bad quality? It was tough, and it felt like thinly sliced sirloin at most. I asked one of the waiters where the ribeye was, and he was sweet to take a plate and go to the kitchen and confirm that it was indeed ribeye. I have nothing against servers they are doing their best. All I am going to say is that the "ribeye" wasn't good.

The table we were moved to, right beside my seat there was a station for their employees to wipe? The plates and utensils and they had those cart things. The servers were having full-on conversations, and because it was right beside it, it was uncomfortable, and the sound of plates and utensils hitting each other made me jump a couple of times. I think the management needs to find another corner for this so diners can eat in peace.

I have to say the restaurant did compensate by taking off my friend's (the one whose stove malfunctioned) bill off and giving 30 more minutes of dining time. But still I wanted to give feedback so this can help the restaurant improve.

I will be going back to Burnaby one I missed the comfortable seating and high meat quality, and the stove being...

An Unexpected Porcine Intervention

Where to begin? For $52.99 a person, I expected a culinary journey, not a forced march through a flavorless wasteland. Most of my cash clearly went into their interior design. Service was pleasant, but flagging down staff for more meat felt like hailing a taxi in a zombie apocalypse. Their other Burnaby location has iPads; this one felt stuck in the dark ages. My arm got a workout, but my stomach remained unimpressed.

The meats were either so fatty they turned the broth into a greasy slip-n-slide or so tough I swear they were repurposed from old leather shoes. I’m still not convinced I didn't try to eat my own foot. Each bite was a dental fortitude test; I half-expected a shoelace in my molars.

Then, the "market table." "Premium" is clearly a foreign concept here. It was a deep-fried wasteland of cheap filler foods: mystery deep-fried balls (nightmare fuel), over-steamed dim sum with the texture of soggy sponges, and "random salads and pickles" rescued from a school cafeteria. So much filler, Kim K would be proud.

My shrimp shrank to a microscopic speck out of embarrassment, and the mussels offered complimentary sand. Meatballs, fish balls and imitation crab were just... there, profoundly mediocre.

Adding to the culinary cringe, air conditioning was a mythical beast, especially near the mall entrance. On a scorching summer day, we sweated through our disappointment.

Speaking of broths, they were an exercise in blandness bordering on spiritual. Unlike other places, flavor here was whispered from another room. The tomato broth? A finite resource, rarer than a unicorn. Once out, they'd just top it off with pork broth, without asking about dietary needs. An unsolicited porcine intervention, indeed. Apparently, pork is the new vegetable, a universal refill. We practically begged for a tiny bowl of tomato paste for a hint of tomato. The spicy broth was less broth, more liquid pepper spray: all spice, no soul, no umami. My taste buds were held hostage in bland-spice purgatory.

The sole glimmer of hope: the humble egg tart. Tasty! Crispy, creamy, a welcome respite. But like a rare gem, staff seemed reluctant to refill them, leaving them to languish under a heat lamp like a forgotten pet lizard.

Honestly, I'm baffled by the price. $52.99 a person for this? I could list a dozen other places with superior experiences, better ingredients, thoughtful service, and actual flavor, all for a fraction of the cost. Save your money, save your taste buds from blandness, and save yourself the indignity of listening to the new Sam Smith and Barbara Streisand duet on loop throughout your dinner service all while slowly melting...

I really don’t understand how this place has good ratings, because I had one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had. Maybe everyone leaving good reviews is just used to bad service and terrible food? Who knows…

To start, we had a reservation for 5:30 PM. When we arrived, the table wasn’t ready. We had to wait until 5:40 to be seated. You might think, “Oh, it’s just 10 minutes, get over it.” And sure, the 10-minute wait wasn’t the end of the world, but keep it in mind for later.

Once we were seated, we didn’t receive any service for another 15 minutes. We sat there awkwardly trying to flag someone down, but there were no servers in sight. I had to flag down the hostess while she was seating another party just to place an order.

Now, the food. Wow. It was bad. Have you ever had frozen, marked-down hotpot meat from T&T that’s just about to expire? Yeah, that’s what most of the meat tasted like. The only exception was the beef short rib, which was actually pretty decent. It was the only thing worth eating and didn’t taste like pure disappointment.

After we finished eating, we took turns going to the washroom. While my girlfriend was in the washroom, a server approached me and asked how we wanted to pay. I let her know we had already paid. No problem there. But then she said our two-hour dining limit was up and we needed to leave. I said that was fine, but mentioned my girlfriend was still in the washroom. After she walked away, I checked my watch. It was 7:15 PM. That means we were only an hour and 45 minutes past our reservation time. And since we weren’t seated until 5:40 and didn’t even get service until closer to 6, we hadn’t even been served even close to two hours.

A couple minutes later, another server came by and told me we had to leave because another party was waiting. Again, I explained that my girlfriend was still in the washroom. Sure, she takes her time, but come on. It had only been three minutes since the last person tried to kick us out. Then, just two minutes after that, the original server returned and once again told me our time was up, even though we hadn’t even hit the two-hour mark since being seated.

So yeah… terrible service, below-average food, and a rushed, awkward ending....