Garden City Hot Pot — Restaurant in Richmond

Garden City Hot Pot Address: Cosmo Plaza, 8788 McKim Way #1205, Richmond, BC V6X 4E2

Dining at Garden City Hot Pot offers a straightforward and satisfying hot pot experience, with a selection of well-executed broths and fresh ingredients. For our dinner, we decided to explore two separate soup bases—parsley and preserved egg for my friend, and homemade satay for myself.

Food

Homemade Satay Soup The homemade satay soup was a highlight of the meal, delivering a robust and flavorful base. The broth was rich without being overly salty, offering a good depth of flavor that worked well with the various meats and vegetables we added. Its seasoning was balanced, making it a versatile foundation for the hot pot experience. Rating: 8/10

Fatty Beef Slices, Beef Tongue, Meatball Combo, Spinach, Chinese Mushrooms The quality of the ingredients was consistently high. The fatty beef slices were tender and well-marbled, offering a melt-in-your-mouth texture. The beef tongue provided a nice textural contrast, and the meatball combo added variety to the protein selection.

Rating: 8/10

Shandong Noodles

The Shandong noodles were a standout, thanks to their perfect texture. With a firm yet smooth bite, they held up well in the broth and added a satisfying element to the meal. They absorbed the rich flavors of the soup while maintaining their integrity, making them an excellent accompaniment.

Rating: 8/10

Deluxe Sashimi Platter Unfortunately, the deluxe sashimi platter was underwhelming. While the presentation was acceptable, the portion sizes and quality of the fish did not justify its name or price. The cuts were smaller than expected and lacked the freshness and vibrancy one would anticipate from a sashimi platter at a dedicated hot pot restaurant. It felt more akin to pre-packaged sushi than a premium offering.

Rating: 5/10

Service The service at Garden City Hot Pot was generally good, though not remarkable. The staff were courteous and attentive, ensuring that our hot pot experience proceeded smoothly. However, there was nothing particularly noteworthy about the service—while competent, it did not stand out as exceptional.

Rating: 7/10

Ambiance The restaurant is clean, comfortable, and well-suited for a casual dining experience. The decor is simple, and the seating is comfortable, providing a relaxed atmosphere without the noise or bustle often associated with hot pot establishments. It’s a pleasant environment for both intimate dinners and larger gatherings, though it lacks any distinctive character that would make it memorable. Rating: 8/10

Price

Pricing is reasonable for the quality and portion sizes offered. While some dishes, like the sashimi platter, feel overpriced for what they deliver, the majority of the menu offers good value, particularly the hot pot ingredients and broth selections.

Verdict

Garden City Hot Pot is a solid choice for hot pot enthusiasts seeking a reliable and enjoyable meal. The homemade satay soup and the quality of the ingredients make it a worthwhile visit. However, certain menu items, such as the sashimi platter, leave room for improvement. While it may not be a destination for those seeking a truly elevated dining experience, it delivers well on the essentials and is certainly worth a return visit to explore more...

We were looking for dim sum in early November and found out that Garden City Hot Pot had a dim sum menu. We were intrigued because you don't normally find dim sum at a hot pot place.

First of all, the complex this place is in seems a bit sketch (or at least it's seen better days). Once you get inside the restaurant tho' it's not bad. You order from a tablet and you can get both dim sum and other items.

We started with the braised oyster hot pot. We don't find this at many restaurants any more. The oysters seemed to have a bit of a pan-fried fried texture to the coating and the oysters were accompanied with slices of liver.

For the dim sum items, they generally came out to about $9/$10 per dish. The deep fried taro and scallop dumplings had a creamy filling. The scallop itself wasn't great but the taro to filling ratio was spot on.

The shrimp spring rolls had a layer of seaweed on the inside of the wrapper and turned out crispy. The chiu chow dumplings had a thinnish wrapper encasing the pork/shrimp and peanut filling and turned out nicely.

The honeycomb tripe was fairly good although some pieces were slightly chewier. Meanwhile the steamed tofu skin wraps were quite large and saucy.

Overall, pleasantly surprised at the dim sum options at this hot pot place and will have to come back to check out the rest of their dishes.

Update: Returned in December for dim sum. They had a discount for cash payment (think it was 20%)

Update: Late March 2024... finally came back to try out their hot pot menu. I like that you can either get a large hot pot or smaller individual pots. We wound up ordering the sukiyaki and pork bone broth.

They had a special where you can get a dish of grass carp slices for $0.01 if you post an insta story. I was surprised at how large the grass carp dish was. While some of the pieces had some fish skin on that was a bit chewy, it was otherwise a good dish.

Also got the veggie platter, fatty beef slices, meat ball combo, dumplings, and udon noodles.

It was a bit much for us to finish because the serving sizes are large. It would probably be better if you come with a larger party. We were quite full afterwards and had to take some home. Overall, good quality hot pot. Next time we plan to do one hot pot and add some...

Food is great, but service needs to be improved on because my waitress was incredibly rude. I came here with my family on a Saturday and yes the place was busy. We were seated right away which was great. Our waitress, a middle aged woman, however, was quite impatient that my mother needed to ask a lot of question because of her food allergy. But nonetheless, we ordered our food within 10 minutes of sitting down. Our water was never automatically filled, I had to put my hand up for a couple of minutes every 15 minutes or so. When the waitress finally came around, she would refill our drinks and slam the cups onto the table. We literally had been eating for around 30 minutes or so, when the waitress came and asked if we would like our check. I could see people waiting by the door, but our table was still full of food, that was so ridiculous. My family by this time was feeling uncomfortable by her attitude and so they suggested that we go somewhere else. I obliged and asked for the check. I paid without tipping only to see the waitress give me a dirty look. I told her that her attitude had been terrible throughout our whole meal which is why I didn't give any tips. She said "whatever" and walked off.

My family had just landed here the day before to visit me and they're Thai and don't speak English. I hated that they had to experience such an embarrassing display of unprofessionalism, especially when they we were having such a great time. If I were to come alone, I wouldn't have cared, but if you're treating my family like that, don't expect me...