Liuyishou Hotpot Richmond — Restaurant in Richmond

All You CAN’T Eat… thumbs down!

I have been here and their Burnaby location a few times before they became an AYCE, but first time giving this place a go as an AYCE.

I called in to make a reservation but was told they had a table available if I can get there asap, when I arrived within 5mins (I was at Lansdowne Center), was told there’s a little wait, the little wait ended up to be 45mins (still don’t know what happened to the available table ?!?!).

Inside is a smaller layout compared to other hot pot places; back corner is the bar counter with a self serve appetizer and sauce bar in front and the kitchen to the other side.

Finally got seated and decided on the Premium AYCE for $58.99/person (seafood and sashimi included along with a one time order of a wagyu plate);

Double soup base (spicy & pork bone broth). Pretty basic and standard. Sauce bar was pretty standard. Self serve appetizer bar. A dozen selection of cooked and cold appetizers . Plus a plate of chicken bones eaten by someone sitting there on the counter, do people actual act like animals in a public setting? (Rolleyes). Pork blood, quail eggs, frozen tofu, Chinese donut stuffed shrimp paste, selection of vegetables, bamboo piths, spam, tofu skin, enoki mushrooms. All pretty basic. Clams and scallops. Clams were small and scallops were a bit too thinly sliced. Sliced lamb and Wagyu beef plate. The lamb slices were okay but the wagyu beef was… ummm.. it certainly didn’t have that tender buttery taste to it and as you know I eat a lot of wagyu beef. Salmon, red tuna, hokkigai sashimi. The salmon was okay, a bit dry. The hokkigais were a bit slimy at one end and as for the red tuna, it was like eating a sponge soaked in water. (The quality could create an outbreak of food poisoning so the restaurant knows.. Facepalm). The wasabi was a paste from a supermarket squeeze tube. Ordered another round to confirm the quality but it never came! So pretty much paid $34 extra for a few small pieces of bad quality sashimi.

The service here was pretty generic but they sure bring the food out slowwwwww and they will also tell you that it takes a bit longer to prepare the sashimi?!?! (Yeah expect more than 35+mins wait for an order of sashimi and most likely you will get one round of it during the duration of your meal).

The food quality was pretty basic to below average eg. sashimi, beef, seafood. Therefore maybe it’s best to opt out of the premium and stick with the basic AYCE instead if you want to try this place out.

Overall, it’s really a disappointing experience. You can rest assure that the experience will be nothing like how those so called foodies market it on social media. (Don’t know why I even believe those who twirl their beef on their chopsticks to begin with.. clowns). I would say for a much better experience for a lower or similar price would be Marble Eatery, Cho Cho, Happy Lamb hotpot.

In conclusion there’s a Chinese saying, “if you open your door for business, do it properly not half azz it” Literally this place gave the impression of half azz’ing it by its delay and long wait time for the food to come out. It really became an All You Can’t Eat!

An AYCE failed! No repeat or...

Liuyishou Hotspot has been blowing up on socials, so I had to try it. Note to self, speciality broth at hotpot, usually translates to, “WARNING, insanely spicy!” This can be a good or a bad thing, and all depends on the individual’s spice level and pain tolerance. For me, this was a good learning experience and I write this review with humility as I’d love to give it a second chance.

From the moment I walked in (doors just opened), it was clear it was the calm before the storm. Typically, pundits show up much later based on the foot traffic and I felt like the Emperor himself as I had the establishment all to my own.

The establishment was just seeing the last minute touches before opening and I was greeted by a gentlemen dusting off the table tops.

The menu was greatly diverse, and had a broth spiciness levels for everyone - if you were infact someone who knew what they were looking for. As for me, I typically stick with “specials”, and that was my first mistake (atleast for someone who can’t handle super spicy). This thing was hot! The second it touched my lips I felt tingling all down my body to my core. If there was an ice age tomorrow, I am certain this would get you through it.

As per the images below, I went all out on premium cuts, but at the time the broth was simply too spicy to give me a good read on the quality of meats.

Part II:

Ultimately the spice level was too much for me, but undeterred I took the remaining meats, and asked for a takeout of another broth, this time the pork bone. Using the same cuts of meats and the broth and making the same hotpot at home, I had an entirely different experience and it was exactly to my taste and spice tolerance (basically zero 😅). This alone was enough for Liuyishou to climb back up the ratings, and be a consideration for future return.

My low tolerance to hot food inhibits my ability to give Liuyishou Hotspot a higher rating, but I will award it the score based on the experience I had that day, and in the hopes I can return with my newfound understanding of how to maximise the flavour to my preference. Lastly, although I knew there is a penalty for parties unable to finish their food, my understanding was that this location also offered AYCE for a set price. Even if I had sat in, it was apparent that this offer wasn’t live at that time, so this is an important detail to request before visiting as I ended up spending close to $192 for one person. Overall, Liuyishou is worth a second trip, and this time, start with the...

I’ve always wanted to try this place and have seen good to great reviews. Parking is free for 3 hours by registering your vehicle at the restaurant. A great start! The private room we were in had us 12 adults and a toddler tightly squeezed around a table with two built-in hotplates. We had to ask for more chairs and cutlery even though a reservation was made and numbers were confirmed at the entrance. I didn’t think the regular menu was great (except for the price); there seemed to be a lot more choices in the premium one. Everything started to taste the same to me because the broths were so strong after a while. Our fault for dumping everything in all at once… The meat rings were a nice presentation touch, but there wasn’t room on the table for much more after they came. Overall, it would have been better to dine with a max of 4 pp so the food could be added into the pots more slowly for optimal savouring. We’ll have to give this place another try, especially with the premium menu. There were ice cream sandwiches and sea salt mints at the end. The mints were awesome! The service was a bit slow; we had to add for more broth, napkins, etc. The sauce / dessert bar was crowed with people and needed some cleaning up. I didn’t get to try much of it. There were items in hot plates that would have tasted great if they’d been temperature hot such as the black sesame dessert, deep fried glutinous black sesame balls and...