Liuyishou — Restaurant in Houston

IF YOU EAT HERE READ THIS!: I rarely write reviews but this place made my fiance and I very upset with the tipping pressure. This place was somewhere my fiance and I had seen while walking through Chinatown in Houston and thought would be great to eat at. This food was alright, tasted a bit frozen, but still we had a great time but this final nail in the coffin was the service. The bowls were kept under the buffet and most looked like they haven't been cleaned because they still had marks on them. We also had little to no sanitizer to clean up our hands after each trip to the sauce station. It was pretty okay and we dealt with it. Throughout our "service" we had a great lady who made sure to explain everything to us in great detail but then it seemed we had 3 different servers at our table at different intervals and 99 percent of the time it was for just to drop off water or the food. A lot of the time they just were there and we did everything ourselves, from organizing plates, to eating, to preparing, so we thought that the tip would be a little less since we barely had any service.

The food was already expensive by itself because they charge the AYCE and the Broth separately which totaled around 80 dollars for two people even though the food smelled and tasted frozen but was alright enough to eat. The server at the end after seeing no tip as we didn't think it needed one, pressured us into trying to give him a tip. He explained "what would he tell his manager?" and that "we need a tip because we provided service", "was there anything wrong with the service, so why not a tip" for a good 10 minutes repeating over and over to the point where we explained that we didn't tip because the service honestly was not ton be found and tipping is optional anyway. I tip at most restaurants but here it was honestly no point as they did not care to even ask us anything half of the time to refill water or ask if we needed anything else. It is just rude to expect people to tip because at what point of a tip are we actually paying for? The food, the cutting of the food, the seasoning? The service? If you go above and beyond then you deserve a tip. You shouldn't have to try and pressure people to give you one which made it horrible taste in our mouths as we left. I promise I rarely write reviews but this was unacceptable. Pay...

I visited this establishment on a Saturday right around midday. Place was at near capacity, but was able to obtain a seat right away.

Our main server, in fact all the servers were very helpful. . I chose the two broth option (13.95) so me and my dining partner have a option to fall on if one was problematic. We settled on the house special base and the pork bone broth. Noting that we chose the two broth option, we forfeit the chance to have a bone marrow cow. Very sad.

As we made our selections and divided potions into the different broths and tasted them, it became readily apparent that the house special broth was to be treated sparingly. Even though we chose the mild option, it was way too spicy our taste. I ended up spending a lot of time giving the hot oil off the surface. Only after that and adding more vegetables did the spiciness tone down. While this was one of the servers favourites, obviously we could have it. We ended mostly submerged our food in the relatively inoffensive pork bone broth.

The frozen sliced meats were of good quality, even had a game like quality which I enjoyed. Spicy beef was of the same flavour of the house special bases. Yet I did eat a lot of it- go figure.

Seating for shared hot pot bowls, is on the periphery of the restaurant. Those who want to have their own bowl will be seated in the center. There is not much space between tables, so expect no privacy.

I would not he fried dough and wheat gluten. They tasted of stale oil.

Some additional observations.

Apparently, the all you can drink only applies if ALL customers purchase a beverage. Otherwise each individual who wanted a beverage would pay by the carafe.

No Chinese fried doughnut with shrimp paste was available. However they were available separately.

Oyster mushrooms slices were a thicker cut than other places.

Washroom has mouthwash available, with little cups for their use.

I do like the places, it has some things that other places do not have and some places have items that this place is missing. I think this place is worth going if you have 50 dollars to...

Not like when it was first opened. Last night, we waited 1.5 hrs to get a seat on a typical Saturday. That's fine, it is expected for what we thought a decent hotpot place. However the service is not up to par and force us up tip higher than what we gived. First of all, (if you read this) please read below what is a good waiter sevice.

We had to ask for drinks, food to be ordered everytime, not once did the waiter asked if we needed anything more, drinks to be filled until we asked for the bill. It was one price so we didn't care so much and thought it was all added in.

After the bill was charged, addional $7+for what it was added said AYCD (all you can drink). That's fine to be added, but tell us first that it was added before you charge it

We thought the service was OK, cuz they service for what we had asked and not once that they asked hows everything, do we need anything, we had to waive them down so we don't think it live up the SERVICE. One lady just dropped off the drink and left. So, we didn't tip well and was FORCED to tip more while telling us how much they make an hr and that they live off the tips. To lessen the drama,we did.

Liuyishou, read below what is a good waiter/waitress. I use to be a waitor and we serve like this. Yall service while is not bad cuz yall do what we asked, but they don't live up par what a real waitress do. YALL NEED TO LEARN FROM Haidilau.

Serve Like a Pro: A Waiters Guide to Good Customer Service Pay attention to what your guests want and need. ... Smile! ... Demonstrate that you are paying attention and care about your guests. ... Be ready to accommodate special requests. ... Know the menu. ... Be a good listener. ... Check back regularly to make sure all needs...