Big Way Hot Pot (Monterey Park) — Restaurant in Monterey Park

I don’t usually write bad reviews, but my family and I had such a disappointing experience here. We came in on a Sunday afternoon - it was a bit busy, and the host could have done a much better job managing check-ins and seating. He pointed us toward a table in the back, but when we got there, other customers were already seated there. Thankfully, another hostess helped clear things up and found us a new table, but the whole situation felt disorganized.

This location recently opened, and they had a promotion where you guess the weight of your bowl for a discount. However, there was no sign or poster anywhere stating that it was only valid Monday through Thursday. That should’ve been our first red flag.

When we finally got our food, the soup, drinks, and fixings were good, but the beef chuck was very dark, tough, and overcooked. I’ve been to two other Big Way locations (Richmond, British Colombia and Rowland Heights), and I know the beef isn’t supposed to be like that, so I was disappointed. I politely mentioned this to one of the staff, but she only said it was because of “how they cook it,” didn’t offer any solution, and even declined when we asked for another round of ice cream cones.

For what we paid, it just wasn’t worth it. Hopefully, management takes this feedback seriously because the service and food quality need improvement. Seriously, go to the other location in Rowland Heights where the staff were so much more attentive and helpful and the food was so much...

I was so excited to try this place but as soon as I walked in, I was hit with a really foul smell that seemed to be coming from the restrooms. I wasn’t sure if it was the restrooms or the sauce bar right next to it…but it was really bad. There was also a cleaning trolley near the middle of the restaurant that had the same bad smell so I was l confused if the smell was coming from the restrooms or this trolley. I hope they aren’t using the same cleaning supplies for the restrooms as the rest of the restaurant. Anyways, I sucked it up and ordered even though it killed my appetite.

The food was just ok…rice is $2.50/bowl and it was both hard and chewy. Good selection of hotpot items. I got the malatang and it was just ok…not what I was expecting after having malatang in China.

The utensils didn’t seem very clean(I.e. spoons). I also saw a staff member pick up some tongs from the used tongs box by the payment registers and use it to pick up ingredients for a call-in order. That’s not a deal breaker but combined with the bad smells and dirty spoons, I am a bit concerned with the overall hygiene practices of this place.

The positives are the service staff is very nice, the weighing guessing game is fun, and it was cool being able to choose your own ingredients. However, I won’t be back or recommending this place to anyone due to the...

All my friends know that I am the biggest Big Way fan there is. So when I got the email that this new location was open in Monterey Park, I literally could not contain my excitement. I told my group chats immediately. This location is both closer to me and is in the center of Atlantic Times Square. So you can literally watch a movie at the theaters, eat hot pot, and then still get boba afterwards at Heytea granted that it's not closed yet. As for the hot pot ingredients, it's just as fresh as the Rowland Heights location. The inside isn't as large as Rowland, but it's still more than adequate seating for a space like this. Great broth, great ingredients, great sauce bar. Oh, and speaking of boba, they literally serve boba milk tea and other drinks on the menu, so you can literally have it with your hot pot. The service is amazing as always. The staff is so caring too, they constantly replace your water pitcher if they see it's getting low and even give you extra napkins. It's little things like that that make every visit special. Special shout out to Paul and the other servers as well. They did excellent for a first day soft opening. I'm ashamed to say I will be coming here very often 😅😅 and will be recommending everybody to come here for their hot pot...