There is something deeply comforting about these handmade shrimp, chive, pork dumplings, where a…read morechewy dough is stuffed to the brim with a generous amount of juicy shrimp and fresh chives. While they are delicious pan-fried, the boiled version is truly special. Its unique texture is so remarkable that it stands out as the must-try choice. ​The experience continues with the Xi'an cold noodle, which arrive with the warm, irresistible aroma of sesame oil. Every strand of the handmade noodle is coated in a sauce that balances nutty, sweet, and sour notes perfectly, creating a playful harmony of flavours. Stop by at Lao Cai Chinese Cuisine to try authentic Xi'an foods.

Tldr- food is really not that great, save your time, money, and energy. Sophia provided the…read moreabsolute worst service from beginning to end. Just don't eat here. We visited on July 1 2026 and put our name down around 7:30. There were lots of people outside and almost everyone in the restaurant was speaking Chinese so we figured that's a great sign. We politely asked if they knew approximately how long it will take and Sophia responded "don't know" and walked away. We waited outside for an hour and we were confused why other people who got there after us were being called before us. I went inside to check the clipboard with the waitlist and there are tablets on the board covering the names. Sophia is standing there and looks at the covered board and at me but doesn't say anything so I walk back outside to wait. A while later I decide to go in and ask her and she said that she called me. I said I didn't get a call. She says you have a US number the call didn't go through. Okay so why didn't you pop your head outside and call out my name? She says no worries we will get you seated. Then they continued to seat everyone but us. And then she asked would you like to sit outside or inside? Doesn't matter, we want to sit wherever it's ready first. But I look outside and every table is taken and no one is even close to being done eating. We finally got sat and we immediately order 3 items before she walks away. Another table who comes in after we got sat, is seated nearby us. We have already ordered, they just sat down. A while later, they get all their food. We were wondering if we were being treated like this on purpose. I ask a different server how long it'll be until we get our food and Sophia comes and says she *forgot our order* Excuse me how does that happen??? She apologizes and said we will get a discount and something will be free. After another long wait we get our food slowly as it comes out- a lamb noodle soup with chopped up noodles (my husband ordered that thinking it would be the lamb bao so that was not on the restaurant), lamb cumin noodles, and 2 cucumber dishes. We tried our best but only ate about half the food- it was not good. For some background my husband and I are both Chinese and we love eating food from different regions of China and have a pretty good idea of what is good and not good. The lamb cumin noodles tasted like they were watered down? Texture was ok, very thin and didn't have a good chew or bite to it and flavor was off. We've had a good amount of lamb cumin noodles and this was probably the worst. The lamb soup noodles were not that great either.. I only had a bite. Cucumber was fine- the chopped cucumber was in awkward shapes to be picked up with chopsticks, and the spiral cucumber was very boring tasting, both just had vinegar in them. We've easily made better at home in just a few minutes. We were hoping that after all the poor service at least the food would be great. Unfortunately the food was very one dimensional tasting and very disappointing. Funnily enough music stops playing as soon as we get our food. I'm sure it's to rush the customers out of the restaurant. We left a lot of uneaten food at the table (very rare for us) and we go to pay. At this point we've been there for over two hours and over 1.5 hours was just waiting for our food. Sophia rings us up and I ask about the discount/free item that she mentioned. There was a measly $4 discount (haha is this a joke) and one of the cucumber dishes was free. We did not ask for it. She did not take anything off our tab. I decide to give her some honest feedback- that she was rude and dismissive to us from the beginning, and that if no one picked up the call maybe she should check outside (her excuse is that sometimes people aren't waiting outside so she doesn't go outside to call names). Keep in mind I have never in my life given such harsh criticism to anyone in the service industry and I have never even gotten close to even thinking about scolding someone. She says well the phone call didn't work let me show you and at this point I say we've been here for so long we just want to go home so I told her to please be better and we walked out, excited to finally be freed of this place and hoping to never come back. She then chases after us and tells us that the payment didn't go through. We go back inside and she wants us to pay again but I tell my husband to check his bank account first. At that point, she confirmed that it had in fact gone through already. Like this whole situation has to be some hilariously sick joke how it somehow got worse and worse and even worse. I do not feel good about scolding someone (why do I have to tell a grown person to be better?) but I do think that she needed to hear an honest critique of her service so she can improve and I really hope she takes it to heart. Management- please review this and please make sure none of your future customers ever have an experience like this.

Excellent service and great food great selection of the food . The atmosphere is excellent. And two…read moreours of free parking.

THIS SPOT AFTER A CONCERT JUST HITSSSS!!!…read more My friend and I got here around I want to say late 11pm-ish for a post-concert meal and it was worth starving all day for. It's AYCE, you order the broth and meats with your server and the rest of the toppings, noodles, vegetables, you grab yourself! They also have a make your own dipping sauce bar. The place was very clean, the tables are huge, and the area to grab the toppings was always well kept and stocked. I feel it's important to mention that they also offer halal meat as well!

The food was good, and the double-flavor hot pot broth was decent…read more The beef and lamb were really nice, fresh and tender. The shrimp paste was frozen, but still acceptable. Vegetable portions are quite generous. The only downside is the spicy broth--it lacks both numbing spice and heat. My suggestion: they should just use established hot pot base brands from China, like Xiaolongkan or Haidilao. Those pre-made bases will definitely taste better and hit the spot compared to mixing the broth from scratch.

If I'm rating purely on taste, this place is probably a 4, but with inflation being what it is and…read morehigh prices everywhere, this is one of the few places in the area you can get a cheap-ish meal. If you stick to the dumpling and dim sum menu, for $25, you can feed three people. And, if you want a small meal for yourself, you can have a nice meal for $8. That meal will be heavy on the flour/carbs but, for it's hard to complain about that considering the price of food in/near Kits.

Wow.... Never have known of a hot pot place like this besides in Taipei. Remember when those…read morefill-your-own-bowl-pay-by-weight yogurt places popped up? This is basically the hot pot version of that. Its VERY EASY to grab too many fixings and end up paying for it! It's not a bad thing, just be careful! The walls are stocked with gorgeous, fresh soup ingredients from wall to wall. The restaurant is brightly lit and really invites you to stuff your bowl with all these fresh ingredients. This was the perfect place post-Ironman triathlon for my bf to really fill up! He ended up grabbing so many ingredients that the server had to bring his soup to him in TWO BOWLS. I too was overzealous and was only able to finish half of my hot pot. The endless amount of veggies, mushrooms and plant-forward protiens available made it all too easy to pick too many ingredients. Everything cooked up fresh and delicious and the soup was savory and comforting. We absolutely enjoyed our visit and hope to come back again in the future!

I am a big fan of Big Way (pardon the pun!) as they have a wide range of ingredients but I find it…read moreto be inconsistent at times. I always opt for the tomato broth but found it can be very salty one visit and very bland the next. Service is decent, but I do feel rushed sometimes when servers ask if they can take my bowl when I'm still eating. I do love the free tea during happy hour and ice cream at the end.

Food 6/10 Service 5/10…read moreAmbiance 8/10 Ok so we finally checked out this restaurant after walking past it multiple times in the last 4 years. There was a $19.99 AYCE lunch special so we thought this is the best way to try it. The service was only ok.... The waitress we had seemed distracted and did not honour any of the special hacks we tried.... Also they seemed disappointed we were only interested in the AYCE basic which didn't include the sauce bar. We were disappointed as well that no sauces came at all with this special.... I am like hold up....sauces is the best part of hot pot. Anyways we asked just for soy sauce and they said there was a charge for that as well... at this point I am ready to get up and leave... seriously???? No sauce bar and charge for soy sauce???? WTF? The food is fresh, delicious and generous portions but everything else was disappointing and lacking here. I knew there was a reason we held back trying this place. Maybe their regular menu is different but I don't recommend their AYCE $19.99 special.... Doesn't come with any sauces and the charge of soy sauce says alot to me about their service mentality.... Never stepping into another Haidilao again.

Went for lunch on a weekday…read more This location has some parking behind the building. We were asked upon arriving if this was our first time at Haidilao. It was. They escorted us to our table where the waiter asked if we wanted a membership, no explanation. We said no at first since we don't live near a Haidilao, but we later changed our minds after finding out the lunch AYCE deal was based on signing up for a membership (free, just provide your email or phone). Note: they don't make known the lunch AYCE unless you ask. The tablet to order on was a bit confusing to use; there were many options but only a specific subset were included in lunch AYCE. It would have been nice for the server to explain better and guide us through the hot pot experience, but our server all but disappeared for most of our experience. We found them walking around and asked about our drinks that were seemingly forgotten for ~15 mins. This was the first hotpot I've been to where only the meat and apps are brought to you, veggies/noodles/shrimp/chicken were all a ~20 ft walk from the table. They provide small plates so you have to make several trips to grab everything you want. It was a bit hectic and inconvenient compared to having them delivered to your table. The quality of the meat and add-ins was good. There was a variety of sauce options, with the fresh veggie/fruit options being cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, cantalope, and watermelon. There was mung bean soup and ice jelly as dessert. All were very fresh and tasty. Very fitting and satisfying for traditional Chinese flavor palates. We ordered the tomato and spicy broth, apparently the 2 most popular flavors. The servers refilled the broth and brought additional meat options once the current meat plate was finished. At the end of the meal, they offered a Melona equivalent bar. Overall, for the price of what it is, it's alright. The quality of ingredients is good, but the process is hectic and service is good only if you're familiar with the hot pot process already.

We were staying in North Vancouver for a week and decided to try Lion Hot Pot. We have eaten Hot…read morePot several times in the US, so we were excited to try this! They were so kind from the moment we walked in and offered plenty of options for everyone to enjoy. There was a variety of soup bases and broths, and we loved the dipping sauce! They answered all of our questions and checked in on us often. We would definitely eat here again on a future visit!

This is the only Chinese hot pot I'm aware of on the north shore…read more I come here every so often because of it. While it certainly isn't bad, but there's plenty of room for improvement. Price wise, it's really expensive for what it is. If you can with someone, do not expect to pay less then $40~$50. The one thing I can really say is the soup base needs to improve as it's not even a base of anything, it's just tap water. They need more varieties as I don't remember seeing it. As for the ambiance, it's okay but nothing really special about it.

One of my favorite hot pot concepts where you grab what you want and pay by weight…read more Pros - fresh ingredients and very clean environment. Good selection or meats, seafood, veggies, and noodles. They offer a free matcha ice cream to go with your meal. Cons - smaller place so it can get crowded during lunch rush My go-to hotpot place when grabbing a quick meal in Vancouver

I come to this location fairly frequently. I have not in a couple months though until now. They…read morehave definitely gone downhill, substantially. First, the staff. All the old staff are gone. Now the staff are...lets say, they look like the typical crew at any Tim Horton's. The previous diversity is gone. They are also sloppy in their work. Example: the guy taking my order didnt ask about green onions/cilantro toppings etc and the bowls came out with nothing. Another example: some of the veg have rotting bits in it that have not been trimmed away. This was never an issue before with the old staff who were well trained and clearly experienced in this business. Also, there is no longer free kimchi at the sauce bar. The restaurant venue is still the same, and at least the dining area seems similarly clean as before. They are clearly cost-cutting. Lower quality staff, poorer service, lower quality ingredients, removing the Kimchi. This may be a sign of BigWay expanding too fast and sacrificing quality and consistency. The solution is simple. Go back to higher standards for your food and staff hiring.

It was a group of 7 and we were really craving hot pot on a Saturday evening and Liuyishou had a…read moretable available with no wait time. The restaurant is pretty big and they have some big tables but all the tables had only one pot hot pot which makes it hard for people to eat. I wish they had multiple pots for bigger tables so that it was inconvenient. Other than that, their service was pretty good and they also had a really good AYCE deal for $39/pp! We got their two flavour soup base - spicy beef and tomato soup base. Their meats and veggies were all fresh! They had a massive self-serve bar with sauces, tofu, fried chicken (which was delicious), noodles, bean curd, and other items. It was a good selection! You also get dessert in the AYCE menu with two options - vanilla ice cream and coffee pudding. I got their coffee pudding which was not bad, but it tasted AMAZING when mixed with the vanilla ice cream so I would definitely recommend that.

This was hands down the worst dining experience I've ever had. Not only is the food overpriced, but…read morethe service is aggressively hostile. ​The highlight of the night was a staff member slamming meat onto our table and condescendingly saying, "Wanna bet you ordered this?" I calmly told her with a smile that we didn't, as we are all allergic to chicken. Instead of an apology, she stomped away and slammed the receipt in my face. After reviewing it and realizing she was wrong, she simply blamed her coworker and didn't offer a single word of apology for her behavior. ​Beyond the attitude, the food quality is a bait-and-switch. The first batch of meat was okay, but every round after that was inedible, greasy fat. They take forever to serve you because they are too busy fighting with customers. Save your money and your sanity--stay away from this place.

We wanted Korean for our last night in Vancouver, and Kosoo was exactly what we needed. You walk up…read morethe steps where your greeted and sat quickly, love the vibe, with a mix of older and younger out dining. There's water sitting at the table for you. The appetizer was the corn salad, fresh diced cucumber made this a hit. The miso soup was loaded with mushrooms which was great, and the broth was delicious. LA Galbi was very well made, tender with some chew, and the charred onions made this dish special, but the Kimchi fried rice was on another level delicious, rice cooked perfectly and mixed with the kimchi made every bite a complete joy. When you see on the menu the entree comes with two bowls of rice that means it's big enough for two. Enjoy, we definitely did. Top 5 Korean cuisine.

The cold noodles here are really good. It's the light, savoury style I prefer, not the…read moresweet-and-sour kind. The doenjang jjigae (Korean soybean paste stew) comes in a generous portion. Ingredients including tofu and meat inside are fresh and flavourful. Portions overall are quite large. The only downside is there are only three complimentary side dishes before the meal. Dishes like the potato ones taste overly sweet, and feel like they weren't prepared with much care. The service is friendly, and the location is decent. However, the restaurant looks a little dated. I'd suggest some renovations or a deeper clean. Overall it's still a good spot. We visited seven months ago, and this is our second time dining here.