Asian Express Hot Pot

LOVE IT HERE!!! they are so good with all my requests. This food is soooooo good!

Winter is coming Unilocalies! What better way is there to keep warm than a nice hot pot all you can eat?
This place is amazing. The prices are comparable to any other all you can eat restaurant and their food tastes delicious and authentic! It’s a private hot pot here so everyone can choose their own broth and pick what they want to cook in their pot. The menu is extensive and has almost everything you could want in it! The meats all tastes very fresh and I was blown away by their onion cakes and spring rolls. Apparently, not only can they provide awesome broth and fresh food to cook in your hot pot, they also do a fine job cooking up appies themselves!
They sometimes don’t give you as much as you’ve ordered, but it’s an all you can eat so it doesn’t matter at all. If you run out and will want more, just order a second round!
The only downfall is how busy it can get and how long of a wait there is even if you do make a reservation. That being said, still definitely call and reserve your spot ahead of time! It’s totally worth it! That and finding parking if there’s no spots open at the front of the restaurant. It’s not in the best area and I would definitely walk with someone if I came here at night.
I can’t wait to go back here and enjoy all their delicious options again!

Absolutely delicious! Tons of selection on their menu, and nice, fresh veggies. I got a szechuan and mushroom split for my soup. Both were fantastic (but really who can taste anything after the peppers in the szechuan burn off your taste buds?)! They also have a selection of fried appies, with green onion cakes that are to die for. After you’ve gorged yourself on dinner, you can get ice cream or jello as dessert.
Prices are fairly average for all you can eat hot pot. It’s around $ 28 for the food, plus an extra $ 2 for the soup. Seems pricey, but it’s well worth it. Plus there’s a time limit of 2 hours so there’s plently of time to eat.
The places was packed when we went, but service was still pretty quick and the servers were beyond friendly. I took one star off because despite having a reservation, we had to wait 40 or so minutes to get a table. The staff was very apologetic about it and handled it well, but it was still a ridiculous wait.

Best hotpot joint I’ve been to in Edmonton. Awesome sauce and soup selections that I have not seen anywhere in YEG. The service at the downtown location is awesome; however, I found the service at the south side location lacking numerous times.

I like the food and esp the sauce they made. the space is a bit tight.

This is my favourite hot pot place in town so far. It follows the recent shabu trend of having one pot of soup for each person. One of the many reasons why I love this place is because they do their soup bases right. Most places have indistinguishable soups even though they are supposed to be significantly different. Every food item on the menu is included in that price and they do have a huge variety of stuff. You don’t pay extra for any of the items except for drinks. It can take awhile to get a table so I would suggest getting a reservation. However, this is where they lost a star for me because sometimes even when you have a reservation you wait 10 – 15 minutes. That still beats 45 minutes which is average on a busy night if you’re just walking in without reservation. The service is always really good when I go. They are usually very kind and they make sure your table is always clean and plates are taken away quickly so it’s not in your way. Very attentive staff overall. I would highly recommend the Tom yum soup base for those who aren’t sure what to get.

Having lived in China for 12 years, I would say this is the most authentic hot pot restaurant I’ve been to in Canada.
It’s all you can eat, everything on the menu. And the way you can mix your own sauce and the variety of ingredients to put in the sauce match the best I’ve seen even in China.
The staff were very friendly and we were served immediately. When we paid the bill, the debit/​credit machine didn’t work. The staff allowed us to leave to find an atm and get cash to pay the bill. That was annoying, but not their fault.
Overall a great experience and I will go there again. Word of caution though, it can get pretty noisy in there and the tables feel a little crowded together.

On a saturday night around 11:30pm after a long day at the mall, my friends and I decided we would go for hotpot. Never a bad idea! We decided to come to this particular one because one of my friends really loved this place and recommended us to try it out. The price was $ 27+$ 2 for broth so in totally comes up to around $ 30 depending on if you pay tips or order anything else except water. I found it pretty reasonable because almost all the other hot pot places are the same price.
When we arrived there wasnt a lot of people considering the time which was nice because during busy hours hot pot places tend to get very loud. This location was opened till 2am so we had a lot of time to eat. When we first walked in we were immediately greated and taken care of. The waitresses and waiter was extremely kind. After ordering our meal they would pop by every so often to see if we needed anything. They also refilled the water in our individual pots regularly. If you have beenb to hot pot you would notice sometimes that some of the things you would order they would forget to bring it to you or bring you the wrong amounts BUT this place was on point. There was only one time that the waitress forgot to bring us the egg we ordered but she immediately brought it to us after we told her.
At the end of our meal one of the waitresses askes us we would like dessert and she told us that there were strawberry or mango flavoured ice cream. Being the indecisive person i couldnt decide which one so she kindly told me that we could have two scoops! so all my friends and I got two scoops of ice cream. When it was time to pay the waiter brought us the bill and we paid and left the money on the table. If you have been to an asian place to eat, you may have noticed that if you dont go up to the table to pay usually they dont offer you candy that they have at the till but the waiter was so kind and came up to us with the bowl of candy and offered it to us. He also spoke to us in canto in a very friendly manner and urged us to take more than one. Like this might sound funny but the little things that restaurants do can make or break your experience but it definitely made mine very good.
I really enjoyed our meal, the atmosphere was really good and overall my experience with the service was spectacular. I would definitely recommend this hot pot place over anywhere else. It’s a very homey environment!
p. s. I love the spring rolls, definitely a must try. Not a rip off version like most hot pot places have. Actually tasted amazing

Made my first visit to Asian Express Hot Pot this past weekend. I went with a group of 6 people. It was nice having your own hotpot, but still having communal ingredients. There are many different things you can order for your hotpot. Staff were friendly and nice.

First time eating hot pot. I enjoyed it. I had the miso base with chicken, broccoli, spinach, steamed rice… Was ok. A little expensive for what it was. 30.00 per person. Freezer burnt ice cream for dessert cheapened it. They didn’t bring us tea we’d ordered and they said that they were out of steamed rice, and brought us sticky rice instead. Sticky rice tasted like pork, and it was okay, but it had a petroleum aftertaste. Not sure why? All in all, I would rate Asian Express Hot Pot three stars.

When I first saw the soup, I thought it’s not authentic, but then, the taste is really good. The quality of meat is good. I think I will come back.

Incredibly fantastic as always. Been 6 times and end up craving it again the very next day. THE BEST HOT POT.

I like this place a lot. We came twice in one month and had two different experiences.
On Father’s day, we were a party of 8. 6 adults and 2 kids. We came around 5:30 and the restaurant was not very busy. Service was so good and the ingredients were so fresh. I was instantly addicted. The mashes here are all really good and I just wanted to keep eating them. My kids ate free because they are only 1 and 3. I don’t know at what age they start charging. The owner/​manager? came to me several times to make sure everything was ok and that I had what I needed. When our bill came and we were eating the included dessert, he let me know that if I needed anything else or more desserts, just to let him know and he would take care of it. I was cleaning up the floor under the table where my daughter had spilled some food. He looked aghast and told me not to do that and he would clean it up after I left. I usually try to pick up as much food off the ground as I can before I leave any restaurant. I think it’s plain rude to leave a big mess! Since he insisted, I did leave it but felt really guilty.
On our second trip on Canada Day, around 5:30 and again the restaurant was not very busy but picked up closer to 7. The ingredients were very fresh and service was attentive. The major difference I noticed this time around was that our orders for ingredients were coming out in different quantities than what we had ordered and some items were not coming at all. I had read this was the case on many Unilocal reviews but did not experience this on our first visit. I was concerned mostly that perhaps some items would come later and I didn’t want to order it again in case we would have too much food. This was not understood by the server and we were encouraged to just order again. After our first visit, I made a guess that meat orders were by the 100 grams or so but on our second visit, the meat portions were very random even on the same meat but on different orders.
It is what it is and you gotta just roll with it I guess. If you like hot pot and fresh ingredients, this is place to go.

With all fair restaurant reviews, normally it be things like price, food atmosphere and etc… unfortunately I cannot fairly evalutate those things. why? I one and only time I went there during the winter time, I tell the guy table for 3… tells me to go stand back outside in the –20 weather… dead serious. Congrats this place sets the fastest walk out I have ever had in a place. I got ticked off and went to All Happy Family, where I was welcomed.
Go to 97 hot pot or Urban at least they wont tell me to go stand outside in the cold or next to the homeless people

Unlike other hot pot restaurants, Asian Express offers diners their own soup bowls, which can be filled with either one kind of soup broth, or split between a spicy and a regular kind. I’m always in the mood for something a bit spicy, so I tried the Szechuan half-​and-​half.
While this soup was very tasty and had a noticeable kick, I wish now that I’d tried something a bit simpler to start, such as the Ginger and Green Onion soup base. The Szechuan, while tasty, had far too many bits and pieces in it (peppercorns, chilis, spices, and much more), and it was difficult to get some of the food out without accidentally biting down on a handful of peppercorns. Which, as you may have guessed, is terrifyingly peppery.
The menu for meat, fish, vegetables, and noodles is extremely extensive and everything is served ‘per order,’ meaning that diners put a number beside the items they want and are served the regular order amount. We weren’t sure how much we would get and didn’t want to over-​order, so we just put 1 or 2 beside a variety of food items, just to get ourselves started (you can always order more later).
As you can see from the image above, the single orders for sweetcorn, mushrooms, and broccoli are fairly small, yet more than enough for one person (remember, you’ve still got meats and noodles to eat). The prawns and the fish balls are ordered ‘per item,’ which we discovered when one order of crab balls gave us… one ball. I didn’t mind (since I was the one who ordered them), because I much prefer the fish balls at King’s. These ones were a little too mushy for my taste.
The meat orders, however, were extremely generous. And delicious. I’m a gigantic meat-​eater, so we were barraged with plates full of thinly-​sliced, nicely arranged sirloin beef, lamb, chicken, and pork. The meats at a hot pot restaurant have to be extremely thinly-​sliced so that they cook in the broth within a matter of seconds (or minutes, if you want to be extra sure).
Asian Express’s seafood mashes are quite popular: mashed combinations of seafood and/​or meat that hardens slightly when cooked in broth, turning out a large type of seafood ball or patty. We tried the handmade fish and squid mashes, which turned out to have much more of the consistency that I prefer in a hot pot fish ball. Very tasty, and quite adventurous if you’re not a regular hot pot goer.
As with any restaurant, and particularly hot pot restaurants, there are always going to be things on the menu that certain people don’t like. What Asian Express does offer, though, is a wide selection of food, the ability to cook in your own soup pot (who actually likes sharing?), efficient service, and generally just a good, old fashioned time. Sure, the restaurant might get unbearably hot due to the sheer number of boiling pots, but it offers the fun activity of being able to dine with people while cooking your own food.

One of the best Asian restaurants in Edmonton for sure.
Individual small hot pot for everyone and over a dozen of soup base options for every craving and taste buds. It’s really the experience when you go to Asian Express.
Given that it’s «Asian hot pot» — expect to cook your own food. I always like to joke that it’s like «fondue — Asian style» to my friends trying it for the first time.
Fortunately, the ingredients are always fresh. Some of their signature ‘dishes’ and our favorites are the seafood and meat mashes. Other than that, your usual sliced meat selections, veggies, fish balls, etc. are all on the menu.
Note: the «Fat Lamb» soup base does NOT have lamb in it. It’s just a direct (word for word) translation of a famous broth from China.
Reservations are highly recommended!

I have been to this place twice, both times fully packed on a week day (Reservations are strongly recommended). It is kind of hard to survive if you do not know Chinese but in my opinion this is a very good sign.
The main difference between this place and other hot pot places is that you have your own individual hot pot.
As you enter the restaurant, you have to chose a broth, we chose spicy lamb and herbs broth. The broth is pretty basic but you can modify the taste with the large variety of sauces available. Then for a fix price (around 25 $) you can order as many dishes as you can handle. We covered a good portion of the menu. My favourites were the shrimp paste, fresh shrimp, beef ball and squid. Make sure to order a lot of veggies and noodles to add to your soup. The most interesting part for me was the dipping sauce station. You have access to a lot of different ingredients to make your perfect sauce. I tried many different combinations, but my favourite was garlic + fresh chili + vinegar + peanut + oyster sauce and fresh cilantro.
At the end a very simple ice cream is served as desert which was decent.
Overall, I believe it is my favourite hot pot in Edmonton.

This place is fun and an amazing eating experience. It’s like an awesome soup buffet where you cook yummy meats and seafood in delicious broth, then you dip your cooked stuff in delicious home made sauces. It’s a super fun thing to do with friends. Make an evening of it. Amazing sauces. Delicious broth.

Best time to eat here is probably when it’s not during the holidays. It’s so busy in the evenings and because the place is so small, you have to be ready to move around people.
This place is a great place for a large group get together. Everyone gets there own individual hot pot and you get to choose your own type of soup base. It’s nice to have more than once selection of soup.
You mark down on there menu how many items you would like and the staff brings it to your table.
I’m not sure if they were short staff or had a shortage of food or portion control?
We were a big group of 8 adults and 2 kids. We ordered many items that never showed up. I don’t think it’s that hard to put uncooked items together and putting more on the plates when we request the same items 4 times!
But they were definitely quick when they needed to clear our plates… sigh…
We all definitely felt like we didn’t get enough to eat and I was still feeling hungry after.
It’s $ 25/​person all you can eat and you’re only allowed to stay 2 hours from the time you sit down, not the time you get your first plate of food. Since we had so many people, make sure you make reservations with the exact amount of people or else you will have to share your hot pot with someone else. That’s what happened to me! LOL
If you want to get more food into your stomach, try to stay away from rice, noodles and anything that has lots of starch. Drink lots of water AFTER you eat.
There is a lot of MSG in the soup, so you will feel extremely thirsty after your meal, so make sure you drink lots of liquid when you get home.
I love the selection of sauces they have at the sauce station. The vegetables, meat, seafood and all of there uncooked items are fresh.
Also try not to wear your nicest clothing here, you’re clothes and hair will smell like delicious hot pot after you leave.
I’m coming at a less busy time next time and see if I get better service and more food.

This place is fantastic. Recently discovered by my sister, she’s been making a lot people converts, and it’s pretty easy to see why.
What makes this place different from other hot pot places is that each seat gets its own hot pot — yes, you read right, each person gets their own personal hot pot device and broth. Speaking of broth: you have a plethora of choices! Not just «normal or spicy» from other places — you have a butter broth, a lamb broth, a Szechuan broth, and many more. My sister ordered the butter broth and I ordered a half/​half lamb broth: one half spicy, one half regular.
As it’s a hot pot place, for $ 25, it’s all you can eat — you order from a piece of paper quantities of ingredients instead of having to go up to a buffet table to pick your own items. My favourite pieces were: lamb slices, fish, and squid. I also enjoyed the mussels, black fungus, and dried tofu sheets. Of course, a ton of veggie options are available, too, and you can even order spring rolls and green onion cakes! They even have a sauce bar where you can create your own exotic sauces and dips for your cooked items.
It’s a rare Chinatown place that takes reservations per table due to its popularity. It fills up pretty quick, apparently, on weeknights and weekends. Though, during my visit on Sunday afternoon (4:30pm reservation), it was pretty tame in terms of busyness, so if you want a chance to try this place out and not feel too hot due to steam and people, then this may be a good time to check it out.