Garden City Hot Pot

It’s been ages since we’ve been to this restaurant for dim sum. The menu has changed, but the quality has not.
The food is delicious. Flat out delicious. We had a few items that we always have at dim sum restaurants and a few we never tried before, and all were excellent.
We had siu mai ($ 4.50), which my husband devoured.
The shrimp dumplings (5.95) were amazing, with whole pieces of shrimp inside.
Then there was the deep-​fried squid tentacles with salt and pepper (5.95). We both loved them and wished there were more on the plate.
We ordered a sticky rice wrap (5.95), thinking it would be the traditional, leaf-​wrapped, concoction, but it came out as a pyramid on a plate, with a spoon and soy sauce. Inside was an egg yolk mix and pieces of meat and sausage. Delicious with the soy sauce.
I also ordered a pan-​fried sticky rice dish (6.50), cooked in an ‘egg swirl’. I liked that better than the so-​called wrap.
And last, but definitely not least, was the braised pork belly mini hot pot (6.95). The pork was so tender and delicious. Melt-​in-​your-​mouth. The sauce was so good, it had my husband guessing to see if he could re-​create it.
Also excellent was the service. Friendly and attentive.
I would have given it five stars, but there are a few challenges.
As you can see, it’s expensive. More so than most other dim sum places. Yes, they have things on the menu that other dim sum places do not, and the quality is excellent, but… with tea and tip included, spending more than $ 40.00 for dim sum is a bit much. A once-​in-​a-​while extravagance.
They said that oh, but we’ve taken ten percent off your bill. Yes, there was a discount taken off the bill, but no, it wasn’t ten percent. And I assume the discount occurred because we were seated and ordered before 11AM.
Lastly, the menu may be bilingual, but the order sheet is in Chinese only, so be prepared to match characters. For us who read some of the characters (we’re Japanese speakers), it was easier than it might be for most non-​Chinese. Having a separate, English, order sheet is certainly feasible, I would think.

We came here for an early morning dim sum brunch.
As others have said, this place is owned by the Top Gun Group so their dim sum quality was right up there.
Off the top of my head, we ordered the following:
–siu mai — good flavours, perfect texture
–har gao — prefectally prepared
–congee — flavour was a little on the bland side but some people prefer that; it comes with toppings on the side
–pan fried lamb slices — good but nothign special
–rice roll — it’s better at other restaurants (i.e. kirin, sea port) but still good
It’s a little on the pricey side but if you come before 11 they give you a discount.
I was pleasantly surprised by the overall quality and service. I’ll be back.

Food is pretty good but the prices are ridiculously high for hot pot! The soups were okay, but the szechuan soup base was definitely not spicy enough. We came on our way back to Seattle from a weekend trip at Whistler and while the wait wasn’t too long the disappointing food makes this place a 2*. Service was weird as they were babying us at the beginning to the middle of the meal (came around way too often and asking questions mid bite) and then towards the end of the meal definitely tapered to a zero as we were waiting quite some time and had to flag people over to get the check. I’m definitely finding a new spot to come for my next trip.

Disappointed for the hot pot. The price is too high, the food is not worth. The only thing I like is service. I

My friends & I came here for Dim Sum on Sunday.
Thank goodness we had a reservation.
You can each order your own tea.
However, I wish they actually gave you mini teapots.
That way, it can keep the tea hot + also you don’t spill water all over the table with the system they have now.
It was ok.
Afterwards, we used the ladies room which only has 2 stalls.
It was freezing in there + once you got into the stall; it reeked of urine… eeww.

I had hot pot at Garden City Hot Pot on a Saturday night. It was super busy! Guess people like going out to hot pot on a cold Saturday night? Haha. Anyways, we had a reservation so it wasn’t too bad for us.
After being seated the sauce girl came around with a cart full of sauces and personalize each of our sauce dishes. Pretty impressive!
The food was pretty good and we all left with our hands holding our expanded bellies! Haha.
Overall, I was impressed by the quick friendly service we received. The plum tea girl was by often to fill our drinks and our waitress must have come by at least 5 times to check on us. You know for a Chinese restaurant that type of superior service is not expected but highly appreciated! Keep up the good work!

Deep fried octopus tentacles? Check. Fresh Siu Mai? Check. Old school tea pouring utensils? Check. Oh 40% discount if you get in early? CHECK CHECK CHECK.
I am a picky dim sum eater, having been eating it my whole life. I am also a stickler for anything old school. So when I came to this restaurant and saw fresh dim sum and that it had individual tea pots you had to pour old school style, I was sold. It’s as authentic as you can get with the dim sum and the waiters are very very attentive, which I like. My water was refilled, dim sum came fast.
Only downside? The long wait. I remember waiting for a table for 40 minutes once and was oh so grumpy, but the grumpiness dissipated once I got a booth and stuffed my face with delicious, freshly made dim sum.
Try this place, you won’t regret it. I promise.

My family constantly comes here for our dim sum and hot pot needs. I will review them separately.
Dim Sum: I like it! There are a wide range of traditional dim sum choices, which are made to order so you know they are fresh out of the kitchen. You can also opt to get congee, becareful. they are huge, which is good for sharing. The service is always good and the waiters/​waitresses are attentive to your needs. Cool thing is, everyone can choose their own tea and brew it in their own cups.
Hot Pot: This is my favourite part of the restaurant. Sauce is one of the most important parts of Hot Pot (you can disagree with me). Sauce carts are pushed to your table at the start of the meal and you can customize your sauce by telling the server what you would like. If you need a refill at any point, they are happy to assist you. The price of hot pot here is not cheap. But mind you, it’s not an all you can eat. The quality is much better, the meat and seafood are fresh, and the flavours are in abundance. The meat/​seafood balls are literally fresh and never frozen. GET THE FRIED FISH SKIN! — so good as is or put in the hot pot. You can also choose from plum juice or chrysanthemum tea, which are both not too sweet.
Point is… this place is about quality, not quantity.

This place is a RIP OFF! Went there with my fiancé and we had hotpot. Most hotpot restaurants charge you a flat bill of $ 20-​$ 30 and you can order as much as you like with a wide variety of choices. At this restaurant, they charge you for EACH dish that you order. E.g. $ 9 for a simple plate of vegetables, $ 12 for a small plate of meat. The total bill we paid for 2 was $ 100. We didn’t even order alot, the food didn’t fill our stomach and left feeling ripped off. And to make things worst, if you pay by card, there’s no option for you to not tip them. They FORCE you to tip at least 15%. Very dissatisfied and will never go back there again.

A little bit overpriced in my opinion with limited options available. There’s always a lineup so it’s suggested to make a reservation beforehand. I’ve never had their dim sum so can’t comment on how good it is. It is surprising that they don’t offer plum juice as do most Hotpot restaurants.
Service is pretty fast and they pressure you to sign up for their royalty card for additional $ 20, which I regret doing since I haven’t been back since.
The food is fresh but the servers don’t tell you what they’re serving and seem confused when I asked.
Nothing to rave about in terms of food, but service needs to improve.

Too bad we went for the hot pot and not the dim sum. The whole experience was disappointing. First of all, there is a mandatory tea charge regardless if you drink tea or not. They have a wide variety of high quality teas, and the tea charge is higher than what you usually find at a Chinese restaurant. Sadly, their wide variety did not include de-​caffeinated tea.
The staff does not speak English well, which also seemed to be a barrier at times. I’m Japanese and my Chinese travel companion does not speak any of the Chinese dialects, so communication was strained. The waitress seemed annoyed that we asked for the hot pot menu, that was after the 5 minutes it took to try to communicate to her that we wanted hot pot and not dim sum. Once we got the hot pot menu, we had sticker shock. Everything was incredibly expensive. Maybe we are just used to the usual prices and places we have in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles. They did have a nice variety of different meats and vegetables. I liked the different levels of spicy that you could choose from.
Unfortunately after we received our food, the wait staff basically disappeared. We did have a nice intimate booth in the corner, but several times we needed to chase down the waitress or other wait staff for assistance. After quite a while, we were gladly able to leave this place with no intentions to ever return.

This review is for their dim sum service. Our party of 3 were granted 3 types of tea, each cup individually brewed. Food arrived to our table piping hot. BBQ pork pineapple buns were the bomb dot com. The porridge weren’t premixed with condiments such as peanuts, green onion/​scallion, and pickles; rather, they bring the condiments to your table and give you the option to add on the garnish as you pleased; as someone who doesn’t enjoy most/​any add-​ons, I was very pleased with this arrangement. Not enough praise can be given to the food.
Additionally, if you have a Top Gun gold card AND you close out your bill by 11:30, they take 40% off your bill, which, if you’re a fatty like me, is substantial.

Fantastic, reliable, delicious hot pot. I’ve been coming here for years with my family. The ingredients are fresh and there’s a fairly wide selection of soups and meats, as well as a large number of ingredients for customers to add to individualized dipping sauces.
For me, the standouts are the ostrich meat, fish puffs (tofu based), tilapia, and fatty beef. Can’t go wrong with watercress and vermicelli at the end of the meal when the soup boils down further.

tip: 20% off with top gun gold card ($ 20 a year membership)
Excellent service especially the sauce cart service with pretty much everything you want. Fish broth had a faint fish taste which is good but not overly fishy. papaya and chicken feet is just really chicken broth with those things thrown in there. the broth didn’t have those flavors incorporated in there. pork kidneys were extra soft though a tiny bit smelly (hard to get rid of smell anyways) which is fine. liver was also very soft which is surprising, pork blood was as soft as tofu, beef ball had bits of chen pei which is a good touch, beef tongue was great as well, lamb had small traces of gaminess which is fine, unlimited chrysanthemum tea (a bit sweet) put this place over the top. the counter lady coming to the table side with the portable swiping machine is very similar to Hong Kong and China.

Despite the delicious fatty beef and good service… price value doesn’t equate to dishes presented in general. Portion sizes for veggie/​tofu dishes were too small considering it is one of the cheaper orders. Soup base is only the soup. There were no Chinese dried herbs inside nor any vegetables as is usually the case in other hot pot restaurants. Service is good but overall there are other better hot pot restaurants with better value and great selection of quality ingredients.

We’ve been here twice and I think it’s a great spot for hot pot. It can get crowded, so plan accordingly or make a reservation.
I like that they come to your table with a condiment station and you can build your own sauce.
The menu selection offers lots of choices in meats, seafood and vegetable. In particular, I liked the homemade meatballs, sliced pork and tofu cut into heart shapes. Live prawns on sticks seemed popular the last time we were there … but it creeped me out, so we passed on it.
The fried fish skin was a revelation. I didn’t think that I would like it, but it was really addictive. Thick and crispy, not overly fishy.
If you have a Top Gun Group discount, make sure to bring your card as it’s part of the chain.

Dim Sum x Garden City Hot Pot is one for my favorite place for hot pot aside from K. K. Dollar Hot Pot Restaurant. This is a great place when you want your own personal tea with fresh tea leaves and a mix and match pot of congee. And you you are a Top Gun Member, you can enjoy 20% off your lunch.
Pot of fresh congee of fish slices and scallops served with stable condiments: green onions, peanuts and preserved vegetables.
Minced shrimp paste pan fried eggplant: Lightly breaded and deep fried and glazed with black bean sauce. A nice thick sauce that isn’t too salty.
Steamed Pork Dumpling with daikon and pine nuts: A nicely flavored filling unfortunately with thick skin.
Shrimp Dumpling: Medium sized fresh shrimp yet again with thick skin.
Deep Fried Salt and Pepper Squid Tentacles: Tender bit lightly flash fried with plenty of seasoning.
Steamed Pork Siu Mai: Tenderly juicy sprinkled with tobiko.
Be sure to come back from some quality hot pot! But be sure to pay with cash.

In this part of YVR someone like me could set off a silent alarm; *Caucasian alert* !!
I managed to fly in under the radar and on the wing of my Chinese pal, J. She’s awesome in so many ways but most pertinently, she’s multilingual and well versed with the ins & outs of ‘Hot Pot’ culture.
Me? I thought it was a soup.
It’s difficult enough as a non Asian, to know what to order in a Chinese restaurant but add to this a gluten intolerance disease and you get the picture. J. asked a lot of questions to our server Jimmy, who was amaaaazing! He knows a bit about Celiac and other food allergies. He was very communicative and thus gained my trust.
We ordered two meat plates, one beef, one pork and one veggie. Would have ordered the chicken but apparently it is marinated and thus not gluten free.
The raw meats are nicely laid out on a plate, thinly sliced ready to cook in a boiling broth of your choice. Each person has a dipping sauce, also of their own preference.
In the end you DO indeed have soup, but according to J., in the Chinese culture the remaining broth is considered less healthy to consume. In my culture this kind of animal fat reduction is the BEST thing for you! Hello?! Haven’t they heard about Chicken Soup? It’s the Penicillin of the Jewish kitchen. I finished as much as I could with my rice and it was very tasty.
This is a fun, festive kind of meal to enjoy with family or friends but definitely best when shared.

There is another hot pot restaurant in Richmond. It located on Garden City and McKim Way almost for a decade.
I had really BAD experience with my friends and family when we ate here. They ALL got credit card info stolen, therefore, we didn’t return for last couple years!
My colleagues suggested to go there for lunch and I didn’t mind to give them a try. In addition, we agree to pay in CASH instead of credit card and it should be safe.
They served tea per cup per person, you can pick the tea leaf and enjoy your own flavour. Check out the picture of chrysanthemum and black tea.
The dim sims were pretty good and congee was excellent.
Steamed radish cake — a lot of radish and tasty
Pot of fish congee — live fish in boiling hot congee, it tasted very fresh.
Stuffed egg plants and tofu with shrimp paste — it’s huge the sauce was a bit salty.
Steamed shrimp dumping — Pretty standard
Steamed Chiu Chow style dumpling — the skin was so thick and sticky.
Deep fried Squid legs — So crispy and delicious
Steamed pork dumpling — Fatty pork and juicy

I have never been a huge fan of hot pot so I wasn’t really expecting much when our family friends brought us here, trying to show us what Richmond has to bring us when it came to chinese food.
I was surprisingly very impressed and satisfied towards the end of our meal though! If all hot pots were made this way, I think i would be a huge fan by now! I definitely would want to come back next time I am in Vancouver!
The restaurant venue itself is very spacious and clean. Each group has their own booths if wanted, which was neat. It was very private and you couldn’t see other people.
There are tables available but for smaller size groups. Service was right on where at the beginning they would push out a cart, where they ask you what kind of sauce you would want for your hot pot dipping dishes. They would recommend what you want to be mixed in also if you look confused!
Everything was definitely VERY fresh. We got a good range of vegetables and meat. In addition we got fresh seafood off the sushi boat they displayed it on. It included salmon, shrimp, abalone, elephant trunk (i forgot the name), and etc.
The soup itself to dip everything in was delicious but one side, we made it a bit TOO spicy. The broth otherwise was excellent.