Morals Village

The best hotpot in town with the best services and excellent food quality.

Ok this place is not 2.5 stars so I am giving the ratings a boost to where it should really sit at 3.5 to 3.8 stars.
Came in on a Thursday night as a walk-​in and had no trouble finding a booth. It was pretty busy and I’m sure if you came with a larger group 4 – 6 you would probably have a little waiting to do. Although there is a 2 hour limit for dining.
Cash only! So go to the bank machine prior to getting here or have your girlfriend wait by herself while you run across the street to CIBC or RBC down on Spadina/​Dundas. I seen a couple of girlfriends in limbo after the couple discovered it was cash only lol. Or not enough cash to cover dinner and tip. Which is $ 35/​person not including tip yet.
Service for us was good surprisingly after reading all these reviews that the service sucked. Maybe Unilocal made them pay attention! Good job Unilocalers! But our waitress was never too far away to take our orders and food came pretty fast like within 5 mins. A waiter even came by the check if we got our last order for the 2^nd round.
I order the «super spicy» broth which is an additoinal 4 bucks and it is what it said friggin super spicy! My lips turned into Kendal Jenner’s fat red lip challenge after a few minutes of eating and my taste buds were totally wiped out after the 1^st round. I love spicy food (Sichuan style) but this was a little too spicy for me to enjoy. Although it was still good I wish I ordered the normal spicy. (They have the option of how much you want from high to low).
The ingredients were ok. The meats were better quality then other hot pots in the area. But some of the veggies were not that fresh but still edible. They give you portions according to your group to avoid waste. So you may find yourself ordering more frequently then other places such as Little Sheep etc where they give you quantity.
They have a sauce station which faces the entrance which i found weird as you are greeted by a bunch of people making sauces as soon as you climb to the top of the stairs. But whatever works.
Overall this place was good. Reminds me of Hai Dai Lao hot pot in Beijing and Shanghai minus the dancing noodle guy.
I would come back to this place but only during the week days since they jack up the prices on Friday-​Sunday for some reason.
Oh and they play top40 music in the background a little bit loud so it’s more of a place for younger crowds unless your parents and grandparents don’t mind hotpoting to hotline bling.

Terrible terrible experience.
Our group of friends were very excited to try this new Hotpot location (being hotpot frequenters) but were extremely disappointed with the service.
Upon stating our reservation name, we were seated quickly after entering the restaurant.
At this point there were about 4 other tables filled in the restaurant (6:30pm on a Tuesday).
Our soupbases arrived in about 1−2mins after placing our order, with two items (out of 15). But nothing else came for the next 20 mins. Our meat arrived but we were still waiting on the 10+ items we ordered. We inquired about our order, at which time it was taken again, with no apology or explanation.
After a few more minutes 6 more items came out, but not everything we ordered (we were beginning to think that not everything was available, but were not told by our server). At this point we decided to order more items (another 15+ items). Within 10mins our first vegetable item for the night arrived (we had requested vegetable items in our first order).
Another 20mins later, when we did not receive any more items, we called a server inquiring about our order AGAIN. At this point this server apologized and said he would check on the order.
10mins later we decide to ask for the bill and leave. We were not offered any accommodations or apologies.
Our bill came out to approximately $ 170. We paid $ 190 cash and requested change. When change arrived we decided to take out $ 2 and leave some tip $ 18+ (in good faith that maybe it was just a VERY bad day).
The server came back with the change saying that we had to pay 10% tip. Nowhere on the menu did we see this, but besides that, we did leave 10% tip! At this point another server came over to say it’s okay, as if they were doing us the favour.
A very unpleasant experience that left you with a very bad taste in your mouth.

Good assortment of products but was really pricey for hotpot.
The décor of the restaurant was nice and very modern. My party of three was seated at a comfortable booth with enough space for all the dishes we ordered. The price for a Saturday night is $ 25.99 + $ 2 for a weekend surcharge. We ordered the Mountain Cliff Wild Mushroom and Hong Kong Satay soupbases. Both were excellent! However, towards the end of the night, the flavour was a little bit lost since the waiters refilled it with regular chicken broth as it decreased.
The best part of Morals Village is definitely their dipping sauce station! They have a large variety of sauces to choose from: Sesame Oil to Satay Sauce. I ended up with several bowls of a variety of mixes just to vary the flavours.
I absolutely loved their variety of seafood and meats. They also offer homemade beef balls with cheese filling. I would definitely recommend giving this a try! We also ordered their fresh watermelon juice ($ 8.50) which was enough for three people. Very fresh and a nice add-​on to cleanse your palette.
The waiters record your orders on iPads which was pretty cool. However, they did forget several of our orders which was unfortunate. In relation to the service of the staff, they were very attentive and constantly came around to refill our broth, clear away our empty plates, and asked if we wanted to order anything else. At one point during the night, they even placed a small portable table near ours to hold all of our dishes.
One of the downsides of Morals Village was definitely their lack of dessert. They only offer a vanilla soft-​serve cone. They were also out of the fried bun with condensed milk and wouldn’t be getting for another two weeks due to unexpected high demand. I was really looking forward to this :(.
At the end of the night, the bill came to $ 100 (not including tip) for three people which included our added soupbases and fresh watermelon juice. Ouch!
In summary: Loved the variety, good service, but would dine here only occasionally due to the high price tag.
Atmosphere: ⁴⁄₅ | Service: ⁴⁄₅ | Price: ²⁄₅

The base is not good. It is spicy but not flavourful. Décor looks fancy and service is ok. The options are so limited…

My third hot pot in Toronto. I’ll just say I’ve had better. The ingredients were fine and we had a good time but the service was terrible. You might as well go to Celebrity Hotpot or something else in the area.
Food: 3/​5, the lamb is good and all the dishes come in nicer plates and thin meat that cook easily. There are many sauces and the broth was good. The food also comes in small portions so order more than you think.
Service: 1/​5, this is where they fail a lot. The ordering setup seems smart at the beginning with the iPads but with so many waiters around, they NEVER come near you. They just stay in the middle area. It was difficult to get their attention even for 2^nd servings. It also took forever to get water or dessert — we had to walk up to them. Paying was also a huge hassle as this took another 15−20minutes.
Ambience: 3/​5, clean and new-​ish look. The tables were quite comfy and it’s not too loud or steamy for hot pot.
Price: 2/​5, Not sure $ 35 + tip is worth it for what we got. You can eat like kings and good service at other hot pots for at least $ 10 less than that. ALSO, they only take cash (very sketchy about that)
Feel free to try the place but I’d probably go somewhere else next time. (one visit only)

It’s expensive but not that good. And the service is really bad, when we payed the bill, the waitress counted money just in front of us for twice! What a rude behavior.

Went to try out Moral’s Chinatown location! It’s on Dundas close walking distance to the Green P underground! This location unlike the uptown location is a little more understated, but still nicely furnished! Cool booth type sitting throughout!
Unlike all those mediocre hot pot place, this place take ayce to a whole new level! Server comes in to toe your order with an iPad, and has pictures of the items to show u as reference!
Same as Richmond hill they also do fresh watermelon juice!
Love the mix-​urself sauce station! My fave was the homemade sesame sauce!
Lots of variety of soup base, here you can have your own private pot on side of the room on the other shared pots! If you like spicy this is the perfect hot pot place! Had the 10 year special spicy soup base split with the sweet tomato soup base! The numbing comes later after you have bit into a few of the peppercorn or the herbs in the spicy soup base!
My personal fave were certified angus short rib slice! It was nicely marbled and thinly sliced!
We also got the lamb slice, a variety of homemade meatballs! There was even one that was spicy! (For someone that loves ghost pepper and habernaro, it wasn’t spicy at all)
Also ordered plenty of beef tongue! I love how it’s already cooked and very thinly slice so all u need is a few seconds of swishing it in the boiling broth and it’s done! The service here is impeccable as soon as I finished a plate someone’s there to clear it out of the way without being asked! And when my drink was finished I was also checked upon to see if I wanted anything else? Rarely do Chinese places ever do that! This really struck out to me! They were attentive!
Unlike the Richmond hill location, the spring roll and deep fried buns with condensed milk are placed at the sauce station! So u just go up and help urself! The first bun I had was slightly cold but I saw them bring out a fresh bowl and I think I had half a dozen of them for dessert!
Speaking of dessert each person at the end of the meal gets a nice sweet ice cream soft serve! It’s rich and creamy unlike any soft served I’ve had!
Nice touch to finish off the hot and spicy hot pot with the cooling sensation and creaminess of the soft serve to cleanse my palette! Can’t wait to try all the other soup base! Pork bone soup is definitely my next choice!

Horrible service. We were told we will have to wait 10 mins and turned into 30 and when we finally getting seated we are positioned into a 2 seater of a 8 people table with another bigger group that we didn’t know of. With how awkward that was and the witness being very rude about the situation, the 1 star is given. No food was in reviewed.

Normally, I’m not a fan of hot pot dinners not made at home. Of all the experiences I’ve had out, this ranks very well ahead of all those I’ve been to in Toronto. Pretty decent selection, but be sure to make reservations; otherwise, there’s going to be a pretty long wait.

Basically a 4.5 stars from me.
A fantastic addition to the downtown hotpot scene. I’m pretty stoked at seeing all these fancy (or at least, proper authentic) international chains popping up in Toronto, and Morals Village is definitely one of the bigger players in the Chinese hot pot scene. And let’s be real, China IS where hot pot came from, so they probably know a thing or two about this stuff.
The selections are massive, but I would recommend having a half-​half pot, in which one half is their interestingly-​named 10-​Year Spicy broth, while the other half is the French-​inspired sweet corn. This way, you get the absolute firecracker kick of the spicy broth, and when you want to cool down a bit (which you will want to), you have the sweet broth on the other side. It actually made the meal much more balanced than what I’m accustomed to having from hot pot.
The ingredients included are diverse though if you’re familiar with hot pot, you know what most of them are. I say most because some are very interesting. I particularly loved the crispy pork filet, an interesting morsel of deep-​fried pork (a great start) which contains certain Chinese herbs that will make your tongue crackle a bit at the end, not unlike a combination of ma la Szechuan flavours mixed with Pop Rocks candy. And be warned that the effect is DELAYED. I had two in my mouth because the first one’s flavour didn’t kick in until after I finished swallowing the second, and let me tell you it was an interesting ride afterwards.
The mix-​and-​match sauces can be done by youself at a cute sauce station, which comes with the obligatory delicious mantou buns with condensed milk on the side.
Service was super quick and very pleasant. The overall ambience was much more hip and industrial than what I would normally expect in a hot pot restaurant. It was actually pretty nice. My only complaint is that the space in the restaurant was quite small so it made for a very cozy and rather steamy meal. Most people love this because, hell isn’t hot pot all about socializing and fogging up your glasses? However, having experienced the much more spacious and grandiose Markham location of Morals Village, I have to say I slightly prefer that location to this one. But that’s a minor concern in what is otherwise an excellent restaurant.
Yes, there’s quite a bit of traffic back and forth inside the joint but again, it’s hot pot so that’s par for the course (another reason why I prefer Markham’s wider spaces). The ice creams served at the end of the meal are, no word of a lie, the best handmade ice creams I’ve ever had. Anyway, enough of my rambling. Near-​perfect execution of what I believe a proper hot pot place should be, and in the middle of Chinatown, that’s a breath of fresh (and spicy) air.

«Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.» — Maria Von Trapp
In this case, a not so good place to start, Maria. I was instructed upon arrival to type my name into the iPad. My friend and I then waited in an actual designated Waiting Room for 45 minutes for our two-​person table. The hostess was literally running around the floor, bangs flying back from her face, shouting a mile-​a-​minute at waitstaff and customers. She approached us at one point to show us to our table… which was actually a table for Tina, party of five (not a reference to the show in any way). The hostess then asked for my name again, and instead of waiting for an answer, picked up the phone and completely ignored me.
Finally, we were seated near the sauce station. We had not one but two servers come to our table and then say «just one minute» and dart away elsewhere. Our server (s) were actually very friendly and helpful with the menu and explanation of the hot pot process, as we were first timers. One of our servers even waved over a co-​worker to ask for the English translation on an item we asked about.
The food itself was adequate. I have no real criticisms as I have no previous hot pot experience to refer it to. We ordered a vast array of items, mostly meats, meatballs, mushrooms and shrimp. The spicy soup bases are actually spicy. There was a well-​stocked sauce-​bar with accompanying spring rolls and toppings. One dish we ordered came twice. Some dishes we ordered didn’t come at all. The ice cream at the end of the meal was a welcome treat.
There’s also this one spice or something that was on a few things we ordered and it’s not even spicy — it just makes your whole mouth crazy numb. At first, you’re like okay, weird. Then as it progresses you’re like «this feels not great», so you take a sip of water. HUGE MISTAKE. It’s like your tongue just did a thousand crunches and is now taking a horribly somehow hot ice bath.
When it finally came time to pay, they were taking cash only. A sign on the door or something would have been nice. Instead I had to run across the street to the ATM at Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot to pick up cash. Speaking of which, it smelled AMAZING in there, so if I was going to try hot pot again, I might go the Little Sheep route. It’s also not cheap — the AYCE on a weeknight was about $ 25 but there’s an additional charge for the soup bases themselves. The bill also showed a $ 7 charge for… something. It wasn’t English, and I didn’t feel like waiting any longer to ask, considering this was a nearly three-​hour ordeal. All in all, our meal came to $ 66 including taxes, not tip.

Morals Village is a large energetic hot pot restaurant on Dundas W near Spadina. Seating is comfortable and it’s very busy. Quality of the food was very good and there are several choices of broth. Service is attentive but a little disorganized. Nice selection of non alcoholic drinks. Reservations are a good idea especially for a group. Good spot for a satisfying meal.

It was our first time doing hot pot and overall I found it a fun experience. The staff were really friendly and walked us through how the hot pot process works and they had lots of suggestions on what to order.
When we arrived we entered our info onto an iPad and got a text when our table was ready. The place was packed but we were seated in around 15 mins.
Our food came really fast and everything we ordered came out together. I tried the original soup base spice level two and it was really hot. I can handle heat but it was a bit too much. My vegetarian friend isn’t sure his veggie broth was actually meat-​free so heads up to double check. Overall the food was pretty tasty and there were lots of different food bites to try.
The cost was $ 40 pp for all you can eat, no upgrades, soup base, drink and tip. We paid cash but weren’t told about a 10% cash discount (just noticed that in previous reviewer’s comments). In fact their credit machines were down and they only accepted cash.

What we had: all-​you-​can-​eat hot pot with no upgrades (bunch of meats, seafood, veggies, meatballs, innards), 4 different soup bases were 10 year spicy, green pepper, wild mushroom, and corn
Taste: ⁸⁄₁₀
They had a lot of selection but we mostly stuck with meat slices, seafood, and select innards (duck gizzard, ox tongue, pig blood, cow stomach). The meats and seafood are very good and they taste fresh. Duck gizzard was quite tough and chewy, a little too tough for my liking but you had to make sure it was fully cooked. Ox tongue on the other hand was not chewy at all. The tripe they give you is the cheap tough dangly kind as opposed to the chewy kind that looks like a sponge. The seafood was good, I particularly liked the baby octopi and my friends liked the shrimp. The shrimp had a naturally slightly sweet taste.
I didn’t really taste the difference between the non-​spicy soup bases; to me the soup base had two flavours, spicy and non-​spicy. Their 10 year spicy base sounds really special but it’s just your typical spicy and numbing (ma la) soup base. You can get a base that taste the same from any Chinese supermarket.
Stay away from: the tripe (not what we expected and they gave us more than what we ordered of this item, while they gave us less than what we ordered for other items –_​-​), Japanese crab (these are just imitation crab sticks, unless if you like imitation crab sticks)
Value: ⁶⁄₁₀
The meal after tax and tip was about $ 35 per person (with 10% cash discount, otherwise the total comes to be about $ 38 per person), which is not bad considering you get to order some nice stuff. However, when they bring you the items, they bring you the cheap stuff first and hope that you forget about the expensive stuff (literally, we had to keep reminding them to bring the more expensive cuts of meat, and they finally brought it in the last 30 min of our 2 hr stay). Don’t add too much oil in your personal sauce or you’ll get filled up really quickly.
You get 10% off if you pay in cash so that’s a nifty little discount.
Service/​Convenience: ⁴⁄₁₀
Located in Chinatown, fairly easy to find. At the entrance you go up a flight of stairs to access the restaurant. It doesn’t look wheelchair accessible.
The servers that work here are nice and friendly, but good heavens they were disorganized. We understand how hectic it can be for an AYCE place, but this is next level not-​having-​your-​shit-​together. We booked a table with solo stoves so each of us could have our own pot, but we were given a table with shared stoves. (Some of us eat spicy and some of us don’t, which makes sharing more complicated.) There was an empty table with solo stoves, but they wouldn’t let us move into it because we had 5 people and they wanted to save that table for a group of 6 that also made a booking.
I’ve already mentioned this under value, but they bring you the cheap stuff first and hope you forget about the expensive stuff. We had to remind them several times about the more expensive items on our order.
They fill the soup over your pot right as you’re trying to eat… even when the pot doesn’t need more soup! Meanwhile they neglect the pot that is almost boiled dry because it was positioned further in and was harder for them to reach. (Could have just left us a canteen of soup so we can pour it in as needed.)
Water refills take a long time and the food (and the customers) can get reeeeal salty.
Our waiter was super nice and tried to be helpful but he just seemed so lost… maybe he’s new or something. Anyway to be served here, you have to be VERY assertive, wave servers down, even call out to them. The good thing is they don’t try to rush you out after you’ve stayed some amount of time. We stayed for 2 hours (though mostly because we were waiting on certain items on our first order to come) and it was a busy day for them.
Would go back? Probably not, I usually do not eat hotpot out on my own device; I came with friends. Though if a friend suggested to come back to this place, I would not oppose.
Would recommend to friend? Sure if they like hotpot, and I would advise them to only order the expensive stuff if they want a chance to see that stuff before 1 hour into their stay.
Similar places: Little Sheep Mongolian Hotpot (I had this ages ago, had similar meats but not as much selection as Morals Village), probably any other hot pot place