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Sukiyaki - Hot Pot
Had dinner here last night with a friend. It is an all you can eat hotpot place, with a relatively small menu selection compared to other hotpot restaurants. They have three choices of meat, beef, pork or lamb. I am not a lamb fan, but the beef and pork quality is not quite as good as other hotpot places I have been to, being too fatty. Vegetable choices were fresh, but they lacked some of the more exotic and interesting items that I am accustom to.
Service was interesting, all the staff was very enthusiastic, always interested in filling up your tea or water, and bringing your order quickly. Unfortunately it was also mediocre. They brought our order to the table next to us more than it actually made it to our table. They brought us another table's bill, and they continually spoke chinese to us even though we told them in the beginning we did not understand.
The value is a bit underwhelming, the price is slightly lower or similar to other all you can eat hotpot places, but the quality and variety are severely lacking.
Ambiance was pretty good. It was clean, and newly decorated it seems. The main downside is my table in particular seemed too small to comfortably put the food on the table. The table seemed crowded, but at least the restaurant wasn't too noisy or cramped.
We checked out this new Sukiyaki/ShabuShabu place which just opened this week right across from Metrotown. Every table gets to cook on their own "hot pot" and you pick the ingredients from a list. If you ever saw "Lost in Translation", it's like that place Bill Murray and Scarlett dined at, except cooler. The place was busy but the service was still attentive and friendly. The big selection of meats and vegetables were fresh and presented nicely. Since you can keep ordering more ingredients until you get stuffed, it's a great deal. We parked for free on the street (after 6pm) - try doing that downtown! We'll definitely be back for more.
If you're thinking that you're going to get a great hot pot / sukiyaki / shabushabu experience at Swish Swish, think again. I'm a big hot pot lover but it was a very disappointing experience. First of all, the food took forever to arrive, which is unusual since this is the type of food that you have to cook by yourself. They have a 2 hour order limit, but we waited at least a half hour before recieving our food. It was even more upsetting to see that 2 tables that arrived after us got served before us. Secondly, they advertise that it is all you can eat for $15.99 dinner. I absolutely agree with the previous reviewer that the food selection is VERY limiting. You need to add on another $2 per person for lamb and chicken. On top of this, we were SHOCKED that you have to "ORDER" soya sauce for additional cost. What restaurant charges for soya sauce when it is an essential incredient for this type of food or any asian cuisine for that matter. I've never seen any restaurant charge for this. By the end of it, you're literally paying for a $20 meal. Third, the quality of food is very poor. The first 10 plates of meat that came were extremely cut soo thin that the meat was dried up on the plate. Also since meat shrinks in the hot pot as it cooks, it was like eating crumbs of meat. Just like the previous reviewer said, the meat is very FATTY. The service is mediocre and satisfactory. Overall, this is a very disappointing experience and I would not return again for Swish Swish.
Swish Swish is located conveniently across Metrotown in the space where "Death By Chocolate" used to be. Being an experienced hot pot patron, I wanted to see what Swish Swish had to offer, and before deciding to dine, I grabbed one of their menus. To my delightful surprise, I saw that they had lamb as a meat option. Sold. I made reservations for a group of us in the middle of the week. The group of five of us easily finished off about 40-50 trays of meat, which was mostly lamb. The meat was fresh and delicious and the other items were good as well. For reference, the menu can be found here: http://i38.tinypic.com/newdwi.jpg
If there is any one major negative, it was the service. There was a clear language issue going on, and we had to mention things a few times before our requests were satisfactorily met. As with any new establishment however, these are things that can be corrected with time and experience.
The space is clean and modern, and they could host a party of 10+ easily towards the back of the restaurant if needed. They have a happy hour - 2:30PM - 5:00PM - which is $2.00 off the Lunch price ($9.99). However, lamb is dinner only, which is a shame. The lamb would be a major repeat draw for me if it was offered for lunch. Still, at $15.99 for dinner it is a good value.
All in all, Swish Swish offers a very solid Sukiyaki/Shabu Shabu experience that should leave most hot pot veterans and newbies satisfied. This is an easy recommendation.
We, a couple, finally had a chance to try out this place tonight and our experience there was just fantastic! It was to celebrate our anniversary and we wanted something nice and different. When we came out from the place, we are so full and happy knowing that we made the right choice!
It's a all you can eat hot pot place offering japanese sukiyaki and shabushabu. while owned by Chinese people, the taste of sukiyaki, which we tried tonight, was the closest to well, just like the kind eaten in a Japanese family compare to other type of so-called Japanese food which is far from its actual dishes.
As they are there brand new, we came out feeling it's definitely worth supporting them as the owners seems quite sincere and friendly.
And of course, food was great!
It worth stopping by.
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