Soooo over-rated.
Ingredients are fresh, like a lot of places;
Soup is delicious, like a lot of places;
Price is high, unlike a lot of great hot pot places;
Service is good, way too good. It makes you feel like they haven't seen any customers in a really long time, or your visiting a far-away countryside wearing your fancy suits where the peasants can sell their homemade or homegrown stuff "hey! sup? big bro** wanna a plate, a glass, oh, come on, a napkin?" And some times a few of them come to you together.
It scares me off #@#
Just saw Haidilao won the best hot pot in town at thebeijinger's annual restaurant awards AGAIN. And I am surprised to see it again.... I guess it's easier for expats to eat at chain restaurants like Haidilao, South Beauty...
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RE: Shidiwen
Thank you for your time reading my post and giving me your feedback. Since thebeijinger only allows one review by one person on one restaurant. I will just leave a few words here in case anyone else wonder the same thing.
First, not all Chinese people are Chinese food experts. I have Chinese friends LOVE kungpao Chicken with cucumber. It's an absolute wrong way to cook because cucumber is refreshing, which is highly against Kunpao Chicken's oily sweet. The reason, I think, many Chinese people like to go to Haidilao(your right about SB) is they have very good service(don't need me to get into that). Which they can not get else where. We all know that the service at many 'good Chinese restaurants' are very bad, esp the old ones.
Second, the most important thing of a restaurant is food. I am not sure how well your doing and how much money your willing to spend on your meal. When it comes to price, I really don't feel like paying much for a dish like hotpot that is hardly involve any cooking. Haidilao is pricey, and the extra we pay isn't actually for its taste(which is ordinary) but for 20 people's greetings and smiles, which is sooo much more than I need. That's why I like LILY'S by Shuangjing subway a lot more then Element Fresh for American food. No far away operation, no fancy decoration, no professional waitress politeness. All they have is good food and hostess' honest smile at very low price.
Last, where to find good hotpot places. Your right, there are many amazing secret local restaurants that are cheap and good. But I just can't tell ya since it's too big a responsibility to tell other people what restaurants to go to enjoy themselves. Anyways I do have a few pointers to give. I would say most hotpot on GUIJIE are better then Haidilao. Although GUIJIE is the most ridiculous food site I ever seen... There are more than 150 restaurants on GUIJIE, and 90% of them are either serving fish or hotpot... Also, HAIDIAN is a great option for hotpot and all Chinese food(but not wudaokou). There are enough cynical, food-picky, poor students living there making the food good and cheap.
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