The Dolar Shop Hot Pot Richmond

Had a wonderful experience dining here. Make sure you go with friends. The quantity is amazing with meats and vegetables fresh!
Great staff!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Pot, Free Soft Serve Ice Cream Cone

Tried the new late-night AYCE menu at Dolar Shop Richmond after 9PM and it was good overall, with some nice highlights like Wagyu beef and salmon & tuna sashimi included. The selection covers the basics and the quality is solid, so it definitely satisfies a late-night hot pot craving. That said, for a similar price point, ChoCho still feels like the better value with a wider variety and a more generous spread, making it the stronger AYCE option if value is the priority.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Free Soft Serve Ice Cream Cone, Seafood, Cheese Salted Egg Yolk Shrimp Balls, Szechuan Hot \u0026 Spicy Broth

Very fresh and the pork broth is delicious.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Hotpot

​I had a lovely dinner at The Dolar Shop Richmond. Overall, it was a solid dining experience with high-quality ingredients.
​What I loved:

​The Food: The quality of the meat and ingredients was quite high. Everything tasted fresh and authentic.

​The Service: A huge shoutout to the Taiwanese server who took care of us! She was incredibly attentive, kept our drinks topped up, and made us feel very welcome throughout the meal.

​The Dessert Bar: I really enjoyed the dessert station. The Osmanthus Ice Jelly and Taro Balls were delicious and a perfect way to end the meal.

​A few things to note:
​Price: It is a bit on the pricey side, so be prepared to spend a little extra.

​Fruit Selection: While the dessert bar was great, I wish there were a few more varieties of fresh fruit available.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I was here for dinner

Atmosphere: 5

Service: 5

I was here for my Birthday and I have to say the experience is rather disappointing and definitely does not justify for the money u spend dining here. It was my first time there. The food quality was average. The service was average. The buffet bar is below average. We spent $450 for 4 people and I was expecting something better but it wasn't. Just for comparison, I went to Happy Lamb in Burnaby today. It is all u can eat and for 5 people, we spent $250. The food quality is the same as Dolar and buffet bar is much better. I will not visit Dolar again. The quality does not match the top dollar they are charging.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 4

I recently went back to The Dolar Shop for a family birthday lunch after a long break, and the way the tea service implemented felt unwelcoming. I ordered tea for myself thinking it would come in a cup but it turned out we got a whole teapot. Since some people didn't like the tea I ordered, I asked for an alternative pot of tea. The server told me I couldn't get another pot until I finished the first, and then another server said each table only gets one. When I finally finished the pot, the server made a big show of checking it was empty and then demonstrating that the tea could still be brewed (unnecessary!!!). The whole thing felt like I was being policed over tea. If the restaurant is worried about waste, they should serve tea by the cup, not force a whole pot on a table. Plus, the cups are so small it's hard to cool the tea down. It felt like they were offering bottomless tea, but it wasn't really bottomless. Apart from the tea issue, I honestly didn’t enjoy the overall service. More training is needed!!!

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Service is excellent. Hotpot soup base is flavorful. Good meat quality. Price on the high side. The sauce / snack / dessert bar is worth it. They promote paying by cash. If you wanna pay with credit card, you will need to complete a survey in order to waive the transaction fee.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Hotpot, Set 1 Thinly Sliced Snowflake Fat Beef Set Meal for One Person, Free Soft Serve Ice Cream Cone, Hand-Crafted Noodles, House Special Sauce

Best Geoduck in town. The most tasty way of eating it

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Hotpot

Get the creamy bone broth. Super good. Friendly service.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Good service. Lots of variety. Would recommend.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Our party size was over 20 ppl, so we had an entire area to ourselves. I was quite impressed with the service we received. The staff were efficient and attentive and they topped up our soup proactively. We mostly ordered meal sets which came with a good amount of food. The wagyu was very tender and worth the price. The only downside was that I felt the amount of vegetables that came with my set was a bit lacking.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

Went for lunch during happy hours and they had a special menu going on and decided to go with that.

Food options came with free bar and made it very acceptable for its higher prices. There is also free ice cream at the end.

The servers were very helpful and explained a lot of their options. Very impressed with their knowledge.

The atmosphere was amazing as it feels very high end. Even the washrooms were very good, clean, and well maintained.

Would come here again for special occasions. 5 stars overall.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Hotpot

⭐️ Deeply Disappointed – Public Humiliation at Dolar Shop Lansdowne I’ve been to this place several times, but after last night, I won’t be returning. I was dining with my young daughter and elderly parents when our server, Elaine, in a judgmental and condescending tone, loudly told me the kid’s menu was “strictly for children” and that “adults are not allowed to eat any of it.” This was said before I even ordered anything from the regular menu. Her words and tone were harsh, offensive, and deeply humiliating, as if we were trying to take advantage of free food. I was completely shocked and embarrassed in front of my family. When I tried to bring it up, another staff member lied, saying Elaine was the manager and told me not to complain. For over two hours, no one apologized or tried to make things right. Someone whose role is supposed to create a welcoming environment treated us instead with suspicion and disrespect. It was a complete failure of hospitality. This wasn’t just bad service — it was public humiliation and unfair judgment. No family should ever be treated this way.

Public Humiliation and False Accusations – Extremely Disappointed

I’ve visited Dolar Shop in Lansdowne several times, but after my experience last night, I will not be returning.

Upon arrival, I was served by a waitress named Elaine. Knowing from past visits that the food from the kid’s menu tends to take more than half an hour to arrive, I decided to order a few small items first — three buns, three sesame balls, and one portion of fries — for my young daughter. To my shock, Elaine immediately glared at me and raised her voice, declaring that the kid’s menu was “strictly for children” and that “adults are not allowed to eat any of it.”

Her tone and words were extremely harsh, accusatory, and humiliating. This was before I had even placed our main order from the regular menu, yet she chose to assume I was trying to take advantage of a child’s meal for my entire family. I was stunned and embarrassed by her behavior — it was unnecessary, disrespectful, and completely unprofessional. This was not just a “bad experience.” It was public humiliation and a false accusation.

After ordering two full meal sets from the regular menu, I quietly mentioned the situation to another server and asked her to speak with Elaine. She told me that Elaine was actually the manager and then discouraged me from making any further complaint. If that’s true, it’s even more concerning that a manager would behave in such a way — and if it’s not, then it’s equally troubling that staff would misrepresent the situation to silence a customer.

Throughout the rest of the dinner, our table was noticeably avoided. Servers who regularly refilled soup and tea for other tables walked past us repeatedly without acknowledgment. When I later confronted Elaine directly about her earlier comments, she brushed it off, saying her “tone might not have come out right,” but never apologized for the inappropriate assumption she made. She then told me I could “speak to the manager” — even though I had been told she was the manager herself. Unsurprisingly, no manager ever came to our table for the remainder of the two and a half hours we were there.

By the end of the meal, we felt completely ignored and disrespected. When I paid, I asked the receptionist if she was aware of the issue — she smiled politely and said yes, but offered no apology or acknowledgment.

This entire experience was deeply upsetting. No customer deserves to be treated with such hostility or disregard. The staff’s behavior was unprofessional, their assumptions were offensive, and the lack of accountability from management was unacceptable.

It’s disappointing that a restaurant with such good food allows its customer service to be defined by arrogance and poor treatment. Hospitality should be about respect — something that was sorely missing during our visit.

All in all, it was humiliating, disrespectful, and completely unnecessary. I’ve never felt so unwelcome in a restaurant. Truly disappointing experience and a complete failure in hospitality.

This experience goes beyondpoor service — it was being unfairly judged and dismissed, in front of my child and elderly parents.

I sincerely hope management takes this seriously, addresses the staff involved, and ensures no other family has to endure such an upsetting and disrespectful experience.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 4

Service: 1