Hot Pot Weekend

Last weekend, DC’s birthday party night.

Where: The newly opened Dow’s Noodles and Hot Pot (稻香) @ Commerce Gate
When: Saturday night. Reserved @ 8:30pm, but by the time we actually had the table, it was 9pm!
Who: 9 persons in total.
After Dinner: Focus Karaoke & Lounge @ Time’s Square

Originally we were thinking of trying Marlowe out – the new one near Hwy 7 and 404. Unfortunately (well, you never know if that’s fortunate/unfortunate unless you have tried it), they don’t take reservation unless it is 1 week in advance. Therefore, we went to Dow’s instead. It was a pretty cold night, but when I stepped into this Dow’s, OMG, it was like a steamer. I felt like I was going to have a facial. Obviously, the ventilation wasn’t good enough. Looked around the place, there were not a lot of big tables. One of the biggest ones would be the round table that we were waiting for, which could seat about 9 people.

The hot pot was cantonese buffet style, not the shabu shabu individual ones. You can order different kinds of meat, veggie, dumplings, meat balls, seafood balls, and also steamed rice/pot rice. 1 cup of “sour plum juice” per person included, but pops weren’t all you can drink. We ordered 2 pots with 4 different soup bases. Overall the food there was ok. The dumplings were pretty good (afterall, it’s a “noodle” place – the dumpling should be up to certain standard!), the meat was okay, the veggie – I think our veggie never came!, and there were the two whole crabs, which we didn’t really eat because we were quite full by the time we cooked the crabs. There were also the chicken wings… I had one.

I haven’t had hot pot for quite a while. The previous one was the i-cook buffet near Warden and Steeles. I think I’ve posted something about that place. Their styles are quite different, one is individual pot and the other one is cantonese big pot. I remember my experience with the food at i-cook was not satisfactory. Food quality wise, I think Dow’s might be better. Variety wise, i-cook may be better since there’re many sauces you can choose from and you can hand-pick the food you like from the “bar”. However, service-wise, Dow’s should improve their customer service. (1) I know it was a Saturday night, but we should not be waiting for half an hour if we have reservation (and we arrived there on time), (2) Once the table was emptied, they should clean it up immediately for us, (3) Servers should come by from time-to-time to see if we need anything, instead of us seeking for their help… even we told them what we need, they were slow to react or didn’t even react (e.g. our veggie and 1 of our rice never came!) Overall, it was about $23 per person (tax + 10% gratuity included).

FYI: Dow’s Noodles Restaurant (稻香餐廳金貿中心)
505 Hwy 7 E., Unit 50, Thornhill, ON., L3T 7T1
Tel: 905-889-3033
Tel: 905-762-0111 (Dow’s Noodles & Hot Pot Restaurant @ Time’s Square)