Big Way Hot Pot: What’s inside my $15 hot pot

Individual hot pot restaurants are on the rise and one of the most popular chains and restaurants for this is Big Way Hot Pot. With 7 locations across the Lower Mainland and 4 more on the way, it is quickly expanding due to its popularity. Even in Burnaby, there are 2 locations that are literally on the same street and a 2 minute walk from each other, but each time I go there are line-ups and the space is packed with people 😬.

Big Way Hot Pot’s business model is based on weight, so the heavier your bowl is, the more expensive your meal will be. After going a few times, I have mastered the art of keeping my bowl under $20 🧐, and specifically, an average of $15 each time, making Big Way Hot Pot high on my list for an easy and cheap dinner. In this post, I will review the Burnaby Kingsway location, as well as list out all the items I usually get for my $15 bowl.

Big Way Hot Pot
#5-4250 Kingsway, Burnaby BC V5H 4T7

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The vibe

So like I mentioned before, it’s likely to be hella busy at any location you go to, even if you go at like 9pm. Make sure you sign up online for their waitlist before going, otherwise you will need to wait outside in the cold streets 🥶. Do not be alarmed if you sign up for the waitlist and it says there are 34+ tables ahead of you. The line moves quickly, and we usually leave our home when we become 20 or less than 20.

This post will be reviewing the Burnaby Kingsway location, but at every location you enter a similar system. You come inside, grab a bowl, and then you find yourself kinda in a supermarket aisle. There are bins and bins of different toppings, and you pick what you want and put it inside your bowl, shifting down the line until you eventually get to the cashier. There, you will place your bowl down on a scale and choose your soup base. I usually like the collagen bone broth, but their most popular is their signature ma la tang (spicy!).

Based on the weight, you will see your price and you will have to pay it. You cannot go back and put items back because that’s gross and it’s embarrassing 💀.

After you pay, you take a little number and try to find yourself an empty table. While you are waiting for your order to arrive at your table, you can go to the DIY sauce bar and make your own dipping sauce. If you are not sure, they also have some recipes/guides for you to follow.

The food arrives pretty quickly and you basically eat and gtfo out 😂. People are always coming in and out.

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Food review

First, let me show you what my bowl looked like the very first time I visited a Big Way Hot Pot. I opted for their sukiyaki broth, and I just let myself pick whatever toppings I want, unaware of how much it may cost me:

This costed me around $28 and I could not finish it because it was so much food.

My husband’s first time bowl costed over $30:

Like a fool, he had put in 2 different types of noodles too 💀. He also could not finish his meal.

What’s in my $15 bowl?

Now that I am a Big Way Hot Pot senpai, here is what my bowl looks like when I get to the cashier:

What’s inside?

1. 1x Mochi
2. 8x Rib eye roll
3. 1x Peeled shrimp
4. 1x Shrimp wonton
5. 2x Fried tofu ball (the biggest one! It sucks up all the soup)
6. Bunch of spinach
7. 4x Napa cabbage
8. 1x Shiitake mushroom
9. 1x Fresh tofu
10. 1x Mung bean noodle
11. 0.5-1x hand crafted noodles

And this is what my bowl looks like when it arrives at my table:

I would say this is the right amount of food for me, and I am able to finish everything and be relatively full.

After you are done your meal, make sure you ask for a free ice cream cone! The flavour changes but I’ve mostly had chocolate, sesame, and Thai milk tea flavours.

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Final thoughts

Loewe’s rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

There are a lot of things that work for Big Way Hot Pot. Here are some of my favourite things about Big Way Hot Pot:

• Customizable – because you build your own hot pot and choose different broths, you can come up with a lot of different bowls for yourself. You can have a seafood bowl with tom yum soup, a meat-heavy bowl with ma la tang, vegetarian or vegan option with matching broth, etc. This makes it easy for group dining also because everyone can get what they like.
• Flexible price – the first time you come here it will probably not be cheap, but once you go a few times you will know what toppings you like more. Again, this helps with group dining because everyone pays for their own meal and you don’t have to worry about splitting a large bill when you didn’t drink alcohol or didn’t eat as much food.
• Fast – it’s Cafeteria style but everything is done quickly, from choosing your toppings to when your food arrives. I usually don’t like to tip at places where I need to stand while ordering but I think Big Way Hot Pot workers definitely deserve a tip. They are always so speedy in cleaning up after the tables, bringing out your food and ice-cream, etc.

Some things I find questionable about Big Way Hot Pot:

• Is it really considered hot pot 🤔? My take on hot pot is to have some sort of stove underneath to keep your pot hot and you can cook items as you go. The model here seems more like they cook your bowl for you and that’s it.
• I find I do get thirsty later at night after eating at Big Way, so the broths do have a decent amount of MSG.
• They don’t take reservations so you will always have to do walk-in or put yourself on the waitlist. For groups larger than 6, this can be a little inconvenient.

Overall, I recommend everyone to give Big Way Hot Pot a try and I do find its pricing to be more reasonable than some of its premium competitors (Haidilao, Chocho, Dolar Shop, Gokudo, Pot Empire). I even brought my parents and they had fun too.

Recommended: Read my full review of all-you-can-eat (AYCE) hot pot at Chocho Hot Pot.

Sincerely, Loewe