Xing Hot Pot & BBQ is the latest addition to C180 – a plaza of sorts that is awash with steamboat restaurants. What makes Xing different though, is that that it serves buffet style dinner @ RM45/pax. And their main selling point? Purportedly unlimited live giant tiger prawns.
We found out about Xing from their Facebook ad and the idea of unlimited giant tiger prawns seemed too good to be ignored. Well, you know what they say, if something is too good to be true, it probably is.
Based on our experience, I can only say that if you don’t have an ounce of ‘kiasuness’ in you, you can forget about coming here. If not, it’s probably a better idea to spend your money elsewhere. Trust me on that. Anyway, I am just going to lay down the facts. Lets start with the pros:
- Food variety is good, seafood is generally fresh especially the prawns. They offer some of the more uncommon ingredients such as frog legs and river prawns.
- The service we got was better than expected despite it was their grand opening day. I think we were lucky to be assigned with two good waitresses.
- Soup is better than average, their signature milky broth (三鲜) is recommended.
- Ice cream is of higher quality, definitely not the cheap kind.
The cons:
- Food replenishing rate is laughable. The live prawns are said to be refilled every 30 minutes, 1kg each time. They are gone within seconds after being refilled. Why? Because customers just stand around and wait to snatch them. Some clever parents actually sent their kids to do the job. Fun right?
If you are not ‘kiasu’ you won’t get anything. If you are wondering how ‘kiasu’ you need to be, imagine grabbing the live prawns from the aquarium with your bare hands while the water splash everywhere.
So ask yourself whether you are prepared to do this. Is all this worth your time and effort? This is obviously a marketing ploy to draw customers. - Other seafood such as oysters, normal prawns, flower crab and scallops are refilled quite slow as well. You need to be on standby mode constantly in order to get something. Flower crabs are too mini to enjoy.
- The BBQ stove is inefficient to cook food on wooden sticks, they tend to burn and break easily.
- Drinks wise, only plain water and Chinese tea are available. They are always out too, frustrating.
- Table is too small and uncomfortable for groups to eat.
- Made a booking via phone, but we were told the booking was not found when we reached the restaurant. Got booking = no booking.
And here’s a tip: the pork and beef slices have to be ordered from the staff. Lastly, check out their Facebook reviews, the polarized reviews say a lot about this place.
If you ask me, I think Xing has a lot of good ideas which unfortunately backfired because they lacked transparency and failed to deliver on their part. They could still be successful if they start taking the necessary steps to ensure customers’ satisfaction.
Xing Hot Pot & BBQ
E-UG-10, Centerstage, Dataran C180,
Jalan C180/1, 43200 Cheras
Tel: 018-282 6688 / 016-561 7301
Business hours: 5:30pm – 12am
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