Kim Tao Hot Pot

Kim Tao Hot Pot restaurant is another restaurant I have not been to in a very long time and after suggestions from friends that I should have a look at the place after their most recent renovations, I said why the heck not and give the place a try again.  It had been almost three years since I had been there and the place did look a little bit different from the last time I was there. It seemed like they had better ventilation inside the restaurant, the place looked cleaner, and the newly renovated area in the back looked pretty spiffy.

They basically had two different types of selections to choose from, a beef selection and a seafood selection. The seafood cost about $2.00 more and one could get oysters, shrimps and mussels in addition to the beef selection menu.  There was crab and lobster as well on the menu but I believe that additional cost applied. One could also choose from a variety of soup bases with no extra cost and drinks were also part of the price.  The food came out fast and furious and one thing I really appreciated was that the food was all pretty fresh when it came out.  None of the food tasted stale and everything seemed to be well chilled and well presented.  They also had about 4-6 sauces that one could choose from to compliment one's meal.

I was told that the restaurant opened till 3 in the morning and that the place was always busy which was good because it meant that there was most likely a high turnover in their food allowing fresh food to be served to their customers all the time.  Some of the food I really enjoyed oddly enough was their spam, the squid and the shrimp.  The latter two because of its freshness and lack of mushiness to it.  The spam we believe was actually their own custom made spam but don't quote me on it. Whatever it was, it was pretty delicious, maybe a tad salty but very good tasting meat.

Service was pretty good throughout the evening although in the future it wouldn't hurt to have a bell that one could press for service. There were periods of time when a waiter or two could hardly be found for over 5 minutes.  Otherwise, even though it's hot pot and it's food that one cooks instead of the chefs, I do sense a vast improvement from the restaurant since the last time I was there 3 years ago.  The price per person was also reasonable at $18.99 per person for the beef menu and $20.99 for the seafood menu.  I certainly would go again in the very near future as it was a treat especially on a cold blustery winter night.  Overall I give it a 3.75 out of 5.

Kim Tao Hot Pot
10 E Wilmot St 
Richmond Hill, ON 

905-882-8877