鼓楼金记涮肉 鼓楼店

This restaurant is located near Gulou in Beijing, but it actually has many branches. I've always heard that this restaurant has pretty good reviews, and the photos they post look quite appetizing! So when I was nearby, I decided to go in and have a meal. However, the initial impression was not great; first, the staff inside were somewhat indifferent. They seemed like a group of young students working part-time, who just dealt with inquiries and services in a very perfunctory manner!

The overall space of the restaurant is fairly large, but the ventilation is not well done, making it feel stuffy and smoky inside. After eating, you might as well announce it to the world that you just had hot pot! When ordering via the QR code, you can choose your preferred soup base, but the sauces need to be selected separately. Then you can choose the meats and vegetable platters you want...

Personally, I think the quality of the meat is okay. The lamb seems to be pre-sliced, looking red and relatively fresh. If you cook it a little longer, it won’t be too tough. However, the broth was a bit of a turn-off for me, as I saw the staff directly take a cooking bag from the fridge and add it to the pot, then just add some water and served it to our table. As a result, the soup didn’t have any flavor from bone broth or other simmered soup tastes; it tasted very much like raw material powder, and I'm sure everyone who ate there felt a bit uncomfortable afterward. Moreover, the recommended vegetables did not seem to absorb any flavor at all. Overall, there wasn’t much to praise about the meal; the meat quality was just okay, and everything else left much to be desired! The staff often covered their mouths with their hands while coughing or sneezing, which was quite off-putting.

In summary, I personally feel that I won't be returning here in the future! Even during checkout, I sensed the staff's lack of enthusiasm, and they were impatient with our questions since we came from Taiwan and didn’t understand how to use the discount vouchers. They were unwilling to help, which was quite disheartening... I suggest that anyone visiting Beijing should skip this place!