Potters Garden, Korean Restaurant

Food Quality
Atmosphere / Services
Reasonable Priced
Summary

Strength: One of the oldest Korean restaurants in Burnaby
Weakness: Hard to tell this is a restaurant from outside

Other Korean Restaurants

Wang Ga Ma (5 Stars)
Kimbab Cheonguk (4.5 Stars)

Potter’s Garden has been around for a long time. They are one of the first Korean restaurant in Burnaby that are still around. The exterior appearance of this restaurant has always been very subtle. Most people come here due to reference from friends or online reviews. Potter’s Garden is located on Kingsway near Imperial Street in Burnaby.

Many different logos

Potters Garden Logo 1

This is the first logo we see at Potters Garden. The logo is circular with colorful tests. It is located on the wall to the right of the front entrance, outside.

Potters Garden Logo 2

This second variation of the logo looks quite modern. It is located behind the cashier registry right when you enter the restaurant. The simplicity really worked with the gray background.

Potters Garden Logo 3

The third variation of their logo looks very cozy, like something close to home. It is golden words on wood grain pattern background. I think home-style was one of the directions this restaurant was going for some time in the past.

Television for K-pop

A visit to the Korean restaurant is a cultural experience. Almost all Korean restaurant have at least one television to play Korean music video. This provide the background music. It also shows the pride Korean have for their own culture. I think this enhance the food to taste more authentic.

Dark colored wood grain furniture

The wood tables, chairs and dividers make the dining room feel cozy. The use of darker color also make the space feel more modern. A lot of Korean restaurant go for the homey feeling. Quite a few of their dish involves hot soup. This decoration is in line with their food.

Paper wrapped spoon

You will see a lot of Korean restaurants either have their spoons wrapped in paper, or have a separate drawer for the spoons. This is for sanitary reasons, and I appreciate the effort. The chopsticks are not your typical Korean ones. These chopsticks have round corners. the materials are lighter and softer. It has less accuracy, but easier to use for me.

Each table get a bottle of water

Standard Korean restaurant practice to give you a bottle of water. This is very nice because we don’t need to wave down the server every time we need water.

4 types of complimentary appetizer

The selection for the complementary dishes is a bit limited. Most of the dishes here are typical, but missing the sweet potato that I like. There is new dish I have not seen before though, the fermented onions.

Fermented Onions

The fermented onions is a little bit sour. It has a very interesting taste. Because of the fermentation process the texture is quite crispy. It is refreshing.

Seafood Tofu Hot Pot

The Seafood tofu hot pot is perfect for a cold night. The soup has a lot of seafood flavour. It is spicy, but tolerable. We enjoyed it with rice.

Half Order Seafood Pancake

The seafood pancake is served in cast iron plate to retain heat. It is topped with lots of seafood like oysters and small octopus. The imitating crab meat strings on the top was very crispy. There was a thin layer of oil at the bottom to make the bottom very crispy. However the middle is a bit soft. The cast iron retained heat, so the seafood pancake was still warm half way through our meal. I enjoyed the ability to get half order so we can enjoy more dishes.

Triple-fried Spicy Chicken Wings

We also ordered half portion of the chicken wings. There are lots of bread on the outside. It is somewhat crispy on the outside, but they also feel a bit soggy due to the sauce.

The meat is separated from the skin

Potters Garden Deep Fried Chicken Wings flaky skin

The chicken wings are very crispy. They may have been double or triple fried. Skins are peeling off a little. The exterior are soaked in Korean sweet and spicy sauce. It is sweet like honey but my lips are sticky after eating.

Chicken wings of different sizes

Potters Garden Deep Fried Chicken Wings Size — Potters Garden Deep Fried Chicken Wing Size

Fried chicken wings has lots of sesame on top. There are different sizes of wings. This one is particularly large.

Raw Chicken

Potters Garden Deep Fried Chicken Wings raw

Standard of procedure works if all the pieces are the same size. When there are large size variations like this, the small piece are going to be over-cooked, and the large pieces are going to be raw. I had a few chicken wings that are tasty, then this one came along. The servers are apologetic and asked if we want to return or re-order. He also offered us free pop as an apology. We did not ask for the pop, so they gave us $2 off our bill. I know it’s not much, but it is an acceptable damage control because of the good attitude.

604 Food Critic Assessment

Honestly, the food quality is about high-medium. They are not bad, but there is also no “WOW” to it. The raw food is accidental, and the apologetic manner is acceptable. True, they did not give me a 20% discount for my uncooked chicken experience. However, I don’t want to judge their service by the amount of discount given. All that being said, I think the $24 per person price point is a little too expensive.