This is an unusual review for an AYCE Korean BBQ and hot pot place--I went by myself. I had my reasons--no one around me currently is familiar with this concept (including me) and I wanted to test drive it before bringing friends and family.
I ordered both the hot pot and bbq, since it's only a $5 upcharge to get both. Got a selection of meats, seafoods and vegetables for both. What I'm going to do here is share lessons learned that are specific to this restaurant--I don't think the general guides helped enough.
My server was friendly and encouraging but didn't give me a lot of guidance--she was a young woman and I'm an older man and may have given the idea that I knew what I was doing, even though I told her it was my first time. Standout items for the review would be the shrimp, the HiPot pork chop, the vegetables, and the bulgogi beef.
I started with the hot pot. The idea is to put slower-cooking vegetables and meats in first, then add the faster cooking items. I got a chicken broth base, feeling like that would be relatively neutral. I kind of thought about it like I was making soup, but that's probably not the right approach. I don't make soups often but when I do they simmer on the stove or in a crock pot for hours. So I put some seafood and some pork belly in with the noodles and veggies and let it go while I did my bbq. But in the end I kind of gave up on the hot pot.
The bbq went much better. I felt pretty competent cooking the meats on the grill, and they were very tasty. Not so much on the veggies--I didn't get them seasoned properly.
What stood out well:
I got the HiPot pork chop, a marinated loin cut chop. That came out beautifully and was delicious. The other meats were good as well.
Not so good:
I got shrimp as part of my hot pot order. I received two beautiful large prawns--head and shell on. I don't eat them that way, but what to do? At home I'd shell them, remove the head and de-vein them before adding them to the soup pot. That seemed awkward in the restaurant. Don't think I'll order shrimp in the future.
Learnings:
1. I need more specific guidance on what comes out well in Hot Pot, where you don't have all day to let the soup come together.
2. At this restaurant the seasonings and sauces are available at the sauce bar at the back of the restaurant. There are no seasonings at all at the table. In the future I would want to consider the ingredients I was ordering and prepare a mis en place of sauces and seasonings. Pretty much as though I was making it at home. That's a bit daunting if it's busy, which it always is.
3. You don't get a knife by default, they are available at the bar.
Other notes:
There's an appetizer bar with some standard Chinese buffet appetizers. These were quite tasty. There were also some buffet dessert cakes that were much better than average.
They have a fairly large selection of drinks. I got the Thai milk tea and it was a good representation.
There's ice cream available when you're winding down. The green tea ice cream was very good.
The restrooms were clean and ready. The ambiance is perfect for table conversation--the acoustics reduce noise and TVs are not obtrusive.
The place has been busy since opening, so the demand is absolutely there. I feel more confident that I could have a good experience with a party now. I plan to go back.
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