HAMA Korean BBQ Buffet (city centre) — Restaurant in Leeds

I recently had the unfortunate experience of dining at a Korean BBQ all-you-can-eat buffet, and it was nothing short of a disaster. From start to finish, my visit was marred by cold, stale food and a complete lack of quality. Let me elaborate on the numerous disappointments that awaited me.

Firstly, upon entering the establishment, I was greeted by an atmosphere that was anything but inviting. The decor was lackluster, and the overall environment felt more like a dreary school canteen than a restaurant. As if that wasn't bad enough, the cold air conditioning made the experience even more uncomfortable.

Turning my attention to the food, I found that the buffet section was a sorry sight indeed. The hot food items had clearly been left sitting out for hours, resulting in an unappetizing selection of cold, dried out dishes. It was disheartening to see the potential of Korean cuisine reduced to such poor quality offerings. The cuts of meat available for BBQ were cheap and fatty, leaving much to be desired in terms of flavor and tenderness. The cold buffet options were no better, consisting of wilted, brown vegetables and lifeless salads. The prawn crackers, which should have been a simple snack, tasted like they had been sitting around for weeks. I couldn't help but wonder if any effort was made to provide fresh ingredients or maintain proper food hygiene.

To make matters worse, the steep price of £28 per head felt like an absolute rip-off for the dismal quality of the food and dining experience. Despite expressing my dissatisfaction to several staff members, no discount or compensation was offered. Instead, they simply brought out more of the same dried out food, as if that would magically improve the situation.

I also want to highlight the sheer dishonesty of the glowing reviews I had seen on Google. It is evident to me now that those reviews must have been fake or written by individuals with low standards for food. I would not even consider subjecting my dogs to such a disappointing meal.

In conclusion, my visit to this Korean BBQ buffet was a complete waste of time and money. The cold, tasteless food, combined with the lackluster environment and unhelpful staff, made me feel like I had been robbed of a genuinely satisfying dining experience. I strongly advise anyone considering dining here to look elsewhere for a quality Korean...

My partner and I visited Hama yesterday and unfortunately the visit was extremely disappointing.

Firstly we turned up on a Saturday afternoon when you would expect to be busy, however it was very quiet and the atmosphere was rather unappealing. There couldn’t have been more than a couple of other groups in the restaurant at the time.

I had been hankering after visiting this place for atleast couple of years and I had high hopes. But this is how it went.

We sat down at the table and we were explained what to do. And we were told just to go to the buffet and get what we want. My partner wanted to order a drink, from a very limited selection. But they didn’t have it in. So she had table water.

The first round of food we picked up was from all of the sections ( a very very small selection of food available ). It was clearly not fresh at all. It was borderline cold and it did not taste great at all. We were both starving so I ate most of the food, even given the spongy texture and very basic taste with little seasoning most of it all had.

My partner literally had a few mouthfuls and had decided that she’d prefer to go hungry than finish the food.

The raw meat selection was clearly defrosted and of a very low quality. It didn’t have much flavour. It felt like it had been sat around for a while. And tasted chewy. ( after we had cooked it ) . We weren’t given any instructions on how to cook on the bbq aside from just ( you put it on the bbq ) . So anybody could easily get food poisoning given the raw seafood and meat available.

The raw prawns were very mushy and same with the raw squid. It wasn’t fresh. It didn’t taste wholesome at all. Just cheap defrosted wholesale rubbish. Not 1 bit had a sense of quality or freshness about it.

We paid a staggering £70 for this meal for the both of us. I had 1 drink.

Honestly you can eat better in Leeds for less than a 3rd of this price. I had to take my partner to KFC afterwards as she had not eaten any of the food. This is really poor and I couldn’t recommend it to anybody. I don’t write negative reviews lightly but given the cost. I think it’s only right that people who have expectations of a good Korean bbq. Can rethink their evening and go somewhere else in Leeds.

If Hama wants to survive, they will need to up their standards...

When I'm travelling on business I get my kids to pick where I eat... they went for the HAMA Korean BBQ Buffet, which was definitely a new experience for me.

From the start I'll acknowledge that as I don't eat meat (but do eat seafood) I walked in knowing that I wasn't really the target demographic for a BBQ. However, I was really well looked after by the staff, and enjoyed my meal.

You get a table and a hot plate BBQ to cook your food on, and then you are able to select what you want. As a non-meat eater I got some king prawns (with shell on) and squid, as well as some mushroom slices and bits of chilli to cook up. You can add some basic sauce as well (chilli and soy?) which was nice.

While you wait for your dinner to cook you can also eat some pre-prepared hot and cold food. From the hot food I had some tofu (which was nice, in a spicy soup) and some cooked rice cakes in a tomato sauce as well as some cooked vegetable noodles etc. I also had some sushi and salads from the cold buffet.

For me the highlights were the salads - the kimchi and variants on that were really new flavours for me, and went really well with the prawns and squid I cooked up.

There is a point you wonder if you are just cooking your dinner rather than enjoying the experience... and I am sure with friends it would have been even better. The couple near me were definitely enjoying themselves and there were lots of other groups cooking up masses of meat!

I'll be honest - if I didn't eat seafood I would have been disappointed with the experience. There is no vegetarian BBQ option which I felt could have been provided, and because the sauce variation was mixed with the meat, the prawns felt a bit plain in the end. The number of vegetarian dishes on the other buffets was a bit low, and they were very much side dishes.

However, I do completely recommend the experience and the food was excellent. I felt that the price was fair for what was on offer, and would have been excellent if I wasn't so selective about what I ate.

Thanks to the staff - I had a good time and hope others read this and take the chance to try something new.

(Photo - my prawns and squid...