Joyspot – Hotpot & Grill — Restaurant in Abilene

First off I want to say that I really do want this place to succeed. I have been looking forward to them opening up for so long. I have been to a good amount of Korean BBQ's and hotpots, to include ones in Korea and Japan.

I had a party of 3 and was seated quickly. However, our waiter did not take our drinks or talked to us till 20 mins later. We were finally setup with the hotpot/grill after another 15 minute wait. For some reason my waiter was also working tables at the other side of the building so I can understand why the wait was long. However, keep in mind there is a 1hr & 30 min limit so our time was ticking.

We were seated at the back right, opposite of where the self service food was. This part I found very annoying and inconvenient. We had to walk all the way to the front, across, and than to the back to get our raw foods to cook. It is very cramped as there are tables and other people trying to do the same thing. A place where you have to get up very often to replenish, this becomes a hassle quick.

Food was okay. My wife and I had the Tonkatsu broth and it honestly did not taste like anything. Yes I know your supposed to add stuff to make it better, but it literally tasted mostly like water and advertised as Tonkatsu.

The BBQ portion was also lacking. The marinaded meat besides the pork tasted spoiled. The cuts were very limited. The parchment paper on the grill was odd and felt cheap. I understand you do it for cleanliness but all it does is center in all the grease and oil. This also allows for everything to burn faster. This is the first time Ive ever seen this done in a korean style bbq.

Overall, my experience was a 4/10. My bill came to almost $100 and honestly was not worth it. For the average Abilene folks so whos never had this before nor been cultured, this is a 5.5/10.

Like I said, I want this place to succeed and im hoping the owners will read this and take everything about their soft opening as good feedback. Heres some things that I think will make this place better.

Remove some tables in the back of the 2nd Column where that small wall is. Replace those tables with maybe a smaller version of the self service foods so that the people on the right dont have to walk pass everyone and walk far.

Not sure how it works with sanitary and health regulations but put some raw meats in the conveyor belt. 90% of what is on the conveyor belt, no one really wanted or would only pick up once.

Have the tables already set up with the bowls, utensils, bbq paper, etc. This eliminates alot of the back and forth for the waiter.

Make your waiters work only one side of the room. It makes no sense for me to watch my waiter go work tables at opposite ends of me.

The Tonkatsu broth needs some work and the meats fresher.

The utensils to scoop up sauce is way too long and big. I would try to get some sauce and had to angle it to avoid the ceiling of the counter. Me and random strangers kept spilling the sauces because of this.

Get more of the bbq grill pans. The parchment paper is a cheap shortcut. All it does is centralize the grease and now everything is oily.

I do hope some of these will get implemented. The nearest kbbq and hotpot is in Dallas and tbh, for the pricetag and quality, I would rather drive all the way up there. The selection/quality/and price is far...

This place is such a breath of fresh air to the city of Abilene. I’ve been here twice in the span of one week it was so good. I love that one can come, sit down, decide if you want the broth based hotpot, or the grill and then proceed to load up several plates full of fish, meat, veggies, and just sit, and have a grand old time, cooking, eating, and chatting with your friends or the staff.

I’m sure there will be some snooty people who say, “well, I’m paying for it, I want the food already cooked and brought to me”. If that’s your attitude or belief, this place is not right for you. Yes it takes some work to cook your own meal, but considering you have such a wide array of food options for cooking, it’s a really cool premise for a restaurant.

Everything was so good, the food, the employees, the organization, the cleanliness. They really left no stone unturned with this place.

If I had one suggestion, I wish they would have some more vegetables on the conveyor system like bok choy, asparagus, etc. vegetables are always good to have!

There is tremendous amount of protein based options for both the grill and hotpot, lamb, beef, chicken, pork, fish, shellfish, squid, octopus, mussels, it’s truly outstanding!

If you grill, the staff place a parchment paper down and put a bit of oil down which is good for an easy cleanup. The key, in my experience, is not to put a lot of sauce on your meats when grilling otherwise the bottom of the paper will become burned rather quickly, and even if that happens, the staff is going to change the paper out and give you a nice new one with fresh oil which takes less than 10 seconds.

I am so impressed with this place I will genuinely recommend it to my friends as a new and innovative place to come and eat.

I hope this place stays around for a long time because I will continue to come, time and time again!

I rarely give a place 5 stars, but this place has gone above and beyond, I have nothing but good...

Its really bomb!!! Our server Austin was amazing!!! Our 1st time was awesome, Austin explained the menu yo us and even brought us some of the uncooked food and told us what was the best way to make it. We got the hotpot and grill, brought our kids for our sons bday and he loved it. Service was exceptional and food is so bomb i crave it all the time now!!! This last time we went the waitress wasn't as great as she would dissappear. We all needed refills on drinks and soup and she was nowhere to be found, just on her phone. Wish Austin wouldve been there cause of how great he was last time, she wasnt as good i dont even remember her name. Will definitely be coming back to eat this bomb food!!!

UPDATE: 2/01/2025 I came with my son and we got the dame server as last time. We were a little upset but thought things would be better this time. Austin vame by and said hi to us and said he read my review and greeted us warmly. Gigi was nice and brought our hotpot while we were picking our meats, once again it took awhile to get a refill but i was fine with it. We were ready to pay and my check for my child and I was 75 and before i could pick a tip she picked it for me. My bill jumped up to almost $100 dollars. I had swiped my card and everything and when i got to the car i noticed the tip she just have herself without letting me pick. So i went back in and she looked upset, which whatever. She spoke to her manager in another language and then the manager said i chose the tip of $20 something to which i told her I didnt pick anything she picked it herself. And i was mad, gigi didnt look at me once or even apologize. I left her a smaller tip but i think its unfair that they pick their own tip after not having a great service. CHECK YOUR RECEIPT BEFORE AND AFTER TIP AS I WAS TOLD BY SOMEONE ELSE THAT THEY DO THIS ALOT AND GIVE THEMSELVES A BIG TIP. !!! I WILL ONLY BE COMING BACK IF AUSTIN IS THERE. IF GIGI IS THERE WE WILL BE...