DAM-A, Hot Pot & BBQ AYCE - Austin Hotpot — Restaurant in Austin

I’ve been following this place on Instagram for a while and had high expectations, but my visit was disappointing. This was the first time I’ve ever left an AYCE place not feeling full.

We waited 45 minutes for a table (the lady at the front was kind and polite), but once seated, no one came to take our order or explain how things worked until we flagged someone down. As someone familiar with these places, I could figure it out, but if I weren’t, I would’ve been upset at the lack of guidance.

The food was where things really fell short. I asked for water with no ice but got water with ice. The soups were bland—more so than Soupleaf hotpot, which already isn’t great. The kBBQ was okay, mainly the pork belly, but they ran out with no refills. The other meats tasted low-quality and the bland soups ruined any hotpot flavors. The only redeeming item was the vanilla ice cream. However I did like that I got to just pick up meats from the bars instead of ordering them like in other places.

Service was practically nonexistent. No one checked on us, cleaned up empty plates, or refilled the soup when the pot literally started burning in the bottom. Servers walked by to help other tables but somehow ignored ours every time. To make things worse, no one mentioned they were charging dinner prices for lunch time on MLK holiday.

Overall, the food and service were disappointing. I understand they’re new and might still be working things out, but there’s a lot to improve. For now, if you want flavorful hotpot with quality meat, go to Happy Lamb. If you’re after an AYCE KBBQ and hotpot combo like this one, KPOT is a much...

I went here earlier today and was quite disappointed. Upon arrival, there were two groups ahead of us in line but my wife and I were seated first since we had a reservation. We then got up to get our food for the grill and appetizers. The appetizer station was mostly empty and the few pieces we got were lukewarm and soggy. While we were cooking our food, we realized we had no way of eating it since we were not given any silverware or chopsticks. I got up to look for some but only found spoons and knives. The fork container was empty and I had to ask a staff member for chopsticks since those are not available for customers to grab freely. We were also not given a soup spoon for our hotpot so I had to ask for that as well. The tables are very low and we contstantly hit our knees against the bottom of the hotpot and could feel the heat on our knees as well.

Halfway through our meal, we were handed the check even tho we did not ask for it yet. We know there is a 2 hr time limit to dine here but we were only eating for maybe 40 mins before the check was suddenly handed to us.

Additionally, they claim to have a “springroll bar” which we thought was going to be a cool and unique experience for someone to make custom springrolls for us but it is literally just taking their hotpot veggies and a dry rice paper, wetting it, and assembling the springroll yourself…

While it is nice to be able to get your own meats and veggies at your own pace, I would not visit this place again and would rather dine at other hotpot and kbbq...

I was pleasantly surprised by DAM-A; I went during grand opening and the quality and value for the price definitely puts it above its competitors.

Everything is self-serve (minus drink and broth refills), so it's nice to not have to depend on servers to order and/or bring you everything. The appetizers are delicious! The ddukbokki and dakgangjeong were my favorites, but the japchae was good as well. Everything (meat, veggies, condiments, etc.) was neatly displayed and easy to grab. Definitely have to play the classic balancing game to prevent things from dropping though. The quality of all of the ingredients was high and the taste was delicious. The amenities included in the AYCE price (espresso machine, soft-serve ice cream, AYCE for all items) is very nice. I didn't use the espresso machine or the spring roll station, but I'd like to next time.

It took us quite a long time to get seated. We were told multiple times that the table was getting ready while we waited. I would've preferred an ETA or an explanation over an appeasing reason for the wait. The servers were quite nice and friendly, but check-ins were admittedly minimal. The table we were seated at was in a section they were trying to close for the night which didn't help. You are able to call for servers with a tablet on the table, but only for drink or broth refills.

Overall, I think DAM-A is one of the better KBBQ + Hot Pot AYCE spots in Austin and am hopeful that it'll...