KPOT Korean BBQ & Hot Pot — Restaurant in Greenfield

Best new all you can eat Korean BBQ & Hot Pot to the local Milwaukee area (no more going to Iron Age in Chicago). This place definitely beats Bawi (Mequon), Stone Bowl, Maru, and Char'd. I've eaten at KPOT before in Michigan, so my review may contain some comparison to what I've experienced. We went as a group of 11 (8 adults 10+ y/o and 3 kids 6,6,2 y/o) on a Sunday during dinner hours.

Plan ahead and call/get there in-person early to reserve a spot especially during busy dinner hours (4pm - close) on the weekend. There will be a minimum of a 2 hr wait time. Try to make a day/evening out of it especially if you're not local. One person from the group went in early at 2pm to reserve a spot for the group. You will need to give your phone number on updates on your reservation. They will call or text about 30 minutes prior to the expected time to let you know of the status of your table. If you are a party

Warning! I am somewhat biased against the concept of hot pot in general so factor that into your interpretation of this review. Atmosphere was newish and generally clean (just opened). The servers seemed competent and friendly. Place was packed full of presumably gen-z aged folks so beware if allergic. Food was far from excellent. Really just came to try the bbq component but decided to do both hot pot and bbq, really against my better judgement and was disappointed by both. The meat portions were 1 per person (maybe 2oz by weight total for 4 people) and of low quality: gristly, poorly cut and just not what you would want either for bbq or hot pot. Seafood the same, the veggies were fine but who gives a damn about bok choy and bean sprouts, etc? I would guess the total amount of "all you can eat" meat and seafood (not including meatballs) your party is likely to receive on a visit here is probably in the end equivalent to approximately no more than a single 1/2 inch thick sliced ribeye steak. So, I would say probably not worth the money spent. The actual hot pot and flavored broth seemed fine but, in my opinion, if we are being remotely serious as a people; hot pot is simply not an enjoyable way to cook or consume food. An abundance of sauce/condiment accompaniments does not meaningfully improve the flavor experience of hot pot. Perhaps if you are deliriously enthusiastic about blanched bland food you may feel differently. This of course is only my western perspective, if I were born and raised in Chongqing maybe I would feel differently. However, I also do presume regional varieties of hot pot in Asia are probably quality wise much better than most of what is offered in the USA in any case, especially here. The bbq element of the experience was also boring. The grill setup was simply incapable of developing serious flavor because the grill just does not put out the heat necessary to make it so. This is almost certainly a "guest safety" or more likely a liability issue and you can blame the relevant municipal regulatory and or corporate governing bodies for this clear shortcoming. Other Korean bbq places in America somehow manage to use infrared burner elements or even charcoal to cook food so this nonstick electric plate situation is kinda lame. Might have something to do with venting exhaust but cannot recall. If for some reason one were so inclined to recreate this cooking experience I would visit the nearest Hmart or similar asian grocer and purchase thinly sliced bbq meat then cook it on a George Foreman electric grill. The resulting food and experience would be equally sad and underwhelming. So, to recap briefly, the hot pot here = Crapola. The people loving this place are delusional or have very limited food experience and are allowing themselves to be taken away by exoticism and novelty and therefore; at least temporarily, are incapable of well reasoned thinking. Anyway, the hype for this chain and the astonishingly long time people wait in line to dine here is incomprehensible. It's mindless. It damn near borders on foolishness. It does not make one a properly sophisticated food person, gourmand, gourmet or the like to state otherwise. Moreover, it probably proves the opposite. I would probably give the food 1 star compared to the best similar place imaginable but to be fair to KPOT 2 stars is warranted because most of this genre of Asian food that exists in middle America sucks and it could actually be much worse. So credit given where due, all things considered. Wouldn't waste precious earnings on this place again unless a miracle happened and it became 100% better. For what it is presently it would be worthwhile to revisit if food quality were no concern and the price per person were something closer to $10....

We went with a group of 11 and a toddler. We were seated in a private area away from the crowd. It is quite busy since it just opened recently. Part of our group ordered a large amount of food for both kbbq and hot pot through the waitress. This was put in by the side towards the entrance to our area, the only entry and exit to our space. We put in a large order for the other half of our table on the iPad for both kbbq and hotpot. A large amount of food did come, but it was the order put in with the waitress. We definitely did not get all the food we ordered. Our half, the half of the table on the other end, did not get a majority of our food, so we were left sitting around sharing some of what our other half of the table ordered. They did come to check on us every now and again, but after a while, we realized our order was not coming as other parts of our original order came, mainly the order that was put through with the waitress. The waitress checked and said they "lost" our order of 97 items!! So we had to put in a new order for all our hotpot and kbbq because so much was still missing, and we barely ate anything while our other half of the table were pretty full. To make things worse, because it took so long for the food to come out, our new order also took so long to come out, we were just wrapping up and finishing up singing happy birthday. The waitress tell us we are over our 2 hour limit and that we'd be able to move sit at the bar, but they needed our table. If we weren't already wrapping up I would have been very very upset at the poor customer service, but at this point we were just over it and done anyway so we meandered our way out. We were over the 2 hour limit by 15 minutes, but seeing as how we were waiting for food for 45 minutes that never came and had to reorder, this was not even remotely our fault. Anyway, the sauce station was good. The side dishes they had were good. The food we actually got for both kbbq and hot pot was also very good. Service will definitely need to be worked on even if it's busy as it's an essential part of the service industry. We'll try again in the future, hopefully by that time service will be better and the crowds aren't as big as it...