Royal Hot Pot & BBQ — Restaurant in Jacksonville

They recently opened, so they may still be working out the kinks, but the feel is like it's been run for awhile.

The veggies were generally fresh like the broccoli and some of the greens. Some of the other greens and items like taro were starting to not look as fresh, probably because there wasn't a lot of turnover for those. There was a good typically selection of meats for Korean BBQ. The ribeye steak is worth pointing out since it pretty tender when cooked. For the first few plates I picked up, I wasn't a fan of how it was still wet on the surface. The vents are positioned low over the grills, so we left without smelling like grilled meats afterwards! We hadn't experienced it before that the grill was already sprayed with vegetable oil before we sat down (which we didn't know what it was, so it didn't look appealing to sit down) and there was no additional butter or oil for cooking. After the grill was changed out, it would be sprayed with vegetable oil again, but no additional butter or oil was provided. There wasn't pricing on the menu which I didn't like, but it ended up being $33.99/ person for both BBQ and hot pot, and $2.99 for the soda. Maybe there is an option for BBQ or hot pot only, but it wasn't stated to us or listed on the menu. It's nice that at the table, there is a guide on how long food takes to cook. Also, there is a 90 minute limit. The tables were spacious. Where we were seated, there were tables for up to four and six people. They come around to clear plates regularly enough, but they were not attentive to see that you'd need a drink or broth refill (unless they don't do that?) so that's just something to be aware of if you don't typically like to flag down staff for that. I had Tom yum as a soup base and it was heavy on the lemongrass. I think this location is good if you like the variety of food they have, especially the seafood since they had clams, mussels, crawfish, crab, and crab legs. Some items we typically enjoy but weren't located we're white button mushrooms, potatoes, and dough sticks (not counting this against them in the review, just for me to remind myself in the future). I wasn't in the seafood mood, but I love crawfish. Their crawfish on the raw/hot pot side was indeed large, but the quality was 50/50. There were a number where the tail pulled off too easily from the body and the meat was stringy? like falling apart when I was trying to take it out the tail, which is not the quality I go for (yes, I understand that this is a buffet and whatever, but I also love crawfish at buffets). The crawfish boil on the cooked side was also okay, but the quality was not there for me, similar to the raw/hot pot, but smaller. I seemed to get more bad than good. The oysters looked good, pretty plump. Someone at my table loves oysters and said they were good 3/4 times. Someone else had the crab legs and said they were salty (I didn't have any, but this could be a difference in salt preference). The main food bar is set up in a U-shape, with the seafood at the bottom of the "U", veggies on one side (with the typical small freezer at the end with hot pot meats: beef, chicken, pork, and lamb) and grilling meats/other items on the other. I probably needed to take a step back since it looked like the grilling meats was under the sign that said "Hot Pot Entrees", or something like that. I wasn't a fan of how close items like kim chi were to the raw grilling meat. The sushi was okay, especially since it is a buffet. The sashimi looked like it has been out for awhile, or at least didn't look appealing for me to want to risk eating. I enjoyed the gyoza and the potato wedges were crisp. The egg roll was not crisp on one side (probably from being out and sitting in the pan). I enjoyed their coffee cake and the dessert soups. The ice cream was tucked away, but the strawberry ice cream was still good. I'm thinking that this hot pot location just doesn't jive with my tastes, but that's not to steer...

We went to this place for the third time for my wife's birthday. The two other times we went it was okay this time it was absolutely horrible as an old restaurant manager I saw numerous cross-contamination issues. We came in after a busy time and the food was wiped out and they never replenished it. My wife got a mixed drink that tasted like Kool-Aid. We had to have a major deal with the manager to get him to replace it. The guy putting the dishes up was so loud we could not even hear each other talk the place lack organization and cleanliness. And most of all all the waiter was a nice kid he did a horrible job the worst waiter I have ever seen he needs some training. We had to go ask someone for numerous things because he never came back to the table too busy having personal conversations I believe in giving places a chance. We said and watch the table across from us spark up flames and nobody even noticed it. This was absolutely horrible there is no way I could even think about coming back to this place. Our bill was $88 for some very poor food. And poor service. I think my next step would probably be to contact the...

We were really excited to come here because the sign outside said "Coming Soon" for about 3 years so we were really excited. The soup you get is kind of small, and when they refill it, they just out hot water, so then it's really bland. They don't have too many noodle options besides ramen noodle. The beef meat roll you grab was just fat and little meat, so I ended up getting the lamb, which looked much better. The sushi was mainly filled with cream cheese, which isn't my preference, and the dessert was okay. I liked this kind of coffee cake they had there. The service was okay. Our server was new, so she didn't know completely what to do. We got the wrong soups, but she corrected it, so it was okay. The atmosphere was really cool! Fun lights and running water, with a little scenery in the middle. In conclusion (ik this is like an essay), I would rather go to Lanjie, which is another hot pot place I recommend. It's near the...