KPOT Korean BBQ & Hot Pot — Restaurant in Lakeland

Incoming stellar review!

This one crushes every category. I'm going to do my best to get it all in without this being two pages.

Food: is it the highest quality you'll ever find? No. But it is up there for the price. I've been to a few other kpot spots. This is as good as you want it to be. And it is all you can eat. Let's discuss the food. There are two options. The first is a pot of soup. You can go to the "salad bar" where you would create your own sauce, or grab options like kimchi, French fries, sweet treats, fruits, or a maybe slightly different choices depending on where exactly you go. When building your own sauces they have some guides up on the wall for you to put together. Whenever I go I like to get crazy and try my own different connections. Kind of like when you would mix all the sodas together as a kid. I'll throw together things I think make sense and then play around with them. Ginger and lemon and green onion. Etc. I suggest you get adventurous.

The soup is heated on a hot plate in front of you. You choose from a selection of soup bases. They have many to choose from. This review would be long if I go over each. There's mushroom, Szechuan Spicy, kpot, tom yum and others. You'll pick one and then heat it on the hot plate in front of you. Now you'll use the boiling soup to cook different ingredients you my like in a soup. Depending on your preference and the base, you combine the ingredients in the pot and go to town. How I do it is use the main pot to cook all my different ingredients, and then I pull those out into the little bowl with the soup and chopsticks. They provide a big spoon. I use this to transfer some of the broth into my bowl. The soup is perfect. It is filling and different every time. Very difficult to even get the same unless you followed your own recipe exactly the same way every time. Not saying it can't be done, but here's what makes it fun: you can try your own recipes and ideas. Want to eat ramen and seafood dumplings? You control it. Want udon and beef? No problem. The possibilities are pretty wild.

Next is the Korean bbq pit in front of you. This isn't mandatory. You could just have bbq. Or you could just do hot pot soup. But you will be charged for both if even just one of your party gets both. If you have a party of 4 and 3 of you choose not to get both hot pot and bbq, the whole table is charged as though you all got it. It is 5$ difference for both. Your bill would be 15$ more so you should take that into account. Honestly just plan to do both unless you're a small table or everyone is extremely familiar with the menu and only wants soup. Your first time, just try both. Korean bbq is amazing. They have every kind of meat and veggies. They flash freeze a lot of the meats and then thinly slice them. This is perfect for grilling quickly. I always grab butter from the bar and make sure to get that onto the grill surface before I cook anything. Then I throw the meat on, separate them so that each gets even access to the cooking surface, and cook to my parties preferences. Some like it really cooked. Almost like a bacon. Let it get crispy. Some like it just touched to the surface. It is warm and still soft like butter. Either way, you're in control so bust out those new balance and let your inner sunday dad out. Dip your cooked bbq in the sauces you made at the bar. They're great. There's a lot of options for proteins and vegetables for the grill. Be prepared. There's seafood, chicken, beef, bulgogi style, tongue, tofu, spam, and just a bunch of stuff. Get crazy. I made a whole stir fry on the grill. Peppers, onions, mushrooms, garlic chicken, eggplant, and more. Just have fun. Be aware! When there's build up on the grill, ask to have it changed out. They'll swap the grill face out with a brand new one so you don't get the burn or char.

They have a full bar for those wanting alcoholic bevs. They also have a great tea bar. There's milk tea and classic teas. They all come with tapioca balls. There's too many choices to go through. I've run out of space...

Another wonderful gem that has recently opened up.

The food:

There are a wide variety of soups, hotpots, and barbeques you can try. With fully vegan options being available. You are provided with the broth of your choice, along with the ingredients you want to use. The dish I was able to make was delicious, despite being personally unfamiliar with the hotpot concept prior to my first visit here. You can pick whatever you want, and are not required to pick any meats, seafood, noodles, or vegetables you do not want.

Service: The service was wonderful for an all you can eat buffet. My server was extremely polite and attentive. The restaurant took great care to hire staff who can speak other languages besides English. (Spanish and at least one Asian/Oriental dialect was observed during my visit). Though you are expected to cook your own food, the staff is more than happy and willing to help you with the process, and will set the grill and stove tops for you (they give you a tutorial on how to use the stove top, and the grill they can set for you). There is also a guide posted the walls of the booths.

Atmosphere: the owners of this restaurant went out of their way to create a beautiful atmosphere. Modern music is played at the venue (your mileage and enjoyment may be impacted depending on your tastes). See attached photos for more details.

An important caveat: your mileage may vary. If you are looking for a restaurant that will cook everything for you, or if you are not good at cooking, your enjoyment of this facility may be impacted. Aside from the drinks and napkins, you are fully encouraged and expected (as with any all you can eat buffet) to get your own utensils (some plates and chopsticks are provided, along with tongs for cooking). Also, the seafood options offered at the buffet bar do require cooking, and are meant to be cooked in your hotpot, which, again, you yourself do the cooking of. There is a two hour dining limit, but they do not rush you. Additionally, there is a $13.99/LB fee for wasted food - no go boxes at this time. With that being said, waste is strongly discouraged; take only what you can eat.

All in all, I found this to be a quaint little restaurant, and look forward...

My little boy was excited to try KPOT, so we made sure to get there right at opening (12 PM). The hostess seated us promptly and explained the ins and outs of this style of dining. We initially hoped to take advantage of the lunch price ($21.99 per person) but were informed that only dinner pricing was available at that time: $31.99 for either BBQ or Hot Pot. If you want both, it’s an extra $5.

We chose Hot Pot only, but in hindsight, the meats are pretty much the same whether you cook them in the broth or on the built-in grill at the table. My son picked the Thai Tom Yum broth, and I went with the Korean Seafood Tofu broth. His broth was delicious but too spicy for him after the first round, so he switched to the pork bone broth, which he absolutely loved—it was so good he ended up drinking it! The Seafood Tofu broth was fantastic and included a piece of fish, a jumbo shrimp, a clam, a green mussel, and a piece of krab.

This is an all-you-can-eat experience, but it comes with a 2-hour timer, which you can track on the tablet at your table. You also use the tablet to reorder food. The sauce bar is amazing, offering every kind of sauce and spice you could imagine, plus some raw items like crawdads, snow crab legs, and small blue crab halves. There are also fruits, cakes, and other small treats.

We especially enjoyed the raw garlic and green onions, which we added to our broth and mixed with the white rice that came with the meal. There are too many options to list here, but some of our highlights included ribeye, Kobe beef, brisket, pork belly, beef tongue, quail eggs, squid, mussels, clams, scallops, fish, garlic shrimp, jumbo shrimp in the shell, baby octopus, blue crab, crawfish, and crab legs. The ramen noodles in the broth were a big hit, and we also enjoyed the chicken wings from the bar.

The restaurant even has a robot, but unfortunately, it didn’t serve us! Our total bill for two people, including tip, was in the mid-$80s. One thing to be aware of: they charge $13.99 per pound for leftover food, but luckily, we didn’t have to pay this fee.

Overall, it’s a great spot to eat! The food was delicious, the variety is incredible, and we had a wonderful time. I highly...