Jason’s Korean BBQ & Hot Pot — Restaurant in Lawrence

I've been 2 or 3 times, it's alright, but pricey but the service that I received in late January of 2024 was disgustingly rude. I don't like to write reflexive reviews, but I'm still thinking about it 6 months later as I research other KBBQ places and it still makes my blood boil.

We were there to celebrate a birthday and originally put in a reservation for a larger party but a lot of people cancelled on us so we down sized our reservation last minute. We came in on time for the reservation. There were maybe 3 other sets of people sat at other grills, it seemed to be a slow day compared to other days we've come in.

Our server spoke at a whisper and gave us attitude every time we asked him to repeat himself. We kept wanting to order more food for the grill but he could never be found, so on the rare occasion we caught him, we ordered a lot. They forgot to bring out a couple dishes, to which we tried to reorder but we ended up pushing the limit on our time for unlimited food at the grill so we just let that slide. However, it was completely at fault for our server because we were often sitting around waiting to put more food on the grill that we would've cooked well in time otherwise.

On our last order of food for the grill, he told us to hurry up under his breath and according to my friends, this wasn't the first time he said it either, but I only caught it once. This order was REALLY close to our end time on the unlimited, but I figured there would be a level of understanding that we could get one last order in because he rarely checked in with us...

When we were looking at the dessert menu, there was still over an hour left before the restaurant was closing according to the website AND the front door. We double checked this from our phone because we were the last table of people at this point and things were feeling weird like we were imposing. I figured it was fine because even if the google hours are off by an hour, we still had a little time. The desserts were premade and didn't require the kitchen to do anything other than grab them out of a freezer...

Our server seemingly had no competency on the dessert menu as we had to repeatedly tell him what we wanted, correct him when he said the wrong thing back, and repeatedly point at pictures to help. THIS DID NOT SEEM LIKE A LANGUAGE THING, it seemed like no one had ever ordered dessert from him before, or he was just messing with us. We said we wanted them to go at this point because things were awkward being the only party in there, and his attitude.

He instead brings out 2 desserts, NOT to-go despite wanting us to get out of there so fast... AND they were not what we asked for. We EXTRA specified on this one that he kept on insisting/mistaking on, because there was an ingredient in this one that would've killed the friend who ate it. This is the only time we correct our server the whole time, because we don't want this poor girl to eat something that'll put her into anaphylactic shock...

We say something along the line of, "this is not what we ordered, we can't eat this" he asks us again what we wanted, asks for us to point to it on the picture menu and he INSISTS that this dessert is correct... They look nothing alike, the colors are completely different.

We keep telling him no and a manager seems to come over because things are escalating. The manager IMMEDIATELY understands what we're saying, corrects the issue, gives us them actually to go, compensates them off our bill and we're on our way finally. The manager immediately understood that the tone this server was giving us was incredibly out of line and took over until we left.

He raised his voice at us, told us we were wrong, told us to hurry up on multiple occasions, and could not be bothered to talk at a normal volume in a place with numerous cook tops sizzling and excited parties talking around him.. An absolutely baffling experience. The price of the food isn't worth it if it's paired with an...

I'd been meaning to do a review on this place for a while, but I haven't because I know the owner checks the reviews a lot and is usually one of the few people on staff at the restaurant. I've been to this place maybe 5 or 6 times simply because it was much closer than having to go all the way to Malden or Boston if I REALLY had that Korean BBQ craving, but now that there are better, closer options have opened in the Merrimack Valley, I probably won't be returning. I've tried both their KBBQ and hotpot.

I feel like this place is always severely understaffed - the owner absolutely does not want to hire the appropriate amount of help to match the volume this restaurant receives. Not sure if it's to save on costs or something, but every time I have been here, it is always one server running around by themselves serving every single table while being super flustered, and as a result, they always take forever to get to you whenever you need anything and when they do get to you, they always forgot things that you've ordered because they're serving 5 or 6 other tables at the same time from pure memory.

Assuming it's not out of stock. I don't think there has been a single time I have been here that they weren't out of multiple items on their menu. But they never actually TELL you until AFTER you've ordered it and they bring out your food omitting it, and you've asked where it is. THEN they'll tell you it's out of stock. Which would be great to know if you pick a higher tier menu for more money looking to get that one item specifically. There have even been times where I've walked in and they just straight up told me they were "out of hotpot" completely and I had a vegetarian with me, so we couldn't do KBBQ and had to just leave. No warning online or on their website or anything.

I gave this place a lot of tries over a period of time hoping it'd get better but it always stayed the same, so I think I'll just stick to going to places in the Lowell or Boston areas...

After having real hibachi BBQ in Japan earlier at the beginning of this year, we have been searching for such a place to have a "meal experience" like it, and we found it here at Jason's! Starting off, the owner welcomed us and sat us down. He was warm, welcoming, very helpful with the unique ordering procedure that is exclusive to this dinner experience, and even helped us cook a little. The restaurant location is easy to find, right off 495. Plenty of parking too. Inside, the restaurant was very modern and clean, with some contemporary touches to it. Right as soon as you walk in the door, you can smell the amazing food and see the smoke of a true, authentic Korean BBQ in the air. If you don't see that, and smell that unique smell, it's not authentic, and necessary part of the Korean BBQ encounter. We got the Korean BBQ, "Ultimate". I feel the price was very fair, especially where it's all you can eat. I definitely got my money's worth out of it. The food was all very fresh and excellent quality. The best part of this experience, is that you get to see your food in the raw, and cook it to your liking. No blaming the chef how he cooked your food, it's on you, and that's the best part and why it's so distinctive. Afterward, we actually ended up staying a while and having a long discussion with the owner. He's a super nice person and I enjoyed discussing global travel and cultural food experiences with him, especially where he is a well-trained Chef, a real Chef of Johnson and Wales. Would I go back? YES! I will be going back. I don't know how you can't go back to a place like this. Would I recommend it? How could I not. It's not a recommendation, it's a need, you need to go there. As for regrets, I regret that I didn't get any pictures to...