Hungry Pot Korean BBQ & Hot Pot — Restaurant in Manchester

For those who aren't familiar, this is a Korean restaurant where you are served thinly sliced raw ingredients and cook them yourself on a cooktop embedded in the table. If you're unfamiliar with the process the restaurant's website has tutorials to help. This restaurant serves both hot pot and BBQ, (or a combination of the two for additional cost), but this review is only for the KBBQ aspect of the restaurant.

We visited the Manchester Hungry Pot location with a friend on Black Friday with high expectations, and I am happy to say they absolutely delivered! It was so good, in fact, that our friend asked to eat there one more time before he went home, and we were happy to do so! Both visits were excellent and I see us returning here many times in the future. The staff was friendly and helpful, the meat was tasty, and we stuffed ourselves to our heart's content. Staff were constantly circulating, bringing drink refills, taking orders for more meats, and swapping out dirty cooktops for fresh ones before we could even ask.

We visited for both lunch and dinner and the restaurant was busy but not overcrowded even on Monday afternoon. Besides price, the only difference between lunch and dinner is that a few meats are designated "dinner only". We tried these dinner exclusives, but overall preferred staple menu items like the Smoked Garlic Pork Belly, Beef Bulgolgi, and Spicy Pork Bulgolgi. In general, I feel like the marinated meat options were tastier and of better quality than the unseasoned "premium" dinner meats like pork cheek and ribeye steak, but that may be personal preference.

A lot of the earlier reviews mention the smoke and issues with the cooktop, but both times we went [once for dinner on Friday, once for lunch on Monday almost 3 weeks later] it was not noticeably smoky. The restaurant didn't have a haze about it, and the only smoke we experienced was a bit from our own grilling after a round of meat got cooked, but it was minor. Also, people were constantly coming around adjusting temperatures and switching out cooktops, so I think they took feedback about this issue to heart.

Some other reviews have mentioned that as a buffet the quality is not as good as other places, but I disagree. I've visited 3-4 other KBBQ establishments, (none of which were buffets), and while those were admittedly a bit more luxe, Hungry Pot doesn't lack in quality as far as I'm concerned. If anything, the buffet nature and relaxed atmosphere makes it a better fit for my tastes. Some reviewers mentioned "thinly cut meat" as a sign of bad quality, but that's really a necessity for this cooking method--thick cuts of meat [like what you'd find in a steakhouse] will simply burn on the outside and make a lot of smoke before they cook thoroughly in the middle. I've never eaten KBBQ that didn't employ thin cuts of meat. The one "downside" to Hungry Pot is the lack of side dishes, which is slightly disappointing as that's one of my favorite aspects of the KBBQ experience. I would love to see more authentic Korean side dishes added to the experience, but I think I'm probably in the minority here. They do offer a small buffet bar at the back of the restaurant, but there isn't much in it aside from spring rolls, a mixed salad, fries, a sauce bar, and the most unassuming but amazing fried chicken. [Seriously, do not sleep on the fried chicken fingers, they are deceptively delicious!]

The cost is a bit intimidating, but I feel it is totally worth it, especially when you consider many chain restaurants are already charging $12-15 per entrees. Similar KBBQ places often charge a per table or meal set price which can work out to $30-40 per person, so the $20 lunch or $32 dinner cost is more than reasonable, especially for an all-you-can-eat experience. As our friend said, you could probably load up 2-3 plates of fried chicken and still get your money's worth here.

I really hope Hungry Pot succeeds and stays in business for years to come, because we loved it both times we visited and would love to bring other...

One of the worst dining experiences we've had in years.

We made a reservation weeks in advance for Sunday night at 7:30 for a birthday party. We said it would be 12-15 people. We called ahead the day of and confirmed it would be 15 people.

We get there 10 minutes early and our table is not ready for 7:30. On top of that, they can only squeeze 12 people into a 10 person table. They had just sat another group at the closest table which would have kept us all together. Because of this, we had to split apart to 3 tables which were nowhere near one another. This was very annoying in itself, but we didn't have another option at this point.

We had to arrange our tables by who was eating hotpot vs Korean BBQ. They would have charged us for double BBQ and hotpot if the few people eating hotpot sat with the people eat BBQ.

Since BBQ is a flat fee, we also had two vegetarians with us, and they refused to let them pay separately for just vegetables so they were forced to pay the full BBQ price like they were eating all the meat options.

All of that aside, our waitress was the absolute worst. She wouldn't tell me her name when asking politely so I can't include it. But she had the worst attitude the entire night, barely speaking a word to us, and walking away mid drink orders. By far one of the rudest waitresses we've ever experienced. If you hate your job that much, go get a new one.

She never came over for drink orders, we had to walk to the bar to get drinks most of the time. And the few times she did get us drinks, she either forgot them or messed them up. When I asked for a Jameson & gingerale, she brought me a plastic soda cup of gingerale and 10 minutes later, a full glass of whiskey. I had to drink my cup of water and mix my own drink at the table.

Later they brought our birthday cake out to us that we handed them before the meal, but she just plopped it on our table and walked away. No plates or cutlery. I had to go to the buffet area and grab all our plates and forks and a knife to serve it with.

And last, they close at 10:30 according to the website. They sat us late with their issues, and by 9:45 they had cleaned around us and were standing around staring at us waiting to leave.

The gratuity was automatically added which was $175, and this waitress deserves $0. I don't often write bad reviews or complain, but in this instance I'm going to be talking to my credit card company about a charge back to cover the gratuity.

It really is too bad because all of this could easily have been avoided. Taking a reservation properly, making sure it is ready for the party, and making sure your staff isnt rude are all simple people/process issues.

Photo of my hilarious drink and of the very...

I want to start this review by saying the restaurant only opened this past Friday. I was in for lunch on Friday and dinner with my wife on Sunday. In spite of the fact they're still working out hiccups from their grand opening, the staff did an excellent job. As far as any reviews expecting them to run like a well oiled machine from day one, take it with a grain of salt! Let's start with hospitality. My wife and I sat at the bar for cocktails while waiting for our table around 6:30 on Sunday. Samantha "Sam" one of the hostesses remembered me, smiled, welcomed me back as she walked by. I can't begin to tell you how important that is in this business and you can't teach it. It has to come naturally! She started our visit off right! The restaurant was swamped with people, only one bartender making drinks, (I didn't get her name) because they had a few no shows for their shifts. One of the managers, Brandon, jumped behind the bar to help get things moving. My wife had a Blue Hawaii, I had a Mai Tai. Drinks were great and on time! We met Jason and Kevin, both managers who were asking us and others how everything was and getting people to their tables. When we sat down, David and Michael, both servers, remembered me from Friday and came over to say hello. Our server, Annie was knowledgeable, professional, and courteous! Not bad for her first day! Annie and the rest of the staff, as I observed, were on top of tables, taking orders, bussing plates, spot sweeping the floor and friendly to patrons. I want to point out none of this seemed disingenuous. The buffet station is well maintained and plentiful. The many sauces give you a variety of pairings with the menu items. The food comes out fresh, high quality, and quickly. If some meat, poultry, or fish is preseasoned it's done right. I highly recommend among items to order, the Korean spareribs, prime rib, beef bulgogi, Hot Pot pork belly, spicy pork belly, garlic chicken, baby octopus, and shrimp. You can also pair your proteins with a variety of fresh vegetables. For the soup, I ordered Thai Tom Yum, flavorful with a nice kick of heat. The food, atmosphere, and service are to be commended....