J Pot — Restaurant in Maplewood

$35/AYCE hotpot OR $37/AYCE hotpot AND KBBQ *I think the price has gone up a tad since opening due to inflation, but still a steal imo Highly recommend JPot.

My husband & I always go for both. I like more bang for my buck & for the extra $2, why not? We had waited for JPot to open for theee longest time & thought it was all for show & would never open (since they’re “opening soon” banner was flying for what seemed like forever).

When JPot finally opened a lil over a year ago, we have been (guiltily admits) almost monthly if not more visitors. Again, I am the make-it-worth-your-time-&-$$ kinda go out to eat girly & I have no shame in pacing (they won’t kick you out).

I get the Szechuan broth & for my sauce: sesame seeds, sesame, sugar, cilantro, green onion, sesame oil, oyster sauce, chili garlic oil, chicken bouillon, black pepper & minced garlic.

The key is to not overload with carbs first. Mushrooms (enoki, oyster & button). Crab sticks, beef belly & tongue, tendon, marinated short ribs, soyu rolls & whole shrimp are some of my favorites.

Everyone at the establishment is always so nice including owners Cynthia & Yong; & of course the robots who deliver your food-they’ll ask you to move if you’re in their way lol.

Ask for Noah, Vang, Kevin, David or Aeson if you visit. All are very personable & provide service with smiles!

I like that each person can have their own pot & there is plenty of space even if the table is filled with a four top.

Parking can get hectic as the lot is shared partially with Best Buy & DSW. There could be room for improvement when it comes to wheelchair accessibility & inclusivity in the menu (indicators on whether an items is GF/DF/V etc).

Weekends & dinner rush will usually have a wait, but what restaurant doesn’t during these times? We have never waited more than half an hour-most people don’t know you can wait at the small bar top, so go-ahead & do that.

Those who complain about not receiving a "tutorial" on how to order, seriously? It's self explanatory. Order AYCE w/e you want. Has no one been to a buffet? Same concept. Taking stars away for one's own ignorance is a lil petty imo. I also saw someone whined about "added fees" on their receipt, you mean the already added service charge so you don't have to math out a tip? Tip is already included in your check. & with how the servers run around, I believe they deserve that tip.

I saw poor reviews from Quran Nguyen, Vi Vu & Nga Weber-all seemingly from the same party who probably unanimously agreed to post negatively due to a wait for their large party.

If you have a large party, the wait will probably be longer because not every restaurant can accommodate seating parties of 10+ unless tables are pushed together or the party is split up. Especially not at a place like JPot, where they have one party room with what, 3 tables I think? & people with large parties like to camp, so, if you have a large party like that, you’ll probably end up waiting while smaller tables get seated first. Tis...

This is a new spot in the metro and here is my very honest review:: Disclaimer: I came to this place during its soft launch/opening. So, lots of my review is based on the initial experience of this place's first few weeks (if even).

We came right before the dinner rush, and it took 5 minutes for drinks, 20 minutes for the first course to come through, and 15 minutes for the first refill. For the second round, we waited 40 minutes to place our order, 20 minites for the order to come, and 20 minutes for refills, and eventually gave up ordering and just left. At one point of our meal, the wait staff came and ask if we were done, even though we were waiting to place our second round. They said they'll be back to take our orders, but we ended up waving down the other wait staff to place our orders. We dont blame the wait staff, we blame management for lack of wait staff support. There were 3 hosts seating people, half a waitress walking around checking on tables, and 2 real staff waiting on the guests. Bussers were no longer bussing tables, but refilling waters, changing grills, and semi waiting on guests. Why? The wait staff were completely short staffed and were running around trying to wait on restaurant full of guests. This delayed our orders, drinks, and overall downgraded our experience. We ended up turning on our own stoves, because the wait staff couldn't keep up. The robots didn't help. At one point, they ran into each other. The robots delayed everything even more.

Important: this place can say all you can eat kbbq and hot pot, but it really means one or the other. The whole table has to order the same thing or else you can't get your order. So if you're in a group and one person wants only hotpot, then they can't get that. I wished they made that more clear.

The menu was mediocre. They need to make the menu more clear and concise on which meat can only be ordered for hot pot and what is specific to the kbbq. The food for kbbq was mediocre. The meat were not seasoned. So, if you're expecting pre salted meat, grab salt from the salad bar. In addition, the Sesame oil they use does not taste like Sesame oil. It's a very faint smell and almost watered down. The chili oil is not spicy. Even black pepper is spicier than that. So, highly recommend for anyone who goes to this place to google how to mix the sauce so there is flavor.

Will I give this place another try? Maybe next year. When they grow a little bit more and have more clear structure and flow with providing the wait...

My husband, 1 year old, and I decided to try this place for dinner for my birthday and it was a major disappointment. We were seated right away and one of the servers came over and told us that we were going to be helped by a female server and that it was her first day so he would be coming back to check on us and helping her out throughout the night. He explained the pricing of the menu and then left and went to help his own tables. We ordered our drinks and got them fairly quickly but then our female server didn't come back to our table for quite a while so I flagged down the male server and asked him for a high chair for our daughter. He said it'd be a minute but he never brought one. When we saw our female server and asked her for one she said she had to ask someone if they had any. We eventually got the highchair from her, but when we asked her questions about the food she had no idea and had to go ask someone. However, when she returned, she still couldn't answer any of our questions. We ended up just ordering our food and it came fairly quickly but our server never turned on our burners and didnt say anything about the cook times. We ended up asking her what temperature the burners should be on and she went and asked another worker who came over and explained the burners and cook times to us. Over 30 minutes later the male server eventually came back to our table and we asked him if we could order more food since our server hadnt come back to our table. He went and got her and helped her set up the grill but he never returned to our table again. The female server would randomly walk near the tables but she wouldn't actually walk up to the tables to ask if we needed anything and she never filled up our drinks without us flagging her down to ask her if we could get a refill. At one point, I asked her where the restroom was because I had to change my daughter and she said she would be back so I asked another worker after a few minutes and she finally came over and told me where the restroom was. I understand it was her first day and the restaurant clearly didnt give her the training she needed before leaving her on her own so I feel bad for her. But she clearly lacked any customer service skills because she didn't even offer refills, didn't mention the salad bar, and couldn't even point us to the restroom. The food was fine, but the complete lack of customer service was extremely disappointing and I would recommend finding a...