KPOT Korean BBQ & Hot Pot — Restaurant in Meridian

On 12/29/24, FF and I visited KPOT in Meridian for the first time. We arrived at 5:30 PM and had a short wait. Even though it was Sunday night, they were busy!

I have had Korean barbecue before, but this was my first time trying hot pot. Some things to keep in mind before your first visit:

The ambience is similar to a nightclub.

It is very LOUD! I tried to do check the noise level with my SoundPrint app, but it wasn’t working. Having used that app before, I’m sure the noise level was between Loud and Very Loud. It was hard to hear our server. We had to talk over the noise. It was so loud that I couldn’t tell what genre the background music was.

The combination of ambience and noise is overstimulating. KPOT is not a good option for a first date, meaningful conversation, or a relaxing meal.

KPOT is All You Can Eat. Drinks cost extra. You can’t bring home leftovers. There is a waste fee of $13.99 per pound.

Your table must choose between KBBQ or Hot Pot. For $5 per guest, you can have both options.

There is a 2-hour limit for tables, which starts the minute you sit down.

You order from a tablet placed on your table. There is a more detailed menu with descriptions and pictures of every item on the tablet, as well as online. I recommend you review the menu before visiting the restaurant.

There is a sauce bar but also contains a few other items, such as seaweed salad, pickled daikon, chopped garlic, chicken nuggets, and egg rolls. On the wall in front of the sauce bar, there are some suggested sauces you can make by mixing several of the ingredients available. Given how small the sauce bar is, and how quickly the line gets backed up, you’re not likely to have time to do that. It would be nice if some of those sauces were premade and available to choose from. 

Traditional Korean barbecue is served with banchan, small side dishes that are placed in the center of the table. Trying all those side dishes is part of the fun of eating Korean barbecue. KPOT doesn’t have banchan. KPOT is nothing like the episodes you’ve seen of David Chang eating Korean barbecue in Los Angeles.

There is no dessert.

KPOT was a fun experience, the type of thing everyone should do at least once, but I wasn’t that impressed with the food. I liked it well enough, but not enough to return. We both got the same soup base, Thai Tom Yum Soup. The flavor profile is spicy/sour. I liked the spicy, but not the sour. FF liked it.

They started us off with hot pot, then later came and turned on the grill for the barbecue. From what I have read, if you order both KBBQ and Hot Pot, they are likely to start you off with the hot pot, in hopes that you’ll fill up so that you’re not ordering too much expensive meat for the barbecue. They will bring you rice and lettuce leaves for the barbecue. We opted not to have any. 

My favorite part of the meal was the Korean barbecue. I would have enjoyed it more if it had come with banchan. We both enjoyed the Short Ribs in particular, which came highly recommended. We both liked the Yum Yum sauce (my favorite) and the KPOT sauce. Normally, I would have enjoyed barbecuing my own meat, but I was so wiped out from the overstimulating environment, that I left the barbecuing to FF, who did a great job! I would like to try hot pot again, but at a different restaurant.

A good gauge of whether or not you will enjoy KPOT is how much you enjoy Mongolian barbecue. Personally, I’m not a fan. I’m not crazy about the idea of visiting a restaurant where I’m responsible for making my own food. It’s not the labor part of it I object to, it’s that I do not have any expertise/skill level in cooking those cuisines. I would much prefer to visit a restaurant where someone who knows what great hot pot is supposed to taste like, at least curates the experience for me. I have no problem with making my own Korean barbecue, but I expect banchan. And for $36 I expect at least a token dessert to be offered. There was some out-of-season honeydew at the sauce bar, but nobody considers...

So, I really wanted to love this place. I’m a big fan of Korean BBQ and was so excited to try KPot, hoping for a great food experience. Unfortunately, both of my visits left me disappointed.

First Visit – Valentine’s Day: Since they don’t take reservations, we used their online waitlist, which initially quoted a 2-2.5 hour wait—perfect since we needed to visit my sister in the hospital downtown. I kept checking our place in line, but it barely seemed to move. By 8 PM, it still showed over an hour to go, so we figured we had time. Then, less than 15 minutes later, we suddenly got a text that our table was ready and would only be held for 10 minutes—but we were still 30 minutes away. We called to explain, and they assured us we’d be put back at the top of the list when we arrived.

We rushed back in the rain, only to be told there were still several parties ahead of us. The hostess (who honestly left a lot to be desired) started counting out loud how many people were in front of us—when she got to 15, I stopped her because, at that point, we got the picture. We walked out, frustrated and disappointed, scrambling to find another place to eat last-minute on Valentine’s Day.

Second Visit – Family Dinner: Fast forward to today—I convinced my husband’s family to try out this new place since my mother-in-law was visiting and wanted to go somewhere fun. We were a party of seven (six adults and one child). The hostess (same girl from Valentine’s Day) took us to a small booth where we were crammed elbow to elbow. At first, I didn’t ask for a high chair, but once I saw how little space we had, we had no choice but to get one. The only place for it was at the end of the table—right where the grill controls were. Not ideal.

The setup was also awkward. The grill was right in front of me and my husband, who were seated on the ends, meaning no one else could comfortably reach it. Since I was the only one familiar with Korean BBQ, I ended up standing most of the meal like I was a teppanyaki chef while everyone else sat. It was far from the fun, interactive dining experience I had imagined.

The kicker? As we were leaving, I noticed several larger booths with two grills that could’ve easily accommodated our group. When I asked the hostess about them, she casually mentioned that parties of 7-10 could request them. But how would I have known to request a table I didn’t even know existed? It would’ve been common sense to seat us there in the first place.

The Good: • The food was good. • The service was prompt. • The staff was friendly.

The Not-So-Good: • The waitlist system is unpredictable and frustrating. • The seating arrangements don’t seem well thought out. • The hostess experience left much to be desired.

I really want to like this place, but I’m not sure I’ll be back—at least not with a larger group. Maybe I’ll give it another shot just as a party of two, but after two disappointing visits, I’m...

Update on my 3rd visit: Joseph is our server. (5 stars)

The front receptionist was giving me an off vibe. I asked what is the waiting time and she said there is no waiting time. She said we can have a seat at the bench while waiting for the other person to come but she won't move quickly and she looks like she was still waiting for the other party, I'm so confused. We had a great night though. Joseph was making sure that we are doing great all the time. He would check on us just to make sure we are doing okay. He changed our pans twice. Food arrived fast. Music is not loud anymore. More options for appetizers now. Good sauces .. Would always recommend this place.

Thank you Joseph for taking our pictures.. You are so sweet...

Updated Review a week after the opening..

Went tonight again for the 2nd time. I think the music now were muted or very quiet on the BBQ/Hotpot side which I'm so glad about. BBQ everywhere is loud enough. 5 stars for listening to the customer. We arrived before 5 pm and it was just a 5 mins wait. We missed the dinner rush, I think we left around 6:30 pm and there's so many parties waiting by the hallway. They have a waiting bench now too.

Service is overall 5 out 5 as always. Food selection are still the same. Rice had been added on the tablet. Radish kimchi is missing now. They need more banchan for sure. It gets too hot eventually, I recommend to wear a layered clothes and you can remove if you get too hot. When we got seated we ordered all the meats and vegetables on the tablet and the food came pretty fast. No worries on the grill plates they will change it for you as soon as you need it.

Overall Star Rating 4/5

Price is great for a buffet. I believe, an extra $5 for hotpot per person I sticked to the KBBQ only. We arrived around 4pm, We waited between 5 to 10 mins to be seated. We went to the bar first while waiting. My mom got a Lemon drop which is pretty good. Boba was okay.

We got seated on the booth after. Our server was pretty nice, she explained everything to us. She changed our griller plate 2x almost 3x but I was done eating and I said I'm good, no need to change the plate. She was very attentive and friendly. There was a bar to get all the sauces, radish kimchi, napa kimchi, pickled radish, fries, fried rice and eggrolls.

We could order the meat on the tablet which is very convenient, the food arrives super quickly. Our tongs and scissors was forgotten at first but we got a help as soon as possible.

Food was pretty authentic I would say. Better food and taste good than the Magneficient Garden. I wish they have Japchae noodles as well. Rice needs to be ordered directly to the server.

My only complain was the place has a very LOUD music.

Hope it's just because of the opening and I let the server know but I think that was their theme like a Party restaurant/bar.

I was a bit surprise, they have so many employees around.

Clean...