Cast Iron Pot Queens — Restaurant in New York

NO RESERVATIONS. Sometimes the employees can give an estimate of wait but I believe for the first time, It was at least a half hour or so wait which is not so bad. They put your name and number in an iPad system and when a table is about to be ready you conveniently receive a text.

The amount of people during my initial visit was eye opening. The establishment was visited by some famous people in the food world and got extra press in that manner as well. There are two sets of glass doors as you walk in and then you are flanked by a wall of grills (they look like Captain America's shield sans the colors) to the left. Then you see the front desk where we were greeted at the time by a very polite young lady named In Hye. She asked how many people there were in the group and proceeded to have us enter our info in the iPad. I eventually got a text my table was ready.

The dining area during the busy hours is quite a sight. The seating arrangement consists those trash can looking seats where you can put your personal items (mostly found in Korean bbq establishments) surrounding tabletop grills. One small table can seat up to maybe 4 people and then there are seats along wall with a bench. If you walk toward the back there is more bench style seating and tables near the restroom. That back part is sometimes reserved for special parties.

The ambience is very very casual and the sheer amount of people in one area can sometimes make conversation difficult. There is always K-Pop music and videos playing all around the dining area and it kind of sets the mood while you eat and reminds you that you are in a Korean establishment. The songs are contemporary and sometimes classic.

Now onto the food! Since this is AYCE, there is quite a bargain depending on the time of day. Lunch pricing is a good deal for the afternoon but with a slimmed down menu. The dinner menu is where its at in my opinion (although both are a good value). The meats are pretty good quality. The house Marinated Kalbi Steak is their signature cut of meat and is definitely marinated well. Other good cuts are of course the Chadolbaegi (thinly sliced beef brisket) which is a favorite as it takes the least amount of time to cook and pairs well with sesame sauce. Other favorites include (but are not limited to) the SOY PORK RIB, HANGING TENDER STEAK, TOP BLADE STEAK, BULGOGI, MARINATED CHICKEN, SAMGYUPSAL (pork bell), CHORIZO, and BUTTER SQUID. Included with the AYCE are white rice, soup, steamed egg and the spicy rice cake (tteokboki).

When you get thirsty there are options for soda pop, different soju flavors and rice wine as well as certain other wines by the glass. You always get a container of water with every meal.

I have visited this location quite a few times on my own and with friends. For the most part there is a good experience each time. The original premise for Korean bbq was for the customer to cook the food themselves. However here and in most places, the employees come around and turn the meats for you while fielding any other requests that you may have. The team work here is quite commendable. It is usually the same person who took your order who mostly assists but they do help each other out when things get busier.

Every employee works very diligently and for the most part has very good customer service. One particular employee named Roger (people seem to be mispronouncing their proper Korean names) is usually there whenever I visit and seems to be a very exemplary employee with a seriousness. He always greets customers and remembers the regulars, is very good about checking up on the tables, is very proactive and is polite and courteous.

I apologize as I do not know every single employee that has helped make my experience here very memorable but the other stand out ones are Jimmy, Jerry, Yoo and there are a few very diligent female servers who deserve praise. Even after a bit of a hiatus from eating here, I always receive a warm welcome and that means a lot. Once I find out their names I will update...

My friends and I came here for dinner two days ago and I think the brisket and galbi were pretty good but the intestine tasted bitter? Overall, the food was good and since it’s an all you can eat kbbq, you can get a good amount of meat for the price. However, the experience could’ve been better. I believe we had a new server so I understand if she’s still learning but there were so many moments that made me baffled. First, when my friends asked if we could order peach makgeolli (막걸리) since it was on the menu, the server looked confused as if she never heard of it. Then, when we showed her the menu, she said they didn’t have any. I was surprised because it was only 5pm when we were seated which is only two hours into the restaurant’s dinner hours (plus, there were many empty tables around us at the time so it wasn’t even busy). I wished she could’ve at least checked but we just ordered something else instead. Second, there was also a lot of miscommunication when it came to ordering the meat (she would forget to bring one of the meat or skip or confuse the meat). I also noticed that the sauces that are at the table had ssamjang (쌈장) and salt. I wondered why there wasn’t any sesame oil at the table to add to the salt until I asked the server later which she brought a bottle of sesame oil from a cart (so, in this case, I wished the server could’ve offered at the beginning before grilling meat instead of us having to figure out if the kbbq place had any, especially if the customers are new to kbbq and didn’t know about the sesame oil). Third (the moment that baffled me most), when we ordered lettuce and sliced radish, we saw our server brought the bowl of lettuce but she placed it on the cart where all the sauces, napkins, and waters are stored. At first, we thought, maybe she’s waiting on the sliced radish? But 10 minutes go by and we still didn’t get our lettuce or radish (which are ESSENTIAL TO KBBQ). we still see the bowl of lettuce on the cart but we didn’t want to take it from the cart in case it was only for the staff to access. We ended up asking our server, where our lettuce and radishes are (and I think she forgot because she replied “Oh, a few more minutes” even though we have already been waiting). At this point, I was already getting annoyed but I understand the restaurant was getting busy by that time. When she came back, she went over to the cart with an empty bowl where the lettuce was sitting and took three pieces of lettuce. She put the three pieces of lettuce in the bowl and placed it at our table of four. WHAT IS THREE PIECES OF LETTUCE GOING TO DO FOR FOUR PEOPLE?? I was so confused why she didn’t just bring over the whole bowl of lettuce that was on the cart. We had to wait again until our server came back around to ask for more lettuce. To summarize, I wish the server was better trained for the position or at least to have a manager or someone with more experience supervise her. I don’t know the server’s name but hopefully this feedback would be...

To be honest my experience long time ago was much better than this visit. After today’s visit we no longer want to return here anymore and will not recommend this place to anyone ever again. When we signed up for the waitlist there was over 25 parties in front of us. By the time they sent us a text to let us know to check in it was 8:38pm. In the same second at 8:38pm they had the audacity to no show us right after the first notice. When we rushed there which was in 3min the lady at the front was saying how they almost no showed us. First you didn’t give us time to get there within 5min you had the audacity to no show us the same second you notified us our table would be ready soon. The place was jam packed with no space to even wait. They expect their customers to wait outside for 45min in the cold to be called? Give me a break. We waited in our cars and got there in 3 min and they couldn’t give us 3min to get there they no showed us. Then on top of that the new Hispanic looking person at the front checking people in seated my fiancé and I at the back table. No issues with the back table until she came back to us to tell us with a ridiculous excuse to remove us from the table. “I’m so sorry we put you in such a small table we can move you to a more spacious area”. I said I like this table and I’m okay staying here thank you. This was a 4 person table with 3 seats and since it was just my fiancé and I it was perfect since it was already set for 2 people. She then came back immediately (she didn’t even make it back to the front desk did a quick 180 after I said I’m fine staying here) and basically said “I’m sorry I was just told that this table was reserved so you have to move”. They moved us to the same size table but out in the front where it is loud. Very very rude customer service. If she had been honest and said I’m so sorry I made a mistake this table was actually reserved for someone else. I would’ve been fine with it. Mistakes happen. But to lie and say oh sorry you got a small table “offer” to move us to a “bigger area” and when I said no, you turn back around and say oh you need to move it’s reserved. That sounds like a YOU problem and your manager should’ve addressed your mistake. This place has horrible service, horrible quality food, AND not clean. One of the people came to cut our mushroom and a piece of someone else’s meat dropped from her reused tongs onto our cast iron. I hate this place. I will make sure to let all those I ever recommended this place to...