KPOT Korean BBQ & Hot Pot — Restaurant in Norfolk

SEATING and GREETING: Walking across the restaurant we noticed how slippery the floors were. We were all wearing sneakers but if I had been on a date in heels I probably could have slipped. It was so slippery I don’t think I would ever bring my older parents or children here. We were seat fast. Our menus were wet which was off putting… not wet like they were sprayed with disinfectant, wet like they had a sopping rag slapped on them.. Our server Kimberly greeted us within the first 5 mins. Explained the menu and the pricing lunch was $19.99 per person for BBQ OR hot pot. If we wanted to do both it would be an additional $5 per person, but you can each pick your own flavor of HP. She also showed us on the menu where the items were labeled for dinner and said that if we ordered those our lunch would bump into dinner pricing.. I think was $29.99. This was helpful because most places other K BBQ I have been to before have much higher flat rate and serve all of those things. For college students, soldiers, and money conscious patrons.. this restaurant, particularly our amazing server Kimberly was very clear and upfront about their options and pricing. Before she left the table she also showed us the menu on the tablet were we could order more food if we wanted to. She took the time to demonstrate how to order and navigate the digital menu. Before she left the table she mentioned there was a hot and cold foods bar near the entrance and there was a selection of sauces available. Another note regarding seating: This didn’t affect my mealtime or service but I felt it was noteworthy. Near the host station is a rack of assorted prepackaged snacks, such as chips and seaweed with a sign that says, “ Please enjoy a snack while you wait for your table” With all you can eat places.. predicting wait times can be challenging. I can’t imagine what chaos a Friday or Saturday night might be. I think this gesture from the GM really shows that they value their clients and want to provide a positive experience from the moment you walk in. DRINKS: Milk Tea drinks were made quickly at the bar. However, the boba was either low quality or gelatin based, not the starchy tapioca I am used to. My guess was gelatin based. The boba was also served HOT… ewww. It is fresh but not tasty drinking an ice tea with hot gelatin at the bottom. This, of course, fixes itself as the drink cools but it took nearly 10 mins or so to cool off. Flavor was good though. HOT/COLD bar:Most people bring their appetite to a place like this. I was impressed with the abundance of food available at the bar. If we had to wait for service or had smaller children this would have been a blessing. There was fruit, spring rolls, gyoza, and deserts. They also had icecream. They must have had a dozen traditional Asian sauces in bins but almost any bottled American condiment or seasoning salt imaginable. Like other KBBQ places they had recommended sauce recipes above the bar too. The KPOT house sauce is a MUST try. FOOD: Food came out quickly. The food ordered from the tablet also came out quickly. All of the veggies arrived on one large plate and the meats were separated on to individual plates. This is nice to avoid cross contamination. Also one person in our party ordered spicy bulgolgi and one did not. So if you don’t like spicy it won’t leak onto your meat because it was on separate plates. The flavor was really great! The garlic shrimp and bulgolgi really held flavor after it was cooked. This place must use some good oil because it was the cleanest grill I have cooked at a KBBQ.The temperature on the grill was just right too. I was really happy with the portion amount, ease of ordering more food, flavor and variety. SERVICE: Excellent! Food came fast, Table bussed promptly, clean grill offered. CLEANLINESS: Clean booth and table, Wet menus, dirty cups and filthy tablet, hot bar presentable, bathroom was infested with bugs, Slime tracked out the door. Hit and miss CASH OUT: Awful. Toast system is great for fast and easy check out. I don’t like that my total...

So I absolutely have been in love with this place being that I visit frequently to the one in the state in which I live (Pa). I decided to share the experience with my family for my mom’s birthday which was some what ruined by the manager. It was 7 adults and 1 kid. We ordered 46 items on our first order and less than 10 on our second order,2 hours into our meal the server comes to me and says her manager told her to tell us that they reserve the right to charge us 13.99 a lb for a wasted food tax. So I ask to speak with the manager and she states the same thing which I inquired into why or how she decided this. Keep in mind I’ve eaten at KPot well over 10 times and have NEVER had this tax applied in the past. She states that we have 8 things of uncooked food and if we don’t eat half of what was ordered they can charge us by the pound. Now if my math is correct we ordered approximately 50+ items and 8 are left, keep in mind that of the 8 items she speaks of 4 of the plates half the food was cooked off of them and one was a plate of veggies and majority of the veggies were cooked. So if she is saying that we have to eat more than half the food we ordered I must say that we ate over half the food we ordered. Also why was she watching us so hard. I personally would never go back to this one. Also this is the smokiest KPot I ever been to. Everyone was complaining of their eyes burning because you have to ask them to change the plates which usually I never have to they come and do it automatically and our server took forever to do everything! Grant it she was nice and sweet but when dealing with money and credit cards you shouldn’t be taking those to other peoples table you should handle our bills and complete the transaction before going to another table, that bothered me. Also the manager telling my son to eat some ice cream after I told him he couldn’t also rubbed me the wrong way she didn’t even ask me or anything. The food was good and some of it we didn’t like but overall it was good. I just didn’t appreciate feeling like we were picked out or what have you! I’d never go back to THIS location in Norfolk, Va but the other establishments I’ve been to I will definitely be returning to them! My family even stated the same and they enjoyed it but the service and manager and whole ordeal they didn’t appreciate. Btw my problem is that I’ve left a lot of food at other locations because we’d eat or cook half and not like it and have never been treated this way. I love the franchise this manger gave us unfair treatment and I don’t condone that. Our money spends like everyone else’s!

When going here wear non slip shoes the floors are extremely greasy or slippery! My mother and grandmother almost fell due to the floors being so slippery as did everyone else. They need to fix this because if memory serves me correctly most locations floors...

I took two of my friends out there for their birthday celebration. I want to say, first of all, that our waiter James was absolutely excellent in explaining the process and the customer service that was provided. There were other team workers that assisted him in bringing the food that we had ordered to our table.

The restaurant was very busy, and the parking lot was packed. However, be prepared, for it can be a somewhat confusing experience. There was a large buffet, which actually has many ingredients. There are spices, multiple oils, seasonings and sauces, fresh fruit, and snow crab legs, which you can add to the soup pot or to the hibachi grill. Let me try to explain this to anyone who has not visited there yet to the best that I can.

There are three parts to this: The buffet line has ingredients to add to either your soup and hibachi grill. The soup you can pick out one of four/five different types of soup and then add multiple sauces and ingredients. And if that soup does not work for you, you can exchange it out included for the same price. The soup is large enough, in my opinion, to feed three people. The Hibachi Grill, where you order from the extensive menu, multiple types of meat and seafood to cook on the Hibachi grill. However, you do need to return to the buffet line multiple times to flavor the meat and to keep it from sticking to the grill. You can continue to order as many proteins and vegetables that you wish to put on the grill. My advice is to do one thing to a time. We had not been there before, and our experience was very complicated. Between having to run back and forth to the buffet many times to get sauces and additives for the soup and Hibachi Grill it was very time consuming and this was a very busy place and you did have to sometimes wait at the buffet counter. I will say it was worth a try. I've never been there and have been wanting to go there. Now I can say that I have done it. But if I'm honestly speaking, I'm not looking forward right away to returning to this type of restaurant any time soon, but it was an interesting experience. And as far as pricing goes, it was $35 per person. All you could eat because we did order the premium meats such as prime rib steak, ribeye, etc. Most of the proteins that are brought to your table for the Hibachi Grill are all Frozen, including the seafood. Because it was my friend's birthday, they did bring us a surprise piece of cheesecake and they sang Happy Birthday. James, the waiter, handled all the questions that came from the four of us patrons. I actually went to the manager who acted strangely when I wanted to compliment James. The manager understood, and he did comment that James was very good. My suggestion is if you go there, request James, he was great. Sadly, we forgot to...