KPOT Korean BBQ & Hot Pot — Restaurant in Orange

Before starting the review, I just want to say that I am really excited to come back here in a couple of months time and be able to update this review to higher stars, I am sure they will earn it.

TL;DR they have opening rush pains and need to address the order load on the kitchen as well as ensure working technology for orders (or switch to manual orders). Food and options were great. I’ll be back!

I went during their soft open special (I hadn’t even realized).

It’s an all-you-can-eat model with either KBBQ (one shared grill on the table) or Hot Pot (each person gets their own lil pot). As always everything comes raw so you cook it yourself (that’s the fun of it!). Their normal prices at this time were about $29 per person for one or the other, +$5 if you want to do BOTH kbbq and hot pot (and the whole table has to match the options). The only thing you pay additional for after that is drinks.

We did just the hot pot. I got “Healthy Herbs” (dairy based? goji berry and herb soup base) and my pal got the Thai Tom Yum. It’s super nice that each person can choose their own base although I did miss the social aspect of sharing one big pot just a bit. Our server wasn’t sure about some of the items on the menu when it came to allergens but was able to check with someone else. I think generally it will take some time for all the servers to learn the menu for customers especially since they don’t seem to interface directly with the food too often.

They have up cooking guides for the meat but only for grilling. We hoped it was around the same amount of time for boiling (:

You order everything except drinks and rice on a tablet which supposedly should be sending everything to the kitchen. We heard from our neighbors and multiple servers that the kitchen was “backed up.” I think this is normal for a place that just opened and was bustling, but they have some figuring out (or hiring) to do to make this model work. Plus there were some things we ordered (like dry ramen noodles) which I thought might not have taken as long to get out on a plate.

The staff was lovely about it all although I was surprised by a solution to this being that our tablets would be taken away - I assume so the kitchen could catch up, but then we wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of the all-you-can-eat?

It seems like they are having some early tech troubles as we waited for nearly an hour (out of our supposed 2 hour max) and talked to our server several times with only 1 item out of the many in our multiple food orders coming out before they realized there was an issue and took our order manually. After that, things seemed to come out much more smoothly and we made additional orders directly via our server. I wonder if they will keep the tablet system and if so should have a plan in place for checking that orders are actually coming out. The human touch towards the end of our experience turned what was starting to be a nightmare into a pleasant, tummy-filling dinner (:

Food was good, “sauce” bar looked small from a distance but was very comprehensive and delicious (only complaint was needs more scallions!). If you have some picky eaters or kids they have a little buffet station with french fries, chicken, and what I assume was egg rolls (they weren’t labeled). Atmosphere was nice and it was sleek and trendy looking. Music was kind of loud at times. I really hope they figure it all out as I’d love to come back with friends in the future, but will definitely be waiting until they get...

Honestly, man, I'm just here to discuss how Jeanie is in my top five, and she's not two-five of servers ever... and my big-back dines out pretty often. Listen, I was with a group that tends to bring a lot of unsolicited positive energy to restaurants, which, at times, servers do not reciprocate(which is totally okay). But this girl Jeanie's energy matched ours better than a lighter(I hope y'all got my joke just now). She was constantly congenial, responsive, helpful, animated, extremely patient, & smiling all evening. She spent a few minutes thoroughly showing us how to order, providing recommendations, and firing back witty jokes/remarks(that were actually funny) to a non-funny guest who was part of the group. Good for you, Jeanie, good for you for putting up with that.

I guess I'll discuss the food though. The food is, eh, okay. I mean, it tasted good, but it can become overwhelming. We went for a birthday, and there were five of us, so it got quite confusing between what we were ordered and what was delivered to the table. Perhaps they can do a better job providing labels for the different meats that come out so people can distinguish them.

The soups they provide seem a bit overkill in terms of portions, but I guess it's convenient to have around, especially for those who enjoy placing their proteins in the soup. I highly suggest that you DO NOT get that spicy one. You'll know which one I'm talking about. It wasn't even palatable—I'm an idiot for even trying.

The sauce bar is a little messy and chaotic, but getting up and grabbing your own is convenient. A for effort Kpot. This brings me back to my server, Jeanie. She saw me making a repulsed face when I tried one of my concoctions and then insisted on making a special sauce for me and bringing it back to the table, again, leaving an indelible mark in my mind as the Greatest Server Ever. It was the little things, man, the little things she did that unequivocally made our experience better that night.

Would I ever go back to K-Pot? Probably not because of my personal preferences. Like, the food was good, I just found the concept to be a tad bit disconcerting. I guess I'm a traditional guy(shrug). Would I ever go back just for Jeanie to serve us? 10000% Ay man, excellent customer service goes a long way for me. Thanks for making our...

Think of the happiest thing you’ve ever done, now think of the best meal you ever had… now double it… This is the feeling to get when you eat here.

We stopped at Kpot in Orange Ct while visiting Connecticut and it was an experience to be remembered!

Let’s start with the most important aspect of our visit: the drinks. I ordered the lychee-martini and it did not disappoint. My fiancé is not as creative as I am, so he had a boring beer. I’m assuming he liked it because he ordered about four of them.

Now let’s talk about the food. The selection is huge. They offer two dining options, hot pot, and Korean barbecue. Of course us being the greedy people that we are we decided to do both. But the good news is they only charge an additional five dollars to the original price. There was no way we could turn that down.

We started with the hot pot. There are so many options from meat to vegetables to seafood and everything was delicious.

You place your order via an iPad and the fresh food is delivered to you on a cart by one of their amazing employees. It’s placed on the table for you to cook yourself. Everything was so fresh and delicious. The service was quick and efficient. We were very impressed.

It’s the same process for the Korean bbq. The food, the drinks, the service was excellent.

But the real praise goes to TJ and Shannon. They were the true super stars. Shannon was our server she was so kind and informed….very helpful. Tj was our bartender, he moonlighted as our entertainer. His personality is amazing. We definitely see Hollywood in his future.

We are thankful for the great time we had here. This place is a definite don’t miss….

Don’t forget to look up at the ceiling when you first enter the...