KPOT Korean BBQ & Hot Pot — Restaurant in Overland Park

The experienced I had dining here the first time was not the greatest. I am dining with my 18 month old and was shown to our seat but was not provided with a high chair for 5 mins. The waitress was well aware when we sat I have a toddler, took our drink order and I asked for a chair while my mobile child has to play on the booth, which I then found out the hot pot burner is not CHILD PROOF! My son pushed the button to turn it on and would not stop and caused frustration for my husband and I as we still were waiting for our high chair. When we finally got one the high chair has no seat belts! I asked for another one which did have seatbelts. During our dine in I saw another family come in with a toddler and they were provided with that same no seatbelts high chair. I saw they asked for another one as well and it looks like they didn’t have any other. The father had to go grab his stroller!

Anyways on to the dining. We chose the Kbbq option, since majority wanted kbbq, because we were not allowed to have mixed options at the table. It was either everyone eats kbbq or hot pot or pay to get both. My mother in law was not able to eat much because she couldn’t just get the hot pot option.

I have dined in quite a few kbbq places and noticed the equipments are outdated here, but anyways on to the experience. They did not turn on the grill when we were seated to allow the grill to warm up while we looked at the menu. The ordering of the tablet is a nice feature if the flow of the meats could come out in a timely manner. When we had thought all the foods, since nothing came for 10 minutes and preparing to call it quits 3 additional plates came out. They did not change our grill until we had to request both times. They were black and when we had received the 3 additional plates, we definitely needed to have the grill changed. It sucked not having a few of the seafood options available for lunch and the veggies were not good for the grill.

The sauce bar and appetizer bar is a nice feature. The appetizer bar was useful especially having toddlers. My som enjoyed the fruits and edamame and I loved the Kim chi radish which had a great taste and spice. The sauce bar has a lot of options which is great and showing a few sauce recipes to make us helpful, but what wasn’t was their sauce serving spoon is ONLY MADE FOR RIGHT HANDERS!!! I am left handed and my god trying to scoop and pour sauces into my bowl was horrible. I had to pour away from me into my bowl so I ended up pouring more than I wanted and spilling onto my plate. They need to have a universal spoon to accommodate both hands.

Lastly, I had left outside early because my toddler was done eating, and played on the outside benches while my husband and family inside were finishing up. The manager came out side and had a smoke break. RIGHT OUTSIDE THE ENTRANCE! He was thanking the customers for dining in as they walked by with a cigarette in his hand. I knew he was the manager, because he did stop by to ask how we were doing. He should have went to the back or at last off the premises to have a smoke. He was nice enough to go to the opposite side of the entrance ( there are two side entrances and middle stairs and side ramps on each side) so my son wouldn’t inhale second hand smoke, but you can clearly still smell it when my son ran towards the middle. Just horrible.

This place has potential but could definitely use some improvements. Will have to wait to see and listen to other friends when they go dine if...

The food was great. It’s fun to have a meal you can eat slowly while you talk. It was all you can eat for $30/person with a good variety.

We stumbled upon the restaurant having never heard of it, and when we asked the hostess how the set up and menu worked, she couldn’t explain it. When I asked what “Hot Pot” was, she handed me the menu, but I still didn’t quite get it. Then I asked what Korean barbecue is and she said, “I think what they mean by that is there’s different meats and stuff.” I’m not faulting her, but I think the restaurant could definitely train their employees better. The waiter was very soft spoken, and the environment is extremely loud, so he was hard to hear. He asked if it was our first time there, then also offered no explanation. My husband kept asking questions along the lines of how do we order our food, and what can we order, etc., and both of us were a little baffled. You can choose between grilling at your table or making a pot of soup - sort of a DIY pho type of meal. In the end, it’s a great system where you can repeatedly order meats and veggies from a tablet at the table, they’re rushed to your table, and you grill them yourself. I think with better training they could explain it clearly and simply. We chose to grill, and both of us thought it was a lot of fun. I do wish there were more vegetable options available, but there were plenty of meats. There’s a sauce bar with some suggested recipes, but most of the labels had worn off so I couldn’t tell what was in most of the bins. You also have to act fast with the sauces if your food is already grilling, and take a generous portion of the sauce you make so you don’t have to keep leaving the table. The sauce bar also had some cut fruit and some little sesame balls with a type of paste inside that were amazing. The waiter didn’t check in much, so when we were ready to leave we had a long wait. You can’t settle the bill on the tablet alone.

The atmosphere is incredibly loud. It’s one of those places where the acoustics make it hard to hear the people at your table and you’re overwhelmed with amplified background noise. Which is too bad, because in a quieter setting we would have enjoyed it far more. The decor is kind of dark with bright lights, the music is loud…it’s just not overly comfortable. The feeling with the staff is a little uncomfortable, too. Honestly, I wondered what they pay because the people bringing the food to the table, the hostess and waiter, the bussers…nobody seemed happy or friendly, just stressed.

So, although the food was good, and the idea is a lot of fun, I don’t think...

Perfection. No complaints. You can get hot pot AND/OR Korean BBQ for only $30-40 per person which is amazing. A few things I'd tell newcomers- Order your food in waves. My family orders everyone's broths, then submits the order, then passes the tablet around the table so each person can order, pressing submit between each person. This makes it easier to see what each person ordered and prevent confusion when stuff arrives at the table.

If you get the hot pot: Chopsticks alone are difficult. Make sure you get given a soup ladle it will help you pick up all the food out of your broth. The hot pot meat is not flavored. There is a small stand up front that has various things to make a dipping sauce. Almost everything you boil in your hot pot will taste great with some sort of dipping sauce. Experiment and see what you like. When getting your sauce grab an extra bowl. That way you'll be able to spoon some of your broth out to enjoy after it cools. If you think your broth won't burn off your taste buds, it will. This is why I have the previous recommendation. There is a timing guide on the table, on a little stand. It's important. Sometimes people will rotate it to a drink advertisement thus newcomers won't see it. The burners are induction. They are significantly safer than most burners because they don't actually produce their own heat. But because your bowl has boiling liquid in it, expect your bowl and your burner to be hot.

If you are getting the BBQ Make sure the people that are going to actually stay on top of grilling are closest to the grill. When your grill starts to turn black, they will replace it for you. Let them do it even if you don't think you're going to grill much more. Letting it go too long can cause burning smells and mess with cook times. If the whole group doesn't like spicy I recommended dedicating a portion of the grill to the spicy foods.

Other: You get 2 hours to eat all you want Not all drinks are refillable There will be a cringe birthday song sung to someone while you're there. Excess waste cost extra money. Using your phone timer helps keep tabs on 3 minute boils like the fish and shrimp. You can get a second broth if you finish the first or don't like the first one. You may smell like you work in a restaurant...