HQ Korean BBQ & Hot Pot & Sushi - Pensacola — Restaurant in Pensacola

My opinions will be broken down into categories: Presentation/ cleanliness: Service: Food/price:

First, I'll say the concept of the Korean buffet was very exciting & I believe a lot of people will enjoy this restaurant for what it offers.

Secondly, my opinion is a little biased because even though I'm Latina, I've grown up with mixed cultures & have eaten Korean food regularly due to my husband being half-Korean. It's also biased because, for the last several years, Kalbi Ichiban has been my favorite place to eat as close to home-cooked Korean food. What is a preference to me may not be to you, so I want to give as much detail so others can decide what counts for them.

Presentation/ cleanliness: They had a lot of "club" type of lighting & the loud music to go with it, but also very bright lights. The music choice was enjoyable, but too loud & difficult have a quiet conversation. I know some folks prefer bright lights to ensure the meats are cooked properly, but this could be done with more soft light closer/above the table. (Although this may be a challenge due to high ceilings.) I felt there was a contradiction with having blue lights at the same time as bright lights. (For those of you who have sensitivity to noise/ brightness) My husband & I were seated at a booth across what looked like, maybe a bar (since they just opened, it doesn't seem quite set up just yet), but everything was clean & presentable. Each of the burners had their own remotes attached to the tables facing where you sit in the booth so anyone with curious children, you will want to watch for that in taking proper precautions so they also do not touch the burners on the table.

Service: we got there around 6:30pm and waited for an hour, which is pretty typical of most restaurants at that time. No complaints there. Hosts were friendly & they text you when it's your time to check in. Our server, Christine, was great. She was friendly, polite, casual, & helpful since it was our first time. It was nice to have her smiles & guidance. There are no actual paper menus, but the options are on a sign by the table with pricing & a tablet that she showed us how to use. As you want more meat, you put your request. She explained we have 2 hours to eat & get charged about $13 if you waste more than a pound of meat. (I felt like I had to keep track of the time, however, we were done in less than that time, but not sure how that works with a bigger group) I agree with time limit, certainly there is no need for folks to come & be there 6 hours, with the low pricing they charge for their meats.

Food/pricing: Honestly, the pricing was fine for what they offer. I was a little bummed they didn't have appetizers like Korean wings, yaki mandu, etc. (I really enjoy those.) We were a little disappointed with some of the flavors between the cucumber kimchi, seaweed salad, & sauces offered, but the meat quality was good. They bring you more rice as you request. I loved that it was sticky rice, which is perfect for "packing" in lettuce wraps. The meats they bring out are all separated, so no cross contamination. Veggies were fresh & also separate. I liked how they had pictures of the serving sizes, so we were able to decide how much of that item we would want. Example: we like a lot of lettuce, so we ordered 4 servings. Same goes with the meat. Lastly, you cannot take any leftovers home (which is normal for any buffet & completely understandable). One of the things I look forward to when we eat ethnic foods is having leftovers the next day. 😋

Look, I know this was lengthy but hope this helps folks. I hope you still go and try it out. If you don't like to wait that long, do an early dinner. It's still a newer restaurant and this is still the time for them to add/adjust/make changes accordingly. Overall the buffet style concept is great & glad that they had a lot of people showing up...

Addendum 2: The owners canned response is nit surprising. Skip everything I said and just look at how they replied. "SORRY, HOPE YA COME BACK!" Is what it sounds like.

Addendum: They do not have anything catering children.

Just talked to my daughters family. Little bugs were crawling, 6 to 8, on my families table and they had to kill them. They were upset and thus began thier experience.

1st: watch your ticket. They charge a 20% gratuity so do not tip again.

2nd: if they try to seat you in the back right corner, just say NO! WE WERE MISERABLE! No air in the back.

3rd: BEWARE! Whomever sits nearest the grill will be doing all the cooking. The grill is closer to the end of the table. They will also be the one explaining to everyone else what is on the menu. The people seated in the back of the booth cannot see the menu. It is ridiculous.

4: it is extremely hot when the grill and hotpots are on. Your table becomes a furnace. I had to take my 38 year old daughter outside, because she was feeling sick and light headed. The same happened to my 29 year old grandaughter. My son-n-law just wanted to leave after feeling sick and hot.

5: the booths slide and move every single time someone gets up and sits down unless you are up against the wall. This is bad for the people who share a booth front abd back, with you.

6: The waitstaff are over booked and over worked. They are sweating, tired, and ours was honory. I was not a fan of how she snapped at me. My daughter was very upset, while my granddaughter told me she was making faces behind my back. Why? Because I needed something to drink and I asked her for it twice. She told me she was "only one person and had 6 more tables." And for a reason no one understood, she kept taking jabs at me. My kids were bothered because I am a cancer survivor, and I have surgery in the morning, and I was treating them to dinner. I didn't realize how bad it was until they told me once we were outside. That is also when I learned I had double tipped her. I didn't know they had already charged me a 20% gratuity. But I went inside and had the manager take off. The 2nd tip. Did she deserve the 20%? No. But I am almost positive everone gets part of the pie, and those prep workers were amazing.

But we had to get our own forks, spoons, nakins, and salt and pepper. She finaly brought me some salt and soy.

7: they will charge your children by thier size, not their age. My 8 yr grandson who eats maybe a few bites of food outside of his normal wheelhouse was charged half price for barley a half a cup of food. He just doesn't eat at restaurants. He only likes his moms food. My other 12 year old grandson is tall. He was charged as an adult person, full $38. He might have eaten a plate of normal food. But that is questionable. She explained that a person can say they are young and then go outside and smoke a cigarette ??? Wth. They should have a better explanation than that. Do better. They were kids sitting at the table.

This meal for 3 adults, and 2 children, cost me $235. We were all hot, sweaty, and miserable. The manager should have closed off the back half that has no air. He is 100 % responsible for the environment we were in. He knew we were miserable, but didn't care to move us to a cooler location, of which we saw many open.

The adults have all spoken. Including the other four adults with us. We will not be returning because it is a poorly run, and chaotic, novelty restaurant, in Pensacola.

Side note: the experience might be different if it was only 2 people, like a date night, the waitress was amazing, and it is cool in the building.

But trying to enjoy it with a family, means one (or 2) persons are doing all the cooking for the crew.

It's...

There is no way in zero reality that I would ever eat here or recommend anyone eat here EVER. First let’s start with the arrival. Had a party of 6. 5 of the party members arrive on time (there’s one in every group 🙄) we are told we cannot be seated until the entire party arrives. 1. I understand as it’s a place where you order as a group and cook your own food but 2. Cannot fathom the business standpoint of not allowing you to be seated and order beverages? We are never told by the hosting staff that there is a bar that we can wait at. Inevitably a member of our party find the bar themselves. The 5 of us sit at the bar. I order immediately- a shot and a soda water. Everyone in my party orders and I order 2 rounds before a member of our group says that they are being ignored and have yet to make a drink order. We are the only guests at the bar. Finally we get to our table as everyone has arrived. We get a server who immediately walks up to our table with a terrible attitude and body language. She explains so rapidly that our group can barely understand what she’s saying (comparative to the micro machines man) that wine and soda is included in the price , the bar is open and they also have alcoholic beverages …and whatever else she said that I missed because the speed of her speaking! Everyone orders, I order a soda water. She rudely states “we don’t have that” I said “actually you do. I just ordered it from the bar.” She then proceeds to tell me that I cannot sit at the table and order a soda water as a beverage that it’s against their policy. Against your policy that I cannot order a beverage from the bar that you just said was open?!? She returns with our drinks and rather than sitting a member of the party’s drinks in front of them or saying “Coke” or something, she literally slings her arm outright extending the drink into the face of a member of our party and holding it here with the nastiest attitude. So this is my birthday dinner with friends and to be real with anyone still reading, I was not wanting to be treated so disrespectfully by a stranger that I would inevitably have to tip (auto grat parties of 6) so this is the point where I tell my friends that I really think it’s best we leave. I was no longer interested in dining at an establishment that seems confused that it’s not a nightclub with literally the WORST MUSIC AND LIGHTING KNOWN TO MAN! Like for real? Like this is crazy? So up walks the manager named Drea. What does she have in her hand?! A SODA WATER! She brings me my drink. She realizes we are upset and I ask her if it’s too late for us to leave. She asks can she do anything to help. I tell her that if she can get me better service I will stay but otherwise we’d like to leave. She then spends her night where she should be able to run her shift, taking care of a table that her server should have the ability to do herself. Drea was attentive and patient. I really do want to say that she was the only good thing about this palace. At the end of the dinner I inquired if the auto grat was going to the rude server- she stated it would. That to me was reprehensible! I have waited tables 20 years and if I ever treated guests the way this girl treated us, I’d have been fired on sight. Which if you are the business owner reading, I’d highly recommend doing with this particular server. The experience of the restaurant was cool and had I not had literally THE WORST SERVICE EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE, I’d probably...