Hi Pot — Restaurant in Pottstown

this place has a lot of potential to be really good. but it’s not there yet the food is good. we got the bbq and it was serviceable. the food should be marinated more. outside of the spicy beef bulgogi, most of the food was mid and the serving sizes were on the smaller side. the sauce bar doesn’t have labels which can be confusing and there’s also no yum yum sauce main issue is the atmosphere. every other korean bbq place i’ve been to has had dim/darker lighting and this place is like the opposite. when you immediately walk in there’s a great vibe. dark blue ish lighting with stars on the ceiling, then you walk into the main floor and it’s all gone. it’s all bright overhead lighting and it’s very off putting and almost feels liminal. had they kept the lighting and vibe of that first room when you walk in it would genuinely be great next is the music. there was no music playing in the restaurant. or if there was it wasn’t loud enough to be heard at all. again, every other bbq place i’ve been to has played k-pop or hits. since there’s no music the silence just hangs in the air sometimes and it adds to that off putting vibe. they could easily fix this by just playing good loud music, they could even put music videos on the projectors they have all around the restaurant finally, the grills kinda sucked. they didn’t get nearly as hot as they should. it felt like we would wait forever for the food to finally be ready to eat, when normally there shouldn’t be much downtime between cooking and eating. also, they need to add a bar asap. they already have a perfect spot for it. once you walk in your met with a counter top on your right, they could easily turn that into a bar and serve drinks. once this place figures itself out with the vibe and especially a bar, i can see it blowing up. there’s plenty of potential here so hopefully they work it out in the...

Just walked out of Hi-Pot in Pottstown. It’s more like 4.5 stars. I’ve seen a lot of potentials of this place, but there’s room for adjustment/improvement as they are still quite new.

Here is what I like: 1) it’s very spacious, plenty of room even when it’s at its full capacity; 2) seating is comfortable, all booths, which is quite rare for a hotpot and bbq place; 3) service is attentive and friendly; 4) it’s all you can eat, but the server brings food to your table instead of your going to fetch them yourself, which means it’s more organized; 5) MOST IMPORTANTLY, ingredients are of decent quality comparing to other all-you-can-eat hotpot/bbq establishments.

Here is what I think they could do better: 1) the interior decor, though fun (they have animated images projected onto the wall), is a bit tacky to my taste, but this is a minor criticism as hotpot/bbq isn’t meant to be the most romantic place for dates anyway; 2) although they have all kinds of sauces, the layout of the sauce bar isn’t ideal—having double rows can easily cause sauce at the inner row to drip into the outer row when customer is getting the sauce; 3) warm snacks, such as the spring rolls, fried dumplings are kept together with salad instead of on food warmers, which means likely you’ll be eating cold spring rolls and dumplings.

Overall, I’m happy with my dining experience. I think it’s a valuable addition to the dining scene in the area. You can go shopping at the outlet nearby and have your lunch or...

I have been here twice so far in the last month. My first experience was great, service was superb. I even told my family about my experience and they came for dinner same day. I decided to come back today 4/5/24 just to treat myself. I obviously had a different server. I’m not sure if she assumed I wasn’t going to give a tip or not. But midway through eating, literally putting food in my mouth, she says idk if anyone told you there’s a 15% service charge for service.. I asked since when? Bc I was just here a week or so ago and there was nothing about an extra charged explained nor on my receipt. She then tells me “well they’ve changed things..” so I said “in a week?” She says “yes” so I said okay. Moments later, as I am allowing my ramen to cook, and scrolling through my phone, someone else comes over and asks me do I want the bill, it seemed very forceful, as if they were waiting for me to leave. Mind you there’s two other groups of customers in here, many open tables, I’m just spending time with myself minding my business. So I say “ummmokay” he brings me back my check in seconds and says “no rush”. Good chance I won’t be returning. 🙂 food is cool though. They could use a bit more options but the quail eggs, kimchi and lamb are so good. Again, I’m not sure if there was an assumption I wasn’t going to give a tip or not. But that rubbed me entirely the wrong way. And the soda taste like grass/herbs...