KANPAI BBQ Hotpot Buffet — Restaurant in Rockville

My kids reported that the meats were good but we were charged for an adult dinner ($45) and big kid ($22) even though I’d informed staff that I had ordered food to go and wouldn’t be eating in order to monitor my two young children (ages 6 & 10) who wanted hotpot. I ordered a Thai iced tea to drink and my kids got the dinner (which includes the buffet, Korean bbq, and hotpot). So, my total should have been $16 (little kids dinner) + $22 (big kids dinner) + $ cost of my drink. Instead, my total was $67 (plus I still tipped due to class consciousness, totaling $78). Luckily, I had cash and paid with that rather than handing my card to this establishment. I was shocked when the waitress presented the check as some award I’d won stating “since you didn’t eat anything, I only charged you for an adult dinner and ONE kid’s dinner!” What in the world is going on here? I am not one to fuss in public over $30 but that’s a whopping overcharge. Servers earn much more in tips by being honest and providing quality service - not slick charging practices. Other patrons need to be made aware of this so here’s my honest review. Because I’d ordered the Thai iced tea, they charged that as a whole adult dinner. Even more, she charged me for the older kid dinner (ages 7-10 = $22; ages 4-6 = $16) on top of charging a nonalcoholic drink as an adult dinner. So, be careful here - this is an unethical business practice. I clearly stated that I wasn’t eating, had ordered to-go, and that only the kids were eating because it was their first time. They needed help and oversight with the hot tops at the tables, cooking the food, etc. In addition to this, the kids did not receive ANY of the vegetables they ordered for their hotpot (only the meats and noodles) and it took 35 minutes to get our drinks. Lastly, half of the buffet items were gone before 10:30 (when it closes) and they didn’t replenish those.

Good points: 1) Plenty of parking. 2) My older son reported that the spicy hotpot soup base is actually spicy (and he has medium tolerance). 3) They’re open super late but the kitchen closes at 10:30pm. So, you’ll need to arrive by 9pm to actually take advantage of the buffet and bbq meats. We saw a poster advertising a late night discount after midnight but this seems unreasonable when the kitchen closes at 10:30pm - so buyer beware! 4) The waitress kept a good eye on our bbq and cut the single piece of meat for us. 5) The kids said the food was delicious, especially the galbi bbq. Keep in mind that an order of galbi (their best cut of meat) on the tablet is only one slice of meat (but you’re charged Brazilian steakhouse prices so you’ll need to put in several orders for this to make sense). 6) nice ambiance - karaoke on Saturday night but not too loud. 7) clean bathrooms. 8) nice dinnerware, especially for a buffet and 9) I saw that they have Thai papaya salad on the buffet.

Summary: The kids reported that they really liked the food. I’ll just make sure that I actually eat there if I’m going to be charged anyway. Again, this should be clearly communicated to patrons....

For reference we went here for Dinner and it’s $45 per person. Bbq: 6/10 The bbq has a very limited options for dinner. I expected the steak to be good and marbled just like the picture in the ipad they provide but we were given a thin slice of beef meat with barely any fat and marbling in it. It also didn’t taste like anything. If they wanna compete with other big asian bbq place, I think they should have a better quality of steak and more bbq options since they are selling the fact that they are a bbq place. We really like the scallops though and the flavor or the lemongrass marinated meat. Hotpot: 7.5/10 The hotpot is good. It’s just like every other hotpot place just southeast asian flavor of soup bases. Buffet: 9/10 We really like their buffet area. They have curries, takoyaki, egg tarts, shrimp tempura, snow crab legs. Their buffet food here hits in the right spot. They have flavors I’ve never had in other buffets I’ve been to before so that was really nice. Dessert: 10/10 I love their desserts here. I love their mango sticky rice. Ambience: 8.5/10 Their ambience is so nice and it’s way cleaner than other bbqs or hotpot places I’ve been to. There’s always someone tidying up the buffet station and the interior is great. Just like any other bbq place, remember you’re gonna come out smelling exactly like bbq and it will definitely stick in your hair. Make sure to come here when it’s your hair wash day. Service: 10/10 I love the service here. Servers are so attentive. Price: 6.5/10 I absolutely could not justify the $45. Maybe I would pay $35-$39. I was really disappointed with the limited bbq options and low quality of steak that is only served for dinner.

Overall, I still really enjoyed it. This is still a new place and has a lot of potential. If you crave for southeast asian flavor I definitely recommend trying this place. I recommend going here during Lunch because it’s around $22-$28 I believe. My friend really liked and enjoyed going to lunch here. She said she wanted to try dinner for the steak option so I was looking forward to that but when I went to dinner, the steak was absolutely underwhelming or maybe we just got...

Go Here! Me and some girlfriends planned to eat at a different place for hotpot. But Kanpai was right next to a store we were in and we couldn't help but pay attention to it. The interior looked beautiful but upon closer inspection we noticed they were pretty full on a Wednesday night about 2 hours from closing and all the diners looked HAPPY. Everyone seemed to be enjoyed the food and atmosphere. So we changed our plans and gave Kanpai a shot. Let's discuss: *Upon entry we were warmly greeted and the host patiently explained how the hot pot, BBQ and buffet all work. *Our server, Victor, was amazing. He was do knowledgeable and patient. He checked on us frequently ans always right on time. He paid such close attention to the plates on our table and food on our little grill so none of it got ruined despite the ladies and I getting caught up in convo and forgetting we were even cooking. (As an industry worker I appreciate this because food cost matters). Victor also made some great cocktail suggestions. The Thai-Teani and the Pretty Please were fantastic and so cute! The ladies and I all agreed we hadn't had such a great overall restaurant experience in ages. I started paying attention to the servers in general and noticed Victor had a good connection with his whole section. The other servers looked fairly occupied as well helping their tables. *The FOOD!!! Wow!!! We got vegetarian broth and Tom Yum. Both amazing and we almost completely finished both. Wonderful assortment of fresh meats and veggies. Same can be said for the BBQ. The buffet was a lot larger than I've seen in other places. A great variety of favorites like curries, Thai dishes, fried rice, seafood options and quite a few wonderful dessert options. One of my friends isn't very adventurous with food but there was friend chicken, fried rice, veggies and classic dessert options like fruit, ice cream, cheesecake, etc. So there was plenty of everyone and we all agree we will be back and we'll be bringing the rest of our friends with us. Kanpai also takes reservations for parties of 5 or more. No complaints. 5 stars. 10/10...