KPOT Korean BBQ & Hot Pot — Restaurant in San Antonio

KPOT KBBQ (8.5) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 12485 I-10, San Antonio, TX 78230 All You Can Eat Korean BBQ and Hot Pot

I'd been wanting to try this place since they opened, and it was pretty good, but a bit on the pricey side. Compared to AYCE Korean BBQ places in Houston, Dallas, Austin, and Vegas, this one falls somewhere in the middle.

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Pricing for the dinner starts at $32 for either the Korean BBQ or the Hot Pot, with an additional $5 charge if you would like both. All parties at the table are required to order the same option from the menu.

I arrived around 5pm, it was starting to get busy, a waiting list was forming, but we were seated in less than 3 minutes. Theres a 2 hour limit on your visit, so we ordered our first meat options right away.

Sauces, veggies, and a few side dishes like pickled cucumber, daikon radish, kimchi, popcorn chicken, & spring rolls are on a sauce bar. There was constantly a line at the sauce bar, which turned into a couple minute trip every time I returned for a different sauce, or refill of the sides.

We ordered beef bulgogi, garlic pork belly, sliced brisket, angus steak, and 2 orders of Korean short ribs (galbi). We were at our limit of what we could hold, at about the hour and a half mark.

Wait Service Table service was spotty, at the beginning our drinks werent refilled frequently, and we werent checked on very often. Our grill was replaced decently often, but the waitress that brings the orders of meat wasnt coming by often.

Towards the end of the meal, our waitress stopped by several times, to let us know we had 30 minutes left, to give us a last call on meat orders, to refill our drink, and bring us the check..

Meat Quality & Flavor The meats were hit or miss, the bulgogi was pretty good, and required no additional sauces or seasoning. The brisket was completely plain, had very little flavor, and cooked super fast since it was so thin, the instructions said about 30 seconds each side.

The garlic pork belly had a good garlic flavor but an odd smoke flavor that made it taste like artificial smoke or pork sausage from a BBQ pit. It was OK, but not my favorite pork belly by far.

The angus steak was a good cut of meat, with only a tiny bit of seasoning, it did require some sauce, as cooking it on the unseasoned metal grill added absolutely no flavor to it.

The pickled daikon was decent, seaweed salad was good, the kimchi was decent, and meat portions brought to the table were manageable so that you werent over-ordering.

Cost I roughly estimated that had I gone to the grocery store, bought these meats raw, and some of the side dishes from a Korean market, I would have spent about $60 to make the food. We spent $80 at the restaurant before tip, and didnt have to do dishes, cut veggies, or clean a grill. There were far more options than we were able to order, not even counting the hot pot option, and dessert was included, although basic (jello, coconut tapioca soup, and cake squares).

Overall Impression I would consider visiting again, maybe hot pot during the winter, if you are super hungry you can get your moneys worth. But compared to other Korean BBQ's Ive been to in other towns, this one has room for improvement. They didnt excel in any particular area. I felt cramped when walking round, trips to the sauce bar were lengthy, isles were narrow, and employees were pushing large carts down them.

Service: 7.5/10 Flavor: 8.5/10 Value: 8.5/10 Variety:...

Eating at this restaurant made me feel like I was in a race.

1.This restaurant cannot accommodate tables over 8, my party was 11. If my party was smaller this might have gone better. Honestly they shouldn't have taken the reservation, the table only has enough hotpot burners for 8 people but we HAD to pay for hotpot for 11 people! I understand it's policy then say you cannot accommodate parties over 8. We were squeezed in a table meant for 8 people, there was no room for anything. Staff came through on occasion to remove plates and ask if anything was needed. Not as often as needed considering we had no space to eat. I had to hold the plate in my hand while eating then stack the dirty dishes on the side. The table was filled with trash, items were falling on the floor and the restaurant was too packed to even notice.

You are given 2 hours at a table. For this policy management should consider adding a timer to each table. Staff can start the timer once everyone is seated and fair time is kept. Our reservation was for 5:30 we were not seated until 6. By 7:17 the water was telling us its time to start wrapping up, as we were eating we start discussing the check with the waiter. Either our 2 hour time started at 5:30 or wait staff is encouraged to speed guest along after 1 hour. Also none of this information was given when our reservation was made.

NO receipt was provided, you have the option to email it but this was never said. The waiter was rushing, so if you weren't familiar with the system or didn't know you wouldn't as the waiter didn't have time to explain anything.

No napkin dispenser on the table so you have to hope to flag someone down who has napkins to give you. The napkins provided were so cheap they barely did the job. Each time you asked you were given 5 - 10 napkins which you used 3 at a time because they were so thin.

Hotpot broth was warm water with some seasoning, maybe I did it wrong but the taste was disappointing. I asked others as they had different broth and it was the same. No soup spoon was provided to suck up the broth. And you had to eat out of the pot everything was cooked in and some people had to share. Not enough broth was provided to even cook everything and you couldn't find staff to refill it. The refill came as we were leaving

FOOD: This is what hurt the most, if the food was 5 stars I would deal with the rest. The food was subpar, the best part was the sauce I made to dip the meat in(which I couldn't eat most of because it was sooooooo chewy) Whether I used the grill or dipped it in the hotpot broth the meat was tough to eat. The grill wasn't hot enough and at one point shut off. we had to cook the meat longer than normal due to this. I didn't even notice until a waiter walking by stopped and said let me adjust the heat of your grill(this was at 7) even the veggies wouldn't cook right. It's so sad we spent $530.00 to be rushed and eat under tough food :(

I do not blame staff, I did not complain, paid for my food tipped (included gratuity and added extra) I blame management. If they never took our reservation in the first place we could have gone to a place that could accommodate 11 people. Information regarding 2 hour table limit, the whole table having to get hotpot if 1 person wants it, included gratuity and the table only being able to accommodate 8 people should have been given at the time the...

Date of visit was 11/01/2023. Very good food with lots of selection if willing to pay the requested price. I will not say this place is overpriced at all. You get what you pay for but be prepared to pay anywhere from $40-$50 per adult and around $20 per child. Food was fresh and I loved the tom yum broth and the amount of available sauces, recipes, spices, bowls, plates, and utensils available by the sauce bar. The staff can also get items for you if you forgot or simply can't walk back and forth. My waitress was kind enough to get me oil as well as salt and pepper upon request- she advised me where they were but then offered to get them for me. Excellent customer service.

The one sore point is the atmosphere. First, there are not exhaust tubes for any smoke, steam, or vapor created by the food. Meaning that if you (or a neighboring table) accidentally burns food then expect the surrounding area to smell like smoke or caramelized meats. I left the restaurant with my entire outfit smelling like smoke and food so if you're plan is to eat here before an expected event, I would suggest not doing so.

The biggest spot on the record is just the amount of noise created by the staff wanting to celebrate birthdays. This is less a "it's annoying" complaint but more of a "this is very loud and kind of uncomfortable" thing. Be it a staff idea or rule of the restaurant, staff members will literally yell "HEY EVERYONE! GUESS WHOSE BIRTHDAY IT IS?" and then start a song for the birthday person at the table. While not normally a problem, just imagine this taking place 4-5 times during your meal. Maybe once every 10-15 minutes. Not trying to sound like a wet blanket but my table literally had to cease conversation to allow the song and dance to occur before we could start speaking again. Having the yelling occur at a table next to mine was actually painful and I had to cover my ears.

The KPOT kuma mascot costume, while cute, was also just kind of awkward? I don't know. I waved and stuff and people took pics but it also kinda seemed like the staff member it suit didn't really know what to do or how to interact with tables that were 100% adults. It was just... A LOT to handle while trying to eat a meal.

Overall, great food and great staff. They even ask you if you have a specials occasion, which is how they figure out its a table for a birthday.

If you have any sensitivity with sound/yelling, or kids with sound sensitivities, this might be an uphill battle, however I would still recommend this restaurant. I will be back (but maybe with...