HOWPOT — Restaurant in Seattle

All of these 4-5 star reviews have to be fake or paid for. Let me start by saying: I have been to many bad resturants in my life. This one was by far the WORST resturant I have ever been to during my years on planet earth. Let me explain.

I go to this resturant with 2 friends. We are excited to try a Hot Pot/ KBBQ concept. Reviews look good, tik toks are showing positive sentiment, my friends are big eaters so we are excited for a great time. We waited for about 30 minutes and went outside for a bit because it was getting hot. When I saw the OKAY food safety rating I should have known to leave.

We finally get sat down and go the food bar. Not bad selection, shrimp dumpling was not bad. Went to the sauce bar to create a sauce for my meats. The sauce options were horrific.

Okay forget everything else about the resturant. Now the hot pot comes and the meats. The hot pot broth tasted like sewer water. The fried rice (it is humanely impossible to mess up fried rice this badly) tasted like garbage. The meat quality was horrific and tasted even worse than the rice. I cannot reiterate how bad the food tasted here.

We had 1 bite of all the meats we ordered. Asked for the bill and got up politely leaving all our food on the table. I would rather go hungry than get food poisoning from this resturant. It was so bad we were contemplating making a comment but rather than cause a scene we just paid for our meal. The workers looked confused why we were leaving without eating our food but didn’t ask why/if everything is okay.

DO not go to this resturant. All the reviews are either paid for or straight up lying. 0/10 need to report this resturant to the city for examination because it...

Originally, we reached out to ask about their lunch and dinner menu prices. The staff informed us that the $29.99 lunch menu ended at 4 PM and that after that you had to pay for the dinner menu ($39.99(?)). A few days later (on a Tuesday), we called ahead around 2 PM to make a reservation for three people at 3:30 PM. They told us that reservations were only available for parties of four or more but assured us they weren’t busy and that we could be seated right away. This wasn’t an issue for us, so we decided to go.

However, upon arrival, the staff told us we were too late for the lunch menu and would be charged for the dinner menu—despite arriving before 4 PM. When we asked if we could place our orders before 4 PM to qualify for the lunch price, they said we would need to both order AND pay before 4 PM. So in the end, we had to pay the dinner price, which was disappointing. They have pieces of parchment paper on the BBQ grill which kinda traps the oil and makes the food taste greasy. The food itself was mediocre at best—not worth the cost, we tried all the beef, lamb, and most of the sides. The quality was pretty low, and you’d be better off going to Haidilao or Gen KBBQ in Tukwila instead. Popcorn machine, cotton candy machine, and ice cream machine were all also broken to our disappointment. The concept of the restaurant is nice, but personally will not be returning.

EDIT: Two of us ended up feeling nauseous the rest of the night and one of us might’ve gotten food poisoning. Definitely will not be...

Update! Overall Rating: 5/5. We came back a 2nd time and had good diners around us. We are already planning our 3rd visit! We were excited to learn this was a combo KBBQ and Hot Pot experience. So we had to go! Price points definitely worth it, about 40 per person for all you can eat for 90 minutes. And boy they bring food out quick, you order everything from a tablet and can just keep ordering. We tried all the meat and seafood options, all were tasty, the sauce bar was fun good choices for mixing your own sauce. They also have self serve drinks, dessert, and rice / braised pork! We left very full. After 5pm they have free parking across the street so that's a plus for downtown Seattle. Our only cons were: the food tables are close together. We unfortunately got sat next to 4 college girls and could hear all their conversations the entire meal, so that's a bit of a downside, but it gave us time to focus on our food. I wouldn't recommend this as an intimate dining experience, but if you just wanna eat till you roll out of there this is the spot! The owner was very nice and gave us a coupon for our next visit. We will...