Anybody been here yet ? opinions? Yelp review is mixed bag.
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So assuming this place is like most of the other KBBQ+HotPot places, they will be very good overall but the KBBQ experience will be lacking compared to “specialist” places.
I’ve personally found that doing both BBQ+Hotpot is one of those “too much of a good thing” experiences, just too much shit going on in front of you to fully enjoy either. It’s like trying to masturbate and have sex at the same time.
Either way I’m super psyched for this place and will definitely be checking it out! Yay hot pot!!
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Went here tuesday night. Decor is very pleasant with contempo vibe. Big screen TVs by the bar, place was maybe 60-70% capacity. Planned to order the AYCE BBQ but waitress said Hot Pot add on was only a few dollars more. Jumped on it. The ordering part for me was very confusing. everything is done on an Ipad which offers pictures but no descriptions. There is a very pleasant hostess who tries to explain the process but the noise level made it diffcult to hear. You order 4 items per person on Ipad and they bring it out. After they bring it out you can order again. With 6 people on the table with each one not knowing what the other was doing it. Chaos ensued. What items went into hotpot? what items went on grill? who ordered this? where is item I ordered? Food was at same level of other Korean BBQ AYCE that I’ve been too. I think if you try this, go with a small group and include someone who has been to similar IPad menu system. Overall they seem to be trying to be too many things at once.
Sportsbar, Hot Pot , AYCE…If you like all 3 of these things at once I guess give it a try.
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This is definitely a place I will be trying sometime soon. It sounds promising. And this will also be one of the few Asian place with liquor license.
When to Japan over the winter and a few restaurant has IPad ordering system… so i think that’s a trend that will be here sooner or later.
The only one of this combo BBQ/Hot pot place I tried is Ocean Hot pot (i think that’s the name) in Piscataway. That place wasn’t all that good. It’s more like a buffet, you get your stuff for hot pot at the buffet area and the BBQ is more like the Mongolia BBQ wherer you pick the meat then they cook it up. You order the hot pot meat separately and they bring it to you.
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My father hated computers, and when the library switched to a computer catalog, he stopped going.
I don’t hate computers, but I hate computer menu ordering. I will tolerate it at a fast-food restaurant, but have no desire to go to a “full-service” restaurant and have to deal with it.
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which one is hot pot and which one is BBQ 
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So half my family went for lunch today. Tonight is their official Grand Opening party with live music and discounts on alcohol so we thought we would avoid all the hoopla. Still, it was pretty crowded at lunch. We did the combo bbq and hot pot and we stayed about 1 and a half hours.
So, this is definitely not a quick lunch (or dinner). Even figuring out what to order can take a while as there are a lot of choices, from hot pot broth to things to put into it. As stated above, everything is ordered by tableside iPads so I let the younguns handle it.
They start with some banchan:
The kimchi in the front is medium hot and ordinary, but both of the pickles next to it were good. The seaweed salad in the back was the usual one, and the pickles next to it were a good mix of sweet and hot. If anyone knows what that white mass is next to it let me know.
We also got an appetizer of spicy rice cakes:
They did have some heat, but besides the heat they were kind of boring. We got one seafood broth and one tomato broth and proceeded to fill them with jumbo shrimp, pork belly, beef belly, and assorted veggies, noodles, and tofu:
We preferred the seafood broth, but there were also a lot of other options we may explore next time. We dove right into the bbq with spicy beef bulgogi, garlic shrimp, and spicy pork bulgogi:
I liked their marinade well enough, but the real fun was yet to come. They had a wide range of unseasoned meats and a sauce bar that was very cool. Each ingredient was labelled and there were small bowls to put your creation into. I went with sugar, sesame oil, fresh jalapeno, fresh garlic, brisket sauce, oyster sauce, and red pepper paste. I mashed it all up and covered a mass of beef and pork with it:
This was really good. After devouring it all, we saw they had ribeye and pork cheek, two of my favorite meats. The ribeye was a very nice piece of meat with cap meat attached and I am upset I didn’t stop to get a pic, but here’s the plate of pork cheek:
Ok, so breaking this down, the all-you-can-eat combo of bbq and hot pot comes to about $40 pp all in on the weekends. I would have to say that this is well worth it in terms of quality and quantity of food, they even have a freezer full of small containers of Hershey ice cream for dessert. They also have plenty of staff, erring on the side of too many vs too few. This is a very good thing as there is a lot of work to be done by the eater. From ordering on the iPad to cooking the food properly, this is a participation sport. I wouldn’t suggest the clueless eat here. Heck, you could easily get at least a mild case of the runs from undercooked food.
This is where we should have a HODown.
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This was exactly my impression after eating at The Melting Pot. The health department will come into my kitchen and stick a thermometer everywhere they can to make sure food is being kept at proper temperatures. At a Melting Pot they drop raw meat and fish on a table with an uneducated public to do with as they please!?!?!
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Haha this is pretty funny. I have a friend (who is an “experienced” eater) who claims to always get the runs after going to hot pot. His wife came with us last time and had a gigantic AYCE feast while she laughed at his diarrhea condition… the next day, apparent she also got hit by it. 
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INSERT your own joke here …
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And I would be happy to give them MY recipe for spicy rice cakes:
I prefer slices to tubes as you can see. From last night’s dinner; slow cooked baby back ribs , one rack bbq and one maple pepper, spicy rice cakes with mushrooms and water chestnuts, squash casserole with preserved lemon and real parmigiano reggiano, and a Patti Labelle sweet potato pie. One could never eat such a meal at a restaurant.
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until you open one 
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Nice report Dave. I looked online but didn’t see it. How much is the BBQ vs hot pot? (So not the combo)
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It was I think $3 more for the combo. The real savings come with eating during the week, and especially eating lunch vs dinner. I think weekday lunch is about $10 less than the weekend meals.
Wow. That lunch sounds like a bargain for ayce bbq!
I’m game if you can round any people up for a weekend hodown or maybe we can wait until after labor day.
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I dined there last Saturday night.
We have 11 people. We arrived around 6pm and have to wait 35 - 40 min for a table.
They do take your phone# down and will text you when the table is ready.
It’s my first time there and the waitress told us there is no more self ordering with iPad.
I enjoyed it there. Dinner is $28 per person which includes AYCE bbq and hotpot. It’s well worth it if you have a decent appetite especially for meat. The quality of the seafood were not good compared with the meat.
For BBQ - i like there short ribs (kalbi) and pork belly.
For hot pot, my faves are lamb, beef, and the crispy fish skin and bean curd.
The place is nice and clean and pretty loud (which is expected). It has a liquor license so no BYOB.
It also has a pretty impressive sauce bar for you to concoct your own sauce for hot pot and bbq.
Definitely worth a try and skip a meal before you go.
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Do you actually order the broth from the kitchen or is it at the buffet?
There is little but sauces and dessert on the buffet. Everything is brought to your table as you order it.
