Seapot Hot Pot & KBBQ

Where do I even begin? I have received nothing but welcoming vibes and great hospitality from the moment I was seated all the way til I left the front door. Staff. AMAZING. Management. FLAWLESS. Food. IMPECCABLE. You should should really try the Thai pot soup and paired with the collar butt, it just melts in your mouth. If I could afford it everyday, I would. The interior is aesthetically pleasing. Wine houses, flames, marble, and black walls. It really sets up a good mood for their guests. However, I strongly recommend getting a reservation, as walk-in waits can be long, but everything else was worth it. PLEASE GIVE IT A TRY ! ! !

super amazing experience for hot pot, to be able to choose any hot pot meat, as well as any veggies and add ons. I started of with the curry soup, but I was not a fan of it, I was able to exchange, and the waiter even agreed with me that the curry one was not a popular one and people usually end up sending it back, so I appreciate our server for doing that for me, I ended up going with a classic which is the miso one, broth is really good, and all their selections where very nice, I love the meat options they had for the hot pot, but my favorite was the collar butt and the lamb. We didn't choose korean bbq, just because I know that would get me too full, but to do both options it does cost more. Super fun place to eat at when you want a variety of things, there is a long wait usually, so get on the yelp waitlist on the phone, or you have to sign up in person which may take even longer, even if the party is big or small.

I usually go to the San Mateo location but not this one is more convenient and also yummy. Ups and downs but it is one of my go to spots so I'll give it a 5.

This location is way bigger than the other one. That makes it very very very slow though. Like they have too many customers compared to their staff. We had to wait a long time for the beef but the waiter was super nice about it and let us put an order in right when we got the previous one.

I usually only get beef and lamb but my friends wanted to try the pork belly and the collar butt and it was actually good and quite lean. The meat is quite inconsistent from round to round, but this tends to be the issue with all you can eat places. The Angus prime was sort of grainy, it was a really strange texture. The brisket came out lean a few times and then one time it was really well marbled. Selection on the conveyor belt is good. The lamb is not gamey and sometimes we thought it would be so that was good. Sauce bar was good. The only thing is we didn't see the fried sesame balls like the other location. Because the meat was so backed up and took so long, the waiter did bring out some sesame balls without us even asking. So I don't know if maybe they usually have it or if it's an extra.

This place has gotten increasingly popular over the past year, so go early if you don't want to wait! Waited about 1.5 hours on a Wednesday night when checking in at 6:30pm and waited only 15 minutes on a Friday night when checking in at 5:30pm. Been here multiple times and sometimes the Yelp wait time is accurate, sometimes it's not. I've seen a wait time say 200 minutes, but our table was ready after only 30. Conversely, I've also had experiences where an estimated 60 minute wait was actually a 60 minute wait.

I prefer the hot pot over the KBBQ here, since the quality and taste is superior. I always get the miso soup and ask for the spicy house chili on the side to put in. Flavorful and just to my liking. I'm someone who loves spicy food but even the house spicy soup is too much for me, which is why I ask for the chili on the side. For hot pot meats, I order beef toro, pork belly, brisket, angus prime, rib eye, and collar butt. Definitely recommend getting the toro and angus prime. My friends like the toro so much we ordered almost 15 plates of it once for a party of 7. The conveyor belt has all your hot pot assortments you'd need and is easy to grab. They have ran out of a few items some of the times I've gone here, so try not to go too late in order to avoid that.

For the grill, I've gotten the pork belly, steak, shrimp, bulgogi, and jowl. None of the meats particularly stand out to me and I'm ok with getting just the hot pot option sometimes instead of both.

No complaints about service any time I've gone here. Probably would've given 5 stars if the KBBQ was a little better and if they had rice paper and japchae on the menu. Overall, this is somewhere I always enjoy going and haven't been disappointed by (other than when they run out of udon).

I tried booking a reserving online the day prior but if you are a party less than 5 people then they ask that you just walk in. Went around 5:45pm on a Sunday evening and there was quite a bit of people. I was a bit confused when I went inside not knowing how to check in. There were 2 guys standing in the front. One looked a bit busy and one who wasn't doing anything/didn't bother assisting us. The busy one helped us after a few minutes and asked us to stand to the side. We were seated in less than 5 minutes. Pretty happy the wait time wasn't too long.

I really love the interior of the place - clean and modern looking! Most of the tables are booths and very spacious. You also get very easy access to the conveyer belt too (if you sit in the inside that is)! Some of the food on the conveyer belt didn't look too fresh. They put about 3 plates of the same ingredients on the conveyer belt and one dish would look slightly better. Other times, you just got to wait and be lucky if a fresher dish would come out. For instance, the pumpkin I saw were all smushed up. I was waiting for someone to take one so that another fresh one would be placed on but I guess it was too nasty looking that no one got it. A little bummer here. I wish that they would observe the dishes a little bit better and change it out once in a while. Such as, the potatoes. They were all dark. They should try to keep their ingredients looking fresh as possible, but what I did like is the portions of the sides. Perfect size for me so that I don't waste anything.

Onto the meats! Very impressed by the quality of the meats. For hotpot, we ordered the Beef Toro, Rib Eye, Collar Butt, and Natural Angus Prime. Definitely get the Natural Angus Prime! It just melts in your mouth. For BBQ, we ordered pork belly, pork jowl (if you never had pork jowl, then you must try this. Top down the best dish for BBQ!), finger short rib, premium brisket, house special steak, and beef tongue (very surprised by the quality of their beef tongue. Often times, I have a hard time chewing beef tongue but this was definitely so easy to eat!)

Some tips - make sure you don't go too crazy when ordering your meats! I wish I took my time because I was too nervous about the 1.5hr limit. I guess they aren't too harsh on the time here as compared to other restaurants. We ordered too much hot pot meat that I felt like I didn't get to enjoy the kbbq as much as I wanted to. I wanted to order some Galbi short ribs but didn't get a chance this time.

For the drinks, please note that only sodas are refillable. Other drinks, besides water, are non-refillable.

Service was pretty good overall. Our waiter checked up on us frequently and asked if we needed any more meats or broth.

Price - Hot Pot or BBQ $28.99. BOTH +$5.

Seapot is one of my favorite hotpot places to eat before COVID, why?

1.) AYCE with good meat (enough said)
2.) Conveyor belt system where you can pick out what veggies and other hot pot yummies you want to eat
3.) You get your own cooktop and pot

Yesterday was the first time I came back after COVID and while they no longer use the conveyor belt system (for obvious reasons), it was still such a fun evening of overstuffing myself

The restaurant right now offers both indoor and outdoor seating. Opted for indoors since it was so cold and felt very safe and well distanced from the other ppl there.

The staff was very attentive and fast. You order your broth and meats from the server and then you scan a QR code to order veggies, sauces, and other items from your mobile phone.

The prices are really reasonable for either hot pot or Korean BBQ and you pay just $5 more for both.

The meat options were plenty and all very fresh. Highly recommend the lamb and the collar butt in particular as it has a nice balance of lean and fatty parts.

Will definitely be back, but probably not soon. Need to work off all that food I ate yesterday

Rating - 5 Stars

Happened to come by during their soft opening and thankfully their food matches up to their decor. Everything was great, from food to service, and from a price to quality standpoint, it's definitely one of the better hot pot places I've been to.

Lunch is only $19 for hot pot OR KBBQ (+$5 for both) during weekdays and it's so worth it! I only opted for hot pot so my review will be just based on that.

Soups - Flavorful (I got Healthy Herb) and individual so everyone's able to get the one they want.

Meat - Got Berkshire Pork, Lamb, and Ribeye. All good quality and on the leaner side, but better than being super fatty like how some other places serve. After all, we're paying for meat, not fat. Didn't try Pork Belly, but I did try Beef Toro (aka Beef Belly) which was a good balance of meat and fat so I assume their Pork Belly would potentially be the same. They give a good portion of meat so no need to constantly wave down your server to ask for more. Angus Prime and Collar Butt were not available during lunch time.

Seafood/Veggies/Noodles/Sides/Sauces - They pretty much offer all the quintessential hot pot items and they're all ordered via a QR code on the table. So once again, no need to constantly wave down your server. And also, just like the meats, these were all good quality too!

They seem to also have pretty good ventilation as well. Can't attest to how well it'd work for KBBQ, but hot pot it did the job just right.

Overall had a great experience and I've already recommended this place to several others. Hopefully quality doesn't suffer too much once they fully open and things get more hectic. For now, I'll happily be coming back!

Also, they're still in soft opening so they obviously have some kinks to work out, but some improvements which I think would be beneficial:
- Mark on all the menus which items are only available during dinner time so we know up front and aren't disappointed when the server says we can't get that
- Ideally all the items accessed via QR have pictures cause sometimes the item will be an Asian name with no picture and we'd have no idea what it is
- Put the quantity that certain items comes as so we can order more accurately (e.g. Fruit (2), Sesame Ball (2), Fish Ball (3), etc.)
- PLEASE provide slotted ladles for hot pot. It makes fishing for items so much easier

First time at Seapot, I was pleasantly surprised. I came here with my family of 4 just for the hot pot and was expecting it to be like the old Little Hot Pot that was in Fremont pacific commons. It was a lot better. The variety of vegetables, noodles, seafood, and other items on the conveyor belt is more than enough to satisfy your full hot pot cravings. The meat selection and cuts are very high-quality. Each piece of meat is sliced so thinly and most were melt-in-your-mouth tender.

The only downside I have is they only filled up our soup pots once it was almost at the bottom, and it wasn't busy at the time. Service was good nonetheless. Overall, I highly recommend this place!

Highlights: pork belly (one of the best I've had in hot pot), birkshire pork, collar butt, ribeye, the wide egg? noodles, the sauce bar (has everything you'd need)

Chris and Kelly were really attentive servers. The meats were all super great quality and the slices were thicker than usual hotpot places. Make sure you try the beef toro and the collar butt, so good. A lot of variety, the seafood was really good too.

The only thing I thought was super wasteful was putting the sauce components into little to-go containers. So much plastic wasted, and you need multiple containers to make a decent dipping sauce. Sorry planet earth :(

Hot pot is one of my comfort foods. And AYCE is even better. Everyone sits near the conveyor belt and you can pick up what you want - veggies, noodles, seafood, tofu, mushrooms, etc. The only thing you need to order from the people is the soup base and the meat. Also you can also get Kbbq added on or by itself. It's not bad - $5 to add it on. And if one person in your party wants kbbq and you want hot pot, everyone has to get the combo, which makes sense since it's AYCE and you can share, Dinner and lunch has different types of meats available. And the prices are pretty decent for AYCE. There is a pretty good sauce bar too where you can mix up what you want. And there's some fruit too. If only they had an ice cream/soft serve machine, that would make it a perfect meal. They do have macaron ice cream for sale/extra. I've been here a couple times now - once with just hot pot and once with both since one of us wanted kbbq. We luckily had no wait both times but when we left, there was groups waiting (it was the weekend). So try to go at kinda off times. I tried the miso, tomato, and curry broth. I liked the tomato broth the best. The curry had a little kick at the end. My friend also got the thai, which they said was spicy and it was actually pretty mild. Another friend got the spicy and she found it super mouth numbing spicy. The staff added more regular broth to kinda make it less spicy and it helped. We tried to switch broths but they will charge $5 for it. For the meats, we had the ribeye, collar butt, pork belly, lamb, beef toro, angus prime - almost all except the chicken and it was pretty great. I'm a fan of the collar butt and the beef toro - both are more on the fatty side. Service can be a bit slow so order before you finish your first plate of meat. They will also fill up your broth bowl with plain broth too. So much variety of the stuff on the conveyor belt - it's easy to fill up on everything. It's a good and delicious splurge meal and I enjoy it every so often.

They recently opened back up for outdoor dining and my friends and I were excited to eat lots of food. We came around noon and were instantly seated. They have QR codes at each table for you to scan and put in an order. We decided to just do the AYCE hot pot and all chose the Thai Pot soup base, which was basically Tom Yum. We were a table of four and the server recommended ordering our food from two phones as you were limited to 10 items per order. We were allowed four choices of meat for each round and mainly got the New Zealand Lamb, Beef Toro, and Collar Butt. We did try the American Wagyu Beef once for an extra $5. I'm not a big meat fan, but I can say it was good. Super thin slices, but that's pretty typical. My favorite of course was the wagyu as it had the perfect marbling and tastiness. Everything else we ordered on the phone was usual hot pot sides of veggies, tofu, fish balls, noodles, etc. They were somewhat inconsistent with bringing out the food as my friend and I put in our order last but ended up getting all our sides first while our other friends has to wait awhile. Overall, we enjoyed our food, but there was no wow factor for the price we paid.