Park’s Hot Pot

Just had dinner here and it was delicious. The service was fantastic as well.
In the evening they serve only hot pot or soup. The hot pot they serve is similar to Korean BBQ in that everyone shares the pot, it’s not an individual cook your own dish type thing. It’s great because it adds to the communal experience that you have when dining with others. You choose which cut of beef you want (prime rib, flat iron, brisket), the type of broth (veggie, beef, spicy), and the kind of noodles you want (ramen, udon, glass, thin, etc.). The side dishes are brought out first, then the veggies, then the meat, and then the noodles. It’s all you can eat when it comes to the side dishes and vegetables, for the meat it is one tray per person. Our total for two people was $ 50. We ate the beef broth and brisket.

I don’t know about the other foods served here but I came around lunch time with co workers. I had the bulgogi lunch special and honestly, I think it wasn’t too bad. They give you a fish, some side dishes, bulgogi and your own dwen Jang jigae. I enjoyed it and will be coming back for some more.

Apparently it’s owned by the same folks at parks BBQ. Went on Saturday at 7pm and the place was half empty? Why? Because the food is average and overpriced. Very clean though. Service was spotty. Meat was ok, unlimited veggies were ok. Just nothing special. And the dipping sauces were gross. I ate the meat with no sauce since it was so bad. I’m still waiting to find a good shabu shabu place west of Downtown.

Seafood casserole was mediocre at best. $ 25 per person for some frozen seafood, not the best deal or taste.

I feel like this place was open for few months at least but was surprised that there was no information about it on Unilocal yet! So after contemplating on what kind of soup I was really craving for dinner on this cold night, I decided to check out this place because 1) they advertised this place as Park’s Tang/​Soup/​JeonGol which was exactly what I was craving & 2) because Park’s BBQ on Vermont is one of my favorite Korean restaurants and Park’s sister restaurants MUST be good.
Upon arriving, parking was self-​parking on a Sunday night which is always a bonus.
You do have to climb up many stars up to get to the restaurant, so make sure to focus and not roll down.
As soon as I go in, I noticed that their main item is actually «hot pot», not Korean tang/​jeongol like I expected.
Overall, the menu is small. Their main item is the hot pot where you can choose from three different kinds of meat (which will decide your total price), choose from three different soup bases (vegetable, meat, spicy), then choose your noodle options and any additional add-​ons of your choice. For this and their two jeongol types (kimchi dumpling & seafood tofu), you need to order minimum 2 orders per table. They also had Korean pancakes, small order of dumplings (kimchi & vegetable) that comes out with 4pcs of dumplings, Korean bulgogi & several different types of Kalbi-​Tang (original, dumpling, ricecake, soojaebi & spicy).
Because I just had shabu shabu few days ago and I wasn’t feeling hot pot just yet, we decided to order two of their spicy kalbi-​tang which was pretty much kalbitang + yookgaejang. This was good, because Park’s BBQ has awesome kalbitang to begin with. The flavor was on point and there was plenty of kalbi meat in the soup. But I felt that they lacked the side dish options for a non-​Korean BBQ place. I mean, I understand that Park’s BBQ has limited banchans beacuse their main focus is obviously the meat, but wanted just few more options from here. We also ordered their dumpling which arrived almost at the end of our meal and didn’t stand out.
I will have to come back and try their hot pot to see if their broth and meat really makes this place extra special, but for the time being, this place is a-​ok*** and I am not a fan**** just yet.