Rich S.
Yelp
We wanted something special for a friend's birthday (Nov 2025), and recently several of us had been to a KPOT restaurant in Fairfax, so we were thrilled to find one nearby in Catonsville, in the S*bux / Korean-grocery strip-mall with plenty of parking at the southwest corner of US-40 Baltimore National Pike and Rolling Road.
They have a great 12-4pm lunch special on weekdays, two-hours of grill-it-yourself All-You-Can-Eat Korean BBQ or Hot Pot (pho-like soup) for $21, (less for kids).
Arriving about 12:15pm, we were seated by the alert host with no wait. I think they could fit around 40 in booths for 4 to 6. There's a whole other area further in for maybe 50 more, with some tables for large groups. The room was lively with conversation and music.
We were immediately greeted by our attentive friendly fun server, Mahlah, who explained it all to us: menu choices and pricing, the wireless ordering-tablet, techniques for grilling, and the buffet appetizers and desserts. She lit the grill that is built into our table, and took our first order so we could start in as soon as we got back from the buffet.
At the buffet we filled a dish with nicely-fiery flavorful kimchee and a similar spicy mix with tofu. We got lettuce, carrot shreds, and fresh tomato chunks. Warm sesame-covered mochi-rice balls, lightly sweet and fresh with a chewy inside. Fresh hot finger-thin 2-inch spring-rolls, crispy and flakey with a little bit of veggies inside. I got small hot flakey crispy rangoon triangles filled with cream cheese with just a little crab-flavor. I ate a couple to manage that spicy kimchee and tofu :-). They had fries and breaded shrimp and chicken wings, too. We filled smaller bowls with several of their dozen or more flavorful sauces, from a KPOT signature red sweet bbq sauce, to a pretty-spicy red sauce, to a bowl of soy-sauce to which we added chives and onions and garlic and jalapeños and such. All very tasty and fresh.
The lunch-menu Korean BBQ offered a wide selection of meats and seafood and veg. Mahlah was always nearby, watchful for any requests, and brought our first course in mere minutes.
The "spicy" bulgogi beef was cut in medium-thick slices, maybe 1/8-in thick, and it cooked quickly while staying very juicy and very tender. The prime brisket was cut in thicker slabs, maybe 1/4-in, and it was marbled enough for good juicy flavor and tender texture even on this hot grill. We used the scissors to size it down for eating. The beef-belly was very thinly sliced, paper-thin, and it cooked up in a flash, getting a a slight crust like a well-done Italian porchetta. That took some practice to cook without almost evaporating it! The trick? The table-grill is hottest in the middle, so cook delicate foods around the edge of the grill. We had tender chunks and strips of juicy marinated garlic-chicken breast, and tender juicy good-sized garlic-shrimp, which were both very easy to grill. We tried some thick slices and long tangles of squid, and they were tasty but we didn't really figure out how to keep them tender, so we cut them up into smaller pieces with the scissors and marinated them in soy sauce which really enhanced the slight char.
We grilled sliced white onion, thin zucchini circles, chunks of fresh green peppers, thin tasty white oyster mushroom discs, and thicker chunks of peppers and portobello mushrooms.
On we go! We ordered twice more. An order of the thicker cuts of pork-belly, which came out like fancy not-salty bacon. Bright-red "spicy" (not very spicy) sweet juicy white-fish fillets, which cooked fast! Sweet tender "Hawaiian" bulgogi, which we spiced up with sauce from the buffet. More of those tasty garlic-shrimp. Probably a few more items that I'm not remembering right now.
For dessert we got some little chocolate ice cream and fruit-flavor sherbet cups from the freezer by the buffet, and chose tiny wooden spoons just for fun, instead of the available silverware. We got fresh fruit and a slice of light cake with a light creamy layer on top. Then Mahlah overheard one of us say "birthday"! She laughingly scolded us for not telling her sooner, quickly came back with a large wonderful slice of delicious super-light cheesecake with a candle, and happily sang Happy Birthday with us! It felt like another friend had joined us! Luckily, one who remembered the cake :-)
We ate for nearly two hours, until we couldnt eat any more! It was so much fun, and we chattered happily the whole time as we were adding to the grill or serving or sneaking tastes along the way :-). We thoroughly enjoyed our tasty flavorful generous meal. KPOT is a great fun place for fresh grill-it-yourself foods. There's five more KPOTs within 45min and several more within an hour. I had no idea! But this is the only location with Mahlah, our lovely friendly skillful server.