Kirin Asian BBQ and Hot Pot

Ting was probably one of the best servers we've ever had. Our first time to a Korean bbq - Ting explained everything so clearly and her suggestions of items to get were perfect. What a great experience ! Thank you!!

They give you the food and you cook it yourself. It tastes so good. You don't realize how much you're eating. If you are like me, you end up getting a diet soda after eating like a pig! I am going to return to this place on my day off so I can relax after overfilling myself.

Loved this hot pot and BBQ! You have the option todo one or the other or both. Decided todo both to try the different meats. The popcorn chicken appetizer was great but probably wouldn't get it again. Service was fast bringing out the meats too. You can keep ordering as much food as you want. Some of the foods they had were pork belly (really delicious), lobster balls, quail eggs, calamari, shrimp dumplings, etc. Pick between ramen or rice. Any mass amount of food not finished is charged extra for wasting. The pricing is average compared to other hot pots. Parking is no issue to worry about. Had a wonderful time, looking forward to coming back.

Very excited to see that another Asian hotpot restaurant opened up around Hartford to Springfield area, where previously there was only one choice, the Han hotpot in west Hartford. The concept of having Korean BBQ option for $5 extra is very appealing. However, it's easily said than done, the K BBQ took forever to heat up, the food cooked wasn't as yummy as I hoped. It's also missing the famous Korean short ribs, along with 7 of 10 meat items are reserved for dinner only. The hot pot meats are also not as yummy, maybe it's the sauce? It's missing two key ingredients for making Beijing style sauce, the leek flower paste & the fermented Tofu. Overall, I find that I prefer one great option over two good options, so Han hotpot will continue to be my go to but Kirin is a welcome addiction for sure, & the lunch hotpot is All you can eat for the same price as Han. BTW, awesome front curb appeal with those giant Kirins! Last but not the least, the waitress, who's not a Chinese lady, was very nice & kind!

TLDR; My wife and I dropped by for dinner and had a great time. Good food, modern facilities and great service. We dropped by on a whim because my wife was craving hot pot. They had both BBQ and hot pot options, but we weren't particularly hungry, so we just went for hot pot, but would definitely like to try BBQ as well. Restaurant itself: The restaurant looked very new and clean and had a very young and relaxed ambiance. The floor was a bit slippery, but not as big of a deal as some patrons made it out to be. Bathroom was clean as well (at least the men's room was). Sauce bar: It was clean and had lots of options, and even had some suggested mixes for those unfamiliar. They had some fruits and desserts here and even had free honeydew and strawberry milk tea! Being Korea, I always try kimchi and am usually always disappointed, but Kirin had actually pretty good kimchi that would be more accessible to non-Koreans/people who haven't had kimchi before, so this was a nice surprise. The only thing I wish it had were raw eggs so I could mix the yolk into the sauce, but it's not uncommon to not have it at AYCE places. Seats/tables: The table we were sat at was in between 2 other tables. And the seats are those long couches that face both ways so that you're connected to the other party behind you. The couches were pushed so far into the table where we were sat due to the parties on either side of our table pushing the couch back. As a result, we were unable to sit in one of the seats because it was pressed right up against the table and even the other one was a rather tight fit. But we fit and we were hungry, so we just sat and ate. The tables are large. Service: Service was amazing. The server was so attentive, she made her round what must have been every few minutes so that we could (and did) flag her down really easily whenever we wanted something else. And even without flagging her down, she checked in very often to ensure everything was good. This is not the typical AYCE experience that I've had in the past and it was even better than some upscale a la carte hot pot places I've been to in Boston. Kudos to the server! Hot pot: The actual hot pot is great. Everyone gets their own hot pot, so everyone can choose their own broth out of the many they have. I had szechuan and wife had kirin special. Both broths were great. My wife isn't a huge fan of mushroom and despite kirin special supposedly having some mushroom in it, it wasn't overwhelming and she thoroughly enjoyed it. Meats: We ordered beef belly, pork belly, lamb, kobe beef, and prime brisket. The lamb was very lean, so it was a bit tough, but everything else was really good. My wife's favorite was kobe beef, but for me, everything but lamb was pretty much equal. Non-meats: We got lobster ball, qual eggs, tripe, dumping, fish cakes, and fried tofu skin. They were all good. Nothing to complain about. They didn't have the freezer burn smell as they do at some places and wasn't too salty. All in all, this was a great experience and my wife prefers this place over Spring Shabu up in Boston hands down. The fact that Spring Shabu has crazy wait times makes this place even more enticing for us. We'll definitely be back to try more hot pot and the BBQ.