FOOD

The food at Top Pot & K BBQ is built around two parallel systems of abundance. Hot pot starts with broth and moves outward through meats, seafood, vegetables, mushrooms, noodles and dumpling-style additions. Korean barbecue works in the opposite direction: proteins take center stage, then sauces, banchan and grilled vegetables shape each bite. Choosing the combo brings both systems to the table at once, which is the restaurant’s clearest expression of itself.

Broth selection is unusually deep. Szechuan Hot Spicy and Szechuan Spicy Butter provide two routes into chile-driven richness, while Spicy Korean Broth moves in a different savory direction. Tom Yum brings brighter sourness and aromatics. Special Rib, Mix Mushroom Rib and Rejuvenation Herb broths lean more comforting and layered, while Miso, Tomato and Vegetable give the table gentler starting points. Ten-plus choices matter because each broth changes what makes sense to cook next.

The hot-pot side rewards texture as much as protein. Some of the most interesting choices are the ingredients that absorb broth: Japanese yam cake, fresh and phoenix mushrooms, bamboo shoots, potato and leafy greens. Beef balls filled with pork add a springier, more substantial bite. At dinner, blue crab gives the pot a premium seafood direction, with sweet, briny meat that fits especially well against a spicy or tomato-based broth.

On the Korean barbecue side, beef bulgogi is the natural anchor: thin marinated beef that caramelizes quickly and brings sweetness, soy and char together. Miso pork belly adds more fat and richness, especially when the edges are allowed to crisp. Beef, pork, chicken, seafood and vegetables broaden the grill beyond those two signatures, giving the table plenty of ways to change pace. The pleasure is in sequencing the rounds rather than loading the grill with everything at once.

The self-serve counter is where the two formats meet. Kimchi, spicy cucumber and seaweed salad provide cold, sharp breaks between richer bites, while the sauce station lets the same piece of grilled beef or the same mushroom from the pot land differently from one round to the next. That sauce-building step keeps the meal from becoming a procession of similar meats and turns personal preference into part of the cooking.

Dinner widens the field, with blue crab and phoenix mushrooms among the items specifically reserved for the later meal. The central decision remains whether to specialize in one cooking method or spend a little more for the combination. The combo is worth understanding as more than extra food: it creates contrast. A broth-soaked mushroom can follow crisp-edged pork belly; grilled beef can give way to something simmered in Tom Yum. That back-and-forth is where Top Pot feels most complete.

Bubble tea extends the flavor play in another direction, with jasmine milk green tea among the options in the ordering system. It is a useful sweet, cold counterweight to chile-heavy broths and grilled meats. By the end, Top Pot’s strongest food idea is not one signature dish but controlled variety: build a broth, build a sauce, work the grill, change textures, and keep adjusting the next round.