It’s not hot pot season. Most days this summer have been in the triple digits. Walking outside in Dallas right now will leave you drenched in sweat. So sticking your face in a boiling pot of soup might be the last thing you want.
But give Seapot in Plano a chance. The restaurant opened last spring, and it’s the fourth location for the chain and first outside of California. The specialties are hot pot—a dish that involves cooking meats and vegetables in a boiling soup base—and Korean barbecue.
There’s been a lot of chatter about Seapot since it debuted, most of which is about its very good all-you-can-eat deal. Monday through Friday, lunch is $19.99 a person for hot pot or Korean barbecue. It’s an extra $5 if you want both. For dinner and all day Saturday and Sunday, it’s $29.99 per person. Most hot pot or Korean barbecue spots either charge per plate or at least $40 for all-you-can-eat.
On a recent Saturday for lunch—it was only 90 degrees at lunch—I walked into Seapot with a group of friends and was stunned at the massive space. On the left, you’ll find a full bar, lounge area, and an artificial flower wall that I can only assume is for Instagram photos. The sauce and salad bar are on the right. The dining space has four sections of booths capped with an electric fireplace. Each section of booths features a revolving conveyor belt that runs the length of each section. Seapot can hold an impressive number of customers.
In the booths, hot plates designate how many people can squeeze in. I saw anywhere from four to 10 per booth. My party had six people and we comfortably fit into a booth meant for 10. If we had any more people, it might have been too tight.
We chose the hot pot option, which appeared to be the day’s most popular choice. (I’ll have to go back for Korean barbecue at some point; I wasn’t brave enough to tackle both.) There are eight soup bases to choose from: spicy house, miso, healthy herb, Thai, spicy miso, mushroom, pork stomach and pepper soup, and kimchi soup.
The meat options are standard, with classics like rib eye, beef brisket, and pork shoulder. A la carte options include wagyu ($5 apiece), lobster tail ($16.99 each), live crab (market price), and more. All the meats must be ordered at the table, and they’re limited to one order per person. Meat can be reordered after it’s all gone, but the restaurant says the policy is to help reduce food waste.
At the salad and sauce bar, customers are welcome to follow the sauce recipes on the wall. Each little compartment is filled with soy and peanut sauce bases, sliced green onions, minced garlic, crushed chiles, and more. (I did not follow a recipe on the wall, and the sauce I made was seriously Not Good.)
Veggies, noodles, seafood, and more are delivered on the conveyor belt. Folks sitting at the innermost part of the booth are tasked with snagging the plates from the belt for the rest of the table. If you’re prone to either not paying attention or are a little anxious, this is not the best seat for you. It happened to be where I was sitting, which was just fabulous for me.
After getting our soups and waiting for our individual pots to heat up—you can control the temperature on the edge of the table directly in front of you—it was go time. We grabbed all the Bok choy, cabbage, shrimp, noodles, tofu, corn, meatballs, and dumplings we could from the belt. If I wasn’t sweating because of the weather, I was sweating at this point.
Each person dumped what they wanted into their pots while simultaneously yelling to the conveyor belt when they eyed something coming down the line. There’s a carnival and gimmicky aspect to it all once you really get going.
My soup base was spicy miso, an umami-flavored broth that works well for beginners. Once the soup was boiling, the thinly sliced meats cooked quickly and the veggies softened. Fish your desired food out of the pot and give it a quick little blow before taking a bite.
Ideally, I would have dipped my food into a sauce that actually tasted good, but I didn’t mind because the soup added the right amount of flavor. The noodles took the longest to boil because they’re dry, so my advice would be to add them in at the beginning of the meal. Fair warning: the noodles will fill you up the fastest.
Besides leaving happy, full, and about 30 bucks poorer, the best part was that each person crafted their meal to their own liking. During a shared hot pot meal, it’s common to have one or two soup bases between a group. Everyone dips into the same pot, so it’s likely you’ll see a piece of meat taken right out from under your nose. Seapot eliminates that problem and works well for big groups.
Seapot doesn’t take reservations unless you’ve booked its private room. We showed up at noon on a Saturday and waited about 10 minutes for our entire group to show up. By the time we left at around 1:30 p.m., there was a decent wait.
I know it’s summer, so hot pot isn’t the food of the hour. Once winter hits, I’m sure Seapot will be packed. But I think I’ll go back next week.
Seapot Plano, 1900 N. Central Expy., Plano.
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