Restaurant Review: Genghis Khan Mongolian Grill

Genghis Khan Mongolian Grill
900 Don Mills Road
North York, ON M3C 1V6

A few weeks ago, a friend of my mentioned about going to eat at Mongolian Grill at Pacific Mall.  I was excited about the idea since I haven't been there for about 5-6 years.  At the time of making a reservation, we decided to try the one in North York Location, it is at the major intersection of Eglinton Ave and Don Mills Rd.  From the outside as you walk in you can see through the glass window that it wasn't busy on a thursday night at 7.  They had a LCD screen displaying their take out food and a few pictures of the inside.  The price is posted on the door as you entered, and the total bill per person came out to $27 after tip without any beverages.




Photo: Restaurant Atmosphere

If you haven't been here before, the special thing about this buffet style restaurant is that you can be your own chef and pick out what types of ingredients from meat, sauce, topping and a choice of 3 noodles.  After going through this process, you bring your food to the chef, and they cook your food with a 3 feet long chopstick on flame broil round stone counter.  As you walk in and get seated, the wait staff will explain the process of picking your food, and where everything is located.  Its very limly lit place in the eating area, and a lot more light in the buffet area.  To the left of the picture above, there is a large bar and waiting area.




Photo: Meat Selection

My First trip to the cooking area, I tried to pick out ingredients I was familiar with.  The meat and toppings was fresh, and there was always someone around cleaning the area and directing you at the end of picking your toppings and ask you to approach which cooking station.  They had the regular meat selection, pork, beef, chicken and lamb.  Toppings you can choose from, green peppers, spring onions, squid, shrimp, corn, spinach, bah choi and a few others.  They had 3 selection of noodles, udon, yellow noodle, and white noodle.  Sauces were labeled with with what was inside them, and they have spicy, mild, and regular, there was about 6 choices of sauces.  Then at last you can choose flavoring such as vinegar, what type of oil you want it to be cooked with.





Photo: My First Selection - Udon noodles, with bamboo shoots and spinach


I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the items, but the other buffet area carried very familiar food to other chinese buffets.  Crab legs, salad, chicken wings, vegetables, rice, fruits, some pastries.  One thing that stood was a chocolate fountain.  You had the option to dip, marshmallow and fruits and on the side.  The chocolate wasn't really that great and it was watered down.  Personally I'm not a big fan of buffet food and found the food to be regular and nothing really special since I can get better food when I eat at a regular chinese restaurant.


Photo: Chef cooking


After a certain period.  From looking at the photo above, you can see that their is a build up from all the sauces and ingredients that goes on the cooking surface.  They do clean the surface but not after every person.  Also to note, they add water to your selection, and most people walk to the line with a huge pile going over the bowl (not like mine) and the food will shrink.  I can say I do not know anything about cooking, so everything I put will be new.  Not sure if you are the adventurous type to pick out your own toppings.


Overall, I think if you haven't been to Mongolian Grill, its cool to experience the chef cooking around the stone table, but after the first time I saw it, its nothing that special and continued onto eating.  The restroom for males and females was clean, but it wasn't too pleasant smelling in the women's restroom.  The items you select for the chef to cook was fresh and I was pleased with that and it turned out pretty good, but there is only so much noodles you can eat.  For $27 a person, I don't believe it is a good value.  The desert table with the chocolate fountain was watery but my friends told me that it was much better last time, because the chocolate harden after you coat it on the strawberry.  The other food for desert was just average and nothing outstanding.  The staff spoke english, and the chefs was very nice to little children and customers as they were cooking their food.  This is not a place I will be visiting very frequent, maybe I'll go again in another 5-6 years.

2.5/5


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