I won’t add to the pile-on about how you were surprised you got mongolian BBQ at a mongolian BBQ place, but I’ll add this:
They probably didn’t water down the Coke. Most likely the syrup was running low, but still added enough color to the seltzer that it stll looked OK. All you had to do was point it out to the waitress, and she probably would have brought you a new one, this time with the proper amount of syrup.
I will add one minor rant about those types of restaurants – I hate the people who mess up the order of the line. I once went on a date (mercifully it was the last) with someone who gave the cooks her food and then cut ahead in line to be with me. Of course the cooks give back the cooked food in the order that they get it raw. So nobody got the food that they picked out. She screwed up the entire queue.
A posssible explanation for the “watered down” coke is that it was either at the beginning of a full or the end of an empty syrup cannister. It starts out weak and ends weak untill it has beeen properly circulated and comes up to mix. The fountain may have also been improperly calibrated. Next time comment or complain that the Coke is weak and they might be able to remedy the situation.
I love Mongolian BBQ as much as the next guy, but the truth is you can expect to be disappointed on your first visit usually. Use the first visit to sample the sauces (Big advantage here being an AYCE) make small mixes, use a single sauce at a time, and figure out which ones you like best. Then once you know what is what, it’s easy to start experimenting. Some sauces just plain suck standalone, but when mixed with something become quite good. Soley meat dishes are a problem. Part of the reason to put noodles and vegetables in is for differeing texture and differing absorbtion rates of the sauces.
Who cares if their General Tsao bites the wax tadpole? Don’t eat it next time. And maybe the pop machine was running low on syrup. I urge you to give it another try. An AYEC Mongolian BBQ can be truly a thing of beauty. And I miss the one I used to frequent in downtown Minneapolis. I would go there once a week, and I had the art down to a science.
Wesley, I know the whole raw ingerdients and do- it -yourself concept is a little hard to get used to at first and is a bit disorienting but I guarantee you can make some kick ass, tailored, stirfry with a little experimentation. Hell, you might even have been able to whip up your own version of General Tso’s Chicken without the vinegar (even though the recipe calls for vinegar).
Given that most restaurants in B’town last only two or three years, this one is probably one I never heard of. What’s it called, and where is it? Have you ever eaten at Leung Cheung, on the square? That was good food, but a bit pricey. Is the hole-in-the-wall chinese fast food place in the Eastland shopping center (on the end closest to College Mall) still open? We ate there once. Maybe twice, but that was it.
I have seen this as an epitaph carved into tombstones.
We used to have a semi-favorite all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet place, until it got shut down temporarily by a health dept. violation, and the owner thought the best way to protest was to get interviewed in the local paper. Which, not surprisingly, led to a permanent shutdown.
<hijack with a sincere question>
What’s the difference between this and seltzer? I have seltzer in my fridge, and on the label it says “carbonated water”.
</hijack>
I know the place, Wesley. They have the sauces (not tons of them, but a decent choice) right at the end of the raw-meat bar. I usually screw up and add the wrong sauces, though. I think they’ll add them for you, if you ask. I’ve eaten there a coupe of times and liked it okay, but my favorite is just up the street from there–the Great Wall. Wonderful buffet, and Five Spice Shrimp, my favorite!!
Vlad/Igor, Leung Cheung closed several years ago. MAN, I loved that place. I think the other one you mention is still there, but I’ve heard the food isn’t as good since it changed hands.
Wesley, there’s a really good place on the west side, near KMart and Outback. Cheap, tons of food on the buffet, AND they have a Mongolian bbq, just in case you want to try again. I can’t remember the name, but it’s in the old landlocked Wendy’s building, right beside Outback. Good stuff, we eat there a lot when we have the cash.
Before we all come down harshly on young Mr. Clark, I thin it needs to be reiterated he had never been to a Mongolian Barbecue resturant before. I suspect he was looking for a chinese style buffet.
My first time, I ended up with an unholy mess, too. My friends then informed me about the oils.
As to the Coke, I’m sure it was a problem with the fountain, but I normally drink water, milk, or beer with my meals.
Ahhh, that’s too bad. Is the Greek place near there still open? We gotta make a road trip, now. Daughter wants to go to IU, and I’m beginning to forget the names of places. And I want to see Trinity church again.
The Grasshopper is the name of the place I’m thinking of. The food there always tasted cheap.
Probably none, the point was just that it’s carbonated onsite using tap water & CO2, as opposed to being bottled carbonated water that’s been brought in. I’d hate to tell you how long I worked for Coke before I learned that.
That’s probably largely directed at me, and deservedly so. I forgot that the first time you go to one of those places, it can be disorienting. Sorry, Wesley.
To those of us who have been and know what it’s all about, your rant was similar to this:
“The other day I went to a restaurant with a salad bar, and they actually expected me to make my own salad! And it was so dry, because they didn’t even put dressing on it!”
Which was probably the reaction I had the first time I ever saw a salad bar.
Judging by some of the responses on this post I figured it was a restaurant patronized by condescending assholes.
I’m sorry I didn’t look up ‘mongolian BBQ’ in the dictionary before I got there though. Usually I look up a restaurant’s name in the dictionary before I go there but that fucked me up a few times when I thought McDonalds made airline engines. I wont even go into the jack in the box mixup I had.
