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Colonel Lees Mongolian BBQ (Barbeque cuisine)  $

 7.5
JaT Rating

304 Castro Street, Mountain View, 94041  (Directions)


650.968.0351


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Unlimited Mongolian BBQ bowls of veggies, meats, and noodles for $6.95


Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1040
Reviewed: 4/7/2006
Rating: 7.5
My photo gallery 		You wont find any big signs for Colonel Lee's Mongolian BBQ but it's close to the corner of Dana and Castro. I've walked by this place dozens of times and never really knew what the story was with the food. I was walking with Jarrod on Castro and didn't have a place mapped out and randomnly stopped at the Colonel.

For $6.95, its an all you can eat Mongolian BBQ. For you newbies, its bascially a stir fry on top of this giant flat grill where the Grill master or whatever you call him will toss your raw veggies and frozen slices of meat on the grill and move it around with a wooden stick.

Grab your bowl and load up with all the goodies in the buffet line. I went with chicken, pork, celery, onions, carrots, noodles, and many other veggies I forget. I topped it off with curry, red pepper, and regular sauce. The trick is to pile your bowl high because it's going to shrink. See picture #8. Place your bowl on the counter and the grill master will work his magic. It only takes a couple of minutes to cook.

We arrived back at our table and bowl of tofu soup, bowl of rice, and glass of water were waiting. Good service and hot bowl of food, what's not to like? My bowl came out ok, I think I should have put more sauce on it but I have only myself to blame. The good news is its an all you can eat, so I could make another trip if I decided.

Although the food was ok, I decided against making another trip to the buffet. I was stuffed but had heard about the soft serves. Walked up to the machine and grab a wafer cone and served me vanilla ice cream. (picture #11) I can't believe this taste just like the stuff you get at McDonalds. I like the soft serves at McD's too! I should've would've could've gotten another cone but I was on good behavior.

I liked Colonel Lee's Mongolian BBQ. For $6.95, I think the value is justified but my reasonings for keeping it out of the 8 range were buffet selections. They don't the largest selection of vegetables and I prefer my meats to be soaking in marinades. This shouldn't stop you from visiting though, if I were in the area and wanted to fill up on quality food, I'd make a return visit to Colonel Lee's Mongolian BBQ anyday.
 
6.5
Agent Rating


Reviewer: Dan
Total Reviews: 84
Reviewed: 9/6/2007
Rating: 6.5
My photo gallery		 I have been to Colonel Lee's a couple of times in the last ten years, but haven't been back in at least 3 years. I visited again today to figure out why.

I arrived just before peak lunch hour and was seated quickly. (I've forgotten how dark and dingy this place is. Man. It's a pretty terrible atmosphere actually). I grabbed a few egg rolls and mustard, then got in the small line to fill my bowl with meats and veggies for grilling. When I got to the sauces I was at a loss. Which ones? and how much of each? All I remembered was that I needed to add more than was reasonable. So I did. Only after passing the sauces and handing my plate to the grill dude did I notice a very small sign, in small type, listing recommendations for types/quantities of sauces to use. Wish I had seen this before! Turns out I didn't add nearly enough and in the wrong ratios, but my food was already on the grill. Oh well.

My recommendation is to put this "sauce primer" on the wall in large font where patrons can spot it easily. Here's a novel idea: how about just above/behind the sauce counter, so that people can see it easily while they are picking sauces? Just a thought.

My food grilled quickly and I sat down and dug in. I had chosen a combo of garlic sauce, spicy sauce and regular oil, and my food tasted OK, but I was wishing I had added more sauce. Also, the meat quality was pretty poor, with lots of fatty pieces. Consequently, my food was not quite as good as, say, a normal Chinese restaurant where they choose and cook ingredients. As for my egg rolls, these were bland and way too greasy. Blek. I did not go back for seconds. They served me a small bowl of rice and this was fine, though a bit on the small side. The soup they served was kinda gelatinous and I skipped it after two sips.

I finished with a small ice cream cone. The machine spurted out water at first, which kind of soggied the bottom of my cone, so I only ate the top half. The ice cream itself was a little lacking IMHO. Total cost for my meal was $8.50 with tip. Not outrageous, but can't say I'll be back soon for another below average experience at this price.

The idea of Mongolian BBQ was pretty fun for me the first time, but now it's worn off. If they had nicer quality meat and better customer service I would come back here more often.

Pros: Novel way to have lunch; watch your food cooked; pick your own ingredients; all you can eat
Cons: Dark and rundown interior; Need more obvious sauce instructions for patrons; Poor meat quality.
 
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foodyguy ate...

dinner

“This place has been redone, it's much nicer and cleaner inside. The price went up two bucks or so. However, I still love this place, you can have a different meal every time you eat here simply by changing the ingredients to your creation. Yum.”

11/8/2008 9:20:13 AM