HuHot Mongolian Grill

Woah, this place has awful reviews and (based on my experience today), I have no idea why.

First, the decor! Yes, it's totally tacky and kitschy and I LOVE IT. Everything is themed around kitschy kublai khan (I think) and it just made me laugh and delighted me. I love stuff like that though, so your mileage may vary. It was comfortable, wide, and it was easy to see how things moved -- or rather, how you were supposed to go about things.

The staff? Fabulous. I walked in and was immediately greeted by, I think, the manager, who chatted for me and told me he'd get my waiter, Julian, for me ASAP. Julian was out within a few moments, and since I'd never been to HuHot before, he happily showed me around. They have one of those 100-Coke things, where you can mix your soda with any flavor. I got my old stand by: vanilla Diet Coke. They have a HUGE selection of meats/veggies (and tofu, mm), and sauces. My waiter told me his favorite mix, and asked me if I liked spicy and suggested I try it out, so I did it and it was delicious. Seriously. I piled high the veggies, the tofu, and a small amount of noodles, ladled on his recipe (spicy barbecue x2, some chili stuff x1 and garlics x2, lemon juice x1, yes, I know that's really specific), and when I got back to my table my soda and rice were waiting on me.

I see a lot of people complaining about the tip jar next to the grill but...I think that's basically what's supposed to be there? Because I've always seen tip jars near the other grills where I've gone too, and those weren't kitschy places. They were smaller and less noticeable, sure, but they were there. Anyway, I happily tossed some cash in there, because the guy doing the grilling chatted with me while I cooked and he was super awesome about it. He made some jokes to my waiter, and it was over all a very welcoming atmosphere. The grill guy even asked if I liked my tofu brown, and happily made sure it was when I noted I loved it that way!

The food? It was great. I mean, a lot of it depends upon yourself (I mean, you mix a bunch of crappy things it's going to come out crappy, not that I think anything is unmixable at the place) but the veggies they had were FRESH, the noodles were well done, and the meat and tofu were kept at the perfect temperature. The sauces, as well, were mixed well and numerous.

Haven't tried the desserts yet, but the waiter told me about cheesecake rangoon with white chocolate drizzle, and I admit, that piqued my interest. I just had to go to a hair appointment, so unfortunately, didn't have the time to see to it.

Over all though, WONDERFUL WOOOONDERFUL experience, and I highly recommend it. I guess it must have gotten better since all of the previous reviews or maybe it was because I went at lunch on a weekday when there weren't many people around or something, but it was a great.

Went here for dinner, it was our first time going to a Mongolian grill place. Needless to say we were sadly disappointed with the service, food, and facility. To start of with the service it took about 10 minutes to have our waiter come over to the table to take our drink order. After that I asked a simple question about what was in the soups that came with our meal and she could not tell me what was in either of the two. We also didn't get forks until I had to get up and find another waiter to ask for some. As a positive she did explain briefly of how the food bar works when she took us to the food bar.

As for the food the quality was not that impressive. It was similar to college stir fry food. The look of the meat reminded us of jerky as it sat in the food bar.

Finally the place was not clean, our table definitely had not been wiped down from the last people who ate at it. Our cups were also sticky and we were not offered any straws to drink from. The bowls we put our food in were also dirty. The food bar also did not look clean, there was mixed food, and the tongs to pick the food up were easily cross contaminating, and did not look cleanly in general. They also did not remove dishes from empty tables, there were empty tables with plates all over the place and we saw waitress texting instead of working.
Overall it was a disappointment and we will not be returning.

I've had better Mongolian grill (try the Green Bowl if you're ever in State College, PA), but this is pretty tasty for a chain restaurant. There's a wide selection of meats and veggies -- some of the stuff is pretty surprising, actually. While the squid option is authentic to Asian cuisine, I can't imagine what would move someone to create a sausage and potato stirfry. But it's nice that the option is there, I suppose. I would really appreciate egg being added as an option on the buffet line! One interesting thing: they now have those magical flavor-mixer soda options that food places around here are starting to roll out.

Last time we were there, service was kind of meh -- I think we hit between shifts, and we ended up having to ask TWICE for silverware. But once the waitstaff got things straightened out, they were pleasant enough.

Finally, the whole "you are a Mongolian warrior" concept is painfully tacky and kind of racist, actually. I am, however, not bothered by the tip jar. Not a problem for me to throw a little green at the people who are constantly on display as they work around a searing hot grill.