This place is what is is. Â It's a chain restaurant version of a Mongolian grill. Â I would give it 2.5 stars, if I could.
If you order the all-you-can-eat market bar, you tell your server what meat (beef, chicken, tuna, shrimp, tofu, salmon) and noodles (flat rice, lo mein, shanghai wheat) or rice (white, brown) you want and they bring you a big bowl (for your vegetables), a little bowl (for your sauce), and a ticket to give to one of the grill cooks. Â Next you go to the vegetable bar and stand in line to load up your bowls with vegetables and sauce. Â Then you wait for an available grill chef who makes your food while you wait and watch. Â Sometimes the line can get long and you may have to wait 5 minutes for a chef. Â Other times, there's no one up there and you zip through the line in no time flat.
After you finish your food, and you want to go through the line again, ask your server. Â You can even change up your meat and noodles/rice combination if they're at the same price level (or lower). Â Example: you can change from beef to chicken (but not beef to shrimp) without paying extra.
There is also a regular a la carte menu (there's a regular kitchen as well), but I've never seen anyone order off of it.
All in all, it's not too bad for a quick lunch or dinner even though it's far from authentic. Â Flavors are definitely catered to the suburban palate. Â Bland with almost no heat in the Szechuan sauce.
Come here if you're hungry (because it's all-you-can-eat) and you like watching your food being prepared. Â Kids will especially enjoy the show as there's lots of fire involved. Â Don't stand too close as the flames jump (if you don't believe me, look at the scars on the chefs' hands).
We were looking to try something new so we gave this place a shot. Â We both chose the all you can eat bar. Â It was nice to see the standards beef, chicken, tofu along with tuna and salmon. Â The set up is good but sometimes the demand outweighs the pace in which the cooks can finish the food. Â They also offer brown rice which is a nice alternative to white rice and noodles. Â Here is a tip, if you sign up you get 5 dollars off your first visit. Â But make sure you do it a day ahead of when you plan to go. Â Their IT is on the slow side, we were not able to use the coupon and it expires fairly quickly.
Review Source:Normally we're excited when we get to return, but this was bar-none one of my worst restaurant experiences. Service was horribly slow. He never came by the table. We waited 10 minutes for our bowls, my husband didn't get the sugar he asked for when we sat down until we were almost ready to leave. Our drinks were the only immediate thing we received. And to top it off, we had a $10 off coupon for 2 entrees and they took off 1 entree and 2 kids drinks. ???? The hostess took her sweet time seating us and spent MORE time running to the door trying to figure out who was calling her on her personal phone. I watched her for 20 minutes before we were sat. We waited, and waited, ...and waited for our bill. When it finally got there, we almost ran out the door. Oh yeah, and they weren't even busy - just close to close. An hour from closing by the time we left and it will be a while before we return. HOpefully next time is dramatically different or we won't be back
Review Source:This just wasn't good and I really wanted it to be. Â The chicken lettuce wraps were almost inedible and not at all like the ones found at PF Chang's (comparing with other American asian cuisine). Â They just didn't have a lot of flavoring and what they did offer was not even something I can describe. Â I also sampled the Pad Thai. Â This had an overwhelming fishy flavor that just seemed wrong, like the dish sat out too long. Â I really wanted this place to be great and maybe the do it yourself stir fry is good but i would skip the menu items.
Review Source:Service was good, considering it appeared abandoned on a Wednesday around 8pm. Â Children's menu needs updating. Â Food was good from my perspective, I enjoyed the sesame chicken and some of my son's sweet & sour chicken stir fry with noodles. Â Too bad he did not care for them...
Given the limited children's menu and the underwhelming flavors everyone experienced, I think we will pass on returning. Â I would have given this only two stars but I did like the fact that I didn't need to ask for any chopsticks as they are given by default.
un even service. My stir fry was burnt while my husband's was fine. No sorry , no offer to comp. In fact the manager pointed out that stir fry has " burnt" spots. I had to insist that this was not ok. Pot stickers cam 20 minutes into the meal and my second entree came about 25 minutes idnto meal. Only two of us - on a Wenesday night. Should have been much better. Â
dianne
I adore stir crazy. I have gone a total of 3x and each time I get the tofu market bar. Its really nice to be able to pick out my favorite veggies and sauce. I'm sort of a picky eater so I can skip all of the veggies I don't like without the hassle of telling my waiter I don't want xy&z. I saw a few reviews complain about the price below, if you go for lunch its not bad. I mean heck, I went to long john silvers the other day and spent the same on a meal that I would at stir crazy! Plus its vegetarian and vegan friendly. I took my vegan friend here when she was visiting from tx, shes sad they don't have one near her!
Review Source:Okay, it's a chain and has that slightly mall foodcourt decor (the ridiculously high ceiling and matchy-matchy design). Move past all of that on your way to the all-you-can-eat Market special. Delicious!
It can be a bit confusing  to figure out how it works but our server was a star for walking us through it. You pick a noodle or rice and a protein (including tofu - which may or may not be on the menu but is definitely available). The server then brings you a mini wok and sends you to a counter (think salad bar style) of fresh veggies, spices, and sauces. Once you've created a masterpiece, you hand it off to the chef who adds in the noodle or rice and the protein while he (maybe "she" too but it was a guy on the night we went) stir fries it all up for you.
I've eaten more than enough thai and chinese to be able to put together some very tasty (to me at least) dishes. I do wonder if folks newer to asian dishes wouldn't benefit from some suggested combos or a bit more interaction with the chef (who, admittedly, was kept pretty busy). In just a couple of minutes, the chef hands you back your creation on a plate. And then, 20 minutes later you do it again. And again. And again.
I strongly recommend the flat noodles (though you may fill up fast on them) and liberal use of the ginger and garlic. Also, the little dish they give you for sauce holds a lot. If, like me, you like light sauce, only put a little bit in the dish (as the chef will use everything in there when making your dish). You can also make a dish without any sauce if you want a slightly cleaner taste (though the chef is liberal with the oil when stir frying) but I found that left one of my three dishes (dont' judge, I was hungry) a little bland.
If you're only going to go one round with the Marketplace, it's not a good deal. But if you're in it to win it, this is a definite steal.
Love their market bar but wish their prices were a little more reflective of the working class. Â $10 for lunch is pretty steep IMO, but I suppose when you're talking about unlimited refills (who can eat more than one) it's reasonable. Â Anyway.. the atmosphere is what makes this place.. clean and inspired by culture. Â Definitely a place we bring people when they come to visit. Â Try it!
Review Source:Dined there 12/06/08 and everything was fabulous!!
It was a cold Saturday night. No line , no waiting. We were seated immediately. We had a very friendly and attentive server.
Appetisers:
We had the Potstickers -very yummy. and the Ahi Tuna and Avocado Poke- raw diced Ahi, onions, spices with avocado piled on a tostada-like flat round shell. Every bite was divine!
Entrees:
I had a taste for beef so I got the Japanese Steak- grilled filet mignon topped with a soy butter mushroom medley and served with grilled wasabi asparagus and frizzled (battered & softly fried) sesame onions. I ordered my filet cooked medium -well {it was still a little tuff :(( }. Although, the mix of flavors was a pleasant surprise. I got a side of fried rice as well. My husband played it safe with Sweet & Sour chicken It was yummy (You KNOW I sampled it) The chicken was very tender and it also had good flavor. Our son ordered the Mongolian Beef with mushrooms, scallions and red chili peppers in a sweet and spicy brown sauce, served on a bed of crispy glass noodles. It also was tasty.
Beverages:
The Strawberry Lemonade was great ..Thick, flavorful and oh so sugary sweet.
My Mango-Mango Martini was a little light on the Absolut (then again I'm a bit of a lush)-It did have good flavor.
*Although we did not order it...The funnest (yeah I said it) thing on the menu is ordering the "Market Bar", "you can create your own wok-tossed sensation". You pick the ingredients and the chef prepare it right in front of you in a large wok with very tall dramatic flames shooting all around it. We heard lots of "oohs and ahhs" and a big "GONGGGG!" is banged periodicaly..Lots of fun! The table next to us highly recommended it! I will be back to try it!!
Our server said that Stir Crazy has restaurants in the Chicago area and I can't wait to visit.
We went to Stir Crazy shortly after it opened on a Friday or Saturday night. It was packed and we would have had to wait for an hour or more for a table, so we opted for a seat at the bar instead. The bartenders were really nice, and as attentive as bartenders at a busy place could be.
We didn't get our food for a really long time and finally asked. The bartender had forgot to put our order in. I wasn't too happy, but they made up for it -- our appetizer and a couple rounds of drinks were comped and they were really nice about the situation.
We had the chicken lettuce wraps as an appetizer -- I didn't like them quite as well as those at PF Chang's because they were served with regular iceberg lettuce leaves instead of a heavier lettuce (I think it's usually butter lettuce that they use at PF Chang's, right?). For entrees, we did not opt for the Mongolian BBQ-style pile-it-on-yourself grilling. Instead, I had a beef with broccoli dish and liked it. Â Nothing too terribly exciting, but good food nonetheless.
I'll be returning to Stir Crazy for sure, but it might be a good idea to try Stir Crazy at an off-peak time instead of a busy Friday or Saturday night.