Bowl Express

Don’t let the name of this place (Teriyaki & Gyro on the outside of the building, but Bowl Express in a tiny corner of the menu) or décor confuse you. The Korean menu is excellent. Try the osam bulgogi or the cold noodles. Old standbys like toppoki, beef bulgogi and jap chae will not disappoint if you aren’t feeling that adventurous. Want something Korean that you don’t see on the menu? Just ask. These folks can cook!

Don’t be fooled by the name «Teriyaki and Gyro» located next to Tasty Twist. This place serves delicious and super authentic-​tasting Korean food. The yangnyeom-​tongdak (fried «seasoned chicken» on the menu) and the kalbi-​tang (beef bone stew) tastes just like what you’d get in Korea. The owners are very sweet and definitely know how to cook homestyle Korean!

I’ve passed this place about a thousand and a half times: the sign doesn’t say the name, just TERIYAKI — GYRO in big bold letters.
I decided to try it.
The place is owned by a Korean family, very sweet people. They don’t speak the best english, but I just got this vibe that they were very welcoming and nice people.
The gyro’s are comparable to Bell’s Gyro’s, but they are cheaper at around 7 bucks for a combo with fries.
I’ve also had the bulgogi which was also good, not too sweet like a lot of other places seem to do.
Overall reasonable prices, nice people, I’ll be coming here a lot more often

Love the name and how it totally doesn’t match! Atmosphere is a ehhh. But the food it pretty good. Great portion for reasonable price. Service could be faster. Overalls it’s like 3 star but for east Lansing can’t really ask for more nothing really to compare.

I don’t know how anyone knows that the place is called «Bowl Express,» as there isn’t a sign in front that says that. At least not in English, there’s a red and blue neon sign in Korean that says something. It took me a while to find this on Unilocal,with only one other review, but the address matches, so I’m going to assume it is named the Bowl Express. There is a big sign that says Teriyaki and Gyro, and yes that should have scared me off, but I was tired and hungry and drawn to the picture of bi bimbop, underneath the big «Gyro.» The place was empty except for a lonely looking Korean fellow I saw through the big plate glass windows, I guess I also felt sorry for him. The décor is second-​hand sloppy strip mall diner, with some MSU banners, but the place is clean. The man who took the order, cooked up some excellent bi bim bop. I would give the place 5 stars for the bi bim bop, I can guess that the rest of the Korean menu is good (there aren’t translations for the Korean menu, so you need to either be brave, or already know Korean food). I don’t really know about the rest of the menu, there are all kinds of dubious items, like a gyro burger, a teriyaki burger, a whole list of American sounding food that, well, a Korean fellow who doesn’t even speak English, I don’t know. I recommend the place for anyone who likes fast Korean food, it’s conveniently located close to campus. I think this would be a good place to come after a visit to the unique new modern art museum, MSU’s Broad Art Museum, as both places contain whimsical combinations.

If you ever wanted to visit a restaurant that was having an identity crisis, then this is a place for you! Instead of Bowl Express, they should call the place ‘United Nations Cafeteria’! In fact, the front of the restaurant really has no sign that identifies the place as a restaurant, other then pictures of Korean foods, even then the place is hard to miss! Unless you happen to go to Tasty Twist since it’s located next door.
The décor is very 70’s… the wall colors of purple and orange-​ish yellow color mixed in with green MSU banner, etc. doesn’t not blend well… The main menu is on the wall behind the cash register and they have one menu that’s on the counter top.
We were the only customers there and our intention was to get the chicken to see how it was, but ended up ordering other foods. After we looked at the menu, we settled on the following:
— Bulgogi Burger
— Bulgogi Gyro
— Original Gyro
— whole order of seasoned chicken
The man who took our order also did the cooking… don’t expect to get your food quickly; we got all of our food together. I think it took around 20 minutes to get them.
Bulgogi Burger — concept is the same as hamburger, but the meat is replaced with bulgogi, since the meat is loose, expect some to land on your lap. It’s served with lettuce, tomatoes and 1000 Island dressing on a sesame buns.
Gyro — onions, lettuce with either original or bulgogi served with cucumber sauce. The original was decent… even for E. Lansing area… granted I had better Gyro’s in my life, but being in EL area, it was decent.
Chicken — whole chicken is chopped into smaller pieces, battered, fried and mixed with Korean Red Sauce and topped with chopped peanuts (if you are allergic to peanuts, make sure you let them know). The chicken was hot (temp hot), the sauce had little kick to it thanks to the chili powder and black peppers that were used. The sauce is thick, thus it’ll stick to your fingers. If you get the seasoned chicken, you should get some side of rice.
For the Burger and Gyro’s we opted to go with the combo, which comes with fountain drink and small side of fries. The fries were okay, bot the best… frozen fries refried and served. The fountain drinks are hidden in the back, so you’ll have to find your way for the drinks.
There is no focus on single product with offering of others around that product… it’s free for all, as you can get hamburger and bibimbop all at once. The Fusion foods they have was nice… the place is also outside of MSU campus area, thus requires one to either walk, bike, bus it or drive. I did notice that they take online orders through third parties. I think they can streamline their menu and focus on few major food items… it took us some time to decide on what to get because of the so many offering.
I ended up giving 3 stars since 2.5 isn’t allowed… I think this place could become something, but again they should redo their menu and shrink it down.