Green Bowl

This place is certainly unique, fun, and tasty!
During my latest trip to State College, my friend suggested we have dinner here. I had never eaten here before, but I’m always up for new and exciting things.
We entered and were seated immediately. Our waitress, Jordan (I think that was her name) was very kind. She had asked if either of us had been to the restaurant before, and I hadn’t, so she explained how everything worked. The explanation was very much appreciated too!
The buffet had just about everything one would possibly want in a stir-​fry. And I’ll admit I very much wanted to try everything. As a veggie-​lover, I very much appreciated the wide variety of veggies. There was also a lot of sauces to choose from… I didn’t even know that many sauces even existed.
I tried both the chicken and the steak for my stir fry. Both were excellent and tasted very fresh.
I only have two minor complaints. 1.) I would have loved to have more rice, but I couldn’t seem to track down the waitress to ask for more. And 2.) The stir-​fry got cold rather quickly.
Other than that, it was a very tasty meal and I plan on returning for more yummy stir-​fry.

I will never go back. I walked in and no one employee spoke with me. I had to ask my friends who had been here before how the place works. Essentially you get unlimited stir fry… But you really don’t want more than 1 bowl!
They have a salad bar setup, but for stir fry. I’m 6 foot 1, and I had trouble reaching things. When I did, the sauce or noodles would fall into the other bins of food. The stir fry pickings just didn’t seem very clean or sanitary. I got my food and tried it… & was basically inedible. I thought it was my fault for picking some wrong combo from the stir fry selections. I went back and tried something else, a favorite of the chef. It was equally as nasty! Don’t get pulled in for the unlimited stuff, there are so many other quality ethnic restaurants downtown.

I was here with Anita. you basically choose what you want to put in your bowl and they mix it to give you a fried rice with your choice. It is very cheap place. It is also very clean.

LITERALLY THE WORST FOOD YOU CAN EVER TASTE. Noodles were burnt, uncooked mushrooms, etc. If you’re in the mood for some bitter-​tasting food, this is the place to go! Can’t believe I paid for this food.

Used to be one of my favorite places to eat in State college until recently. Its basically an all you can eat stir fry. Set up like a buffet you take your bowl and add as many veggies/​noodles as you like then top it off with a variety of their sauces. They have a large board with sauce suggestions and rank them by spiciness. You then choose which meat you’d like via colored stick and they fry it up for you.
While the variety and price are a plus, the service recently has been far from spectacular. Have to agree with other reviews when they say the staff slack off. We ate here this past weekend and our server, Jordan I think her name was, was less than happy to be at work. She forgot to get us water and rice and when we asked she simply said «Sorry» and rolled her eyes. We could clearly see our food was done and it took another server reminding her we were her table before she moved from her phone/​friends to serve us. When we did get our food it was simply thrown down and said «here ya go» as she strolled back to a table in the back.
Overall I’d hit it for the lunch price and the experience but expect the service to be a bit slow and the veggie bar to run low at times. Random students seem to stop by and distract the staff so I think thats part of the problem with the service. (I wasn’t sure which ones worked there and which ones were their friends) Again, its great food but the service needs work.

Four of us were there for lunch and it ended up costing $ 55 plus tip. We did not realize we would be up charged $ 4 each because it was a Saturday. The bins of vegetables were mostly empty and/​or not appetizing. The rice was served right away so it could be nice and cold by the time our food came. The dishes were not all served at once and very little meat was added. Also, the place could stand a cleaning. I would have left before we started but my son wanted to try it. He was sorry he stayed.

Great concept but sloppy execution. This place has really gone downhill over the past few years. The tables and chairs get stickier with each visiit. There is no apparent effort to keep the fixings bar fresh and clean. Cross contamination is the rule; preparing your bowl is like scavenging from a trash can. Servers appear to just slack and «do time.» For example, I was the ONLY diner in the place at 4 p.m., yet my cooked bowl sat on the counter for 5 minutes while 3 servers sat playing on ther phones and grooving to the overhead music. I had to walk up to retrieve my own (cold) bowl. No apologies from the staff. No, no … I think my server was glad he did not have to lift a finger. I like to support local businesses, but this town needs a similar concept chain — like BD’s Mongolian BBQ — one that will have a decent quality of service and maintain it! P. S. I would have appreciated a water refill, Dear Server, but this wasn’t on your radar either. :(Bonus: A man bun on one server to keep me curious.

We’ve been coming here for years but tonight was the first time we didn’t have a good meal. Our food arrived with small particles of black char from the grill. Not very attractive but the taste wasn’t affected. Our second bowls had much larger pieces and my companion’s food had a strong burnt smell. When I mentioned this to the manager he made a lame reference to letting the cooks know and offered no apology. Fortunately the man who rang up our bill was much more attentive to us and apologized. I will go back but will make sure the grill is clean before I have my order cooked.

Incredible food!
Waitress was a little detached but it didn’t ruin the experience at all!
Can’t wait to go back!

A friend of mine took me here for lunch while I was in town and I absolutely loved it! The decorations and furniture were cute and clean, which made for a nice atmosphere. The buffet setup was new to me, but after the nice waiter explained the routine, it was easy to create my perfect lunch with exactly the right amount of veggies and sauce. I also love that you can go back up for seconds if you want, at no charge, you just can’t take any of the food with you. This is a nice casual place for lunch or dinner, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Asian cuisine.

My favorite restaurant in Happy Valley. I bring everyone here. Great price for what you get, with good service. Only downside is you smell like your food when you leave!

I really like this place. They add their own raw meat, which means that the veggie bar can be eaten raw. This was great for our toddler who ate the mango and pineapple as is without cooking. Lots of fun options, and great veggie place.

Even though I’m a fan of tons of meat, the fresh veggies and killer selection definitely swayed my opinion upon first glance. This is an all you can eat stir fry restaurant. You pick out your veggies, your sauces, then select a meat for your dish, and place it upon a counter for it to be cooked. Excellent idea. I had thirds-​NO JUDGING. I loved their peanut and thai sauces mixed together with chicken and veggies. And what really made me happy, was the affordable price. I actually can’t wait to back to State College solely for this place again.

Surprisingly good food even while busy, orders for our table seemed to contain others ingredients but it’s an excellent idea and I just wish there was a way to try sauces before creating a dish. You get what you pay for and while most everything looks pre prepped I wouldn’t say it looks old. Probably best to go at a non busy time so you can get your money’s worth. Overall a great idea!

Been here 3 – 4 times in the past 4 years and every time I kick myself for being fooled again. Many reviewers are impressed with the concept of the stir-​fry bar, which is great, but this particular one is pretty awful. Old, wilted vegetables that look like a truck stop salad bar, indistinguishable salty syrups called «sauces,» and inattentive waitstaff (at least the night I was there.) The cook, who may have been fine grilling a burger, but didn’t seem to understand the «stir» part of his job, dumped the plate on the grill and left it there for 5 minutes, then called it food. Again, I left feeling sick to my stomach and dumbfounded by the price they charge for what is poorly-​prepared fast food. Never again!

I love this place.
The service is pretty decent but the whole idea about serving yourself and selecting whatever you want to make your meal into is fantastic. Start by adding whatever ingredients from veggies to noodles, then combine sauces from the menu, third select whatever kind of meat you’d like and bonus: you can make it into a soup, a wrap or keep it classic stir fry. Amazing.
Try the oyster, plum sauce or sweet and sour.

Nice place, the buffet deff makes it a good
Deal. But if you eat a little, then its
Not worth your money…

The prices are good, but you should know in here you suppose to create your own food. So, add more garlic and sauces if you like me… love food with strong spices.
Their «super hot» sauce just kidding. So, if you like hot add sriracha. They have it in restaurant. You can make tasty or bland, depend on your choice.

Meh. The meat isn’t that fresh.
Although making your own stir fry is a cool idea, I always come up with questionable combinations. I guess that’s on me.
The peanut sauce is very good.

The concept at green bowl is awesome. Basically it’s a ‘create-​your-​own stir-​fry’
When seated your given a popsicle stick with a number on it, you then go grab a bowl and fill it with whatever veggies you want, salad bar style. Add some tofu, the kind of noodle you want, then pick from a vast amount of seasonings for your stir-​fry. Last thing you do is choose a meat, you put a color-​coded stick in your bowl to indicate which one you want. They cook the stir-​fries on a hibachi style grill and bring it to your table when you’re done.
Simple, but perfect. Dinner is $ 12.50 but you can keep going up for more, endless stir-​fry. I tried different sauces /​seasonings but kept the veggies the same.
I really wish there was a place like this near me.