Yummy Mongolian Grill

TL;DR — DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND HEAD TO GOLDEN TENT OR GOBI MONGOLIAN!
We get these buy-​one-​get-​one 50% off coupon for this place all the time in the mail so we decided to give it a shot since we live nearby. Wouldn’t you know it, for the amount of coupons we get, we couldn’t find a non-​expired one. We figured we’d take the expired one with us and see if they’d be nice enough to accept it for a couple first-​time customers. The girl at the front desk looked at us like we had two heads when we asked if she would accept our expired coupon — OK, fair enough. After some cajoling, she finally gave in and gave us the deal. Awesome! Everything seemed a little backwards in the lineup of fixings… the noodles were at the front with the meat at the end. Weird. The worst part was the meat was half-​thawed, which just doesn’t not seem sanitary. I picked at it skeptically, but since we HAD to pay up front (any other place I’ve been to, you pay before you leave), it wasn’t like I could just decide not to partake. There were MANY labels missing on the fixings, which was annoying, but you can generally tell what everything is. But why on earth are most of the labels missing from the sauces?! I want to KNOW what I’m mixing. How does one tell the difference between this brown sauce stuff and that brown sauce stuff? Is this spicy? Is this oil? NO ONE KNOWS BECAUSE THERE’S NO LABELS! I put my bowls up to be cooked and waited as my stomach growled noisily. Upon receiving my cooked food, I noticed most of the noodles were burnt and the entire plate looked very… dark. There were no sesame seeds to sprinkle on top of my dish — COME ON, PEOPLE! There are no servers here — everything is DIY. After I was done eating my overcooked, disappointing dish, we asked the gal at the desk for a little box for our remaining food. Get this — they CHARGE YOU FOR A TO-​GO MEAL if you want to take home JUST your remaining food! Anywhere else will give you a small box for any leftovers! Very disappointing experience — we won’t be back here.

Health department should inspect regularly, just saying. Somehow they deleted my earlier review of themselves.
They had mixed meats with veggies. Dirty floors. The frozen meats were half thawed on cold bar within 10 minutes of opening.
Not worth the food poisoning.

Update!!!
Picked up my son for the week and he wanted to eat at Yummy Mongolian BBQ and if you’ve read my previous reviews, I was less then happy.
Boy am i glad we came tonight! I had the opportunity to meet the owner Angela (a very nice lady) and I expressed my concerns with her.
My biggest peeve was their policy (as told by the cashier over a year ago). NOT TRUE! Angela was ready to show me her taxes, lol. She pays credit card tips out every two weeks with payroll so that taxes are paid. The cashier was probably upset that she had two wait two weeks instead of getting tips nightly.
The straw that had broken the camel’s back (after falsely misinformed tipping policy) was the dinner price rate during lunch time because it was a holiday. We didn’t go into a lot of detail on that, but as a business owner, Angela can set prices accordingly. Factoring in that many customers may have the day off, they may stay longer and eat more — similar to the dinner crowd. Myself as the consumer (one that is cheap at times) has the right to decide whether or not to make the purchase.
Because of Angela’s genuine desire to hear my concerns, the amazing food (never complained about that) and watching her meticulously check the buffet, dinning room and grill area for cleanliness and order plus greeting and thanking her customers, I gave them 5 stars and will become a regular once again!
Thank you Angela!
OLD REVIEW!
This used to be a favorite of mine, but today was the last straw. Popped in for lunch and was informed that dinner prices were in effect because of the holiday (Presidents Day). Are you freaking kidding me?
It’s bad enough that the owners do not pay the staff tips left on CC transaction, instead keep them for themselves and now this.
Taking my business else where.

This place was reasonably clean, but could use some attention, as follows:
(1) It’s now mid-​April, and they still have a big Christmas wreath on the wall. That’s the way to show that you can’t be bothered by the details !! (Or perhaps they’re just getting ready for Christmas REALLY early.)
(2) The food items have labels to show what things are. Except that many of the labels have fallen off and not been replaced, and in many cases, the label doesn’t correspond to the food there. (This caused some concern because one member of our party doesn’t eat pork, and needed to know which of the meats was pork.)
(3) The sauce area was a mess, with sauce spilled everywhere, and several empty bins.
My daughter is vegan, and my wife is vegetarian. However, both still paid the full adult price. This place is not a good value for vegans!
The ice cream wasn’t very good: Too much icy and not enough creamy.
The food wasn’t bad.
I used to like this place (at their Mill Plain location) but I think that I won’t be returning. It’s not horrible, but no longer my cup of tea. Evidently some people like it.

Not awful, but I definitely prefer Chang’s. It’s small, the people aren’t very friendly, not a lot of choices and the food is kinda oily tasting. Their fried rice tastes like rice + chicken top ramen seasoning. Won’t eat here again but it really wasn’t bad.

Poor customer service. Uneducated in the process of how to run cash register. No area that says no combining kids yet free. Sticky carpet. Unable to understand english

I don’t know if I would give it one star.
It’s disgusting, overpriced and the one worker who cleans tables, refills food from the buffet, rings up your purchase AND cleans the bathroom was rude. Well I wonder why. Because she’s doing everything! It’s ridiculous.
Me and my two boys, 12 and 14 with no drinks is $ 38. Won’t be back.

This was the 1^st and probably last time eating at this location. Food looked like its been sitting out for hours, old and gross. Lots of stuff was low and not being replaced. Once we got our plates together we had to wait too long for the cook to come out… The bell had to be rung 5 – 10 times every time.
Looked like the employees were just hanging out in the back. You can see them on their phones through a window. The employees were bland and didn’t smile at all, just negative vibes.
I complained and asked them to start replacing stuff and the girl acted like I was a burden. HELLO YOU’RE AT WORK, SO WORK. Idk if they would’ve ever got off of their rear ends if I didn’t say anything.
In addition to everything else, the bathroom was out of paper towels and there was a nasty soap puddle on the countertop. Sink was dirty too. When I told the girl the bathroom was out of paper towels she just glared at me and didn’t say anything, rude.
Just an awful experience overall. Get it together.
P. S. Plates were $ 13 a piece. Not worth it here.

I have gone in a few times, and the food was decent, but I would have to wait a very, long time for someone to come to the grill to cook it. My last visit in, I had two adults and three kids. The sign outside says kids «always» eat free. The kids ages are 8, 2, and 1. I had expected to pay for the 8 year old, but my tots hardly eat. I brought my payback coupon in (25% off with each person, when you buy a drink), expecting to pay for the 2 adults, and 8 year old only. when the lady working the till said it’s free kids (the 1 and 2 year old) or you can use the 25% off coupon. So I either pay regular price for the three of us and the tots are free, or I pay for all of us, 2 tots included at 5.95 a piece, and get 25% of that. which what put me at paying more then I started. now what was the sign that mentioned kids are always free? The lady was rude, wouldn’t explain. and I feel my coupon was useless. Why not put the kids are always free unless you have a coupon. or have a special price, according to age, so I could still use the damn coupon, with out getting charged more in the end.

The place was nicely decorated, however the staff was not very friendly, especially the chef whom was not very hospitable. Frozen chicken and beef await you. Also the table was greasy and the hostess sits around starring while customers eat. Very rude. So, in any case we left and i had to instantly use a bath room… squirt.

You have seen the last of me «Yummy» Mongolian Grill. The food is hit or miss which in itself is not a crime but I learned last night that the company STEALS all tips that are left on a debit/​visa card. This means if you have eaten there and tipped at all in any method that wasn’t cash, the only person you helped out was the owner of the company. Not only is this immoral but it is illegal as well. I promise this will not be the last you hear about this.

Most buffet places are a dime a dozen but after trying this place from a friend’s recommendation I’d have to say it’s a great buffet. I’ve been to Chang’s several times and I can tell that Yummy’s sauces are not as watered down so you get more flavor. All of their veggies seem fresh which shows they care about quality. In addition to the Mongolian buffet they have sides of rice, soup, and even grilled chicken. The prices are especially reasonable for lunch and you can occasionally find their great coupons in the mail.

When I signed up for Unilocal I made a promise to myself never post a negative review about a business because one may be ignorant to the circumstances behind why things are the way they are. It’s better to focus on the good and giving credit to an establishment where credit is due. That all changed tonight.
I made the decision to stop into this place because my wife was hungry and is always fussy about eating asian food. We used to go to Chang’s but their location in Tigard was too far. I was reluctant since this place is on Highway 99 but I’ve driven past it a million times so decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. That was a mistake.
The cashier was friendly and charged us up front. I thought that was a little strange but it made sense after the fact. How the health department lets this place operate is beyond me. Living in Portland for the past 15-​years I’ve never been in a place on that side of the river that was as filthy as this establishment was tonight.
The floors and counter tops were dirty and greasy. The food was not fresh and the deserts were lacking. The carpets look like they haven’t been cleaned since they were installed and one of the booth seats was completely torn apart. I counted six tables that needs to be bussed and two of them had dish carts in front of them with nobody cleaning up.
The food was bland at best and the beef tasted like something that was imported from a third-​world country. After re-​filling my glass with another soft-​drink I caught a glimpse of what looked like the entry into a back room at it too was lacking in cleanliness. There was food particles all over the floor both in the dining and cooking areas and it was at that time that I told my wife I wanted to leave because I was so disgusted.
I’m not telling you to eat here or not to eat here but would hope that whoever owns this place take a little pride in their own establishment. I asked for a refund but was not able to get one after voicing my objections so we just left.
I should have just turned around and walked out from the very instance that I entered and that was due to a lack of judgement on my part. The fact that I haven’t come down with anything thus far was my good luck fortune cookie that I never received tonight so for that I am thankful.

Never been here before today, probably not coming back. You pay first, which I understand but its tacky, go to GOBI instead!

Gave it another shot. Dirty dishes, vegetables at their expiration date, questionable seafood. No quality control.
I bet food poisoning is often on the menu.

There were so many warning signs before I ate that shouldn’t have gone ignored. First, the cleanliness of everything was disturbing. Vegetables mixed in with other veggies (not totally the staffs fault.) But its ok, its just veggies, no big deal. Moving down the line I noticed some escapee veggies hanging out on the counter. Odd, but not a deal breaker.
Moving on to the meats. Now here is where I should have run like the wind Bullseye! There was thawed meat hanging out on the counter space, the meat IN the bins were chilled at best. Not frozen like you find at other Mongolian grills. But when I grabbed my desired meat it was soft and dare I say warm to the touch. Should I have left at that point, yes. Did I? No. I was committed, I was there and my lunch was only 30min long. So I move on to the sauces.
What a cluster f*** this was! Splashes of sauces and oils all over the place. It looked like a high school chem lab experiment.
The gentleman behind the grill was pleasant enough. No words were exchanged, which was fine as I was busy praying that I didn’t get some disease. The meal after being grilled was disappointing. I followed all the instructions to the ‘T’ and it was bland and the complete opposite of yummy.
I write this review in my works bathroom. Thank God for single stalls because no man woman or child should be privy to this disaster. Don’t eat at Yummy Mongolian Grill off Hwy 99. Don’t get the squirts… unless you’re into that.

Tragically misnamed Yummy Mongolian Grill has All-​You-​Can-​Eat stir-​fry prepared on a large round griddle, but it is far, far, far from anything yummy. This fare isn’t a knock on Mongolian BBQ. It is a knock on food … and an affront to your taste buds.
You, like my tortured tongue, are probably wondering how, in the name of Kublai Khan, Yummy earns 2 stars instead of 1 and it is simply because it is cheap AYCE food. It’s hard to expect great quality (or a clean table) with a Groupon deal offering buffet and soda for 2 people for $ 17 total.
Of course, Mongolian barbecue isn’t really Mongolian. According to Wikipedia, it’s more a mix of Taiwanese and Japanese styles branded in way to conquer hordes of people. To me, it doesn’t matter what culture you associate with this style of bbq grilling; however, it does matter how yummy does it taste … or doesn’t … as is the disappointment at Not Yummy Mongolian Grill.

Time to update.
I think this place stacks up well to others of it’s kind. The prices are competitive, the food always looks good and I needed to mention that it’s AYCE.
I have read some reviews that complain about poor service near closing time. I can’t help you there; I’ve always come in during lunch. Mind you, I’ve had the dreaded closing time experience at other places. I hate it. It’s even worse here on the west side of the Couve. Trust me, after 8:30 you are better off settling for a chain.
That kind of lack of service is typical. Most restaurants stop paying their people once the doors are locked. No one wants to work for free.

I’ve always enjoyed Changs so was excited to have this open close to home. I went twice and then purchased a Groupon deal and went a few nights ago.
Pros: The food is decent and what you’d expect for mongolian buffet. Veggies, noodles and meat. Hard to go wrong.
Cons:
1. Staff: the place is staffed with 1 person to process payments, bus and clean tables, etc as well as grill cook. The girl host was awful. She butchered my Groupon transaction and wasn’t going to accept it because she screwed up. Stop offering Groupon deals if you’re not equipped to handle.
2. There were only a few tables eating yet the entire place was dirty with dirty dishes on at least 5 tables. Maybe it’s due to being understaffed but it looks awful. The girl also cleaned the bathrooms while the restaurant was open which is disgusting. She then touches the register, money, drink cups, etc. Wait til it’s closed to clean stuff like that.
3. The hot prepared foods are very unflavorful and always look gross.
4. The tables never look clean and appear dirty and sticky every time I’ve been. Several of the seats are torn and in serious need of repair.
In closing, I will not return and would rather make stir fry at home.

We came back again well before closing and had a much better experience. No washing of the grill while simultaneously cooking our food. Hostess seemed happier.
Food quality was the same as before. I like it. I find it odd that the rice is hidden over by the appetizers. I keep forgetting and getting noodles at first. Next time I am going to make a rice dish. I think that will be tastier and less over-​filling than noodles.
I like to make a sauce blend of oyster sauce, peanut oil, garlic sauce, jalapeños and mongolian sauce. I’m not really sure what mongolian sauce is, but I enjoy the taste of my dish.
Pro tip: don’t go one hour before closing or prepare for the evil eye and soap suds in your meal.