Bd’s Mongolian Barbeque

My husband was excited to come here for Father’s Day as we hadn’t been here for a couple of years. We used to enjoy this place with the kids and it was reasonably priced.
The first thing we noticed when we walked through the front door was the bartender leaning on the bar texting on her phone. The second thing we noticed was how filthy the floors were.
We were seated right away and our waitress was very good /​attentive.
We went to the food bar to fill our bowls and my son found a very long piece of hair in the shrimp… disgusting.
I don’t know why we stayed for dinner but we will never go back there again.

So my freshman year of college I had a group of friends from MI who were raving about this incredible BBQ place called Mongolian Grill from back home. A quick Google search unearthed that there was one not far from our campus so we decided to make the trek to Bethesda for some supposedly awesome food.
At first glance it was a cute little social place to meet for food and it was super affordable so I thought «Let’s see how it goes.» I had recently started eating meat again after an almost 5 year hiatus so I was mildly horrified by the piles of meat sitting around. The smell made me nauseous so I scooped up some chicken and moved on as fast as I could. In the veggie section I found a decent array of choices then was please to see that I could season and sauce it up however I chose.
As an added bonus there was a salad bar (with the best ranch ever!) and free tortillas to make wraps so after watching my food get tossed on the grill I was ready to dig in. The food wasn’t bad at all, nothing to write home about but decent nonetheless. After an okay meal we ordered a sundae to split, it was huge and tasted delicious. At the time we declared the trip a success and came back several times for birthday or holiday celebrations together.
So why the two stars? Well about a year ago a friend of mine said «Let’s go back, for old time’s sake.» None of us had been there in a few years so we agreed. This return trip revealed several things: first, why the heck were we eating meat that was sitting out for several hours presumably accumulating all manner of bacteria? Secondly, this place was less than clean. After finishing up our meal and dessert we were chatting a bit before heading out when a mouse ran over my friend’s foot! Thoroughly disgusted we informed our waiter who comped nothing (we didn’t press the issue because 2 of us also served but had that happened on my watch it would have been taken care of), paid our bill, and exited quickly. Needless to say I had no desire to ever return there and wasn’t surprised to hear of their closing. How could raw meat not attract pests?
All in all I still couldn’t force myself to give it 1 star because of the good times I had there but it’s really not a great restaurant.

IT’S CLOSED! :(
Where will I indulge my taste for chain style, Mongolian overpriced buffet grill now!!!

It was such a cool experience! I just went in cause the name sounded like something I would like but when I found out it was all you can eat stir fry that you make yourself I was super excited!
They have a large selection of fresh cut meats, veggies, and an abundance of sauces they even have tofu for you vegetarians. My 3 yr old loved that he could pick out everything and even watch it being cooked he was thrilled! The bar area looked cool too, my next trip will be with some of my girls to get some drinks and have some good grub!!!

One of my favorite places to eat. The more you go, the more you get to see and taste different combinations. It is a little bit pricey but I will still make the drive from Falls Church without hesitation.
Absolutely love it although the alcoholic drinks have not been mixed very well so try to stick to a draft beer if you do enjoy those.

I’ve been to one other Mongolian bbq joint and this one is WAY better. It’s clean, more trendy looking inside and the food is good. I like how its like a full service restaurant and full bar! The other one I went to was a small hole in the wall mall joint. (not good!)
Went for lunch time the 1 bowl is $ 9.99 or unlimited bowls $ 14.99. I opted for the one bowl and could barely finish my dish.
How it works: Get a bowl, fill it up with your choice of meats, veggies, sauces, and spices. Hand it over to the grill master he will cook it up for you with in a few mins and viola you have a delicious hearty meal. They also give you rice/​torillas/​and lettuce if you ask at the table to go along with your grilled master piece. Oh and it includes a salad/​soup as well.
Delicious food. Quick service and if your in the mood for dessert they have minis for $ 2, lastly its fun environment so bring the kids.

This is my first, and last, trip to BD’s Mongolian Barbeque. I reluctantly came and almost left after I saw the $ 19.99 price for all-​you-​can-​eat. But, I stayed because I was here for a friend’s birthday. $ 19.99 is pretty expensive, even for Bethesda’s standards, and compares to Korean BBQ and sushi/​sashimi buffets.
The food was lackluster. The meats selection was decent — I was surprised that there was even squid. The sauces were a mess — my experience with Mongolian bbq was in Taiwan, where the selection included soy sauce, sesame oil, mashed garlic, and other traditional Asian flavors. The sauces at BD’s was geared to the American taste buds — buffalo sauce, teriyaki sauce, fajita sauce, etc. The buffet station for the sauces was nasty and sticky, since the window was too low to reach some sauces without spillage. The food was grilled on a Mongolian bbq griddle and looked sanitary enough. The meat was good, but if you get noodles, they carry the taste of the griddle.
Service: It was really bad. Because I was with a large party, 18% gratuity was included in the check. I felt that this made the waiter less motivated to do his job. Being an nontraditional style restaurant, the waiter had two jobs: to clear our plates and to refill our drinks. He did neither of those tasks well. Even after going for second helpings, my old plate was still on the table and my cup was still empty. Oftentimes, I saw a small group of waiters just lounging around as if they had nothing to do. By the end of the meal, literally all 10 of my party’s cups were empty, even those that have purchased a soft drink.
Final verdict: Do come here if you’re looking for stir-​fry and you have a huge stomach (and a huge wallet) and you’re unwilling to cook. Do not come here if you know how to make stir-​fry, as $ 19.99 is way overpriced. Including tip for the shoddy waitstaff will make it easily $ 25 a person. The environment, as many others have said, is loud and boisterous and compares to a fast-​food restaurant. I see BD’s as a one time GIMMICK, rather than a place you can come for years and years.

I have been coming to this BD’s for many years and have always enjoyed each time.
You get to make ur own stir fry, rice and tortillas are always coming out as you run low.
Service is always great, great bar selection and friendly staff.
The only thing the price has gone up as the years have passed but I will always come here as the food is delicious.
Bethesda is right there so you get to enjoy downtown and have great dinner choices such as BD’s Mongolian BBQ.
Awesome food you will get stuffed!!!

So we came here to celebrate my boyfriend’s 24^th birthday!
We had a great time! They had two tables set out for us. Unfortunately the tables were not connected, so we had two seperate groups and it became kind of clique-​y.
I also brought in 24 Georgetown Cupcakes, that BD servers kept in the back room for me. They brought it out as soon as I asked for it!
The only thing I didnt like was that, they only take a limited amount of credit cards per group. They had told me this earlier on the phone, so I told everyone to bring cash– so it worked out in the end!
We were also seated near the bar, so it was easier for us to order drinks!
We had a great time, and were able to go out afterwards in Bethesda!

Dirty, dirty, dirty. This restaurant is very dirty. Floors, silverware, and plates were crusted with food and dried bits of something.
Try somewhere else before spending money here!

Not a vegetarian choice.
BD’s markets that it serves vegetarian — and the ingredients that you can select for your meal offer a nice selection of tofu and vegetables.
The problem is that BD’s says if you indicate vegetarian, they will cook it separately for you. And by separately, it means they drop these medal slats on top of the grill so there is some sort of pseudo separation between your food and the rest of the food. Meanwhile your vegetarian meal is cooked on top of the same grill that all of the heavy meat meal are cooked — there is no separation between your food and the meat grill.
If you are a true vegetarian and cannot digest meat, this will potentially cause problems.

*2.5 stars*
Great place for a man-​date (there were several tables with only 20-​something men), but other than that, I can think of many better places to eat in Bethesda. The food was okay (and kudos for having brown rice!), but:
–the guys at the grill tended to overcook it
–I just don’t eat such enormous portions that this place is worth it for me
–the floor was super sticky
–the music they were playing was awful (not that you could really hear much of it over the din of the grill-​guys and many other patrons)
–and if you’re going to make me wait for my food, I prefer to be sitting at my table versus standing on the aforementioned sticky floor.

Zero stars. Worst meal of my life (and I’ve had some bad ones). I’m no stranger to overpriced over hyped food, but this place takes it to another level.
Putting the sticky tables and floors and the general lack of hygene aside, the beef was chewy and of poor quality, the «chefs» were high school kids that overcooked everything, the chicken was mostly the stuff you cut away before cooking.
Don’t go… you’ll be happy you didn’t.

I used to find this place really exciting… I find it much less so now that they’ve raised their prices. For $ 20 I can get a much more delectable meal somewhere else (Il Pizzico comes to mind).
The Pros: It’s a (relatively) novel concept
The Cons:
The price
The quality of the meat (lots of tough and chewy parts in my meat)
The way your food looks when you get it back (the ingredients you so carefully chose are often massacred beyond recognition by their giant stirfry swords)
I had to wait for 4 minutes to get a spoon to eat my really soup, which was not worth the wait (the flavor was good but the texture was awful)
Once your food cycle gets thrown off from other members of your party, you will not see them again for the entirety of the meal.
I guess it really depends on what you’re going out for… but since I’m most interested in spending my money on REALLY GOOD food — I won’t be coming back here.
By the way — the lot across the street IS FOR BD’S. Several people in my party got parking tickets in the garage on a Friday night after letting their meters expire.

This place used to be better few years back. I believe that the quality’s gone down. They also used to give suggestions on which ingredients to put in to make a good sauce. But they stopped doing that now, so you’re just gonna have to mix & match and hopefully you’ll end up making a good sauce.
It’s still a decent all-​you-​can-​eat place though. For about $ 20 (including tax and tip), you can make your own stir-​fry meal. They have shrimps, calamari, beef, pork, chicken, veggies, salad bar and tons of sauce to choose from. If you can eat a lot, then this Bd’s definitely the place for you.

If you don’t like it, it’s your own fault! Select your stir fry yourself with the very cool setup and extremely clean buffet to pick your meal from (saw the manager inspecting all the temperatures multiple times), fresh ingredients (meats, bright veggies, good salad bar).
Fun atmosphere (tip a buck hit the gong!), super casual and good for a binge lunch or dinner. Very nice staff as well. Need to go back a second time because the first time I was a little intimidated by all the choices; this time I think I’d nail it… but the ribeye was good, so I’d definitely have that again.

Overall rating: bleh!
Went to bd’s with a group of friends for the first time in four years, and it only reconfirmed that I won’t be back again for a super long time. Several of us in the group went home with upset stomachs.
On top of our unhappy tummies, this place is overpriced. $ 15 for one tiny tiny bowl and $ 20 for unlimited. $ 15 for one bowl simply isn’t worth the price since people just try to stuff as much as they can, and it probably wouldn’t come out the way you want it to anyway. As for the unlimited– yes it’s a better deal but $ 20 for a meal could be better spent at a restaurant elsewhere especially if you can’t fit all that food in your stomach.
Our waitress was dealing with a big group and every time we requested something, she’d say «yeah! Of course!» with a fake smile on her face. She wouldn’t bother being away from the table before she starts rolling her eyes and have that goofy fake smile completely off her face. No doubt, being a waitress is tiring, but this is what you signed up for so don’t be rude.
Warnings for people with crazy food allergy like me– watch out for stray food items that end up in your food. There’s an allergy-​safe grilling option that I forgot to ask about but for anyone else to whom this might matter, don’t forget!

Mongolian Barbeque sucks for the following reasons:
Usually a wait. Food isn’t worth waiting for.
Poor service.
The crowd = 80% annoying high school girls. ‘Nuff said. Unless you’re an old dude trying to creep, in which case, this is a great spot.
Bowls to put stuff in are too small. I don’t feel like waiting twice for you to cook my food.
The noodles = hollow, spaghetti-​like. Wtf.
Tortillas with the meal? I’m confused.
Sauces kinda suck, even after mixing several together.
Overpriced.
To sum it up: I could run to the grocery store, buy all the ingredients I need (at a fraction of the cost), stir-​fry it myself, and it would at least 5x better than the stir fry I had here.

This is a fun place. It’s a nice sit-​down type restaurant with decent service.
The attraction of this place is that you do it yourself. They give you a bowl, and then you pick what you want from a meat bar, a vegetable bar and a spice/​sauce bar. You pick what type of meat you want beef, steak, chicken, pork, shrimp, lamb, scallops, calamari etc. Then you put vegetables on top of that, and they have a wide variety of vegetables. Then you go to the sauce bar. They have a huge variety of sauces Kung Pao, peanut sauce, pad thai, etc. Then you can select a spice from peanuts, ginger, garlic, cayenne pepper, chili powder, curry, crushed red pepper, etc. Then you take it to the cooks. They cook it all up right in front of you and put it on a plate.
It’s a lot of fun. The place has quality ingredients, but the food is as good as you design it. The problem is that you might not know what you like. There are so many options. Then there is the possibility that you can overspice your meal. That would be bad. The waiters are all trained to give advice, and upon request your waiter will get your meal the old fashioned way.

When my co-​worker chose this place for lunch, I was beyond skeptical. I was all, «Combine delicious ingredients in a bowl only to have them taken from me and grilled on a giant circle? Huh? AND I HAVE TO MAKE MY OWN SAUCE?!» Egregious.
Of course, I was mistaken. This place isn’t half bad, actually. You roll up to the food stations and load up bowl (s) of whatever your heart desires: veggies, meat, seafood, pasta, the kitchen sink. Then you concoct a grill sauce and add spices to throw over the whole thing: I mixed chili garlic with teriyaki, soy sauce and sesame seeds (Cool, right? RIGHT?!) In a matter of minutes they grill everything until your food is properly caramelized, and pass it to you on a plate. When you arrive back at your table, rice (white, brown, fried) and warm tortillas are waiting for you to dig in.
The ambiance is terrible though. Super tacky wall art, uncomfortable chairs, large, cafeteria-​style dining tables. DON’T GO FOR AMBIANCE!
If you don’t like it, I’m sorry to say it’s your fault. You chose the ingredients and sauce combos, so don’t whine that the food was terrible. Take some cooking lessons and move on! But I digress. For 9 bucks and a filling lunch, I approve.
PS: If you’re vegetarian, tell them — they separate your food so a rogue piece of meat doesn’t accidentally end up in your food.