301 Mongolia

I have been several times and cannot bring myself to return. The service is so terrible that the entire experience is ruined.
Wait times for drinks can be up to 10 minutes when there are only 4 tables sat. I have to send back glasses of wine every time because the bottle had been opened so long, the glass was like vinegar. (Which took another 10 minutes)
I have even picked up my own stir fry from the counter after looking at my plate for several minutes. The server seems to disappear to the kitchen which is crazy because the overwhelming majority of the food is cooked in the front of the house.
Waiting for a check to be brought and picked up can be up to 20 minutes (after asking for it).
My rating is not a reflection on the food, which it quite good. The service is just THAT bad.

Tonight’s visit was OUT-​STANDING! I have been going to this place for a few years… even before they closed and reopened… and the past dozen or so times we’ve gone were just wonderful (been meaning to post this for a while, but tonight’s experience was just too good to delay my writing this). While nothing changed about the décor and raw bar options since the reopen, SOO MUCH has changed about this place! And I want to rave about it. The sauce options are outstanding (I like 4 ladles of the spicy peanut and 2 of the spicy/​sweet chili) and the chef cooks everything to perfection, literally the chicken melts in your mouth. Not only is he a great chef, but he’s always in a great mood and frequently visits guest tables to deliver food and joke with patrons; you can’t help but smile around the guy. The manager is an absolute pleasure, she helped us when we screwed up and forgot to give our cisaves (a great $ 15 for $ 30 value when it’s on there). The wait staff are also lovely, a change from a couple years ago. I can’t say enough good things about the positive change in service, the manager and owner should be very proud of this welcomed change. Lastly, and probably most important, tonight we were treated with a «live jukebox show» by what I can only assume is a local guitarist/​singer. This guy was a great singer, the music selection was so awesome, and it made for a super-​great atmosphere. The sound wasn’t too loud and made for a great date night. I hope to see more live music offerings (especially this one!) in the future. Thank you 301and live-​jukebox-​singer-​guy for such a great night!

My husband and I had lunch on a late Friday afternoon– from the service to the food, everything was a 5 star experience. Our waiter was De Andre. From the moment, we walked in we had his undivided attention. He took the time to explain the menu, the all you can eat– build your own bowls, as well as the stations. He made sure to let us know when our bowls were almost done. Our drinks (water and lemonade) were refilled before the glasses were close to empty. He informed us about the dessert options without sounding pushy as we were finishing up. The bowls we created were cooked to perfection. Not all ingredients go well together and you sometimes find this out the hard way. This was not the case at 301 Mongolia. As you can see by my rating, we enjoyed the food and the service. The restaurant was clean and De Andre was by far one of the most patient and attentive employees we have had the pleasure of meeting. First time visit and we will definitely be back… with friends.

Service was extremely slow, there was only one waitress working and the place wasn’t even a third full on Valentines day, their «busiest day of the year» as I was told over the phone (our reservations were unnecessary). Our appetizer was supposed to be sweet honey chicken but it just tasted like chicken and soy sauce. The stir fry was completely average, nothing special (NO WATER CHESTNUTS!!). They were out of the dessert we wanted (chocolate won-​tons) so we got the «mongolian brownie» on the waitresse’s recommendation. The brownie was WAY too dry and served at room temperature. The drinks were the only good thing about the meal, but they were even out of the sake we wanted to try. Horrible experience, mediocre food, and lots of disappointed faces when we looked around at the other patrons.

This is on the college side of town so it can get packed. The trick is for those of us well past our college days is to come when the students are still in bed nursing their hangovers or at midday while they are stuck in class learning things which they’ll almost never use. At these times of day you practically have the restaurant to yourself.
As for the restaurant itself, the décor is modern and very spacious. So no jammed packed table seating here. The wait staff is nice and somewhat tentative.
I’ve been to Mongolian type restaurants before so for the most part I knew what to expect. When seated you will note a pad of paper which is where you select the type of rice you want, an option between egg or bread and if you want the option to have your meal served as a soup. The wait staff will also provide you with two bowls, a large one for veggies and a smaller one for meats. Don’t worry, you can pile a good amount of meat in the bowl they provide.
Once you’ve made your selection on the pad of paper, tear it off and head over to the veggie counter and start loading up your bowl. Don’t be shy, it’s okay to have a heaping mound. Then circle around the corner and select your sauces/​spices.
It is hear that experience does help out. When you think you have added enough sauces, then add twice as much more, although be careful with the spicy ones as the spicy heat can flash up a few notches when cooked. The veggie bowl is bigger not so much so it can hold more veggies, but so you can get the right amount of liquid which will help keep everything from drying out… especially the meat. I would suggest you spoon in one or two of the thicker sauces (such has the chili paste), then spoon in one or two liquid sauces (such as soy) and then around three spoons of the flavored water (such as the garlic water). Then proceed to loading up your meat bowl. At the end of the counter you’ll find a few spices, add on what you will, and don’t be sparingly about it, as these are in powder form. Most of it will burn off in the high heat.
At the end of the counter is a large flat surface. This is where you leave your bowl and most importantly that little piece of paper you written on as that gives the cook last minute instructions when he sets up your meal on the large cooking surface. Not to mention it also has your table number on it so they know where to deliver the final product.
Once you set down your bowl you can either watch the cook in action or go back to your seat.
Overall, my experience here was really good. The bowl came to the table with the food well blended and hot. It tasted really good, was not dry, burnt or underdone. (mind you, I add a lot of the liquid sauces and flavored water… it does not come out soupy) Their quality of food is really good and I must say, I enjoyed the boc-​choy and water-​chestnuts. I’ll certainly come back here again !

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience here. You get to pick exactly what you are going to eat and they cook it right in front of you!

This place was very disappointing. The floors were sticky, they didn’t have enough cups to even serve water, there was no system for managing the dishes so we got skipped over, and ultimately this was the first restaurant where we got so fed up we paid for the drinks and left. Only reason it got two stars was the sake selection was tasty, the décor was nice, and the waiter was fine.

After my 2012 the restaurant closed for a while in 2014. So we tried this place a few weeks ago and it’s a total skip.
Why. Service and the quality of food. When you’re significantly pricier than your competition you should deliver a superior product and they didn’t.
Waited for someone to come ask for drinks etc for 15 mins and we just walked out. Person workings response was oh well. What a shame.

My bowls are always so delicious here, so fresh and i could eat three or more. Price is reasonable and staff friendly. Try the warrior sauce!

For $ 13 lunch or $ 17 dinner, you get unlimited bowls so I definitely suggest bringing your hungry selves over for lunch. The bowls look small but two Mongolian bowls will be enough to satisfy your famished stomachs. There’s a wide variety of sauces and vegetables to choose from. The meat is limited to beef, chicken, sausage, and tofu. On some days, a seafood item will be available. Your food can possibly go wrong if you start mixing and matching sauces, but such is the price of food experimentation. The flat bread with the food is also really delicious.

You can’t be disappointed by this place. Not only are the staff helpful and kind, but they also are patient while explaining the idea of the restaurant to you.
You also get to literally pick out what you’ll eat, along with, if you want, being able to stand and watch your food be cooked.
The idea is that you pick out a rice you want, along with either bread or an egg. This will come into your bowl later. Then, your server gives you two bowls — one for veggies, spices, sauces, and fruits, and the other for proteins and meats like calamari, chicken, beef, or even fish. Then you pick out what you want at a buffet style set up in front of a huge grill, where the food you picked out will be stir fried along with the rice you chose.
Prices are reasonable, with it only costing about 70 bucks to feed 4 people a meal large enough for a huge dinner, and then some leftovers you can take home.
Overall, I highly recommend this place if you’re in the mood for an interesting place, with a great atmosphere and even better food, which all combines for one of the best eating experiences I’ve ever had.
And if you’re lucky, you could catch live music outside on the patio.

The food is amazing, best stir fry around, peanut sauce is amazing, good quality meats and veggies.
The service however, ehh. Went in at evening got seated and nobody came to even say hi I’ll be with you shortly as we sat there for 12 mins to which I asked for a manager and he got us our food promptly and even gave us a free dessert. He handled it well and professionally

This place has delicious food and great service. You choose your meat, vegetables, and sauce and they grill it up for you and will add eggs and bread (which is so good) if you like. I have been to other Mongolian restaurants and they had super greasy food, but this places Food is delicious and fresh. Be prepared to pay for it though! Their prices are high.

Had a wonderful bowl at lunch today that blew me away. The key seemed to be the additional Siracha added to my bowl. That flavor was amazing.
Try your bowl with some siracha next time!

This is your typical stir fry place but definitely has a lot of options in terms of customizability. The restaurant is your average ambiance place and very casual. At times, the service was slightly spotty and took unusually long to receive your food. However, given that it is a all you can eat stir fry place there isn’t much to complain about. The meat was cooked very inconsistently. Occasionally it was undercooked or overcooked. I wouldn’t mind eating here again though if I don’t mind the quality of the food and have a big appetite.

If you don’t like your food here, it’s because you’re doing it wrong. That being said, I think you could also end up making this food at home for yourself, but I digress.
It’s got a nice theme to it, it’s decorated nicely, there are tons of options, and most of the sauces are pretty good. You can definitely get a lot of food, so its best to bring a large appetite. It was very very empty when we stopped in, which was kind of a bummer. All in all, it’s definitely not bad, but it’s also nothing too special either.

Make sure that you come with an appetite. My first bowl involved a variety of veggies and the hoisin sauce, delicious!!! My second bowl I decided to mix it up and add a scoop of the spicy peanut sauce which kicked up the spice. Another tasty bowl. Another addition is the bread — make sure you check this box on your order form as it is like naan or a tortilla. Either way, it is a must!
One complaint is the time to get your food but like anything, so long as it is hot once it reaches my table, no harm no foul. I will definitely be returning here soon!

My wife and I ate here this evening, looking to have a vegetable-​infused meal to end the weekend. I bought a Ci Saves coupon several weeks ago and was looking forward to using it.
Service: We ate late in the afternoon/​early evening. Only a few other tables were occupied. Our server, Cole, was excellent. He was polite, kept our glasses full (water and ice tea), and hit that nice sweet spot of coming around frequently enough to check on us, but not so much that our dinner was continually interrupted.
Food: Although the bowl for the veggies looked small, we had more than enough to satisfy ourselves without getting a second bowl. Having the rice put in separate from the veggies by the cook helps.
The vegetables were typical for stir fry restaurants. They all appeared fresh and appealing. My only disappointment was not having jalapenos to add in the veggie bowl.
There was a good selection of sauces. Unless I missed it, the only regular type that was missing was a plum sauce. Looking back, I wish that I had used more sauce in my mixture. However, a little soy sauce added after we received our cooked food worked well.
The proteins all looked great. I selected a combination of beef, calamari and white fish. I did try a little Andouille sausage, which was quite interesting to add in at a stir fry restaurant.
The cooking time seemed appropriate. Hot, steaming bowls were delivered to our table in a short time. The bread served with the stir fry was excellent.
So … our trip to 301 Mongolia was very nice. It was a great way to end the weekend.

As of March 2014, 301 Mongolia has reopened. The owner, who also owns near neighbor Dublin O’Neil’s, had originally intended to extend the Irish pub into the space, but has now reversed course and reopened this Mongolian grill. We’d eaten at Mongolia 301 several times before the closure, mainly for lunch, and always had a good meal. We like the healthier options and the clean, contemporary décor. I especially like the funky red and white globe pendant lamps.
Today, on a Tuesday, we stopped by the newly reopened 301 Mongolia for an early dinner (around 5 pm). There was only one other couple in the place, one waiter, and one cook. When we went up to select our vegetables, it was clear that many of them were not fresh, both the raw and the blanched. The snap peas had streaks of brownish-​gray with depressed marks running down the side. The white slices of the bok choy had browned and shrunk. Half of the green beans were gray. The spinach had browned on the edges and begun to wilt. Even the bottom of the mostly empty chopped peanut container had a hardened mashed peanut residue that had been there awhile — I scraped at it with a spoon, but it was so hard, the residue remained. I was only able to choose about half of the veggies I normally would have done because of browned, graying, or wilted items.
The bowls for selecting veggies and meat were so small, my husband joked they must have shrunk. I wasn’t sure. But dinner is around $ 14 for a single bowl, and my husband could not get enough to eat. I was fine with my $ 14 single bowl, but it was far from a value. I didn’t see much difference between dinner fare and lunch fare (perhaps the squid or white fish items on the meat bar?), although there is a jump in price. The cook did a decent job preparing our meals on the grill, except that the cubed potatoes in my bowl were actually still crunchy. The one high note was the very good waiter; he was a professional who apologized for things beyond his control and did what he could to make the meal a good experience.
We also believe the food has declined in quality at Dublin O’Neil’s. We’ve complained there after our last three meals, and have now decided not to return. Unfortunately, we have decided we won’t be back to 301 Mongolia, either. It’s too bad. We’d love to love new styles of restaurants in Urbana-​Champaign. They are something this town desperately needs. Like most people, we can’t afford to eat out as often as we used to. It’s really disappointing when we spend our hard-​earned dollars for a treat that isn’t such a treat after all.

J pointed out 301 Mongolia to me on our way in to Destihl the night before, and I must admit I was pretty excited to try it out as we both love Flat Top Grill. So, when she informed me that’s where we were going for dinner the next night… woohoo!
When we arrived around 7pm on a weekday, I was impressed by the look of the place. Personally, I loved the muted red color of the globe lights and the open feeling of the restaurant. The hostess and our server were friendly. Practically empty, customer-​wise. I perused the food options as we were seated and liked the variety of veggies, sauces and proteins. So far, so good!
We ordered drinks and an app — the Mongolian Nachos. I liked my Martini, another smooth sipping winner… J’s Margarita packed quite a liquor whallop… and I hated te nachos (even with some help from sauces from the stir fry bar, it was dull city).
On to the main event — and I’ll compare my finds at 301 to Flat Top for those of you who’ve tried FT. 301 had more basic veggie choices (no premixed ‘stir fry veggie’ bins), and a whole bin of bean sprouts (yah! my fav stir fry veg). There appears to be an equal amount of sauce choices at both locations, but the sauce flavors at 301 were not as robustly seasoned. 301 had many more protein choices than FT but no vegetarian options that I could see (FT kicks butt on veg protein options). I was able to make my 301 stir fry into a soup, but there was not enough broth and the flavor just wasn’t there (and I swear I put 6 ladles of sauces into my stir fry). 301 had more herb and spice shakers too. 301’s roti bread was good (and they’ll give you extra, same as FT), but FT’s roti is just amazing.
If I’m craving stir fry in Champaign, I’ll stick with Flat Top.