bd's Mongolian Grill Pittsburgh: Go Mongo Review

I finally got to chow down at Bd's Mongolian Grill this week. The concept is fun, the food is fresh, and I totally enjoyed my meal!

Interesting fact: There's a Bd's franchise in Mongolia. Who would have guessed that BD's Mongolian Barbeque restaurant had its reaches as far as Ulaanbaatar? From the reviews by native Mongolians, the food is good, but it's definitely not Mongolian :p

How it works
There are three stations from which you will load up your bowl (one time for $7.99 lunch price, all-you-can-eat $10.99). I went for the one-time lunch deal. Now this require a bit of strategic loading to get your money's worth.

At the first station, you will first encounter these noodles. Noodles are cheap, and filling, and are not what I load up with when I want to get my money's worth.

Carbs

At the other end of this first station however, you will find the good stuff (except the fake crab stix).

Behold, my friends, the good stuff.

After filling up about three quarters of the bowl with steak, calamari, scallops and shrimp (which sad to say are likely farm-raised), I proceeded to the second station. Here's a great selection of vegetables: tomatoes, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, peppers, cilantro etc... and eggs. I love eggs.

Eat your veggies people.

With my bowl fully-loaded, I carefully made my way to the third station - the sauces, condiments, spices await my discerning palate. If you're not sure what sauce or sauce combo you wish to season your meal with, you can place a small amount in those little sauce bowls provided, and taste the sauce first. I tasted each and every one (teriyaki, fajita, chili garlic, kung pao, mongo marinara, lemon, pad thai, peanut, ponzu, szechwan, shanghai barbecue, shiitake mushroom, spicy buffalo, sweet & sour) before settling for the Mongolian soy ginger sauce. I also put in a heaping tablespoonful of minced garlic, and a generous wallop of hot pepper flakes.

Having chosen and mixed just the right blend of sauce and spice to create my outstanding dish, I toddled over to the grill station and got in line. 

Mongo chef cooking up a storm right before your eyes. Very entertaining.

It wasn't a long wait at all. I was salivating by the time my dish was handed to me, less than 10 minutes later.

I finished every morsel.

The food was perfectly cooked. You know, having gone through the Food Safety Course (to meet the requirements for becoming a food vendor), I am always watchful for lapses in safe food handling and preparation practices. Buffets, where anyone and everyone has their hands in the food, are naturally suspect. What if someone sneezes all over the shrimp at the meat station? No problem, the hot grill takes care of those nasty sneeze germs. What if someone sneezes all over the raw veggies at the soup and salad bar though? Erm, I didn't get anything from there hehe.

Will I be back? Yes!

BD's Mongolian Grill get's Gracie's 'Four' stars :)