Genghis Grill in Chantilly, VA

My daughter had just received her Brown Belt so to celebrate, she said she wanted Dairy Queen. I asked if she wanted Frozen Custard instead, and she said YES. But first, I said, we need to eat lunch. I gave her a number of restaurants to choose from near where she received her Brown Belt and she chose Genghis Grill. It sounds fun, she said.

It’s been a while since our family had Mongolian BBQ. Before we had kids, my husband and I enjoyed Mongolian BBQ when we used to live in Hampton, VA, and in different parts of California.

Our last Mongolian BBQ meal in downtown DC, however, I would like to forget. It was a place in Chinatown that was fancy in decor but the food still tasted like what you’d get at a typical Mongolian BBQ restaurant. When we got the bill…Holy Khan, it was $25 per person! For a bowl of noodles and meat! I couldn’t justify paying that much for the same quality of food I used to get at Mongolian BBQ restaurants in the malls of California.

So now, here we are at Genghis Grill and I’m trying not to have flashbacks of our last Mongolian BBQ experience. The price was around $9 per person, less for kids. Ok, this is doable.

I like when the eating experience is fun, and it kind of was. The”rules” are posted on the wall:

1. Choose your protein.
There is a pretty good variety of meats and seafood to choose from.

I chose fish and chicken.

2. Season your protein.

Have you seasoned your protein today?

3. Pick your veggies.

4. Select a sauce.

This is where I failed miserably. I guess you’re supposed to put the sauce in the little containers instead of on top the food. What a newb mistake.

5. Call your starch.

Tell the Lords of the Mongolian BBQ what kind of starch you want: brown rice, fried rice, steamed rice, udon noodles, tortillas or spiral pasta.