Bd's Mongolian Barbeque

 

8

117

Susan F.

Manassas, VA

I love BD's Mongolian BBQ.  I love the fact I can make my own creation and they cook it for me.  They offer plenty of meats, veggies, sauces, and spices.  I love trying all sorts of combinations! :)  They also have a soup and salad bar.

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3

27

Matthew D.

Arlington, VA

I went here once with a friend and had a great time. BD's operates like your standard Mongolian barbeque restaurant; create your own meal and hand it to the chef, who will cook it right in front of you. Our waiter was great. He came by at the right intervals. It didn't seem he was pestering us nor neglecting us.

You can choose froma wide array of meats, vegetables, and sauces. I was surprised that they actually offered squid and shrimp along with the usually beef, chicken and pork.

BD's is a little pricey, but's all-you-can-eat, so come here when you are ready to have a big meal. I give them kudos for carrying Tsing Tao and Sapporo, two of my favorite beers.

The only real knock I give BD's is the Applebee's/TGIFridays feel I got when I walked in the place, especially when I looked at their two-page, laminated, brightly-colored menu. Although, I can't penalize them that much since Mongolian barbeque is neither Mongolian, nor barbeque. It's actually from Taiwan. But who cares? The food tasted good and the place had a fun, friendly atomosphere. I would come back again.

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4

16

Su K.

Laurel, MD

I'll add a few things to the reviews below.

1) As another reviewer noted, if you have food allergies, it's best to stay away from this place.
2) When making your creation, get two bowls: one for your meat, one for your veggies. This A) prevents all your veggies from rolling onto the floor and B) allows for a bigger stir fry. When I'm feeling more carnivorous, I'll get two bowls of meat. Either way, approach the grill with two bowls filled!
3) Sign up for their Mongo Club. A free stir-fry on your Birthday ain't too shabby. That's actually the only time I'll go here now. My wife and I usually drink water so we get an all-you-can-eat meal for $13.99+tax/tip.
4) The wait can get pretty long for the food during peak hours. I went here several years ago and the cooks were more entertaining and they did a better job of making sure the grill was being used to max capacity. Recently, I've found the cooks to do little more than stir the bowl you created and they don't seem to use the grill efficiently, resulting in longer wait times. So if upon entering you find the restaurant to be crowded, I'd recommend walking to any of the myriad of dining choices in Bethesda.
5) If your food tastes bad you can really only blame yourself. As Aaliyah sang, "Cause if at first you don"t succeed/You can dust it off and try again/Dust yourself off and try again, try again."
6) The cooks also don't seem to control the spaces between the stir fries well so your teriyaki creation may get tainted by someone who's making something with marinara.
7) For you CP alums, the brownie sundae reminds me of the old sundae you could get at Adele's. It's GREAT!
8) There's a free parking lot for BD's customers that opens in the evenings. Pass the restaurant, make a left onto Willow Ln and make your first right into the parking lot. I'm not too sure about the hours but since you need to feed Rockville meters until 10p.m., it's a pretty good deal.

In conclusion, if you think of this place as an all-you-can-eat where you control the ingredients, it's actually pretty good. If however, you are looking for authentic Mongolian BBQ, you'll be disappointed in this place. The fact that it's Mongolian would suggest that you should make Asian stir fries, e.g., teriyaki, kung pow. But if you think outside of the Mongolian box, you can come up with some pretty tasty dishes. For example, I like to make one with sausage, marinara, veggies, and red pepper flakes.

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7

61

laura w.

College Park, MD

When you go out to eat, the last thing you want to be reminded of is your college dining hall, right?

well, then don't go here. How it works is that you go through a buffet line, pick out ingredients and a sauce, and then the cooks saute everything together on a big grill. I had scary flashbacks to the "stirfry" line in college.

It doesn't even matter what you get because it all ends up tasting the same. They even offer "fajitas" which I don't really understand because it's supposed to be "mongolian," but I guess that just means that they throw your food in a pile and cook it for you, and if you want, you can shove it in a tortilla.  I can't imagine having any sort of food allergies or aversions and eating here because it didn't look like they cleaned the grill very well at all.

I went here on a date with my boyfriend once, and to his credit, there was an impressive selection of different meats you could have in your dinner, and the outdoor seating was pleasant. But due to the way the food was prepared, I left feeling overful and disappointed.

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0

83

Anson P.

Annandale, VA

If you are looking for a good authentic Mongolian bbq place, this place is not it.  However, it's a decent place to eat, if you live nearby and a good transition restaurant for friends who are hard to expose to "ethnic food".  This is definitely not worth driving to if you live outside of Bethesda.

The food is not spectacular, hence what I'm sure will be excessive use of the word "decent".  Tips for eating here.  Stick to meat and/or vegetables.  The meat is not the highest quality and neither are the vegetables.  BBQ sauce and fajita mixes for Mongolian BBQ scare me.  I would stick to some of the lighter sauce options.  Steer away from the rice and fajitas.  After all, you are in a buffet, and you are trying to get your money's worth.  If you follow these simple rules, you won't feel like you wasted your money and should have a decent meal.

Desserts here are pretty good.  My girlfriend and I shared the ice cream sundae and it was pretty huge.  As an adult, I love to taunt little kids with massive desserts as if to say, "I could eat something like this for dinner if I wanted to."

I think of this restaurant as one of those places that is good to try once.

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Elite '08

40

138

Michelle P.

Fairfax, VA

When i think of Mongolian BBQs, I typically associate them with Chinese food (probably because the only other one I've been to is Charlie Chiangs!).  However, Bd's  is a very Americanized Mongolian grill.  They have festive music playing and everything looks snazzy and exciting.

And it is exciting!  I was extremely excited when i walked up to the "bar" where you build your bowls and there was raw meat!  Not the frozen, hard stuff you get at Charlie Chiangs, but actual cuts of NY Strip, Sirloin, chicken, Lamb, duck, crab, calamari, pork, shrimp and i think some other fishes.   It was great!  Then there were multiple different noodles and any type of vegetable you could ever want.  

And the best part was all the different sauces.  I guess i shouldn't continue to compare it to CC, but there the only real sauce choice is soy sauce and whether or not you add in chili.  That's pretty much it.  However here, there must have been at least 15 different choices of sauces.  I tried the sweet and sour sauce and the marinara, both were great.  They also had tasting spoons for all the sauces so you knew what you were getting in to before you got it!  At the end of the line that had about 20 different spices you could add if you so desired.

When you return to your table, there is either white or brown rice and tortillas to use if you want to wrap up your bowl.

At lunch the prices are not that bad.   I think it was like $8.99 for one bowl.   We got the unlimited bowl with the salad bar which was 13.99.  I liked the unlimited not because we could eat a lot but because we could try a lot.  That i recommend.

Service was not that great.   Our waiter had been out a little too late the night before and made some small mistakes including overcharging our bill.  When we pointed it out, it took him about 15 minutes to understand and fix the issue.    When we finally got our final bill he did write "Sorry I'm a moron" on the top, so at least he recognized his mistake.

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4

8

edward s.

Washington, DC

Bd's is the TGI Friday's of Mongolian BBQ.

I got really excited that there was a local monogolian bbq. I used to go with my Dad when I was kid to a little place in my home town that had maybe 8 tables and a bar of meat and vegetables leading to 2 guys cicling around the grill (mongolian bbq is basically a big metal circle where you use sticks shaped like swords to stir fry meat, vegetable and sauces together).

First, Bd's meat is not frozen at the bar (which is bad) when the meat is frozen its alot cleaner and less gross to load into your bowl. Just having raw chicken in a troff is not appetizing or particularly sanitary. I know that it all gets cooked later on and they change the bowl so you dont use the one with the raw meat in it but still.

Second, the actual grill was huge! And they used metal sticks not bamboo. I dont know why this should matter but it does.

Third, it was noisy and crowded. Lots of screaming children. The tables were packed in there which is especially a problem when you have to get up and make your way to the salad/soup/bbq bars two or three times during the meal at least. We were sitting in the back so we had alot of people to bump our way through each time but at least people weren't bumping us.

This place would be a very poor choice for a date in my opinion, its not intimate, its too loud and if your date happens to not like handling raw meat you might be in trouble. Plus its not cheap, but it feels cheap.

On the plus side the meal was pretty quick- we got seated in about 5 minutes on a friday night, you don't have to wait to get food and the waiter was quick with drinks and the bill. We were in and out in about 45 minutes. Maybe something to think about if you want a quick bite before a movie across the street?

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6

72

Nick B.

Washington, DC

Go when you are really hungry. I know that is cliche advice for a place like this, but it especially holds true here. In addition to the unlimited combinations of meat, vegetables, sauces, and spices you can come up with, you also can get unlimited tortillas and rice to go along with them. Making the perfect bowl to take over to the grill is like a fine art. It takes practice, but they have some examples of what to put in them to help you get started. They cook everything on a large, circular grill right in front of your eyes, so you can see how the raw heap of stuff you gather actually turns into a tasty meal. Unfortunately, it's always pretty busy with lots of different dishes going on the grill simultaneously that you may end up with someone else's prawns accidentally. It's a great value in terms of quantity and quality for what you pay, and I still like to bang the gong there.

It seems to draw a lot of families with kids, but don't let that discourage you. In fact, they have a digital jukebox with some explicit songs you can play, which makes for some bizarre times.

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4

20

Chlo S.

Washington, DC

A restaurant where I can choose exactly what goes into my food? This place is perfect for everyone- if you have special dietary requirements (allergies, vegan/vegetarian, etc.) they'll take your food to the back and make it on a separate grill. The place itself is rather metro-accessible, but beware the long weekend waits (unless, erm, you know the hostess... not that I have any personal experience there...). It's a fun interactive dining experience that everyone is sure to be a fan of.

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1

81

Max P.

San Jose, CA

Being used to the ghetto Mongloian BBQ of East San Jose this place blow thier socks off
Hands down the nicest mongolian bbq I have even been to
If I am ever back in the area this is one of the first places I would go to get my grub on

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5

28

Red F.

Gaithersburg, MD

I love being completely in control of my dinner.  Don't get me wrong, I love going out to dinner, and when the entree comes out exactly as I imagined it, I am delighted.  But that is not always the case.  This place is great becuase you can put exactly what you know you like in the bowl.  And it's fun too, watching them cook it and chop it up.  One time, I went here alone, and payed with my credit card.  It was really busy that day and the server lost my credit card.  That sucked.  He felt so bad that he gave me free tickets to a concert his band was playing in.  And he found the card an hour later.  So...yup thats my story.  Good place.

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1

9

Kim D.

Silver Spring, MD

Delicious! One of my absolute favorite places! Even if you aren't sure if certain flavor combinations will go together, it still ends up great. And if you are all about cooking and know what spices complement each other, etc, you will end up with a great bowl to eat. The desserts and drinks are pretty tasty, too! It's definately a good date place or somewhere to take out of town relatives, because there are not too many BD's around.

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Elite '08

18

167

Larry G.

Capitol Heights, MD

*boing*  (Somehow, that sounds phallically dirty.  It's supposed to be the gong vibrating.)

I friggin' love this place!  I went there last year for a friend's birthday and have been going there since.  I could not believe I had never heard of such a place or even the concept.

Here's what you do:  you come up to the bar and load up your bowl.  (Hint:  Load up more than what you'd normally would because the volume of the food shrinks when cooked.)  There's a variety of meats, seafood, pastas and vegetables.  Then, you make your own sauce.  This is the fun part.   Then, you add spices, if you want any.

When you're done, you go over to the grilling area.  There's like 6 chefs working together on this one big grill.  They're pretty good with scraping the grill, especially those who are vegetarians.  They'll even put up dividers to prevent any meat creeping in.

Oh, oh.  If you tip them, they'll let you hit this big gong and cheer you on.

When your food is ready, you just bring it to the table.  Your table will then have rice and tortillas/wraps (don't ask me why).

You can have either just the 1-time dish or the buffet.  This is a great way to experiment what works for your palate by trying different food with different sauces.

*boing*

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Elite '08

40

139

Alicia G.

Washington, DC

I love Mongolian BBQ. I've been here a few times and it's really great if you come with a group of people. (Although on one occasion, a big group of high-school prom-goers came and I thought it was an interesting choice, because then they were going to smell like BBQ all night)... But anyway -

I love all of the options - the meats, the veggies, the pasta and the sauces. Oh the sauces are amazing. I also appreciate that servers bring you rice and tortillas at your table. The iced tea is really good - it's Starbucks Tazo tea.

This place is also really great because they do a lot of fundraisers with schools and organizations and I really appreciate that about them. They've helped several AU organizations and helped raise money for orphans in Africa.

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Elite '08

23

186

Mel B.

Washington, DC

The first time I went here was for my college graduation because - even thought I had never been there which is always risky in the first place- having several different members in my family with several different palates, I knew this would be safe as a buffett: pick your own veggies, pick your own meat, pick your own seasoning/sauce and BOOM! everyone is happy!

Just saying the name "Mongolian BBQ" made my dad angry at me: "Meliss, you KNOW grandma can't and won't eat that." After explaining it was just your average DIY stir-fry, he calmed down. It was a hit with everyone- even grandma!

Watching them cook your food on that mammoth wok is fun and they guys are really engaging and animated so it's a fun family place. Go here hungry- last time I checked it was $14 for the buffett where you can make your own stir fry as many times as you like. This seems like the better deal than the menu if you're really hungry. Otherwise, paying $14 for one bowl of stir fry isn't worth it. All in all, on a more creative note, it's a fun way to experiment with new flavors and combos rather than buying new oils, spices, etc. at the store.

I am def a fan of this place!

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24

15

Yan Z.

Mountain View, CA

I've been to 4 mongolian barbeque restaurants on both coasts, and this is the best so far.

On a Saturday night, the wait can be 20-30 minutes or longer. A wide varieties of meats and sauces to choose from. It's also fun to watch the chefs grill the meats and veggies for you.

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Elite '08

14

96

Becky T.

Bethesda, MD

This is a great place to go for lunch, because you have the option of either doing all you can eat for something like $12-14 or for $8 you can just do one plate.  I usually do the one plate and just fill it up as much as possible.  They give you rice and tortillas to eat with your stir-fry so it's really plenty of food.  The food is good, basically because it's up to you to pick the items that you want in your stir fry and which sauces to season it with, so if it sucks it's really because of you.  Downside, is that I really feel sorta guilty paying for this when I can just throw some stuff together with some sauce in a pan myself at home.  Eh, sometimes you're lazy and this works.

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3

45

Louie A.

Bethesda, MD

This is a real man's restaurant.

Meat, meat, and more meat. Don't go filling up on rolls or salad, the meat is where it's at. Do you want just meat? Noodles? Rice? Mostly noodles? Mostly rice? How about some peanut sauce? Hoisin sauce? Peanoisin sauce? Curry? Lemon? Old bay?

Enter BD's... as others have said, it's as wild or mild as you like, and that's the beauty of it. Mix a bowl of ingredients, sauces, and spices, and then watch it get grilled to perfection. This place takes Burger King's idea of "Have it your way" to the extreme, and I'm lovin' it! If you're hungry enough, try a couple of variations... spicy peanut chicken, teriyaki lamb and beef, and pepper shrimp are my personal favorites.

BD's screams fun... it's a great atmosphere, from their jukebox to the tip gong. In addition, there's no wait staff to slow you down. Remember... we do it on a grill!

Just please, please... if you eat your bowl with tortillas, ask for sour cream. They have it and its free!

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Elite '08

21

135

Jed S.

Bethesda, MD

NOT a good place to take the elderly, someone on crutches, or whatnot because they will have a hard time walking around with the bowls and then standing at the grill waiting for there food and walking it back to the table. A traditional sitdown restaurant is probably the best option for them.

And if you time it wrong, the wait can be awful at times, both for a table as well as the line for the grill.

That said, this is one of my favorite restaurants in the area, whether I'm eating by myself or with a large group. There is a wide variety of meats, vegetables, and sauces to choose from, and if you don't like what you chose, just get up and make a new bowl!

Except on one or two occassions where they were very busy, BDs is great about cleaning off an area of the grill for vegetarians and putting up dividers to ensure no cross-contamination.

The deserts are great, although I must confess that I seldom have room for them. Still, if on the off chance I'm not stuffed from the unlimited trips to othe grill, the chocolate mouse and the apple cobbler are both great here.

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Elite '08

40

312

John W.

East Elmhurst, NY

AYCE whatever you create!

Even though this place is a franchise, I love the food here.  You don't have to order AYCE, you can also have a bowl with a salad or a bowl with a soup.  I love this place the first time I ate it.

The concept?  You choose a meat item (pork, chicken, fish, etc) and then you add the veggies (peppers, corn, onions, mushrooms, etc) and then you make your own sauce (hoisin, bbq, lemon) and either add an egg and add some spices.  Bring it over to the grilling area and the chefs will cook your meal in front of you.  It is as healthy as you make it to be, and I love experimenting with the different types of food and combinations.

With your food, you have the options of having rice or tortillas.  I try to come here at least once a year when I'm visiting Maryland.  Too bad that don't have this place in NYC.

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4

34

Dan M.

San Francisco, CA

Maybe i've just spent too much time in san francisco, where a place like this wouldn't fly. But I think if an actual mongolian saw this place he or she would probably cry at the complete american franchise-ation.

Now, the food was pretty good, albeit a bit rushed (we were in the middle of a busy lunch hour though, it was thinned out some by the time we left). The service was good too. And they had some creative additions to the "put a bunch of stuff in a bowl and mix up a cup of sauce and we'll grill it for you" concept. Also, having both rice and tortillas available at the table was pretty cool.

I suppose I would just prefer a more... authentic mongolian barbeque.

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Elite '08

41

154

Liam D.

Washington, DC

Love me some Mongolian BBQ. Just went there this Saturday evening because i was literally craving it--that doesn't happen often with restaurants, just usually cuisine.

This was my first time going on a weekend night at dinner and I was amazed at how busy it is--every family in bethesda must have been there and it was 6:30! After 30 minutes waiting for a table for 3 (note to self: make reservations next time, dolt), we were let loose to attack the chilled meat buffet that consists of at least 6 types of raw meat/poultry/seafood (the ribeye is my favorite, as is the lamb); a large selection of veggies; and probably 20 types of sauces. For those of us without a real idea of how to mix flavors together into something edible, they have "cheat cards" with recipes on em that you can follow, just to ensure you're not wasting your time by making something you don't want to eat.

Back at your table there is a pot of steamed rice and tortillas for making mongolian style fajitas, and it's all just really delicious. $16.99 gets you unlimited access to the grill, which was disappointing for me considering I generally only eat one plate and there used to be a "1 plate" option. They do have a $12.99 veggie plate option, and I'm sure you could convince your waiter that you had veggie and not meat to save the $4, but really....it's just $4 and you don't have to feel guilty about lying to anyone.

Service here is nothing out of the ordinary, but that's what you expect when you go there--it's a do-it-yourself place. I discovered this weekend that BD's has a second grill in back of the main one to cook food for people with allergies or kosher requests, and that's something that I think shows they care about their clientele's needs and desires, and an added tip of the hat to the management.

Great place for groups, but I agree...don't bring people who are expecting flawless service, or the elderly who won't likely find standing in line and gong smashing to be an enjoyable meal.

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0

134

Jason B.

Washington, DC

Popular family destination combined with the idea of creating your own masterpieces makes this place a unique experience to try.  If you like to eat than this place is for you since you basically eat as much as you can build on a plate.  Nothing else to choose on the menu except for the food bar and slad bar with rice and tortillas.  Fun for everyone, this is the type of place I usually go once every coupl eof years to get my fix.  I cannot imagine going back more frequently than that.

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28

125

kevin k.

Ellicott City, MD

went there and witness the downfall of brazilian team in world cup.  how sad day it was.  now the food. one word "so so so so" nothing unusual nothing that grabs me back making me to want to come back. i was like ok i dont it now no more.  the meat and vegi were fresh enough.  but no flaver. cause they cook it just lightly i thought some of the meat was not cooked enough.  the sauce you pick were a variety but it may take u a while before you find the one you like and
guess what you are FULL by then.  other than the location and buffet, i dont like buffet much, it is just another restraurant...

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