The Great Mongolian Grill

I go here like once a week. This restaurant has a very chic and clean atmosphere. One of the things that really impressed me was that instead of waiting at the grill like at crazy fire you get a numbered card for your table and when the food is done cooking they bring it right to you. The servers are great as well and you can get a punch card to eventually get a free desert and meal. I’m almost at the free desert and halfway to the meal :) The only thing I would change about this restaurant would be that they make eggs available at the buffet. I really like to put eggs in my dish but unfortunately I have not seen them yet. They do however change the items they put out so hopefully they will have them someday soon. The obvious thing I would change as everyone else has said would be the name! grEAT restuarant… terrible name. I have always had wonderful, prompt service. I would recommend it to anyone.

Two things made me nervous when we walked through the door of GrEAT Mongolian: 1. The dining room was completely empty. 2. There was raw meat on the buffet.
Now it’s true that we arrived at 3 pm on a Saturday; not exactly a typical time for a meal. And it’s also true that I’ve never been to a place like this and not familiar with the process.
So, I was really pleasantly surprised by the tasty dish my haphazard pile of shrimp, tofu and veggies created. The seasonings were delicious and there was a wide variety of fresh items to choose from on the buffet. Every dish comes with steamed or fried rice.
A word of warning about the «spicy» option… I consider myself to have a moderately high tolerance for spicy food (a huge fan of texas pete, pickled jalapenos, chili rellenos, etc.), so I opted for the «Mildly Spicy» option of 2 green jalapeño plastic sticks. Boy was it spicy… I was shocked. Could it have been the chefs that day? Not sure — but I recommend going easy on the spicy!
Although we were pleased with the food and the service, we were not pleased with the prices. Our bowls were entirely too small to be priced at $ 10.00 each for one trip only (weekend prices.) They were not filling and most definitely could have used more rice. Next time I might take the advice of another Unilocal reviewer and really stack up the bowls with buffet items before taking them to the grill.
The dining room was clean and pleasant, albeit a bit sparse. They offer beer and wine. The staff are very helpful. Overall, an a-​ok from us. Probably better for a weekday lunch.

This place isn’t as extravagant as your usual whatever fire mongolian place but it’s definitely the cleanest.
They have different coloured plastic sticks to resemble different sauces, so you don’t have to go through the messes of scooping up your own sauce.
They have actual steak, which is way better than the sliced beef you’d fine at other triangle mongo grills.
They also have a 1 plate option for people who aren’t into the idea of stirfry binging. OH, and did I mention they have rice noodles??? YUM.
Unfortunately, they do not have egg, which is about the yummiest part of mongolian stirfry.
They also have miso soup and salad that comes with your buffet. It was average.

Wonderful experience tonight at the GrEAT Mongolian Grill! Food good and great service… best Mongolian BBQ around.

If you’ve read any of my reviews, it should come as no surprise that I’ve been meaning to try this place for a while. So almost immediately after they popped up on Living Social, I snapped up a coupon and made the trek down to Cary.
Based on reviews, I was expecting a higher quality version of Crazy Fire, another all-​you-​can-​eat Mongolian grill that I’ve also tried. Personally, I didn’t find much different between the two.
GrEAT did seem cleaner and fresher (a pleasant start), but taste-​wise, it came up a bit short. I tried every single one of their 8 or so «home-​made» sauces, including sweet chili, teriyaki, sweet tomato, et al. I can’t recall all of them, but suffice to say, they were barely distinguishable and all a bit too sweet. Two other options were soy sauce, which was literally just a cup of pure soy sauce that must’ve raised my blood pressure a good 20 points, and olive oil, which basically tasted like nothing. I did enjoy the choice of either spaghetti or rice noodles, and there was a solid selection of meats, including shrimp, scallops, squid, sausage, and of course, beef, pork and chicken. The seafood wasn’t the highest quality, and was still thawing in ice, but I was impressed just having them as options at an $ 11.99 all-​you-​can-​eat dinner price.
The service was great and the staff was really nice. Just one highlight — the waitress brought me a fresh diet coke when I still had half a cup left, and I must’ve looked a bit surprised, cause she said «Just in case that one was getting watery.» I’m not sure how watery it was after only 5 minutes, but a nice gesture nonetheless. Also, there were no issues with using the living social deal, even though I was a little skeptical cause we got a free salad and miso soup too (both okay, fyi), and she only charged my gf for one bowl even though she went up twice (or maybe even 3 times).
I wanted to give a better review as nice as the staff was and with such a great concept and setup, but the execution came up a bit short. Still glad I tried it out, especially at a great value with the coupon.

Solid effort for a quick meal. The smaller bowl for meats and sauces applied at grill didn’t bother me (but I got unlimited rather than 1 trip). Food was good and service was perfectly fine. Ginger salad was free as a special and was a weak effort. If I had ordered and paid for it, I would have been wildly disappointed. I like the straw system on spice level and sauces.

Good and fresh hearty food. The place is very clean all the way around. The service is outstanding and friendly and as they are still fairly new, there are always seats available immediately.
The prices are not expensive but definitely not cheap either. For dinner, you drop $ 9 for one trip up. I loaded my two bowls (smaller one for meats, larger one for veggies) fairly high so I got a good portion and did not have to make another trip, saving me a couple of dollars.
Four things I hope they change:
1) Their name (GrEAT. Now really, really?)
2) The somewhat confusing system they have in place for picking sauces
3) Stay open later on weekends (they close at 9:30 every night)
4) Hope they add some tomatoes to their veggie selection
I have been there two night in a row in the last one week and am already a fan. Go GrEAT.

We tried this place out thanks to the reviews on Unilocal and were not disappointed. However, the place was dead on a Friday night. We were the only customers for most of the time we were there. Hopefully business will pick up, because it would be a huge shame if this place were to close.
The ingredients were kept at the appropriate temperatures, and probably colder than any buffet than I’ve ever experienced. The shrimp was in ice. There’s beef, chicken, pork, sausage, ham, shrimp, and tofu, plus a huge variety of veggies. I was only disappointed in the lack of tomatoes. I’ve been to Mongolian grills that are greasy, but this place was not like that. The food was very fresh, served over your choice of fried or steamed rice.
The sauces are all made in house by the owner we were told. They were excellent. I would have liked the option of minced garlic with my stir fry, but that’s just a preference of mine rather than a real negative. Spicy is spicy, so you have been warned!
The drink menu is limited, but wine and beer are options. Fat Tire is on the menu, which is a plus for me. No local beers, though. Maybe this is something they add as they get busier.
Lunch is less expensive than dinner, but the prices were very reasonable. If you only make one trip to the grill, plan on shelling out $ 9.99 for dinner. For unlimited trips, add $ 2. They were advertising kids eat free on Mondays (with a paying adult), so this is a great deal for families during the week.
This is a place we’ll be back to. If you’re looking for it, it’s right across the way from the Staples and Firehouse Subs, so not visible from the road.

I am a big fan of Mongolian Grill style restaurants. When I worked in downtown Raleigh I would go weekly to Bali Hai on Old Wake Forest Rd. I have never been very fond of Crazy Fire. I have never been able to reproduce that «Bali Hai» flavor by mixing my own sauces and spices.
So I was cynical when I tried the GrEAT. My doubts were unfounded.
The ingredients at the GrEAT are fresher than any Mongolian style restaurant I’ve ever seen. They not only have beef & chicken but also shrimp and scallops which gives them a leg up on Bali Hai.
They also have a greater selection of sauces and like Bali Hai allow you to specify a «heat» level.
I like the fact that they offer the option of «one trip only» and «unlimited» so if you’re not super hungry you just make one trip for less money.
I also like the fact that I’ve never had to wait in line to fill my bowls and give them to the cook. The dining area is spacious and very clean.
I hope this place does well because I intend to eat here often.

First off, they should probably change the name of this restaurant. Sorry, but «GrEAT» is not a great name. It makes it impossible to Google the place for an address or review, and any passersby are going to see «GrEAT» on the building and not know if it’s a pet shop or a kitchen supply store.
My first experience with Mongolian BBQ was way back in Appleton, WI, at a place called «Mongo’s». Are all Mongolian restaurants named so poorly? It was a fabulous place. It had the most amazing décor, with small tables on the floor and little cushions to sit on, and beautiful lighting and hanging tapestries. The food was great too, with a nice selection of veggies and meat, and they had a bunch of different sauces and oils you could mix and match with. Mongo’s is long gone, but it’s still my standard when encountering Mongolian restaurants.
We’ve tried two other Mongolian restaurants in the area, Crazy Fire down by Crossroads, and Bali Hai in Durham. Both were pretty disappointing, and I wouldn’t return to either. So I was expecting GrEAT to be as dirty and messy as the others. But GrEAT really surprised me.
We came to eat on a Saturday noon, the day Irene was raining down on the area. The place was empty, most likely because of the rain. The entire time only 2 other couples came and went. We were seated immediately and instructed on how to use the food bar. You just fill the little bowl up with protein (meat or tofu) and the bigger bowl with veggies. Then you grab your sauce and spicy sticks to indicate the flavor to use, and take your bowls up to the grill. You get a number, choose your rice (steamed or fried) and then wait for your food to get done at the table. Our son chose to stay by the grill and watch, since he really liked watching them make the food.
The food all looked really good and fresh, though there were some questionable selections there. Ham? Really? But I tried my best to make a good combo. I usually like broccoli, carrots and onions in my stir-​fries, and I tried both the chicken and the beef (separately).
The meat and veggies all turned out pretty good, but the sauce was the main issue for me. I tried the teriyaki first with the beef, and it was okay… but a bit bland. The second time I tried the chili citrus sauce with the chicken, with 1 green stick for «mild» spiciness, but it was a bit too spicy for me and not a great flavor. My husband tried the sweet chili sauce (no extra spice sticks) and it was pretty awesome. If I eat here again, I’ll definitely get the sweet chili sauce.
The waiter suggested we get some ice cream for my son, who refused to try anything. We figured it would be fine. Unfortunately he didn’t mention it was mochi ice cream, which my son refused to eat. So my husband and I ended up eating those as well. I think $ 4 for just two balls of mochi ice cream was a bit expensive, so I don’t think we’d get that again.
I think it’s a good restaurant, very clean with quick, friendly service, and if you get the right combo you can really get some fantastic food. The only things lacking are the name, and the sauces. They really need to either allow for combination sauces, or let people add their own sauces to the veggie bowl, or something. The price was really decent at $ 8.99 for all you can eat, and I think they would do well in the area if they just named themselves something like «Cary Mongolian Grill» or «Grand Heights Mongolian Grill» or something more descriptive.

We revisited this restaurant again and this time got a basic sauce: tomato with olive oil. Very simple and it’s my favorite so far! If you’re like me and can’t eat anything spicy or peppery, then this combo is a really good choice.

Incredible Food at an amazing Price! What can I say, whether or not you’re familiar with the Mongolian grill concept, you should try this hidden gem out. You serve your own ingredients, pick which great sauce you want, drop it off @ the grill and sit down. The friendly servers will bring you your bowl to enjoy. The Citrus Pepper Sauce is fantastic. Options of a single trip or unlimited trips to the grill.
$ 6.99 for a single trip lunch??? AMAZING!
Check them Out!

I really like the concept of Mongolian grills, so when I received a coupon for The GrEAT (not crazy about the name…), I knew we’d venture over eventually. Jay and I frequented the Burlington, NC Crazy Fire Mongolian Grill in college, and have been less than impressed with the Raleigh and Cary locations of that particular chain.
It was a lovely night out, so we chose to sit outside. Our waiter got us two waters and explained the concept (which has already been previously explained by other reviewers). We both tried the Sweet Chili sauce and added an extra swizzle stick for extra spiciness. I ultimately found that this addition was unnecessary (though still tasty). The chili sauce was flavorful and the extra heat made my nose run — something I don’t always love. Jay tried the Teriyaki sauce for his second bowl, and that was also enjoyable.
The protein and veggie options were really good, fresh and I was really excited to see that they offered pineapple! They also had some stuff I was surprised to see like rice noodles, corn and zucchini. We brought our bowls up to the chef, who then asked us our rice preference and we went back outside to sit. We didn’t wait too long at all for our meals and they came out in these really funky crooked-​y/​slanted bowls. Very fun!
We definitely enjoyed our meal at The GrEAT and hope that it gets busier soon so it’ll stick around.

I went here yesterday for lunch with a coworker and I must say I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious it was! I was curious as to how the «Choose a Colored Stick» part would fair since the place I usually go to let’s you add the seasonings and sauces yourself. Well, it turned out out fantastic! My food was perfectly cooked and had all the flavors I expected it to. They bring out the food to your table as well (another plus) and had my coworker going gaga over their serving bowls. The vegetable and side options were nice and fresh with lots of options, the food bar (and restaurant itself) was refreshingly clean, the wait staff was nice, and the place wasn’t packed (though I don’t doubt it will be soon). I live right down the street from here and will definitely be eating here a lot more in the future.

I was so excited to find this place (big thanks to Groupon Now for pointing us in the right direction)! We’ve been searching for a mongolian bbq style restaurant since our move to the Triangle a few months ago, and this place was perfect.
If you haven’t ventured to a mongolian grill before, here are the basics:
1 bowl of veggies, noodles, etc. and the other bowl was filled with meat choices (they also have tofu and the veggie selection is HUGE).
It was clear when walking into the restaurant that a lot of pride is put into it’s maintenance. The place was very open and completely spotless. The service staff was extremely friendly. Our server was Max and he was helpful, informative, and very attentive.
The buffet are had plenty of choices: noodles, veggies, tofu, and a wide variety of meat and sauces. I also really liked that I was able to grab a little swizzle stick with a plastic pepper on it to indicate how much extra spice I wanted in my food. When you go to the grill, you have your choice of fried or steamed rice (I tried both and preferred the steamed). They give you a number and the server delivers your meal to your table instead of standing around waiting for your food to finish cooking.
The sauces were delightful. I tried a honey pepper sauce as well as the teriyaki and enjoyed them both equally.
The value of the meal was excellent, priced at $ 10.99 per person for unlimited dinner. I believe lunch was under $ 8 for the same.
I will definitely be returning and highly recommend the restaurant!

I really want to get the word out about this restaurant because it is AMAZING and every time I go in there there is NO ONE in the restaurant! It would be a real shame if this place went out of business before it even had a chance.
About The Great: first off I feel like the name is really confusing. When I first saw it I thought: wordplay off of grate. so grilled burgers or something is probably what they serve. WRONG. They are a mongolian grill style restaurant! You go in and get seated (and you will have your pick of any seat in the house… trust me), tell the server what you would like to drink, and then help yourself to their fresh uncooked vegetables/​meats bar. There are small bowls and big bowls– you get one of each. Put vegetables/​noodles/​tofu in the big bowl (they are separated because they have different cook times) and then any kind of meat you want in the small bowl. Then you choose a sauce by picking a corresponding colored plastic baton and putting it in one of your bowls. If you have ever eaten at Crazy Fire Mongolian Grill you are familiar with this concept– but UNLIKE Crazy Fire where the only sauce with any real flavor is the spicy sauce ALL of the sauces at The Great are AMAZING! Even the ones I was not so sure about– (tomato sauce??? weird… but GOOD!) You can add an additional mild or spicy stick to add some heat to any of the sauces as well.
As I said every time I go in this place it is a ghost town and I really want them to stay in business so please check it out and TELL YOUR FRIENDS!!!
*a clever little gentleman pointed out how dumb this review sounds now that the owners have changed the title from «the GrEAT» to «the GrEAT mongolian grill». The signage outside of the restaurant still only says «the GrEAT» so I stand by my statement that the name is confusing.