HuHot Mongolian Grill

They are very similar to Flat top grill in terms of concept but quality wise I think they fall well short especially for vegetarians. When we took our bowls and proceeded to adding noodles and vegetables, I noticed that most of their vegetables were frozen. Further they also put meat right there next to the vegetables. This can cause food contamination. Also their sauces do not have clear labels stating which ones contain meat or other allergens. Anyways we added vegetables, beans and sauces to our bowl and saw the food get cooked right in front of us. I am a vegetarian and it was not a pretty sight to see our food get cooked on the same fry pan where meat was just cooked. When I tasted the food, it seemed like the noodles and some veggies were not even cooked properly. Maybe Madison has pampered me in terms of vegetarian friendly restaurants but Huhot grill is not one.

I have to say I’ve eaten at this location 10+ times along with at least 15 others across the midwest over the past 14years. The food at this one was well stocked, the line for the grill was short and service at the table quick. Food was cooked perfectly.

I was skeptical of this place from the start. But my gut feeling was right. Mostly because I loved Flattop grill. Sadly, its has closed now. Naturally I was comparing this place to Flattop so I may have some bias. The waitress wasn’t too clear with the instructions (even though it wasn’t hard to figure out) she didn’t offer waters either. Now the most important part, the food. The only good part of HuHot is that they have a lot of toppings. the toppings didn’t exactly make too much sense. It had like corn and black beans, jalapeños…etc. The meat (chicken, beef, etc) were all thin and frozen. I was used to fresh chicken and meat so it was off putting. You also had to lather up your bowl with sauce or you don’t have any flavor to the food. The chefs had real skill which was interesting to watch but over all I would never come here again. It wasn’t quality food, wasn’t adequate wait staff, not a good experience. I wouldn’t waste your time or money here.
As an update, my stomach hurts now, which leads me to believe the food wasn’t cooked correctly. Again the chicken was frozen when you pick it out.

I’m only giving HuHot 3 stars because I am always unimpressed. There was a 30 minute wait this past Friday night (which is fine) so my boyfriend and I decided to wait at the bar. The entire 30 minutes we were sitting there no one bothered to say hello or ask if we needed anything. The people behind the bar completely ignored us and just hung out with each other with their back turned to us. The food is fine but the customer service tends to be lacking every time.
It’s like we walked into someone’s private party and no one wants us there.

We walked in a little after 7 and stood aimlessly at the host stand for a minute or two before a passing waitress, looking very stressed, stopped and asked if we had been helped. She checked us in at 7:08. We then walked over to the bar to order a drink while we waited. This wait was in vain — we sat there until 7:22 watching servers comic and going, before we gave up and walked back over to the host stand. The manager asked us to move away from the doorway and offered us a seat at the bar, at which point I informed him no one had served us so we weren’t interested in sitting at the bar any longer. He apologized and said they don’t have a bar tender tonight. I suppose that means no one gets alcohol tonight — a Friday night? That’s a lot of lost revenue. The first 20 min of being here and they’re down to 2 stars. We were seated at 7:29, which is reasonable for a Friday — it did seem like they were short staffed. Our server was great and the food was yummy, so that gave them the 3^rd star.

Common Mongolian grill. Buffet, eat until you cannot eat. I will recommend this to you if you are very very very hungry and really need some meat.

Usually I really enjoy my visits, but unfortunately this time I did not. My father-​in-​law took my wife and I out for my birthday dinner and HuHot was my choice. Even though the drive was a hour each way, I thought it would be worth it.
We got there at about 5:00 pm. We were seated right away, but instead of putting us at a table that could fit 5 people, we were put at a booth/​chair table meant to seat 4. The server then just grabbed a chair and put at the end of the table. Other than that our service was good. The waitress made sure to stop by every once and a while and make sure we were doing ok.
When I went up to the meat/​veggies is where things really went downhill. All of the meat, veggies and sauces needed to be refilled. There were no pad-​thai noodles and they were out of chicken and beef. There didn’t seem to be anyone that was in charge of making sure things were full. The veggies were hit or miss and there were several sauces that were almost gone. There were also veggies and sauce ALL OVER the counters and the floor. It looked like they had just served a bus load of hungry football players and didn’t bother to clean anything up.
While we were there it started to get busy and they got backed up on the grill, they seemed understaffed in the kitchen and over staffed in the dining room. All in all, I know they can do better at HuHot, I just wish their off day wouldn’t have been a birthday celebration with family.

Interesting set up and restaurant! I love watching the cooks do tricks with their spatulas. And the cooks are always so nice and polite. I am not a fan of Asian cuisine but I always love to give it a try. This place offers so many options to create your own flavors that it always tasted great! I’ve been here a couple times and it seems that most of the servers are rather slow. Last time we went, we were already through our second plates before she finally brought the rice. But still even when she was there (and the other servers) they were always very polite and helpful!

Not much to say about this place, except that is is just plan okay. The food is not bad — I particularly like their spicy sausage — but it’s not someplace I have ever craved. We’ve been twice, and we have no real intentions of going back ever, simply because there are better choices out there.

I come to HuHot about once a month, usually when its a busy day and I haven’t had lunch yet by mid-​afternoon. This is a good spot for when you’re in between and having one lunch and dinner makes sense.
While I am not a fan of buffet style restaurants, HuHot is different because of the myriad of fresh ingredients being prepared instantly hot on the grill. There are plenty of options for meat, noodles, veggies, and nonmeat proteins — chickpeas, black beans, tofu, and edamame — oh my!
The positives — kid friendly, customizable, options for everyone in your party. Vegetarians, those wanting something Asian or American, from meek n’ mild to huhot heat level. Also food is cooked fresh before your eyes and that of your dining companions! No food dying in the window or entrees coming out at different times that destroy a dining experience.
Special mention to the S’mores dessert! They bring you a little «fire pit» and you assemble and roast them yourself over the fire!
I don’t understand reviewers complaining about the food! If you aren’t a master of tastes and textures to create your own stir fry, why not select from the dozen recipe cards available? Because you can go back through the line again, if at first you don’t succeed, try again!
The negatives — While the dining area is HUGE, there is a consistent effort to seat guests in the back corner near the kitchen. Hosts/​servers sit a party right next to another party with no regard for the dozens of available tables elsewhere. Over half the time I come here it is outside of lunch and dinner rush, so why not seat people around the restaurant? It is uncomfortable to pack everyone into 15% of the dining space. On my most recent visit last week I asked if we could get a booth when we were being led to the back corner. Response: the only booth left in the corner had a bad seat. How about the rest of the restaurant?! I was offered a table in the middle next to another set of diners in the middle. The 15 inch buffer zone wasn’t enough so we took the broken seat booth. The manager on duty needs to handle seating for awhile and train servers or hosts on how to distribute customers around the expansive dining area in a sensible way. Jamming everyone in the back corner doesn’t look good and does not contribute to a positive dining experience! I have removed one star from the rating based on seating.
I agree with other reviewers who mention wait staff hanging around the bar instead of attentiveness to customers. (Joy & Amber are exceptions; they are good). I suspect there is no employee break room. Suggestion: make the dining corner back by the kitchen the employee break area! It can be a challenge to get a drink refill or used plates removed. I have removed one star from the rating based on a lack of server attentiveness, menu knowledge, and professionalism. Its a training issue.
I will edit the review and update the stars to a 4 or 5 level if these issues get resolved. I hope they do because there are positives here, but attention needs paid to improve the experience for myself and others from middle of the road to 5 stars before its too late!

Not the best, but definitely something you’ll miss once a while.
Came here once for a seafood night and was quite good. I’m always full after two or three full plates. For my friends, most of them like to have rice with the grill.

The food is ok but the service is terrible (which is pretty difficult in a restaurant where you serve your own food). Tonight, they overcharged a member of our group by 30 dollars. It took nearly 40 minutes for the staff to correct the error. You would think after such an inconvenient experience, the manager would do something to make it better. Nope.
The food is just ok. If you go, I would defiantly not use a credit or debit card. The staff seemed extremely confused as to how to process cards. At one point our server told us that no one knew how to fix the error they made. We will need to monitor our bank accounts for several days to make sure we were not overcharged.

While the food wasn’t bad, this place just isn’t what I remember. It feels cheap and well, sad.
There was a decent selection of food to put in your bowl, but the meat was frozen and the seafood was a little off-​putting. However, I decided to try a little krab meat and pile on a ton of different veggies. While I felt like I ladled on a ton of sauce, after my food was done being prepared, it was dry and pretty tasteless. I followed one of the pre-​made recipe cards so I thought I would have been safe, but guess not. While I was certainly full after one plate, I just wish there was a little more to it.
Our waiter George was super friendly and attentive. He was prompt on refills and good at clearing the table. It was pretty slow, but he seemed to be able to keep himself busy.
Glad we had a coupon otherwise I would have been a little disappointed. Probably won’t be back any time soon, but I was with good company so it wasn’t too bad.

I ate here just once, and that will be my only visit.
I was looking for a low-​priced, quick meal, and HuHot was the answer. Unfortunately, the cleanliness (or lack thereof) of the restaurant as well as the chatty gang of bored wait staff next to my booth during my visit were both such turnoffs that I don’t want to return for a second visit.
My husband and I sat at a booth near the bar, and when sitting down, I smelled something like dirty socks. I don’t know if old food was rotting in tiny cracks in the seat, or if bacteria over time in the carpeting underneath the booth caused the smell, or if the smell was generating from something else. Whatever it was, the smell was one that should not be inside of a restaurant.
The bathrooms smelled a little like sewage. The handles on some of the utensils at the buffet were sticky. Overall, the place just was not clean. (I’m turning my nose up as I’m typing this!)
Our server was fine. She was friendly and attentive. But why did the rest of the HuHot wait staff sit around and chit-​chat in the bar area during the 45+ minutes that I was there? I understand that I was dining at an off time (3pm), but I still feel that the wait staff ganging together and «hanging out» in front of customers is very unprofessional.
All in all, my experience at HuHot unfortunately was not positive, and I am not planning on going back.

It was our second time here. Not nearly as impressed as the first but then again we didn’t come back for a year so maybe we weren’t impressed that much anyway.
It’s a neat idea, food isn’t bad, but it’s nothing to rave about either.
The cooks use to be fun and show off their chopping skills, there was none of that anymore.
Service was pretty good, but we thought it was tacky for all the waiters to hang around the bar area and chat, with a little swearing added to the mix.
Have went 2 years in a row for birthday of my daughter, apparently birthdays aren’t as important to them any more since last year. Not that anything was really expected, but when you set a precedent…
Overall, on the ride home my wife and I decided it’s not worth going back. In my opinion, based on the crowd, we might not be the only ones.
Was worth a try once, a year ago, not anymore. Time to move on…

This place is always an awesome choice as far as buffets go. Love the sauces and meat options especially.
The only downsides are that the service is pretty subpar and the puny bowls of rice are never enough for my plate.

My wife and I ate here a couple of years ago and didn’t care for it.
Well we went back again and were once again disappointed.
The service was horrible. We didn’t get our drinks right away, nor did we get refills when needed. It took forever to get our check.
The food was ok but the service really ruined the whole experience for us.

Was hoping to add a restaurant to the «close to home, works for the whole family for dinner» category, but HuHot won’t be in the rotation.
Positives: Service was perfectly friendly, and the kids liked watching the guys at the grill. My 12 year old still fits the kid category for a $ 4.99 stir-​fry. These are the things that saved it from 1 star overall.
The rest: The food is pretty bad– one star for sure. First I put something together based on pork and one of their spiciest sauce combinations. Whether it was the meat or the prep, the pork was like leather (my wife compared hers to beef jerky) and the sauce could best be described as «gooey» (my wife’s teriyaki was best described as «salty»). I then tried a bit of chicken with a Pad Thai sauce– the chicken had the same unidentifiable (as chicken) texture, and the sauce was similar in its gooiness to the first sauce.
Here’s the clencher– my 7 year old declared the chicken strips the worst he’s ever had. And this kid has looooow standards when it comes to chicken strips.
As compared to Flat Top Grill at Hilldale (which to me always tastes good, fresh, and healthy), HuHot fails miserably. Too bad Hilldale is too far to drive when two kids are hungry, and they don’t have the requisite nuggets, cheese pizza, or corn dogs for the 7 year old…

I love Hu Hot! TONS of options to pick from. I enjoy the ability to be creative and build my own meal. Want more water chestnuts? Pile ‘em on! Wohoo! Don’t care for mushrooms? Don’t take any! Every trip to Hu Hot is a new experience — customizing your meal to whatever you have a hankerin’ for that day.
The meat selections are nice — I usually flip between beef and chicken. I’m not fond of seafood, so «shark» never makes it in my bowl. The frozen «meat chips» could be a turnoff, but it cooks up nicely and doesn’t seem to be an issue. For other ingredients, I can’t think of anything that is missing.
The sauces are abundant! I appreciate the posted combinations, if nothing else to give me direction in my creativity. Want it hot? You can do that. Want it mild? Plenty of options there, too. And everything in between!
The chefs do a great job preparing the food, often putting on a little show. Tip those guys! They work hard and that grill is plenty hot. They deserve a little extra something…
The only thing keeping this from being a 5-​star review is their «bread». Call me crazy, but I’d swear they just microwave some stale store-​bought flour tortillas. But other than that, it’s fantastic!

HuHot is a basic asian inspired restaurant. If you have a taste for a variety of Asian noodles while keeping it healthy, they are a good pick.
HuHot is a semi buffet. As someone who hates buffets, I actually don’t mind this because you pick the food you want from a cold/​frozen bar of noodles, poultry, beef, tofu, seafood, veggies and at least 20 different sauces.
Once you’re done with your selection, you take it to the flat top grill to be cooked. The food is being cooked to order so if you have any issues with germs and buffets, it does ease the mind a bit.
I do like the variety they offer of food selections. Personally, despite what the comment said below in regards to vegetarians options, I think HuHot is pretty vegetarian friendly. I was quite surprised to read the comment. Ive gone to HuHot once in the pass year and even then I felt they had a lot of selections for non meat eaters. If you’re not a noodle person, you can have white or brown rice served to you.
Its a cool place to take the kids so they can see their food being made Mongolian Grill still and is all you can eat. You can order off a menu if you prefer but I think they are known for their Mongolian Grill.
They are overall a very decent place. I like going to HuHot when I’m in the area and would recommend them for the cost and style.