AJ’s Mongolian BBQ

Such good food… portions are as large as what fits. Bummed you had to pay for the to go box and toppings for ice cream but so yummy.

Wow this place is bad. The food itself is okay but the service is HORRIBlLE. I went with a friend and we wanted to share since we had not been before. The cashier asked Who is going to eat because there is not sharing? So my friend opted to eat. Before we even went through the line to fill the bowl she came up again and asked: are you going to share because we don’t allow sharing? Then the entire time we ate she kept an eagle eye on us to make sure we did not share. Also they do not have gluten free soy sauce. I would stay away from this restaurant. Not worth the money.

Been here twice and both times the food was good and got the job done. I wish they had a few more choices of meats and maybe some more recipes instead of 3.

Went tonight on a recognition and was horribly disappointed. We often go to Genghis Grill and love it so we wanted to try this. This doesn’t even come close. The meats looked like frozen, rolled up lunch meat. Veggies looked ok. Wasn’t really any taste to the bowl unless you drenched it in teriyaki and soy sauce. My man didn’t even finish his good and that never happens. Even the frozen yogurt didn’t taste very good. They have toppings for 25 cents each from a gumball dispenser. We definitely won’t be coming back. We’ll stick to Genghis Grill.

We’ve been coming to this restaurant since the early 90’s. The quality has been consistent for all these years. Just so happy that rice noodles have been added as an alternative to egg noodles. My choice of recipe has changed and has been modified since the 90’s.

$ 9 for one bowl or $ 10 for all you can eat. Value is excellent. Vegetables are all fresh. Meats remain frozen which is nice as it keeps bacteria away. Sauces are amazing. Been there 2 days in a row.

Delicious. Very nice w my kids and they helped them out. Clean place, nice staff and extremely good food. Will definitely be going back. The order comes w one bowl, rice, & frozen yogurt. The drink is extra but it’s free refills. $ 9 for dinner price or $ 10 all u can eat. I tried the AJs hot and spicy combo on the sauce and it was perfection. Hubby did the sweet and sour sauce and it was just as yummy. Follow the sauce ingredients though don’t try and venture off to create ur own concoction cuz my hubby did that first time around (he got the all u can eat) and it was weird tasting.

So my fiancée and I came here, because it’s clean, fast, friendly, and the price is right. Well, bad news. They appear to be under new management, and the rules have changed. We dropped an easy $ 22 for two bowls and they still wanted to charge us $ 2 for two to-​go boxes. It’s not the price of the box, it’s the principle. We have never had to pay for boxes here before, ever. It wasn’t even a thought. Then they want to put me in a position where I have to choose to abandon my $ 20 dollar meal, having eaten only a small portion of my giant bowl, or cough up even more money. Ridiculous.
I will say the establishment is clean; and that’s refreshing, but the staff sucks and the selection is limited, and they will charge you extra for certain items.
There is a clear cut reason why we were the only customers in the hour that we were there.

This place is the best always hot and fresh. .and friendly faces super clean and that’s a big deal..

Over the past years I have been a fan of this stir fry joint. You get to choose your meats then vegetables. So if you feel going a bit light on either one it is your choice. Then you hit the wide variety of sauces that you can add to spice things up. Overall I think it is one of the best values in the metro mall area. It is up to you how you want your meal to turn out. They also have chopsticks for those like me that want to eat in a little more traditional way.

Wow! Nice choice of fresh vegetables cooked in a stir fry! Thank you for helping me stick to a healthy diet.
It’s a pleasure to eat in this bright friendly place that is always a clean welcoming place to bring my friends and family.

Love this place this place has been around for years. Always has a variety of things to make if you want to make all veggies or if you want to have some tofu. Great service, friendly faces

Was told I couldn’t use my own Tupperware to take left overs even though I wanted to pay. The owner was afraid I was going to give other patrons «ideas.»… There was no one else in there. LAME.

This place was pretty good, all the ingredients were fresh and cooked correctly. The price was right. But the choice was kind of limited.

How can you go wrong? Fresh ingredients you assemble yourself. You then hand your masterpiece to the grill man and watch ordinary food become extraordinary. I love this place been eating here for over 10 years. The owners are very friendly and will go out of their way to make your trip pleasurable.

Guess it’s not my thing.
I’ve been to Mongolian barbecues in the past and the food has been okay to good, however Aj’s Mongolian Grill falls short of being good or even okay.
The meats appear to be frozen and when cooked have a tendency to lack taste and are some what grainy, the noodles were gummy and I hate to repeat myself but they to were flavorless. The veggies are also frozen which causes the veggies to lose a lot of their flavor when cooked. I realized after tasting my meal that I should have drenched my dish in sauce in order to get some semblance of flavor
Even the ice cream for dessert lacks luster. No toppings, just soft serve vanilla ice cream. However, if you wanted crushed nuts to top your ice cream there was a peanut dispenser that cost 25 cents.
If you decide you want to take your meal home that will cost you 75 cents for a carry out container. To be honest the only thing that was good was the fountain drinks. Maybe Mongolian grills are not my thing.

This place is great, but you have to know what you’re doing. I recommend going with somebody who’s been there before so they can show you the ropes. I’ll explain how you’re supposed to do it, for the new people:
1. Pack the meat! Do not just throw in a few pieces of unpacked meat, the stuff really cooks down. I usually fill the entire bowl of meat and it’s pressed down and packed in almost to the top of the bowl. Use the pieces of wax paper they have there so you don’t have to touch it with your hands, that’s what the wax paper is there for. Also, don’t be freaked out by the frozen meat, it tastes just like any other meat once it’s cooked. It’s like some of these people have never heard of freezing food before.
2. Put whatever veggies you want, you can do these in normal sizes and don’t have to pack. I usually do mushrooms, bean sprouts, spinach, and cilantro. You should have a mound of food in your bowl by this point.
3. Pile those noodles on top. It should look mountainous, like you have 2 bowls worth of food stacked into one bowl by the time you’re finished. If you could place another bowl on top upside down and have both bowls filled, you’ve done it right. Like I said, this stuff really cooks down. When it’s cooked, it will be 1 bowl. If you don’t like noodles or are on a low carb diet, pile on the veggies as high as you can without them falling out of the bowl.
4. Add at least 5 spoonfuls of YC’s house sauce, then a few more of other flavors. I usually do 5 YC’s, 2 garlic, 2 lemon, 1 sesame, and 2 cooking wine. You really want to get a lot of those sauces in there, as if you don’t have them, they will put more water in during the cooking process and wash out flavor. If you’re going to try to follow one of their flavor combinations, I recommend adding more ladles of the flavors they list, proportionately. No fewer than ten ladles of sauces.
5. Once it’s cooked, you top it off with some sesame seeds and some spicy chili oil if you like spicy. Don’t go overboard with the chili oil, the stuff is very spicy and will overpower the rest of the flavors and leave you with a scorched mouth and runny nose. About a tablespoon is good. Then add a tiny bit of soy sauce, and you’re done. You’ve created a delicious bowl of food bursting with flavor. I never bother with the soup or rice, they’re bland.
Takeout boxes cost $ 0.75, but all in all if you’ve done it right, you should have enough food for 2 to 3 meals, all for about $ 11-​$ 12 out the door, unless you’re really fat. I usually eat there and get full and still have enough to stuff an entire to-​go carton that I snack on throughout the rest of the day. I’m a fan of eating the leftovers cold, but some people probably wouldn’t like that.
P. S. Don’t listen to the reviewers that give negative reviews because of the atmosphere. I’ve never understood those people. It’s not like you’re eating in the center of a landfill, it’s just a little plain looking. Big whoop. Most of the negative reviews seem to be based on the fact that these people didn’t know what they were doing. If you take my advice listed above, you can’t go wrong here. Btw, there is 0 quality loss since they changed the name to AJ’s from YC’s. The only difference is that they added more sauces since it was named YC’s, everything else is EXACTLY the same, I’m talking identical. I’ve been going here for over 10 years.

I’ve been coming to this place for roughly a decade. I’ve weathered name changes, staff changes and renovation and still come back from time to time. I went back there today and have mixed feelings toward the new management and what they did with the place. First, I will say that, aside from the bathroom, the place was cleaner than I remember it. The mens room could use the floor bleached and the walls painted. Second, their latest remodel, while only slight, was done well. They could use some new bucket seats (tape doesn’t cut it even if it does match color) on some of the booths.
AJ presented a diverse variety of offerings in their buffet. To my recollection they offered many more sauces (including one jalapeño — yum!). The cook did a great job, the noodles were properly cooked, and the bit of service we received as polite. The price per person seemed a little steeper than what I remember but that could just be the time since I last visited.
Overall, I’d go back. Though, I’d avoid using the bathroom.

I hate giving local restaurants bad reviews but this place is in need of some major improvements. I also don’t see this so much as a bad review but a critique that will hopefully help the owners make some changes. I wish more business owners would read their reviews and try to take them to heart.
We went there on a Saturday afternoon and were the only customers. It feels a little depressing when you walk inside. The space is big but unfortunately doesn’t have a good vibe to it. The walls are in extreme need of a fresh coat of paint and the bench covers are all ripped and fixed with ducked tape. Music comes from a radio with a lot of advertisement. It just doesn’t feel good to be there…
As far as food goes, I think most people would compare this to Genghis Grill, where meat is fresher and the sauce and seasoning selection is much larger. Shredded, frozen meat just doesn’t look that appetizing. Maybe they are just trying to cut costs on all the wrong places.
Price is a little too high in my opinion, especially considering the location of the restaurant and the quality of the ingredients. Then, also, please, if you are the manager and are reading this, get rid of the 75 cents for the to go box. It just seems unreasonable to pay to take food home that you have already paid for. I understand and know that a lot of all you can eat places have a policy that doesn’t allow to take left overs home and that is reasonable. However, if you only pay for one bowl you should be able to get a to go bag, for free. Obviously this has upset customers in the past and I just think that 75 cents aren’t just worth losing a customer.

Not a fan. Pretty sure I was waiting for a food poisoning experience. It was clean, I will acknowledge that. But I am not sure about the frozen lunch meat you are offered. It seemed gross and chewy.
No flavor after adding 10 ladles of sauces. It was a miracle we survived, since we only went based on our GPS and not reviews.
Lesson learned… read Unilocal