Flaming Amy’s Bowl

This place is the jam! I love eclectic foodie spots, and this place did not disappoint! Amazing staff, super helpful in making tasty decisions! Cool décor, yummy food, will definitely come back next time I’m in Wilmington!

The food is okay, it’s very very Americanized. Its an all you can eat set up… It’s everything else that got to me on my last visit… It was a busy day, we had to wait in line forever while our drinks sat on the table getting watery. The guys cooking were nice, but didn’t really hear me when I asked for brown rice and got white… Then my bowl got slammed down in front of me to take to my table, the cook not looking at me. Then, I couldn’t find the waitress to get a refill, and then when I wanted more, I’d have to wait in the long line again, wasn’t going to happen. So we left after one bowl, $ 24.59 for 2 1-​serving bowl and drinks… And we had to wait in line to pay… A lot of money for not a lot of food or service. Go on off hours, whenever that is.

The cooks are extremely unprofessional. Last time I went I ended up standing in line next to a young girl and her parents listening to the cooks discuss a «slut on cocaine» with each other while working on their orders, loud enough for that young child to clearly hear their inappropriate conversation. I was thoroughly taken aback, as every other time I have gone I have had a good experience, and the food is always phenomenal– hence the three stars instead of one. It is just unfortunate and disappointing to have such a negative experience at a place I had previously frequented so often.

This is not easy to find… but the locals do! It’s behind the Long Leaf mall. Fresh, many choices, gluten free options, and all you want to eat. Delicious sauces; I especially liked he Thai peanut & sweet & sour ones.

Pretty good, but I was kind of underwhelmed by the sauces. They weren’t as flavorful as other restaurants I’ve visited with a similar concept. The veggies were excellent, very fresh, & the meats were quality. I appreciate they have an option to get flour tortillas instead of noodles or rice. Good price.

Timing timing timing. We went here at the right moment. A few minutes later and there was a line out the door. Listen, you will be stuffed after leaving here. Pick what you want and eat as much as you can. You chose as much meat and veggies for a hibatchi type style. Multiple sauces for flavoring. Reminded me of a modern old fashion diner. Clean and good to go

This was a fun diner-​esque little place that reminded me of Hu Hot, but on a smaller more friendly level. You first fill up your bowl with veggies, then your choice of proteins and other «fixins» and hand said bowl to the chefs who ask you for your choice of rice (brown or white) or noodles (spaghetti or rice). I tried both the white rice and the rice noodles and definitely preferred the rice. They also have about 10 – 12 sauces to choose from that you can mix and match. I tried jalapeño ginger, thai peanut and red curry. I think thai was my favorite. All the sauces have a very pronounced tangy flavor, so you might try asking for them on the side if you’re not sure how much you want. They’ll also let you sample any that you want before putting them on your ingredients. Pro tip: get the frequent customer card AND ask for them to add an egg to your dish for no extra charge, yum! They were so friendly and willing to offer suggestions, it was a great concept and I’m sure I’ll be back before long.

Super tasty. The cooks are a gem! I like that you can customize your food to how you like it and not have to order off of a menu. Plenty of seating but almost too busy to go there when you only have an hour lunch. Love going there when I am not on a time schedule though!

Amazing. If you don’t like this place, it’s your own fault since you build your own.
Go with Thai peanut and general mux mixed FYI

I was not having it.
I was not impressed with this place. The staff clearly did not care for me here. Usually I get a «how cute» or at least a nod of acknowledgement for my awesome appetite, but the two young girls working here couldn’t have seem less interested in any of the customers if they tried. My parents took forever to bring food to the table. I think that was because they kept having to wait in a long line of people to get the food. And when they did bring it back, it was just not tasty. It all tasted the same — and I’ve only been eating for two months. Everything should be new and exciting. I was so bored with it. The only thing I could think to do with it was throw it over the side. I can’t believe how much time we spent in this place and for so little and boring to eat.
PASS

I was underwhelmed with this place after all the hype.
I have been to better places using this concept. The wait staff was very uninterested in checking in with us or seeming the least bit interested in doing anything. The cooks were great, nice and helpful. The options for the food was less than other places of this style so that was meh. They only have 3 grill spots in use at a time so the line got long quickly and it took a while to have your food to eat.
Overall, I’ve just been accustomed to places that do this style better. So, I’m not impressed here.

I wish I had a bigger stomach. All you can eat with gluten free options = pigging out and eating until I couldn’t move. The selection of veggies and meats was fresh. The cooks behind the grills were so funny and friendly. The restaurant itself was bright and fun looking. We went for lunch on Sunday and it was $ 10 per person. I left wishing I could have eaten more. It is seriously delicious!

Great staff cooking up your meals. Love the all you can eat style — not that you really ever need to go back up. Usually yummy. I love to mix two different seasonings together to really make it my own signature dish. Drinks are always refreshed in a timely fashion. Tucked back in a weird spot it takes a second to find it. The interior has a cool diner flair. Now what they really need is desert or an ice cream bar to make your own sundae.

One of my favorite restaurants ever! You fill your bowl up with whatever protein (Beef, Pork, Chicken, Bacon, Shrimp, Tilapia, Tofu, Eggs) and Vegetables you want then choose your starch (White/​Brown rice or White/​Wheat noodles) and your bowl is cooked on the grill in front of you with whatever sauce (s) you want added.
My personal favorite sauces are the Buffalo Teriyaki and General Mux. As long as you dine in you can have as many bowls as you’d like or you can get takeout by the pound.
They’ve started franchising so hopefully this concept comes to more locations (without losing the awesomeness).
If you’re in the Wilmington area do yourself a favor and it out.

Stop here on the way back from a beach trip on memorial day weekend. We got here around 2:30 so there wasn’t much of a crowd. Our host/​waitress was nice enough to greet us with a smile and explained the rule to us.
For my first all you can eat Mongolian bowl, I got a variety of meat and vegetables that was offered from their raw bar along with rice noodle. I was impressed with the many toppings and sauces that they offered. The guy who cooked my first bowl did a great job recommending what sauces I should get and that turned out to be a success. However, when I got 2 other bowls with different sauces, they weren’t as good as the first one. I distinctly remember the curry sauce being very bland even when I added extra soy sauce and sriracha and that was a huge turnoff.
I guess it can be good depends on the different kind of sauces you mix together. However, each bowl is made differently by different people and the amount of sauce added to each bowl is not accurately measured, it’s hard to make a decent bowl every time. Not bad for the price if you want something other than a Chinese buffet.

I was already a fan of Flaming Amy’s Burrito Barn, but the Bowl, its offspring in a truly terrible location behind a strip mall tire shop, makes me love my life just a little more. Although I’ve since left Wilmington, this is one of those places that, without fail, I must visit every time I’m back.
As a thought experiment, imagine everything you thought you knew about the whole Mongolian barbecue concept: now add in sauces that range from Italian to Korean to Tex-​Mex, in combinations that should never work and yet somehow do, and you’ll start to get the idea.
Setup is as follows: grab a bowl from your table; stuff it full of a wide array of meats (broadly considered to include meat subs like tofu), seafood, and veggies; give it to the eye-​pierced guy in front of you; add requests for rice, noodles, eggs, and sauces; eat steaming hot, deliciously seasoned stir-​fry. You may then repeat this process as many times as you like.
The sauces are amazing, and some of them soul-​searingly hot (that is good in my book); the line cooks will let you mix as many as you like. The jalapeño ginger lime and Thai peanut are good for flavor, and the yellow curry and chile death bring the heat. Combine them with creativity (and caution), and beautiful things can result.
Since the array of possibilities is virtually unlimited, you may eventually combine some food and sauces in a way that doesn’t work for you. But then you just get back on the horse and try again, and you’ll rarely miss twice in a row.
About those tattooed line cooks I mentioned above: they are badasses, friendly and informative despite the fact that they work over über-​hot grills with an endless line of people standing three feet away from them. I hope they are paid well, because they go waaaay above and beyond the level of service we deserve at this price point.
The rest of the service is buffet-​style, with servers to take your drink orders and bus your dirties. They’re on it, and, since the place serves a decent variety of beer at good prices, can bring you a Sweetwater 420 or PBR (with daily specials) to wash down the fire of your last curry.
Décor is all the mid-​century modern rage – think the Jetsons – which is cool enough. The small interior combined with the place’s phenomenal popularity means that lines can back up to near the door during peak times, so sometimes you may want to either get there early or get in line for your next bowl while you’re still finishing your first one. Or else just go with it and accept that you’ll be there a while.
The most amazing thing about all of this is that it comes with a kind of reverse-​sticker shock: it’s $ 7 for lunch and $ 9 for dinner, and the Bowl gives student and service industry discounts on top of it. It is easily the best inexpensive restaurant in Wilmington.

Red Miso BBQ sauce will change your life! It was my first time dining here and will most definitely be back. If you’re for a little sweetness try the honey garlic Wasabi sauce. The staff was extremely friendly, and really chill atmosphere.