Review C I Chu's Mongolian Bbq - Tucson

I’ve always loved building the bowl (or cramming it, as one of my colleagues says). I usually go vegetarian, skipping the frozen shaved beef, chicken, seafood. A few noodles, lots of green onions, loads of cilantro, spinach, cabbage, celery, onions, broccoli smothered in sauces… garlic, ginger, teriyaki & a bit of chili. It’s great — it’s your recipe. Served with hot sesame bread, soup (hot and sour) and rice (brown) it makes a satisfying lunch. Place is clean and well maintained — it is certainly _not_ dark & dingy as some reviewers have suggested. The griddle is well ventilated so the air is clean — you’re clothes won’t smell like a Five Guys when you leave. The owner/manager has been there since the days when they had another store on Tanque Verde. A nice and kind fellow, the staff in general are attentive and pleasant. They had Mix FM playing in the background. It’s December, so hark! Oh so many divas singing those worn out Christmas standards, but at least it wasn’t loud. Just one complaint: the price. Back in 2018 the bowl was $11.99 and included any of their proteins. Today that same bowl will run you $17.99, but if you want beef, that’ll be $19.99. That’s a 67% increase. I know we’ve seen food inflation spike as high as 11% in 2022, and between UberDash greed, labor costs and rent increases I suppose it isn’t easy for small restaurant owners, but still… 67%? Anyway, they run their business as they see fit, but for what they’re serving, they’re pricing themselves out of my budget.

This Mongolian BBQ is a nice gem of a place to find out in the city of tucson. Also location is in a decent part of town as well with other great places nearby to visit. Pricing here can range quickly with a group of people coming in, one bowl for an adult is 17.99 which i think is a bit much and should be more in the 15.00 range for what is offered. Food quality is the in form of taste are consider for the mongolian bbq bowls are fantastic. As for the soups they are a little off in terms of balance. The egg drop soup today was full of salt so beware of that if you are watching your Cholesterol. The hot n sour soup is great at first but if you eat more than one bowl it start to be overpowering. The vegetarian soup was surprising as it was more closely in taste to an Italian minestrone soup than one would think about an asian style vegetarian soup. The atmosphere was nice clean and maintained with some nice decor but i feel it could use some pictures of mongolia and also some plants would do well. Place is open floor and the customers looking around are generally happy and not making any bad faces towards their meals. The staff is absolutely friendly and customer service friendly. The cashier gave a fantastic suggestion when it came towards paying for meal to be more cost-effective. You don't see that a lot in today's world. Made me instantly want to come back! The serving staff and cooking staff were very prompt about their jobs and had great attitudes and were not rude at all. In short this is a great place to get a meal but there are only small areas which need some improvement

It wont blow u away but it's a decent lunch spot. U wont have anything undercooked. The sesame bread is pretty good. I recommend sticking with egg drop soup unless you are used to the flavors of the other two. Option between white and brown rice, i feel like they missed out on the opportunity to have fried rice as an option. Overall i enjoyed it.

Tucson, a must check for Mongolian BBQ. Really decent price for AYCE, note go hungry or settle for 1 bowl. There is a lot of food. Get soup, sesame bread, brown or white rice and a drink. Must try. Help out local small business. Go hit up Calvin and the gang. Fresh cooked to order...choice meats, beef, chicken, pork or seafood blend. Great food, bring the whole family.

Build your bowl with choices of noodles, veggies, sauces and proteins. Once you make your selections, they cook it on the grill and bring it to your table. Each bowl comes with choice of soup, rice & bread. Overall food was good, nice selection of toppings and sauces.

Found this place 5 years ago or so. The price for the amount of food is great. I always take home leftovers. Noodle bowl, soup and sesame bread are included in the meal. Drink is extra and a beef bowl is an extra $2.

Food was pretty good, and came out quick. The owner was having computer problems but was very friendly.

Delicious!!! If it doesn't taste good it's your own fault... Don't be afraid to put plenty marinades in your bowl

Food great, just like always. There's a super loud air conditioning motor or fan in the roof which after a while starts to give you a headache and it's loud loud. Otherwise, atmosphere is fine.

Great service, the hostess was able to explain the process of filling the bowl and choosing a good balance of noodles/veggies/meat. Pro tip: you want your bowl filled to the top and just a little over, because everything will shrink down when it cooks. The food itself averaged out to "okay". All the ingredients that I tried were fresh, but my partner tried the pineapple and said it tasted like it had been out too long. The sesame bread was good, but the egg drop soup was really starchy. Like most buffets, I have a feeling that the quality varies according to the day and how frequently they change out the food. Cost is a little high for one bowl. If you're a big eater and you can tuck away three bowls (or two bowls and multiple sides of rice and bread) then the math works out.

I’ve been now 3 times and each time I’ve left satisfied. The process of building your meal is enjoyable, they are careful to separate meats for any dietary restrictions. The sides that come along are delicious as well (rice, soup & bread) - prices may seem a bit high but trust me you get what you pay for!

Love the food, Arecelia kept checking on me and providing customer service, cool ac and clean bathrooms. I come from Marana Az whenever I have the chance!

The staff was very helpful and the food was cooked perfectly. The all you care to eat is a good deal with the sides and as many bowls as you want. My only wish is more variety in sauces, but other then that 10/10 would absolutely eat here again.

I liked all the food and the all you can eat, but for four people to eat it was close to $100. Prices are a bit high, but I guess you do get what you pay for.

Great food, great staff, but bringing back all you can eat as the only option makes it pretty pricey for a whole family

So there's a place on my side of town that does this same style of food, all you can eat, for 9.99. and they don't force you to choose rice and bread. You can get as much soup meat and veggies as you want. I will say the biggest advantage this place has is all their different sauces. Service was good though the ladies were all very nice I just know I get a better deal at my place.

Since I'm a fulltime RVer, I look for these kind of restaurants everywhere I go and I think all in all, this is my new favorite Mongolian BBQ. Not only is the selection of meat, veggies and sauces awesome, it includes soup (the hot & sour is delicious), but this is the first place outside of my old favorite in Austin that also serves that flat sesame bread. It's a bit more ($11 at the time) than I usually pay for lunch, but one bowl with the other extras was plenty to fill me up. Yes, it all tastes as good as it looks!

Great atmosphere and good people. The bread is to die for.

love this place!! I have been to similar style restaurants in other cities and this is the best!

Love it. Always great food and staff is always friendly!!

Bread was amazing, food was amazing, people were amazing! Had an experiment first visit

Pretty good friendly staff. My husband really wants to go back

This place is awesome... The vibe is chill. I really recommend this place

All you can eat noodle bowls, pick your own combo of meat and veggies and sauce. Best hot and sour soup I've had in a loooong time!!!!

Great food. Great value. Great service. What more can I ask!

Always leave there with a full belly with one bowl. Friendly staff and it's always clean.

Buyer Beware. Bring cash or they will steal your money.<br/><br/>This place is a damn joke. My wife and I go in there all the time and they have an issue running a business card for some reason. While I was up at the register same as usual they ran my card and it charged me twice. This in Credit card terms means it authorized the card twice. One Charge was refunded and the other went through. I was there with my Wife and Son. They came up to me and tried to get me to run my card again. I refused. They then proceeded to get into a dispute with my wife. What kind of business is run this way. Ill be damned if I am going to pay for my food twice. We basically were treated like thieves by the owner and left. Now I have paid for food I did not even get to eat.

Fantastic! I am not someone who frequents Mongolian BBQ so maybe I don't know any better. But the food here was very good. Everything tastes fresh and made here. Single bowl filled me up. Egg drop soup was tasty. Rice was rice. Staff were very friendly. atmosphere was nice. Not perfectly clean but nice. Definitely a come back place for me.

Very dissapointing. I ate there today based on some of the reviews which looked legit, but found the food sub par. I arrived just around 5 and aside from a table of 5 I was the only one there. That made me pause. Then I discovered it is the type of asian restaurant where you go through a buffet like table to pick your ingredients including sauce then give it to the cook who grills your food and brings it to your table. This style of restaurant to me is like russian roulette. Without a recipe you are flying blind. What to put in and how much -geez, that's why I eat out so I DON'T HAVE TO COOK!<br/><br/>against my better judgement I stayed and played the game -filling my bowl with a variety of meats, veggies, and sauces that I guessed would be good together. while they cooked it i selected soup in the line and took it to my table. the soup was a light tomato based vegetable soup which was ok to good. it was not the most flavorful, but did seem fresh. the flat bread they served it with was actually good. finally, my bowl was cooked and served. it tasted ok, but was very light in flavor -it tasted like it had no seasoning. the meat i chose which was marked as beef and pork was shaved very thin, but the taste at times was like liver. that was strange. well, i persevered once more and went back to try another sauce selection with just beef and assorted veggies. it was really no better than the first try. i gathered the sauces were substantially diluted.<br/><br/>overall the surroundings and staff were nice, but the meal was quite disappointing. i will not be back -no way, and i do not recommend. there is some good food in Tucson, just not here.<br/><br/> it appears the owner is writing their good reviews. that is the problem with these review sites.

Quality ingredients, great selection. Build your own bowl, they cook it for you. Plenty of ingredients to choose from, meats, veggies, sauces etc.

Try this place! I took my 10 year old son who said he'd give it 5 out of 5 stars. Food is kept well-chilled, and there is a large vegetable and sauce selection. We did the after 4pm all-you-can-eat deal with 2 drinks. Total came to almost $25 which was on the pricey side and the only thing I would say wasn't great. The meal comes with a piece of sesame bread, rice, and soup. We were quite full from that and our creation bowls! Definitely glad we checked this place out!

Good stuff. Great Mongolian BBQ. Absolutely love the warm sesame bread. A great lunch.

Great Place for Mongolian food. This restaurant is great! The food bar is great and I love to add exactly what I want. (If you are LAZY and want full service go to Panda Express.) I love to cook and food is my passion, so I love the food variety and the friendly service. I would recommend to anyone who wants a fresh Mongolian meal! <br/><br/>FYI try the chefs sauce, its the best! :)

This had to be the the WORST dining experience I've had since I moved to Tucson. Oh, and it was on my birthday... The service was non existant, the food was frozen on the buffet bar, then under cooked and served that way. It was was so bad, my whole table got up and walked OUT !

Good eats. All-u-can eat dinner $15 & change. Good variety of ingredients. All looked fresh. Meats hard chilled (which is good). Only downer was hot n sour soup... (not to my taste). Overall, not bad. I'd come back.

Very tasty and pleasant service. Decor added to the dinner. Even our picky eater was happy.

Worth the confusion. I agree it is a little confusing when you walk in but the food was amazing! Choices for everyone!

Mongolian barbeque at it's best! The ingredients are lovely, fresh and delicious. Staff and ownership are friendly and very helpful. I love the decor! It's upbeat and contemporary, unlike the drab almost-white walls of most small Mongolian places. You've got to check this out!

When first walking in, it's an odd set up and maybe a bit confusing at first. But once you know what to do, it's a great place to eat at. Your food is fresh, made right before your eyes. Friendly and fast service, that seem to wait on your every need. This place has something for everyone, there's no reason not to give this place a try.