I was very disappointed when I visited Genghis Grill on 10/25/2015. My family and I have had many a great experience at this restaurant. The concept was unique and interactive. We enjoyed coming here and trying out different recipes using different meats and veggies.
Today we learned that they no longer offer the endless bowl. Meaning you now get only one bowl (small, regular, or large) and can only make one trip through the food bar. So make it a good one, because there is no going back. I know what your thinking, what good is a Mongolian buffet without the buffet? We really enjoyed getting the small bowls and making multiple trips to the grill, trying out different flavor combinations and using different proteins and veggies. We didn't care about the up-charge for the endless bowl. To us, it was well worth it. The endless bowl was part of the charm of this type of concept restaurant. Throwing out the endless bowl feature really takes this restaurant down a number of pegs in my eyes. I doubt we will be going back anytime soon.
They now have a set bowl price, $9.75 for small bowl, $12 for a regular, and $14.75 for a large.
Another thing that disappointed us is that we had our son with us this trip, celebrating his birthday. In the past, they would have a brownie desert for anyone with a birthday, and they would sing the Mongo's birthday song. Well, they don't do that anymore. So no more special birthday dinners here.
The waitress told us that all these changes are because the restaurant is transitioning from a franchise to corporate owned. If this is how the corporation wishes to run it's restaurants, I feel sorry for them, because they seem to have forgotten what made Genghis Grill a unique spot for dining.