Genghis Grill

This is a lousy rip off of mongo in Naperville. The bowls are smaller then Mongolians, and the meat looked old/​tasted bad. The service was okay, maybe because my girlfriend and I were the only ones there? Will not be back, should have spent the fifty bucks elsewhere.

I loved this place and so sad that it’s now closed! I have no idea why it closed because it always seemed really busy whenever I went. I’ll miss this place!

What on earth has happened to this place? I used to come here all the time five or six years ago. I never left here disappointed or still hungry, but as I write this, I’m debating whether to run out for a second lunch attempt.
Having a Khan’s Rewards card, I came in to claim my free birthday bowl. Melody was my server, and she was super pleasant. She told me about some drink specials they had and tried to convince me to get one, as their pop machine was out of order. I stuck with just a glass of ice water.
As I went up to start building my bowl, I was disgusted to see food scattered about. There were pieces of chicken that had fallen into the beef, sausage slices in with the fish, etc. The veggie section wasn’t much better. Stray bits of food were everywhere, including sauces along the sauce portion of the line. The restaurant wasn’t full, yet there weren’t any available employees to wipe down the area? Odd.
I brought my bowl to the grill and picked my starch (fried rice). The chef (a teen about half my age, I’d guess) asked if I wanted an egg, so I said sure. He took my food and I went to sit back down. I checked in, and noticed that I still had my check-​in offer unclaimed from my last visit. When Melody came back, I told her that I’d like to redeem the offer, so I chose the chicken pot stickers.
As I said before, it wasn’t crowded in there, but somehow my order still took 15 minutes. As I began to dig in, I realized why my food took so long. A lot of the food was charred or burnt. The chicken was way over cooked, making it inedible. The egg, rather than being broken up into bite sized pieces, was pretty much an omelette in my bowl. Then I went to take a bite and realized there were meats from someone else’s order in there! I only picked the sausage and chicken yet I was pulling a piece of seafood out of my mouth. I think it was calamari, but I honestly couldn’t tell.
The rest of the food just tasted «off», not good or bad, just off. The pot stickers arrived and so I gave those a taste. Eeeek! No bueno, folks. The chicken tasted so weird and the sauce was awful. It was like… spicy, sweet, sour. Such an odd combination.
Like others have said, this place doesn’t feel very clean. The employees are all younger, and while that’s not a bad thing, their professional decorum was clearly absent. There was a bit too much flirting and personal conversation going on.
I had Melody box everything up. When my check arrived, I noticed that I was charged for both items. She stated that my reward card didn’t alert her of my birthday (two day ago, but still…) but said it wouldn’t be a problem. She was quick to fix everything, and when the correct bill came ($ 0.00), I left her a $ 5 tip and headed out. Her service and attitude were five stars, my experience was 1. So three stars it is.

Very similar to Mongolian BBQ except you sit at your table and wait for your meal rather than stand and watch them cook it.
The edamame was delicious! Perfect for 2 or 3 people.
I ordered the Steak and Broccoli and can safely say this is the best bowl of meat I have ever tasted.

I really want to like Genghis Grill, since it is right here in downtown Wheaton. But, what I really wish, is that we could swap this place for downtown Naperville’s Flat Top Grill.
Food quality and cleanliness seem to suffer here, in my opinion. I walk in and smell seafood, not a clean or appetizing smell to me, but rather a sign that food is not well contained or cooled.
I came here out of necessity the other day, after finding that our family needs to eat wheat free for a while due to a member’s food sensitivity. I’m having trouble thinking of good dining out options that don’t include bread, pasta, and more bread. But here at Genghis, it’s easy to get plenty of veggies, complex carbs, and protein. That’s a plus.
Another plus is that it happened to be Tuesday when we visited, so I got my son’s meal for free in addition to the free appetizer offered for Unilocal check in. Cheap meal!
I wish they’d do a deep clean of the whole place, as it just seems to have a funk. We didn’t get sick from our meals or anything, and I’m sure I’ll be back on another Tuesday, but a closer look at food storage might not hurt.
Oh, our edamame was intensely seasoned. Not just salted, but something like a table blend… I’d order it plain next time.

You might be surprised to know that Genghis Grill is a chain of restaurants. For some reason there are 2 restaurants in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and one in the entirety of Chicagoland. But fortunately for us, Wheaton isn’t that far away.
If you’re not familiar with the stir-​fry your own concept that BD’s Mongolian Barbecue pioneered… you’re missing out. Take a bowl, pile it as sky high with meat as you possibly can, throw on some token vegetables, pick a sauce you like and add salt, pepper and seasoning as necessary.
What you may not know is that it’s really easy to screw up a stir-​fry, which is why it’s a good thing they have four «pre-​built» bowls on the menu for you to rode as well.
I had three different kinds of meat with baby corn, pineapples, broccoli and mushrooms. By which I mean, I took advantage of their one-​bowl policy and dumped a pound of beef into the bowl, then garnished it with the vegetables. For a sauce I was able to try several different ones with a spoon (handy!) before settling on a slightly spicy hoisin-​type sauce whose name eludes me at this time.
Fortunately for my strategy, the cook stir-​fried the meat and vegetables perfectly. We had a coupon for a complete meal here, so we also got edamame and a raspberry ice cream dessert.
The edamame was good; not quite as juicy as I’ve had elsewhere, nor as salted, but still pretty decent. I seem to remember it had orange seasoning on it.
The ice cream had considerably less thought put into it, besides «find a large bucket of ice cream, take a scoop and quickly drizzle raspberry sauce on it.»
The pricing here for bowls is acceptable, with one bowl starting at about $ 12 and unlimited bowls for $ 6 more, a feat I couldn’t pull off unless I was 22 and in college again. So long as you know how to engineer a highly stacked bowl of food, Genghis Grill is a good place to go for a well-​cooked bowl of meat.

My boyfriend and I go here a lot; we live pretty close and this is one of the more unique restaurants downtown Wheaton has to offer. At first, the bowl may seem expensive for the little bowl they give you in the beginning, but if you pack the bowl fully and add in the starch you get at the end you definitely get your money’s worth. I always have leftovers enough to get another meal out of it.
I love that you can create your own combinations of food. Every time I go I try to change it up. The appetizers are also delicious. We have tried almost all of them-​the edamame and lettuce wraps are definitely the best.
It can get a little crowded sometimes but nothing too horrible. I always feel like I have enough room to maneuver and eat comfortably. Will definitely be going back!

Well, the food and staff are very nice. The service was awful. Good thing it wasn’t too crowded. Again, very nice. Cook was excellent. Free edamame because I checked in on Unilocal

Over the years we have eaten at the Genghis Grill A LOT. It’s nice healthy altertnateive for a family.
We dropped in last night for the first time in a few months. The food was scorched. I had them make another bowl and it was better, but still had an extremely strong burnt taste and odor.
The owner /​manager came out an apologed explaning that kitchen crew was very experienced.
The service was slow; especially for a family who had just complained about the food.
I hate to loose the resturant. We’ll give them one more chance before we take them off of our list.
Steve

you pick the food and they cook it. Really liked this place. I have a few allergies and they worked around them while cooking. Our waitress was awesome. Very nice. If i were back in this area I for sure would come back.

Stopped in and they had a new meat option. Dr. Pepper BBQ Chicken. It was really good! I hope they continue to try more things. More combinations, more fun.

I’ve been there once, last Friday night at 6:00. When we walked in, there were two girls at the hostess station. We stood there for a couple of minutes (we were the only people waiting) and when they finally got around to us, the one girl pretty much just said «follow me,» and the other gal still at the hostess station yelled over us to her, «Put them in the back!» Hmm. Not a great first impression. I kinda felt like these two were really put out that we dared to come in the restaurant and interrupt their extremely important work. It was weird.
We (two of us) were at a four-​top high table. At first it was fine, but then they sat a party of six at the table next to us – those people made several comments about being squished in there. It was a big production for them to get in and out of their table because the other side was the back wall of the restaurant and they couldn’t get out that way. They kept apologizing to us when they had to squeeze by us. Maybe put a two-​top table next to the back wall? Otherwise getting people in and out of that bench is an ordeal.
I ordered a frou-​frou drink because I was celebrating and I wanted to indulge in something whimsical. I ordered some sort of Thunder Cherry thing that was I think $ 7. It was basically Sprite with some cherry flavoring. I couldn’t taste any alcohol at all, and I certainly didn’t feel any. I mean, it tasted fine, it’s just… $ 7 is a lot of money for a Sprite. So I would recommend not wasting your money on that. When asked if I wanted another one, I said no and asked for a Cosmo instead. I was surprised to discover that the Cosmo was pretty strong! Even more shocked when I got the bill and found out the Cosmo was cheaper than the Sprite drink!
But here’s the good stuff: I thought the food was good. They had pepperoni and sausage available, which I thought was bizarre for a stir fry, but I decided to try a few slices of pepperoni in mine, and hey! Whaddya know. It was good. I used their house BBQ sauce on my stir fry, which I’ve never tried before in stir fry, and I thought it was great. The beef that I put in my stir fry didn’t seem like fatty cheap cuts, and I liked the brown rice. My husband put scallops and fish on his, and he said the scallops were good but he wouldn’t have picked fish again. It did seem clean, and the food looked fresh and good. I thought the price was reasonable, and I was full when I left. And our server was cheerful and friendly.
I thought the place was fine, it just didn’t knock my socks off. I liked the food, but I felt kinda rushed and cramped, which made me feel a little uncomfortable during the whole meal. I came here on a date night with my husband to celebrate something job-​related because I thought it would be fun and something different, and I ended up wishing we’d gone somewhere else. I guess I was just a little disappointed. Maybe I’ll try it again sometime when it’s not the Friday night dinner hour.

We love this place. The food bar is always really clean and the food well iced, the food is fresh and well prepared and the service is efficient and very friendly.
It’s a fun place, too; fun to see the food prepared. Even when it’s busy, it doesn’t get so loud you can’t hear the people you’re with.
The loyalty club offers good incentives without being over-​aggressive.
Definitely a favorite!

First time was tonight, great staff, and great food. The only negative is the parking in the area but it is well worth the hassle. Don’t be afraid to ask questions before you order.

Simply sated, I love this place. Sure, there are others like it nut this one is best. Food is fresher than the others and the staff are far and away more friendly. This is what happens when you are not corporate run. Anyone who says they like another place better can only be saying so because they like to pretend to impress.
I have never had a bad experience here nor a bad bowl. I will be anxious for a return of the spicy cherry chili sauce… oh my!
Stop in for a little spiked watermelonade too!

Just discovered this little gem in downtown Wheaton — will quickly become my favorite lunch spot. Our server did a fantastic job of explaining «how it works» and making suggestions. She even walked us through the line since it was our first time.
Ingredients seemed fresh, lots of options to choose from, many varieties possible.
Was fun to watch my meal being cooked on the giant grill. Make sure to join their frequent diner club & earn points towards a free meal. Will definitely return to try some different variations!

This is your run of the mill create your own stir fry restaurant. Essentially a clone of Flat Top Grill or BD’s Mongolian BBQ, you chose your protein, veggies, sauce and at the end you can select a carb. I like that here their carb options are more plentiful.
Only real detractor is that the up charge for going from 1 bowl to unlimited is quite large, about $ 4. Other places are notably cheaper.

It’s in the middle of Hale Street and parking can be difficult. Just park in the garage in the alley behind and you can enter in from the back. The place is pretty narrow so when you’re seated, you have fewer «neighbors.» There’s a small bar up front with some daily specials.
It’s $ 9 for lunch and $ 11 for dinner. +$ 4 for unlimited trips but no leftovers can be taken home. It’s only a $ 1 more for unlimited at Flattop Grill but the service is typically a little quicker here as you can usually fit less into each bowl. They do have more meat options here and it can be suited for a more American meal since there are tortilla and spiral pasta starch options. I like choosing spices since it can be combined differently with the sauces at the end. It’s not that easy to reach all of the menu items with such a low hanging sneeze guard. If you want sauces with no sugar, you’re pretty much out of luck. Compared to Flattop, you have to put in meats and veggies together in a smaller bowl for a slightly higher price if you want unlimited. But if you’re in the area and want to try something different, then it’s worth a try.

Genghis Grill is a stir fry place in downtown Wheaton. Customers essentially take a bowl and fill it with their choice of meat, sauce, vegetables, grains and other ingredients.
The service here is good but that’s to be expected since it’s always like a ghost town. I half expect a drunken Val Kilmer to stumble in a la Tombstone, asking if this is a real Mongolian BBQ place.
I wouldn’t recommend Genghis Grill but if you want some stir fry and are too lazy to buy the ingredients, this is an okay alternative.

The boy and I were limping down the streets of Wheaton after two long days of walking around Chicago. It was about six on Saturday night and we were both pretty hungry. We had no idea what this place was, but we were ready to eat!
After walking in the back door, we were shown our table, and led to the food area where the waitress explained how to pick out the meats, seasonings, vegetables, and sauces for our meal. It reminded me a little of the salad and pasta bars at my university cafeteria, but everything here looked to be fresh and fairly good quality. She cautioned us about overseasoning, and I thought about just how wrong this meal could end up for many heavy-​handed folks.
Our bowls turned out pretty well since both the boy and I cook stir fry for ourselves on a regular basis. It was a little pricy though for basic stir fry — a little over $ 10 each, and I joked that the best way to get your money’s worth would be to stuff the bowl full of meat, and then just barely cover it with vegetables.
I can see the appeal of the restaurant, but for the price and what is basically stir fry, I wouldn’t return. I must mention though that our waitress was very friendly and checked up on us a couple times throughout the meal.