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This was my first time trying this place and it’s been here for years. I’d like to say that the only other place I’ve really had Mongolian bbq is from the Brea mall and another place in orange so it’s not typically something I eat all of the time. First off, we were greeted instantly and sat which was nice (it also wasn’t very busy) the waitress came over and explain us our options so we decided to go with menu B + some cheese wontons. Second, the fried wontons are SO FREAKING GOOD. I was really impressed. So we go up to get our food and obviously we have no idea what we’re doing so the short Asian guy came over and explained everything to us in depth, which I thought was very thoughtful. Now the food: I can understand why some people might think the food is “bland” but I most definitely didn’t feel that way because of the way we made it. The food was filled with flavor and savory moist perfection. I was also very impressed by this as most frozen meats can be chewy at times. All in all, I’m giving this a 100% 5 star because of the excellent food and service! We will definitely be coming back here again!

• The Aussie Grind – Menu with Prices – 3930 Preston Rd #120, Frisco
• Michael’s Bistro & Taphouse – Menu with Prices – 1427 University Ave, Charlottesville
• Saucy’s Thai & Pho – Plano – Menu with Prices – 4152 W Spring Creek Pkwy, Plano
• Sawasdee Kitchen – Menu with Prices – 7546 Garners Ferry Rd unit 280B, Columbia
• Local Coffee – Menu with Prices – 4115 Pond hill Ln Suite 101, San Antonio
• Tibet Bowl & Sushi – Menu with Prices – 50 Main St, Salt Lake City
• Home Sweet Kitchen Cafe – Menu with Prices – 3801 N Main St, Gainesville
• If It Is Kitchen&Café – Menu with Prices – 104 S Main St, Gainesville
• Seasons of Japan – Menu with Prices – 7400 Abercorn St, Savannah
• Baitong Thai & Sushi Restaurant – Menu with Prices – 3915 A1A S STE 101, St. Augustine
• Backstreet Restaurant, Inc. – Menu with Prices – 3735 Nelson St, Riverside
• Bing’s Dumplings ?? – Menu with Prices – 34360 Fremont Blvd, Fremont

The Aussie Grind – Menu with Prices – 3930 Preston Rd #120, Frisco

New aussie vibe in the city of Frisco with cute Koala logo to represent! My first experience was pretty awesome. Perfect for savory brunch and coffee fanatics! I usually try hot beverage for any new cafe that uses new roasts but the day was way too hot for me to do it. Food: 4.5/5 The potato gnocchi and special linguini me and my friends ordered were bomb! The side salad had sweet, tangy flavor which went with rest of food very well. Savory, natural, and perfect portion. Loved the presentation. beverage wise, Iced long black coffee was smooth/slightly sour which I prefer most of time. I also ordered savory muffin which I took it home. I got 2 salsa that i can pour or dip. It was way crumbling but I think I will like the best when i have poached egg over this muffin and pour the salsa on it! it will make my savory muffin experience top notch. Atmosphere: 5/5 Cute interior with white/wood/clear glasses. Gives a cozy, clean feel. Got a couple of group sittings and I have seen mothers with strollers. The layout doesn’t feel too clustered even though the area is relatively small to serve both coffee and food. Probably early morning will give a more cafe vibe than after 11am. It is pretty busy place to enjoy a cup of coffee or dessert alone after 11am Service: 4.5/5 Everybody was super nice, attentive, and courteous. You don’t just meet your waitress but you meet all the people who work there while you wait for food. I took one star off for service because me and my friend had to wait approx. 50 min to get food in front of us. The venue wasn’t full when we got there but it filled up pretty quickly. I do understand we came in busy time and we have flexibility in our job, but maybe for other people who have only an hour to have lunch would be in a rush. This place closes at 2pm so definitely come with some flexibility! I recommend this place to everybody!!! I will visit again for sure. Thank you mate!

Michael’s Bistro & Taphouse – Menu with Prices – 1427 University Ave, Charlottesville

I hate to spread negativity but I feel like I should warn people against wasting their money here. I came to Michael’s a few nights ago for my friend’s birthday dinner and I don’t think I’ve ever been more disappointed with a restaurant in Charlottesville. To start with, we ordered potato-filled wontons and Turkish meatballs to share. The wontons were filled with an odd, creamy potato mixture which tasted alright but was a very strange combination of flavors that left much to be desired. The meatballs actually turned out to be my favorite thing that I had here, as they were flavorful and came with a curry yogurt sauce which I loved. If you have to come here, it’s worth ordering. Now for the entrees, which were so disappointing that it ruined the whole experience for me. I ordered the “chicken pot pie,” which was more like a shepherd’s pie that had a combination of chicken and duck instead of beef. There was maybe one piece of carrot in the whole thing and a tiny handful of peas. It was oozing with oil and had pulled chicken which seemed to be very poor quality. The amount of oil and the unappetizing look of it all actually made me a bit nauseous and I couldn’t eat much. Two of my friends ordered the “Thai curry chicken” which had neither Thai flavors nor real curry. Their dish was SOAKED in oil, the rice was just soggy with it and it was honestly quite gross to look at, and I’d never usually say that about any food. It was topped with the same pulled chicken from my meal. My friends said that it had no spices or flavor really and they were also disappointed. I wish I had pictures to show just how atrocious it looked but I didn’t think to at the time because none of this was worth being photographed. To end on a positive note, for dessert they brought out a little brownie à la mode with a candle which was cute and actually tasted good too. My other favorite part of this experience besides the meatball starter. Honestly, there are so many good restaurants to try in Charlottesville that are in this same price range, I have no idea why anyone would want to come here. Please don’t waste your time or money unless you’re into very bland, oily, overpriced food.

Saucy’s Thai & Pho – Plano – Menu with Prices – 4152 W Spring Creek Pkwy, Plano

Saucy Thai gets a 3.5 star rating from me….. yelp we need half stars! I picked up a to-go order. Called it in and it was ready soon after. Ordered the crab and cream cheese wontons and a Pad Thai. Crab and cream cheese wontons were the best part!! I was surprised to see how small they were when I opened them up but there was 7 in total (~$6). The filling inside is so tasty and a perfect balance of cream cheese, crab, and a surprise of green onions, rather than a cream cheese and breading overload from most places. I think the bread is more of a phyllo dough than a wonton- which I liked better because they weren’t so hard. These were addicting! They served it with a sweet sauce and I also had a spicy sauce in my bag.. not sure if that was for the Pad Thai but I dipped the wontons in both and they were amazing!! Get you some of these!! Now here comes the part where I wasn’t so satisfied. The Pad Thai ($11).. ugh so disappointing. I got a level 3 spicy.. most of the places in Dallas when I’ve ordered a 4, man it gets you. And I’m Indian.. this girl likes spice! The 3 had absolutely no heat. NONE. This made the Pad Thai overly sweet… I had to dump some sriracha in…not a fan of sweet. Not to mention the package was filled with peanuts and tons of bean sprouts. I threw away more than half.. it was too much and looked like they were trying to fill the space. The meat was also lacking. Pad Thai should be a staple at Thai places– this one just didn’t do it for me.

Sawasdee Kitchen – Menu with Prices – 7546 Garners Ferry Rd unit 280B, Columbia

This place used to be Bangkok and has been bought out by new owners. I so desperately wanted to like it because I loved Bangkok and the location is very convenient for me. That being said, I was woefully disappointed with Sawasdee Kitchen. I called and ordered the pad thai and fried wontons, I asked for my meal to be a little spicy. They were quick, it took them less than 15 min to have it ready. The fried wontons were over cooked and the pad thai was incredibly bland. I had to put a lot of soy sauce on it for it to have any flavor and I typically don’t add soy sauce to my pad thai. The dish also had no spice at all. I think I’ll give this place one more try and order something else, but honestly this is largely because of its proximity to me. If I find another Thai place just as close, I don’t think I’d return.

Local Coffee – Menu with Prices – 4115 Pond hill Ln Suite 101, San Antonio

I am not sure WHY I have seen people say things that weren’t the best about this company because I will tell you as a person who is critical about the coffee I drink….this place gets high marks in my book. First let say….the cashier I met was SO kind and courteous. She was helpful as I explained this was my first visit. She guided me towards a her menu and explained in great detail what the different coffee tasted like. I also LOVED the fact that they sell their brand of coffee which I took great advantage of. Now to be honest….I told her I wanted to taste a coffee that was strong enough to put hair on your chest and she did deliver….BUT I think I wasn’t quite ready because it was a big strong and I had to cream it down and add sugar BUT once I got it to the place I needed it to be it was REALLY good! I decided to enjoy some at home and it was tasty. Very cute atmosphere There were people in the back on computers and hey what do you expect its a coffee house lol…I didnt feel uncomfortable. It was just the place to REALLY enjoy San Antonio so drop by you want be disappointed!

Tibet Bowl & Sushi – Menu with Prices – 50 Main St, Salt Lake City

Sad to say this place is pretty terrible, i love nepalese food especially momo, unfortunately every component of the momo was bad, the dumpling shell was too thick and bread-y tasting, the meat filling had an offputting old tinge taste to it, and the sauce although it smelled excellent didnt have much flavor to it at all and was kinda creamy like tikka masala sauce or something, i didnt try the sushi but that should have been the red flag from the get go, sushi and nepalese food do not go together just like sushi and chinese food dont go together how do people not understand this!!!

Home Sweet Kitchen Cafe – Menu with Prices – 3801 N Main St, Gainesville

I will give If It Is credit where credit is due: their space is clean and gorgeous. The dining room is spacious, modern and the top 40 soundtrack adds to the urban lounge feel. The vibes are definitely young and relaxed rather than old and stuffy and the almost oversized booths make you feel comfortable right away. Take it all in though because after you order is when the fun ends. Their menu is massive and takes a few runthroughs to grasp. They have a large tea selection, a sashimi menu, a sushi menu, warm appetizers, cold appetizers, noodle bowls and a Thai section. Some items on the menu are pretty standard, while others wouldn’t be out of place at an Ocean Drive restaurant – some items over $80 and others containing things like entire lobsters or gold flakes. If It Is is certainly mustering big city swagger with their offerings, but as I was soon to find out the execution falls short and feels more like a South Beach tourist trap rather than hip NYC fusion dining. My friend and I started with the fried tofu and the crab wonton appetizers. Both were a chore to eat, with the fried tofu being bland, chewy and anemic while the wontons were 99% gross cream cheese. Yeah I said “gross cream cheese,” which I didn’t even know was possible until this moment. I was expecting something like The Top’s coconut tofu, which is amazingly crisp and delicious, or maybe something like any Chinese restaurant’s crab rangoon for the wontons but instead got these very half-assed disappointments. Next up was the Bermuda sushi roll which fit right into a recurring theme – any time you see “cream cheese” on this menu run far away. Just like the wontons, the roll was bursting with this Grade D cream cheese. There was virtually no other flavor besides a slightly unpleasant tang from the seaweed, yuck. For the first time in my life, I could not finish a sushi roll. Like any GNV resident, I have my opinions about Dragonfly vs. Bento vs. Volcanic etc. for best sushi but I can safely say all of these places are heads and shoulders (hell even knees and toes) above what I had at If It Is. My only advice to management is to pare back your colossal menu and focus on improving a smaller selection of items. With these prices there is no reason the food should be this horrendous. In the long run you are going to have a hard time competing in one of the most competitive food areas in the ‘ville. The extra star is for the ambience and good service.

If It Is Kitchen&Café – Menu with Prices – 104 S Main St, Gainesville

I will give If It Is credit where credit is due: their space is clean and gorgeous. The dining room is spacious, modern and the top 40 soundtrack adds to the urban lounge feel. The vibes are definitely young and relaxed rather than old and stuffy and the almost oversized booths make you feel comfortable right away. Take it all in though because after you order is when the fun ends. Their menu is massive and takes a few runthroughs to grasp. They have a large tea selection, a sashimi menu, a sushi menu, warm appetizers, cold appetizers, noodle bowls and a Thai section. Some items on the menu are pretty standard, while others wouldn’t be out of place at an Ocean Drive restaurant – some items over $80 and others containing things like entire lobsters or gold flakes. If It Is is certainly mustering big city swagger with their offerings, but as I was soon to find out the execution falls short and feels more like a South Beach tourist trap rather than hip NYC fusion dining. My friend and I started with the fried tofu and the crab wonton appetizers. Both were a chore to eat, with the fried tofu being bland, chewy and anemic while the wontons were 99% gross cream cheese. Yeah I said “gross cream cheese,” which I didn’t even know was possible until this moment. I was expecting something like The Top’s coconut tofu, which is amazingly crisp and delicious, or maybe something like any Chinese restaurant’s crab rangoon for the wontons but instead got these very half-assed disappointments. Next up was the Bermuda sushi roll which fit right into a recurring theme – any time you see “cream cheese” on this menu run far away. Just like the wontons, the roll was bursting with this Grade D cream cheese. There was virtually no other flavor besides a slightly unpleasant tang from the seaweed, yuck. For the first time in my life, I could not finish a sushi roll. Like any GNV resident, I have my opinions about Dragonfly vs. Bento vs. Volcanic etc. for best sushi but I can safely say all of these places are heads and shoulders (hell even knees and toes) above what I had at If It Is. My only advice to management is to pare back your colossal menu and focus on improving a smaller selection of items. With these prices there is no reason the food should be this horrendous. In the long run you are going to have a hard time competing in one of the most competitive food areas in the ‘ville. The extra star is for the ambience and good service.

Seasons of Japan – Menu with Prices – 7400 Abercorn St, Savannah

I kind of want to give 3.5 stars, but there is no half star to choose, so I give 4 stars instead. It is a very typical non-Japanese people running a Japanese fast food restaurant. However, the taste is decent and food comes out fast. I don’t really understand why people complain about the service while you really don’t have to tip them. For my standard, if it is a fast food restaurant, as long as they keep the orders correct and food come out quick enough to serve short lunch hour working people, it will be more than enough for me. When I am in the restaurant, I always see employees to wipe tables and mop the floor to keep the restaurant clean for the next customers, which is nice. The restaurant has good selections for sweet green tea and unsweetened green tea, which I was astonished, but again, this is United States, people eat sugar like coke, put shiracha on everything like catchup. I wanna say the owner is really thoughtful to add suger into green tea to serve the customers. I am not really into Hibachi style dishes just because I am an Asian, I do have high standard to taste quality of rice. The rice from The Season of Japan is nah to me. But I am impressed the well balanced of meats and vegetables and consider they create health dishes. I usually go there for Ramen. However, broth sometimes can be pretty salty, and Chasu Pork in ramen bowl cut too thick that I have to cut into small pieces to eat, but again, no complain because it is American style, or people will criticize the shop is too stingy. The portion is big enough that I can eat half and pack the other half home for dinner. Therefore, the price is paid for 2 meals for me, I think it is a pretty good deal, but if you have a big appetite, one meal should be pretty filling.

Baitong Thai & Sushi Restaurant – Menu with Prices – 3915 A1A S STE 101, St. Augustine

The beach always makes me crave Thai! Here for a week and this place was the closest proximity to my condo so we called in a pick up order to eat beachside. They didn’t disappoint at all. The only miss of the 5th star is preferential. I’m originally from Seattle where Thai means spice the pad Thai had zero heat but in all honesty it still tasted amazing! It was a ton of food. Loved the way they packaged to go orders too. My hubby got a spider roll and they put a piece of folded box that created a shelf so that his sushi roll wouldn’t be squished. How awesome is that?! Also we got the fried wontons and boy were the tasty. Big pockets of chicken deep fried and stayed crisp the 10 min home to crescent beach. The dipping sauces we got with the wontons and sushi were all great too. We will keep them in mind for future beach stays!

Backstreet Restaurant, Inc. – Menu with Prices – 3735 Nelson St, Riverside

If I could give this restaurant a 1 star I would have , I saw all the reviews and assumed this was a delicious quaint little deli shop so my boyfriend and I went . Upon arrival it was adorable , the scenery of the plants and ambience had been the ONLY best part . It was our first time so we went , im a little timid and looked for a line and couldn’t find one only to have ( what I assume the boss ) explain to me the whole situation of the menu , which I couldn’t understand and wouldn’t calmly explain how it worked so I simply ordered half a turkey – all that comes on this sandwich is butter , cheese , mayonnaise & turkey . Nothing more , the turkey was dry , it was extremely bland . Also , the boss was very rude in confronting my boyfriend about sitting somewhere – just because the boss didn’t like the particular area . I appreciate the concern of how you don’t like the particular area but we quite liked it . Never have I actually felt uncomfortable , I welcomed before ! And 13 dollars for a sandwich , go to the uppercrust , they’re an ideal , sweet family that make you feel welcomed , comfortable & important . Plus their sandwiches aren’t bland .

Bing’s Dumplings ?? – Menu with Prices – 34360 Fremont Blvd, Fremont

10 minute waiting list time during the lunch rush, food arriving at the table in less than 5 minutes, delicious and piping hot food to enjoy. What’s not to love about Bing’s!? We were initially nervous since the waiting list was 6+ groups in front of us, but lucky for us people left so we only waited ~10 minutes for a group of 4. One we were seated they have menus for you to mark how many of each item you want. Their menu is extensive but also somewhat limited so you don’t get too distracted on what you should get. For our first time we ordered: + Potstickers + Wontons in Chili Oil + Braised Noodle Soup + Hand Pulled Noodles in Spicy Oil & Ground Pork + Pork Soup Dumplings + Pork & Crab Soup Dumplings + Custard Buns Everything we ordered was delicious. The beef in the noodle soup was tender, filling in the wontons/XLB were not dried and had plenty of soup to drink up, potstickers were perfectly crisp with a sesame coating, and the handpulled noodles were chewy and had a great consistency. The oils were not overpowering and the dishes did not taste bland or overly salty. The custard buns were a great way to end the meal and were just the right amount of sweet filling and chewy bun. I was shocked at how quick Bing’s cleans the tables, takes orders, and serves food. They are a machine here! After this first visit I would definitely come back due to the quick service, delicious food, and portions with the prices. If you enjoyed your visit you can also take bags of wontons to go to enjoy at home.