Saturday, November 6, 2010

Will Genghis Khan Win the War Over Other Mongolian Places?


Genghis Khan
23615 El Toro Road
Lake Forest, CA 92630

Kevin and Sara suggested that we all go out to dinner before they left for London. We were so happy that they were leaving, that we even let them pick where we should go. They opted for Genghis Khan in Lake Forest. I have been told that Genghis Khan has been around for over twenty years, which is like a record in south OC. It can be a little hard to find, it is behind Fuddrucker's, tucked in the corner of the shopping center.

I have been to one other Mongolian barbecue restaurant before, Big Grill in Mission Viejo. You can read that review here.  The basic premise of Mongolian BBQ is that you stuff frozen curls of meat, vegetables, and noodles into a bowl, then add oil and sauces to adjust the flavor and spiciness. Pretty simple concept. Let's see if all Mongolian barbecue is the same.



Here are two quick pictures of raw food. This restaurant was a little more with it when refiling the ingredients that will become your entree. Meat choices included beef, pork, chicken and lamb. The veggies were fresh, and they even had noodles that could be added to your bowl.



The sign above gives you the amounts of oil and sauce to add to your bowl. I had three helpings of this and tried all of the different sauces, but I could not tell a difference between any of them. The only thing that made my bowls of meat spicy, was the hot pepper sauce that you put on after cooking.




Before you hand your bowl over to the cook, it should look like this, (I will admit that these were not mine. I usually only fill my bowl with meat and onions, but these pictures made me look like I was eating healthy!).




Now the finished product. I guess you can see by the absence of vegetables, that these were my bowls. After getting your food from the cook, it is super-lava hot, so it is best to let it rest for a minute or two. There are different ways to eat this, based on your preference. You can eat this straight out of the bowl, or you can stuff it in the pocket biscuits pictured below. Both ways were good, but I think I like eating it right out of the bowl.


These pocket biscuits were better here than they were at Big Grill. They were bigger and could hold all of the contents of your bowl.



Also served with the all you can eat meal is the soup or the salad. These were just average and very forgettable.

Genghis Khan is not a place to go to try to impress anyone. The decor is no-frills, the wait staff is average, and the side items are just fair. You will get a very filling meal, made with fresh ingredients, at a fair price, ($12.50 for the all you can eat option). I am not sure which Mongolian barbecue place is better. I would almost have to concede that all Mongolian barbecue is created equal.

So out of five Omar Sharif's, (because he was in the 1965 movie Genghis Khan), five being best to zero being worst, Genghis Khan gets 3 Omar Sharifs.

For more information about Genghis Khan, head to their website here: https://www.gkmongolianbbqlakeforest.com/

2 comments:

  1. HEY THANKS ALOT BUDDY! I just read your comment about how HAPPY you were that we left.......YOU FORGOT TO MENTION THAT WE BOUGHT YOUR DINNER THAT NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    LOVE YA!

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  2. Sara - Yeah you are right, I should have said I was happy that you were leaving, we all missed Kevin, and wished he hadn't left. Thanks for the dinner! Love you too! Thanks for the comment.

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