BD's Mongolian Barbeque in Columbus, Ohio
Written: Feb 25 '00 (Updated Mar 18 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Service, customized food(if you like that kind of thing), and atmosphere.
Cons: Some people do not like to combine their own ingredients, and as far as I know, all of the many cooks are male.
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| FireGod's Full Review: Columbus |
I have been to this restaurant twice, and I can't imagine that it will take me long to eat there again. It is located on 6542 Sawmill Road, and their phone number is (216) 932-1185.
Let me tell you about my first dinner at BD's. My father and I had just finished a day of shopping, and were riding down Sawmill road, looking for a restaurant, when dad saw the name "BD's Mongolian Barbeque" on the top of a building.
He slowed down, and told me about the times he had eaten Mongolian barbeque when we lived in Okinawa(he was in the Air Force, and we moved all over the world when I was a kid), and as I was an infant back then, he explained what it was like. He told me that you walk up to a food bar and take the ingredients you want, then go to a big wok where a cook will take your bowl or plate, and cook your food right in front of you. It sounded great to me, so we agreed to eat supper at this interesting Restaurant.
The first thing I saw when we walked in was a bar(the alcoholic kind, not the food kind). At seven pm, the place was busy and a little crowded, with about five people at the bar, and about ten people who chose to be on their feet while waiting to be seated. I noticed in the distance, an enormous round grill with a counter surrounding it, and about fifteen diners crowded around the counter. Inside the counter were four T-shirt donned cooks, three of them wielding two four-foot-long wooden sticks. I saw one of them flip a stick around like some kind of fancy swordsman(person).
We chose to wait at the bar, where a bartender with a "Natural Born Griller" T-shirt was flipping bottles around, while taking orders and conversing with the diners. As I sat down, the bartender noticed that I had two Play Station game booklets in hand(at twenty-seven, I still am, and probably always will be a kid). He began telling me how much he loved one of the games in question, and how he spent two whole days trying, and succeeded in completing it. With this, and hearing some of the other employees, I was already impressed with the friendly service at this place.
Just as the bartender was enticing someone to try the "Blue Tea", I heard a huge "BONG" sound and a subsequent cheer of several voices, both coming from the grill area. I don't know what the instrument is called, but one of the diners had just used a kind of soft hammer to strike one of those round, flat metal things(hanging from a rope), creating a very Asian-like noise. The cheer came from the cooks and maybe one or two diners.
After a ten-minute wait, my dad and I were shown our table. We were given the menu, which contained the price of their only food option(all-you-can-eat for twelve ninety-five), instructions on how to get your food, and a list of free all-you-can-drink beverages. The instructions told me that I was to go to the bar, take a bowl, and first put my choice of meat(s) in it(if I wanted meat), then the vegetables(if I wanted them), then the sauce(you get the point), and finally any of the many spices offered.
We ordered our drinks and wasted no time finding our way to the food bar. At the front end, where the plates are, were about twenty or so little recipe menus. I looked through them for a few seconds, and then decided to just make something from my own imagination.
The "meat" selection included beef, pork, turkey, lamb, shrimp, fish, tofu and probably something else that I am forgetting. Some of the vegetables offered were onions, broccoli, green peppers, jalapeņos, brussel sprouts, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts. There were various sauces and oils to choose from, including sesame oil, olive, canola, barbeque sauce, Szechwan, teriyaki, peanut, orange, sweet and sour, garlic and more. Lastly, they offered a variety of "spices" including chili powder, dill, rosemary, mixed nuts, sesame seeds, cyan pepper and many others. I could tell that the meats and other ingredients were very fresh.
I made myself a garlic/sesame chicken dish and went over to the crowded grill area. The cooks helped out us newbies who didn't know where to stand, or where to put the bowl. Three cooks used their sticks to smash, stir and toss an individual's meal, and after about thirty seconds, rotate to another. A fourth cook would be taking his(unfortunately, all nine of the cooks I have seen were male) cleaning turn, by pushing and pulling a scraper back and forth on the grill. The cooks would strike up conversations and while I was waiting, another diner struck that metal thing and drew encouraging cheers. After the cooks worked on my food for about two minutes, I took my meal back to the table.
Rice and tortillas were waiting for us. We put some food on our plates and dug in. I guess I did an ok job for my first time, and improved my performance on the second and third trips. I continued to be impressed with the service as the waitress kept our glasses filled and promptly took away our bowls when we were finished with them.
As we left, I knew I would come back to BD's, as this was one of the most pleasant restaurant experiences I have ever had.
From having eaten at BD's twice, and having had five dishes, I think I can recommend their barbeque sauce and Teriyaki sauce the most. On my second visit to the restaurant, I decided to try one of the recipes. Be very careful if you ever try my namesake recipe called "The Fire God". This HOT Mongolian dish will have you sweating Lake Hovsgol and crying Terkhiin Tsagaan. The combination of shrimp, turkey, cyan pepper, chili powder, teriyaki sauce, barbeque sauce(with other ingredients that I can't recall), is both slightly painful and incredibly tasty. I only recommend it to one who finds it perfectly acceptable to have a small campfire in his/her mouth.
The thing I like the most about BD's is the casual, down to earth atmosphere. Many restaurants try, but of those I have been to, none have succeeded as much as this Mongolian style eating place.
There certainly is a missing element when you don't have a professional chef using her or his own talents to properly mix your ingredients; but even though that is true, BD's Mongolian Barbeque in Columbus, Ohio is an entertaining restaurant, with great service, and will always be one of my favorites. On my third trip, I promise to hit "that flat metal thing", and maybe I'll even find out what it's called.
Jeremy Barger
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
FireGod
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Member: Jeremy Barger
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA
Reviews written: 29
Trusted by: 35 members
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