Mongolian Grill — Restaurant in Whitby

Let me start with I have been coming to this restaurant since the original owner and his amazing staff opened. After he sold the place I stopped coming as it was not the same not even close. Apx 2 years ago I decided to give it a try again and my family and friends attend quite often. Lots of change has happened and it’s not good. First I arrived and was told there would be an automatic 15 percent added to my bill because there was more then 8 of us. Now normally not a big deal but when I’m the one doing all the work of going up and down and getting my food please explain what the added 15 percent is for. Yes in other sit down restaurants I understand as it’s extra work for the server taking all the orders etc.. but other then bringing drinks to the table everything else I did myself. Also I will mention we were 3 separate families each with our own bill just because we wanted to sit beside each other shouldn’t have changed the process. Given we are extremely good regular customers it put a sour taste in mouth. But wait it gets better. My daughter ordered an ice tea the first One was fine the refill she received you could tell it had just been changed and it was all syrup so she asked for Coke instead which to me no big deal it’s unlimited drinks. The server says I will get you a Coke but I’m going to have to charge you excuse me what? Charge me why she says because it’s a different drink. That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard keep in mind they have already pissed me off with the 15 percent. Once again carry on ignore the rude server who had an attitude about the whole thing. Then we are done they bring the 3 bills 2 of the bills are paid and the third bill my daughter has it. She says to the server my dad will deal with it he’s in the washroom. She proceeds to hover around and start talking to her co workers and they hover around as if we aren’t going to pay. Once again remember the other 2 bills have been paid in full including the stupid 15 percent on each bill. The server then comes to my 17 year old daughter and says are you going to pay you haven’t paid yet she replies yes my dad is in the washroom he will deal with it. At this point we are loading the car with all the gifts etc.. as we celebrated my birthday. I had just got back to the table as I had an asthma attack from the automatic air freshener in the washroom. Not one employee asked if I was ok or checked on me but they were able to follow me and stand there like I was going to rob the place. My husband is still in the washroom but at this point he’s done helping me from my asthma attack and now he needs to use the facilities.I call him because now I’m really pissed off and say how are you paying he says the credit card so ok fine I go to pay. Well it says declined I don’t know why they get another machine same thing no one knows why it’s not working it keeps saying declined. Keep in mind this whole time I’m being stared at and treated like I’m going to dine and dash yet we are regulars there. Now the owner comes over and without knowing what’s going on starts so I get a little loud because my patience at this point are over and all he says is stop yelling. How about you find out why I had to yell in the first place. Finally my husband is out of the washroom he uses another card and same issue keeps happening declined. Lucky for us we had a different card from a different bank and it worked. But during all this the staff that our server called in starts crying the owner says to my husband to tell me something which he says he won’t and then tells him maybe we shouldn’t come back my husband says perfect we won’t he then changes his tune because I guess he realizes how much money he’s losing and says well no please come back we had a situation but it’s over. I WIlL NEVER RETURN AGAIN. I could only imagine what you would do to first time patrons if that’s how you treat regular customers. Also 3 of us got severe diarrhea from the food. STAY AWAY Also want to point out after leaving we called the bank and scotiabank was...

Drove all the way to Whitby from west of the GTA on a weeknight because we heard this place was good. It was unfortunately the contrary.

Service: upon entering we stood at the door for 3 minutes to a near empty restaurant and multitude of staff. We saw a gentleman who looked like the owner or manager of the store look at us twice but did not approach us to seat us and instead looked for one of his staff to seat us. That in itself was very unfortunate. Waitress asked us if it was our first time and we said yes, explained how it works and what we wanted to drink. We head up to where the buffet is and find no dinnerware. We loop around and then one of the cooks said there are bowls on the table, we return to the table to find no bowls or water. We stand around for a few minutes then just sit. 5+ minutes later bowls arrive. We grabbed our food and gave it to the cook and waited. Cooks honestly looked like they didn't want to work, no hello, no smiles no engagement. Returned to the table to find no water, no cutlery. Asked for them but only cutlery arrived. We finished our first meal and wanted to to back but then again no bowls. We tried flagging down our waitress and she was no where to be found. We found another waitress and asked her but she went to go find our waitress. I mean you all work there, help each other out. Don't let the customer suffer. Waited 5+ minutes for bowls again and what arrived was water. Great.. What I don't understand was why we kept having to ask for bowls.. why don't they just keep it near the food like any other buffet place? Probably so you can't eat as much as you have to literally wait 10 minutes between each serving and by then you'll be full to try new things. At the end our waitress literally told us that the weekends have better food selection and a better atmosphere. She then asked us again if it was our first time here, we said yes you had already asked us. Mind you this place had only 5 tables at the time so remembering if your customers have been here before should be top of your mind as if it was their first you want to make it memorable.

Food: nothing to say. food was dry and hard like other reviews mentioned. It was only soft if you put a lot of sauce which ends up almost like a soup.

Overall: Service was extremely lacking, had to ask for everything multiple times, literally. Was charged the same rate as weekend despite not having more selection because it was a weeknight. Manager/owner doesn't say hello despite walking past you many times. Cooks look like they dislike working. Place is setup so you have to wait in between food trips so you get full faster. Nothing special about the place except the unique grill which is more like a handicap since it takes a while to cook. For those in the west end, you're better off going to Wok of fame, at least their service is prompt and courteous. Service and atmosphere ruined the dinner. Would...

I paid $251 for my experience at the Whitby Mongolian Grill on Mother's Day, and this is what I got... The food at this place is just OK. It MIGHT have been better if there weren't so many fruit flies buzzing around the unprepared food. The service is... meh. No one seems to really love working there, and if they do, it's difficult to see it on their overworked and tired faces. For what you get in terms of those two things, it's VERY overpriced. But the worst part of this restaurant is the owner. He is arrogant and rude and clearly has no interest in his patrons' dining experiences, but rather, he seems interested only in lining his pockets $$$. Our interaction with him after our party of 7 waited 20 minutes to be seated (despite having a reservation that we arrived on time for), a small medical experience we had with my diabetic mother, and the poor quality of food and service, he was severely lacking in empathy and general kindness. In fact, he was arrogant and rude. Don't believe me? Find proof in his own words... read his replies to Google reviews with 1-4 stars. He's a right-fighter. He refuses to hear his guests when they have a complaint and he attempts to justify his poor actions and decisions, forgoing any humility. He didn't care that my mother was ill from not eating on time; not one bit concerned. In fact, during our argument with him, he brought up the fact that he didn't charge us for the $4 orange juice we requested to get her blood sugar back up after it dropped while we waited 20 minutes for our reserved table to be ready... how kind...? Just be warned, if you're hoping for good food, great service, and basic human compassion or kindness, you will not find it here. At least my family didn't. Needless to say none of us will be going back to this establishment. Never. I do expect, however, to receive a reply to this review from him, requesting that I DM him my $251 bill after he tries to justify his poor behavior and lack of humanity. What I don't expect, is an apology. We didn't get one at the time of the long wait, or the resulting medical incident, so I don't expect to get one now. And that's the person your hard-earned money goes to if you choose to dine in this restaurant.

RESPONSE TO OWNER'S REPLY: Yes, it is sad that you didn't want to do better to help us. And you're wrong... it was memorable... We will NEVER FORGET the MEDIOCRE FOOD, the POOR SERVICE, or the HORRIBLE WAY...