BIBIBOP Asian Grill — Restaurant in Columbus

I ate a very pleasant meal earlier today [8-24-2022] at BIBIBOP Asian Grill, at 1270 W. Fifth Ave. in the "Fifth by Northwest" neighborhood of Columbus.

I had carefully studied the menu on-line -- several times before today's visit -- and had assumed that my only choice would be to "build my own bowl" when in fact there is another option that is not mentioned on the website: to order one of the six "chef-curated bowls" of which I had been unaware until walking up to order my food and seeing those bowls described on a sign above the ordering counter.

I decided to order one of the six "chef-curated bowls": "Super Greens and Grains," "a salad base with chicken, purple rice, broccoli, kale, kimchi, egg, and sesame ginger sauce."

My "Super Greens and Grains" bowl had been absolutely delicious. The "purple rice" in that bowl had been particularly interesting since I had never before heard of purple rice. I also had never before eaten an Asian bowl that contains kimchi as one of its ingredients though I have certainly eaten a lot of kimchi over the years at a Japanese/Korean restaurant that is near my home.

The one glitch with the ordering process had been that I had wanted to pay a "custom" tip rather than pay a tip based on a percentage of the total. The credit/debit card terminal had supposedly offered the ability to pay a "custom" tip but had not allowed me to enter any amount other than $0.00 so I eventually gave up and paid no tip.

If you are in the "Fifth by Northwest" neighborhood of Columbus and are looking for a delicious Asian bowl, "build-your-own-bowl" or "chef-curated bowl," I recommend BIBIBOP Asian Grill at 1270...

I had a terrible experience today at this Bibibop location. Customers were being pushed down the line, not being able to maintain social distance because the woman working the register was moving so slow. Once we finally got to the register, one of our two bowls was missing and she just stared at us. I continually explained that we have 2 tofu bowls with pineapple, and she’d just point out that there’s a bowl with pineapple in the bag. Finally a second employee stepped in and found my bowl so we could check out. When my boyfriend asked for extra sauce on the side (which is now behind the counter), the woman working the register reluctantly filled the cup and aggressively threw it in the bag. We’re lucky it didn’t explode all over our food.

I appreciate the measures Bibibop has taken to keep customers safe, like sauces and utensils behind the counter and marking off tables, but cramming people down the line doesn’t allow for social distancing. I wasn’t comfortable. Unless there is someone highly capable working the register to keep up with the flow, this causes a safety issue and the chaos that led to my food going missing.

And on top of it all, the apathetic response from the employee working the register made this the worst customer experience...

My family and friends seem to love this place a little too much. It's basically a more Asian e version of Chipotle. What I mean by that is the restaurant style is very similar to pull a where you just walk up and point at what you want, and that also means there's generally a huge line in order to get your food as well. I would give this more than a 3-star review however as most restaurants have and past couple years, the bowls they give you have shrunk and shiz and they generally don't give you as much food as they used to as well but yet you are paying more money. I don't really understand this trend but I'm not a big fan of it. If I was paying more and getting more it be a different story. I realize cost have gone up on almost everything but at the same token, the prices of also increased I would expect the bowls and portions to stay the same size. I will say the most redeeming value of the place is the delicious sauces they have available to put on your food. It's a lot healthier than eating at Wendy's...