Express Bowl (Baton Rouge) — Restaurant in Louisiana

Sadly, my wife and I think we ate at Express Bowl for the last time. It was filthy. We had to wet napkins to wipe down the counter top. I did not wipe down the “back splash” but it had black marks all over the tile. The place has 60-ft of counter top and it was all filthy. This place seriously suffers from absentee mgt. Someone used to own a great store and now they own a formerly great store.

We went in at 2pm and were the only customers there. The two guys were both in the back of the building, out of sight. We were in there a full 2-3 minutes before anyone came out. After they fixed our lunch and that of another customer who came in after us, they immediately went back to the back of the store out of sight and we never saw them again. It was a little weird.

My food was way over cooked and super salty. All the veggies were super limp (over cooked). I normally always take half my bowl home with me but after eating 1/3 to 1/2, I threw the rest away.

Initial Review (rated it 5-stars just 4-yrs ago): Wifey and I just had a GREAT fast-food meal at Express Bowl. We would typically not go “Japanese” but ventured outside of our comfort zone today. The food was delicious! Really tasty, hot and fresh.

You pick out all of the ingredients for your “bowl” and then they put it on a large flat grill, adding a little oil, spices, teriyaki or whatever, based on the bowl you chose. All of the ingredients, including the steak, chicken, sausage, vegetables are all raw before being thrown on the super hot grill.

I had the Teriyaki Bowl (add jalapeños) and wifey had the Veggie Bowl. Both of us could not have enjoyed it more. From the first bite, we both looked at each other with a big smile.

We will...

I worked at this place, or should I say I was "Hired" by them and promised Full-time hours. The moody manager Linoda went to great lengths to procrastinate telling me that I no longer was working there. She ignored my texts and calls for weeks, and had other employees lie to me for her. This "manager" told me her infant child was in the hospital, her phone was broken (even though all my texts went through), and then she even said my phone number was not my actual number. The staff rips ecigs in the back and plays explicit music far too near the ears of children. I have worked in numerous restaurants most of them 4-5 star white table cloth and I am by no means a lazy worker. This staff however gave me a new view on unprofessionalism in the workplace. The food is decent, loaded with sodium, but decent. The woman who lies about her sick infant child is named Linoda. So if u want to be served by liars, Express bowl is the best choice in...

So, the food is alright, I guess. Lots of pictures of the line are outdated; they don't have that many options anymore. I got a medium bowl, and I personally disagree with measuring the meats and size by amount of choices instead of flat weight, but whatever I guess. The shrimp was cooked decently, the rice is tender, the veggies had some sear. Like everyone is saying, whatever their default sauce is they use on the hibachi, it's salty. Better that than straight up bland, but uh... Hm. Can't imagine how bad it would be if I got white rice.

Overall, the choices they give you here aren't worth picking the place over your mainstay Chinese joint. To be honest, the only reason I stopped in is because I'm still bemoaning the lack of a proper Mongolian grill in this city.

I give the place a solid "meh." At least they have a...