Hot Iron Mongolian Grill — Restaurant in Mill Creek

Sorry in advance for the long post! I have been eating at this restaurant for a long time. They are a small business and struggled during Covid. They were an all you can eat place before Covid. During that time they changed the way they did business to make it so people didn’t go near others food after they were able to allow people to dine in again. At that time they tried different ways to offer services and started using a pick list to pick what veggies, noodles, sauces, and meats you got for a dinner. At that point they went to a set price. When they went back to allowing people to pick their own veggies and sauces they tried charging per weight. Then people complained they wanted all you can eat. Now they have decided to go back to All you can eat and now people are complaining that they are not supposed to get to go boxes. The thing is there is always going to be people that are not pleased. I was happy with either way because no matter what the food is great and in the end the price was very reasonable. The problem is there are a lot of cheap people out there. There are people that think all you eat means that you can go through multiple times and then expect to take another meal home with them. Then they complain that they are not supposed to get to-go boxes. They do offer pay-by-weight for people that don’t want to eat in so if you want food to go you can. But all you can eat is what you can eat in the restaurant in one meal. Anyone that complains about being charged for to go food does not understand this. These people are just trying to steal from the restaurant in a way. It disgusts me. If you want all you can eat then get enough to fill you there. If you want food to go they buy it by weight. But to expect the benefits of both to try and scam this business, is pathetic. I have been eating here for a long time and as always my food was so good today but over hearing someone complain to the restaurant about the way they charge just makes me so mad. I know they go out and get fresh veggies every day for the line. They prep the food very well and keep the buffet line very clean. They have a lot of pride in their business and want to please all of their customers. It’s tough when there are people out there that can never be satisfied. The sad thing is those people’s opinions hold so much weight in these reviews so I had to get on here and say something. The food here is GREAT, the service has always been FANTASTIC, and the food is always fresh and DELICIOUS. So if you have never been it is definitely worth the price of admission how ever you choose to get your food, Dine-In or To-Go. This is one of my top 3 restaurants in Washington, period!

Thank you Hot Iron for always...

I love this place. I build my bowls as high as possible. The perfect bowl has noodles on bottom, veg in the middle, and meat on top -bc the meat goes on the grill first and needs the most cooking. The ingredient buffet is set up to accommodate that, which is helpful. Use one of the many tasty oils they offer on top of your meat to get a great sear.

Couple notes:

Watch the grill and let the person manning it know how you'd like yours done, or they have a tendency to go over and really hammer the veg. Don't let 'em get too choppy once the noodles are added. Long noodles, long life! As the saying goes. Some of their grill cooks have more experience and better culinary instincts than others.

It's seat yourself sort of place, and you can also get it to go. Don't forget to scoop your own rice over at the saucing station after you hit the grill -they offer brown or white steamed rice w/every bowl- and they used to ask which you wanted, but now they don't even mention it and it's up to you to know it's there, or you won't get it.

The ingredient bar is always very fresh, cold, and clean, hosting a wide variety of quality meat, veg, oils, vinegars. The sauce bar is separate and kept hot. I'm a fan of their hot oil, garlic-coconut milk, and peanut sauce. The meats are displayed semi-frozen so you know they're safe. And there's hand sanitizer and paper towels at the end of the fresh bar.

Prices are totally reasonable, and if you do it right you can nosh on a bowl for days afterward. I do! Great place for lunch. Easy, free (but sometimes full) parking. If it is, you can always park at Central Market...

Update: I went back here to take my parents and son to try the food (9/26/22). The shoulder length long hair (kind of looks Mexican) who was grilling was EXTREMELY RUDE to my son in which he made the remarks, "I have grilled your food multiple times. Why are you still eating?" This employee should be fired to say the least, but need to check his manners first! Excuse you man - how dare you comment such rude words to my son (9/26/22)! First of all, you applied for a job that REQUIRES YOU to grill everything that is on the counter onto the grilling station. Don't complain - otherwise find a new job that you might actually like.

Another thing, this establishment is ALL YOU CAN EAT - and besides, you are NOT the owner so again, don't complain about how much a customer can eat.

To the manager and owner of this restaurant, please retrain this employee on how to be accommodating. He should not be working in a station where he is allowed to bad mouth customers. It's BAD BUSINESS! May '22 Service was decent, but not enough to give a 3 star because every time my dish was grilled, the noodles were a little burnt. Sadly, the egg drop soup on the day I went was too salty. Some sauces seemed watered down or just wasn't strong enough/lacked the pure flavor.

Location is...