Bonfire Mongolian Grill — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

I was looking forward to this place because I really like stir-fry and make it a lot at home. Sadly, I was disappointed.

TL;DR: Service was bad, food was bland, utensils and condiments made available to the guests were inadequate.

This restaurant's service method is a little different, and no effort was made by the cashier to explain how it worked, nor was there signage. When I asked, she gave vague answers, like she wanted to talk to me as little as possible. I ended up going through the line hoping I was doing everything right, which is ridiculous in retrospect since it would have been very quick to explain.

I got the lo mein noodles, Mongolian beef, some vegetables, and combination of the bourbon and plum sauces. In the end result, the sauce was very thin and pooled in the bottom of the bowl, leaving the noodles, meat, and veggies effectively unsauced. The beef had very little flavor. The vegetables were alright, but not great; even the broccoli florets didn't hold onto much sauce. The portion was okay for the price, or would have been if it had tasted like anything.

The utensils available included chopsticks and single-use plastic forks. The forks were flimsy, woefully inadequate for what we were eating. My wife needed to cut her vegetables smaller, but there were no knives to be had. I really could have benefited from some soy sauce or sriracha, but couldn't find any—eventually I did see it was kept on the counter where the orders came out; I never would have had any reason to go over there when I had my food, so it seems like they weren't expected to be used as table condiments.

For as much money as I spent here, I expected a lot more; I work at a fast-casual restaurant at a similar price point, and know that it's possible to do way better than this. If I want Asian food in the future, I'm more likely to go to a generic hole-in-the-wall Chinese place where the food is only slightly better, but I can get a lot more of it...

My girlfriend and I had been looking forward to this for weeks, but after tonight I regret even going. We preordered our take-home meal online in an attempt to avoid waiting, especially not inside, and we were given a completion time of 30 minutes. We arrived at the appropriate time and found the place packed. Not only was our food not ready, but we were told they were understaffed and could not provide the "no contact" service advertised on the door. We waited another 10 minutes outside to avoid the people crowding in line at the front and near the pick-up area for the food. There was no social distancing to speak of in the order area, as another customer pointed out. And, of course, no one eating was wearing a mask in the dining area, as you would expect. When we stepped in to ask about our order, the first of two times, we were given a vague "it's on the way" answer by an employee we had watched continually wandering aimlessly around the front end. Over the course of that 10+ minute wait, we watched her repeatedly and compulsively pull at her mask--pulling it below her nose, pulling it back up, sometimes pulling it all the way down. She fidgeted with that mask non-stop, and she was handling many of the food containers coming from the prep area--carrying bowls to tables and helping to pack to-go orders between her aimless adventures. It was clear she had no idea what she was supposed to be doing. When the front-end cleared briefly, I walked in and asked again about our order; it had finally made it to the grill more than 45 minutes after being ordered. They were apparently prepping the real-time, in-person orders and ignoring the online orders. And after all that, the food? Average. Nothing I couldn't have made myself at home with the same ingredients. And I had asked for my sauce on the side and instead received no sauce at all. Terrible service....

Delicious food, I’ve been there twice already, once when they first opened the location and no one really knew about this place and a second time this week. Both times were great. They have a large option of meat, veggies, seasonings and sauces and I use all of them.

Some tips for first timers —

One: go when it’s less busy, this way you can ask as many questions as you want and try all of the sauces without feeling rushed. When they first opened up it was dead inside and I was able to try all sauces to know which ones I liked.

Two: pile your bowl high with meats and veggies. I learned when I first go there that people pile it high until it’s overflowing to get the value for the money they are paying. No one will judge, there is no limit as long as you aren’t putting food on the tray (fall outs happen so that’s fine, just don’t just the tray as a second bowl)

Third: USE SEASONING! People don’t realize that in between the meat and the veggies that there is a small section of seasonings. I use this and it makes my food taste amazing.

Fourth: for your first time pick flavors and meats you KNOW you’ll love and then experiment little by little.

Fifth: ask for a second sauce cup. It’s free! I saw some comments complaining about that but a lot of people don’t know that you can get as many cups as needed. I get two because I like two different sauces mixed together and one isn’t enough. I also bring home sauces as well to mix in if I feel like there isn’t enough, you can ask before or after you check out at either the front register or when you give them your food to cook. Take...