By Isaac Lasker and William Do,
Staff Writers.
There’s a wide range of food options in Santa Rosa. Many different restaurants represent different cultures, and the food populates the city. So it’s not a surprise that a new restaurant is coming to Santa Rosa: the Gengis Khan restaurant! Located in the Santa Rosa Plaza food court, it has multiple delectable Mongolian food choices to pick from. You put together your desired bowl of food, similar to Chipotle or Panda Express.
As for the food itself, the portions available are quite generous. The restaurant has a variety of enticing meat and vegetables that you can add to your bowl. The noodles are very good, although they’re not especially healthy because of their high grease content. The food is served in a traditional food court manner with trays and boxes.
The dish we ate was the generic “build your bowl.” They have a large selection of different meats; however, the shrimp costs an extra $3, so we chose to try the beef. We also selected the dried chilis and green onions. Interestingly, you have the choice of which spice level you prefer, which isn’t uncommon but not typical either. There are also sides of rice and soup, and fountain drinks are offered as well.
Overall, we decided that this meal was average, maybe in the 40th percentile of all of the meals we’ve ever had. We don’t think we would try it again. The name and the rarity of Gengis Khan Mongolian BBQ garnered some attention, but it’s not the most extravagant food you will ever eat.
Junior Krystof Gonzalez shared his takes on the restaurant. He also tried out the “build your bowl” with beef and noodles. Since he didn’t want to spend a lot of money, Gonzalez decided to share a bowl with the two of us. It costed $15 plus tax, which added $2, making it $17 total.
When we got the food, Gonzalez explained that he didn’t have high expectations of it, as it simply looked normal and there was nothing very special about it. When he tried the food, he had nothing good to say about it. “The beef was stale and I couldn’t taste much flavor. It was so chewy; I wouldn’t recommend this place and wouldn’t spend 17 bucks on a bowl again,” said Gonzalez. It might be good for quick runs at the mall, but it isn’t necessarily a place for seeking out. Though the price is fair, sitting at around $10-20 per person, you should just order from a cheaper fast food restaurant at that point.
Overall, it’s a decent restaurant with mixed reviews from people around Santa Rosa. However, it might be worth checking out as it is interesting to see a chain restaurant enter Santa Rosa at this time, but not to the point where you should fear you are missing out on something amazing because it isn’t some crazy novel restaurant as the name might suggest.
