This place is like piracy at best. 8 dollars for a bowl no bigger than your palm to place all your ingredients in for the stir fry and condescending signs that states that you can't pack in the ingredients to the full capacity of the bowel. When your food is cooked and comes back to your table, it literally fills up about 30% of the plate. The fried rice looked terrible, mottled white and brown that looks like yesterday's leftovers. When I paid in cash the grubby owner assumed that I was going to give 25% tip and didn't even offer my change back. This was THE worst Mongolian restaurant, well, forget the Mongolian bit...this was the worst restaurant I have ever been to in my entire life. It is a pathetic excuse for a restaurant and should be closed down for piracy. Definitely passing this on to my friends. Actually after finishing at Bali Hai I went to the Indian place next door to get a proper meal. They have 7.00 lunch buffets on the weekdays and the chicken korma is to die for. Take a detour to the Indian place and pass on Bali Hai read more

The food is okay for the price. Basically you get what you pay for. The service, however, is unpredictable and can be downright hostile. I had a server yell at me (really) one day for coming at 1:45. Lunch ends at 2. The fact of their inconsistency with hours is one thing. Yelling at a patron across the restaurant is another. The owner/manager can be quite rude to her staff. Some are wonderful, and some follow their manager's lead. I have had the manager refuse to seat me at a four-top table so I could work and even lie about larger table being reserved when the restaurant was nearly empty. All of this makes average food rather unappealing. They show little concern for people - customers and staff. read more

So as a college student, I'm inclined to give the place 5/5 just for pure value for what you pay, but I have so many issues with the service and inconsistency of the food sometimes that I have to bump it down to 3. It's your typical Mongolian style 'build your own' deal, though with less options than I've actually seen at other similar places (where they actually have the spices out so you can make your own mix). Here it's basically pick one of their few mixes, and decide how spicy you want it. I have ordered a 10/10 Spicy, tried one of my friend's bowls who ordered 7/10, and often found theirs spicier. Also, the service is really, really, REALLY poor; when it's busier here, you'll find that the owner will rush you to your table and out as quickly as she can. I'd say go for lunch, since it's good value, and since you need to leave anyways the poor service is fine to deal with. read more

For the control freak foodie. The house sauce was very good along with the shrimp. I strongly suggest adding pineapple to your bowl. There are many ways to exploit the buffet style system, such as making a food bridge between two bowls or packing it in tightly. You can also watch the chef grill up your selections, very cool read more

I've been eating at Raleigh Bali Hai since 1986. Since then, I've always eaten there at least 2/3 times a month. I get hungry just thinking about that combination #8 and I just had my dinner 30 minutes ago. After Raleigh location burned down, I tried Bali Hai in Durham. The first visit was kind of numb. The whole system was different even though both restaurants are operated by the same family. I looked as if it was my first visit to Bali Hai. I don't want to go into details, but Raleigh people could relate to me I'm sure. However, as soon as I grabbed my two empty bowls I was in the comfort zone because now my instincts took over. I knew exactly what to do. I don't know how to cook. I just eat. But after several visits, I knew something was different. Why is it that Raleigh location always tasted better? Not sometimes, but always. I couldn't quite figure it out. Well, it finally dawned on me after several visits. The sauce is the culprit. It tastes different and it's saltier. Yes, it's very salty in Durham location. I confronted this to the owner and her response was "people in Durham area enjoy salty food so we make our sauce salty". I was numb again. Being a loyal customer to Bali Hai, I tried to give them a helpful customer input, but I got slapped on the face with that remark. I'm addicted to this food so I reluctantly go again. I request no salt, but this doesn't change anything. It's still salty. This time my son orders to go box and tries to eat with us. That same crazy woman told my son he couldn't eat out of his to go box inside the restaurant. I was very numb this time. I was furious and was about to explode, but my wife calmed me down. I've tried Crazy Fire since then, but it's not the same, and I have not eaten Bali Hai for weeks now. Raleigh location is the thing of the past now. It's gone for ever. The owner's son and daughter who used to run Raleigh Bali Hai are gone. Eventually, I'll drag my feet to Bali Hai in Durham, but it will not be anytime soon. It will be a while. read more

Went on a date here. Didn't really see the need for waiting staff if I do most of the work. But the staff was nice, the food was great, the spiciness was good too. read more

I've come here a couple of times, probably close to 5. You get seated then pick what you want to order. You then take your order ticket with you as you head to the 'salad bar' style bowl filling station. They have a generous assortment of vegetables and pork, beek, and turkey. After you fill your bowls to the max, the chef stir fries them while pouring the sauce you chose. 10 minutes later, you get your dish with a bowl of rice. I've tried pretty much all the flavors and they are nothing special. A little saltiness with a hint of the flavor you chose. The good thing is that you probably will be filled up by the end of the meal, as long as you did the bowl filling 'right'. Service is alright. read more

After the first time I visited this restaurant, I knew deep down that frozen slices of turkey and pork were not my idea of Mongolian barbeque. However, the gimmick of being able to pack your own bowl and in some way to control your dining destiny to me enough to negate my distaste for the food itself. But restaurants can't survive on gimmicks alone. Please keep reading to understand why. 1. When our group walked in, the hostess looked at us and immediately turned away. The restaurant had about 4 tables filled. After standing awkwardly at the front for nearly 5 minutes, she finally acknowledged us with a quick, rude nod in the direction of a table. No menus were brought to the table and we were not greeted for a good 10 minutes after we took our seats. When our waitress finally did arrive, instead of apologizing for the wait, she beckoned us toward the heaping trays of frozen food as if we all knew the protocol. Luckily, my one previosus dining experience allowed me to telll the waitress that many of my party hadn't been here before and needed an explanation. At this, the waitress looked over her shoulder at who I can only assume is the owner of this "fine" establishment as if in disbelief of our ignorance. At this point, the owner reluctantly handed us 2 menus for our party of 6. 2. The waitress made it clear that she had no intention of explaining how the restaurant worked or how diners were expected to go about the process. Luckily, one of the members of our party, a former employee, used this opportunity to explain what the waitress had failed to convey (he also mentioned how much he and his fellow co-workers hated this establishment and its ownership--wish he's told us that before). Eventually we got up to get our food and, while piling things into our bowls per the example of diners ahead of us, were very rudely interrupted by the hostess mentioned previously. She made a b-line for one of the members of our party, who happens to be a prominent athlete, flailing her arms and scolding him for "being cheap" (direct quote) because he was piling a lot in the bowl. Mind you, he had just finished ordering extra sides which had essentially doubled his ticket amount. She humiliated him and us in front of the entire restaurant. By this point, we were all extremely uncomfortable and wondering why we were enduring this despicable customer service for a few slivers of frozen meat. By the way, since when did frozen turkey become common fare at a Mongolian restaurant? Seems to me someone was looking for a cheaper alternative for chicken--which was $2 extra. 3. The meal continued this way with the waitress taking her cues from an increasingly rude hostess, watching over our table like hawks. At one point, 2 of the waitresses got into a heated argument in the middle of the restaurant about who would wait on a fresh table of diners. We, in addition to the other diners, felt the hostess's ominous eye watching us throughout our meal. This was hardly helped by the older man sitting in the corner next to the window that the hostess consulted frequently and who was also watching us and the other patrons. By the end of our dining experience, it was clear that none of us would ever return to Bali Hai. However, thinking that I should communicate our dissatisfaction to the hostess, when I went up to pay I mentioned our problems with the service. With a scowl that could only be matched by the facial expression that she had when she accused us of "being cheap", she swiped my card and said "well, I don't know". This was of course right before she explained that our party of 6 merited an automatic 20% gratuity. This is the first time I have ever written a review or even felt the need to comment strongly about any business establishment. If possible, avoid Bali Hai. If you're drawn to the gimmick of "how much can you fit in one bowl", make it a one- time experience. If it's anything like mine, that should be more than enough. read more

Just not that good. Way less value than Crazy Fire or even the Hibachi Grill. I don't know why anyone would ever choose this option. Also, way too few options like meats, sauces, etc. read more

Honestly, the management here is terrible and the food doesn't come close to redeeming the bad service. The Korean lady who runs this place is rude and scary. This place is known among broke college kids as the place where you can demonstrate all that you've learned in civil engineering and pile up all the food you possibly can into one/two bowls. However, that apparently is not conducive to business for the manager, so she goes around yelling at her customers. I mean, if your business model is "self-serve" how can you NOT expect broke college kids to do that? Either let them be or change the way you serve your food. And the food, after it's been prepared, is quite subpar. Too salty, too greasy. I could make better stir-fry. It's a cheap eat but not worth the traumatizing experience you get when you face/witness the manager's wrath. Save yourself the trouble and just pay more money for better service and better food. read more

Bali Hai is my FAVORITE restaurant in Durham. The best combination of location (near Duke's campus!), food tastiness, and cost! Sure, the owners can be cranky at times, their policies may seem confusing (no togo? but it makes sense if you think about it), and the music is repetitive piano at all times. However, the sheer enjoyment derived from eating a huge pile of meat with sweet and sour sauce, noodles, white rice, and water is amazing! read more

I've been coming here since 04. Wow- 10 years. Every time I return to Durham this is the first place I come to. It's family owned and the mom, dad and son are all very nice people. They strive to have the best, freshest veggies and keep the place clean and it really shows. I love the variety of fresh vegetables, the house sauce is the best and the tofu is always cooked right- not too mushy, not over fried but just right. Anyone who is not full after one bowl either seriously needs to go on a diet or improve their stacking skills. I hope Bali Hai lasts forever. read more

i get like two bowls at lunch for like 8-9 bucks such a good deal and the meat is very well made the house special sauce is on point. hidden steal near the duke campus read more

Love the food, close to Duke and many college kids go there. The manager/person in charge is never fun to deal with, and I feel sorry for the waitstaff, but I've always had nice waiters. Stacking wars are so much fun, definitely go with a friend and see who can pile the most food in a bowl. read more

For the record, I will NEVER return to Bali Hai. EVER. Not only does the owner have a STANKY attitude but they now have VERY SHADY business practices. You know that whole one bowl, two bowls bit? Yea, well, they still do that. Sort of. You still can't got back for seconds if you eat in, you still can't take leftovers home. You can still order one or two bowls to go. BUT, what they DON'T tell you, is they now charge to go by the pound, and include your rice in that weight. They include the add on that you already paid extra for. So, I paid for my tofu and then she included that in the weight of the order. She charged me a dollar extra for the brown rice she weighed, too. And, everyone knows that veggies get heavier when cooked. So, we paid for cooked weight of veg. Our meal would have cost us less than $20 if we had eaten in house. But, because I'm a gastric bypass patient who has to also eat vegan because my body rejects animal based proteins, we have to get ours to go and the meal was over $36!!!! NEVER AGAIN!!! Oh, and there is a sign. Where? Not at the door where they take your order. Not at the entry to the food bar. Not hanging at the grill area where you drop your tray to be cooked. Not at the register. Where? After you leave the food bar, if you turn around and look back it is hanging behind you as you walk away. Did I say SHADY? read more

This is NOT the Bali Hai of old! The food is terrible, you get treated like your bothering them by showing up. Big downhill slide after Isaac left! Food now never has taste, never spiced to the correct level, and raw the last 3 times we've been there. First time in 24 years of going that I've not been able to eat the food... It was that bad the last 3 times, and we're done with it. Death of a once great institution! No more than your barely average Chinese restaurant, and that is a crying shame! read more

Some friends and I stopped in today for lunch. It was my first visit. Upon entering, the temperature was nice and cool on a hot day. The colors were nice and soothing. The restaurant was clean. We were promptly served. The server was kind and explained what to do since this isn't a conventional eatery. You're supposed to tell them how many bowls of food you'll be eating, pick a sauce for it to be cooked with, and pick a meat like chicken, calamari, lamb etc (unless you want the standard beef, pork, turkey off the "buffet"). Then you get your bowl, go up to the buffet and fill it with the veggies of your choice. You take your bowl up to the counter and they fry it up for you. It also comes with either steamed or fried rice when they bring the fried veggies with meat back to your table. I ordered 1 bowl with calamari, steamed rice, curry + level 5 spicy sauce, and ice water. It was delicious... very flavorful. I paid $10.75 for an interesting, savory lunch experience. I'll be back. read more

Great food. Go a few times and try combinations so you can settle for something that you really like. The combination sauce, by the way, is awesome! read more

Cheap, delicious, and fun. Get one bowl, stack it as high as you can with every different option, and get some spicy sauce and you'll want to come back tomorrow. read more

Unbelievably awful. I asked for spicy sauce and less oil, what arrived was coated in salty, spicy, thick mess.(inedible) My son's food ($6.50 bowl + $2.50 for chicken) was undercooked and rice was cold. the waitress was nice and took my lunch off the bill while the owner scowled. I can see how college kids might like the challenges of this place, but for my dollar, no thanks. yuck. read more

Rude service, the food is not worth the price. You take the food yourself, bring to the grill for cook. There are some vegetable options, then add beef, chicken, or pork, tell them to add what sauce. That's it for $8. I would recommend to go to a chinese buffet, there are more selections. read more

Not a fancy place to eat but is the Best place to eat. It is a great eating experience , build your meal and select your taste, and let the cooks work their magic. A must place to try !!!! read more

I like the concept so much! My friend can always get the most in one single bowl, but I am just not so good at it haha! Improving though.

the worst place I've ever been. Rude manager and bad food, the worst thing is they put extra $ charge to your card after your signature.

The notice 'Do not press the food with hand in your bowl' is way too offensive. I will never come back again, even though the food tastes good and my boy friend likes it a lot. Anyway, there are many restaurants with good taste in this area. read more

Five stars for food but the owner is so mean. She's mean to customers, mean to the staff, and makes everyone uncomfortable. If she thinks you didn't tip enough, she'll yell at you in front of everyone. She will also yell at you if you pile too much food on your plate or if you take too long at the buffet. Food is really good though and I will not stop coming here because of her! I like dinner better than lunch because dinner has mushrooms available read more

Went here with a group of friends and I am normally not into writing these reviews, but my experience was so bad I wanted to prevent humanity in general for having to go through the same thing. First of all, the service was terrible. The woman seemed pissed off that we had even come there. We had asked for a couple extra of chairs and then our other friends went else where (lucky them...) and she made a huge stink. I was still in pretty good spirits at this point because i had heard that the food was pretty good. So she comes back 5 minutes later and ask us what we want. She hadn't even given us menus at this point. I know its supposed to be really simple but I hadn't ever been to this place before. What kind of server doesn't put out menus? In any case, she comes back, takes our drink order, gives me a look after I ask for a beer and she checks my ID, and then we go to the food bar. Oh also it's a dollar extra for brown rice? Seriously? And you get this tiny little portion that frankly was lukewarm and had congealed together in a weird way. Anyway the buffet was small, consisting of mostly fairly unappealing sprouts, dry veggies, and meat that was freeze dried. you couldn't tell the chicken, from the beef, from the pork if it hadn't been labeled. At this point the waitress comes to tell me that they don't have the beer on tap i ordered and asked if I wanted something else. I got a blue moon. When i came back to the table she had left the cup sitting on top of the bottle instead of pouring it. I will say that the glass was nice and cool. Food comes out in a reasonable amount of time. It just wasn't very good. It was all kind of bland. Maybe i didn't put the right food in the bowl, but i didn't find the curry sauce very appealing. I was rather disappointed at this point. I really wish I hadn't ordered the two bowls because I didn't want to eat all of it, and then I found out that they don't do to-go boxes...So i guess they just take that food and throw it away or feed their dogs or something. So they sell you a bowl of food and won't let you take it out of the place? Go up to pay for the food and of course they included the tip of 20% on the bill and it came out to 17 dollars for the whole trip not counting the 10 dollars I spent on Gas Ex as a result of it Lived in Durham for 5 years and have never had anything as close to this bad of an experience. read more

First I would like to say that my review/1 star has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the food. However, when going out to eat and choosing to spend your money in a restaurant-the quality of the food is only ONE factor of your experience. While this restaurant has flawless stir fry-the quality of service is of the opposite extreme. I have NEVER been treated with the amount of disregard, blatant rude behavior as I was during BOTH of my experiences to this restaurant. I drove 75 miles ONE way to eat this food (that is how GREAT the food is) and I arrived around 8:45pm. Before making this trip, I checked their website to be sure of their hours and it clearly states they close at 10:30pm on Saturday night. We were seated, and ordered. (There were 7 of us-each ordering 2 bowls of food, totaling 14 bowls of stir fry for our party). Each person in our party ordered fried rice with our meal as well as drinks. Our bill would've totaled well over $100.00. As we were making our bowls, the waitress was standing behind us reminding us that we are not allowed to take anything home with us-that what we do not eat gets thrown away so please only take what you can eat. **I think it is absolutely insane/horrible practice to not allow your customers to take home their leftover meal. You would rather throw away the food that your customer paid for than allow them to take it home and eat it later. They say the reason for this rule is to prevent people from getting more than they can eat. A better solution to this would be to charge by the weight instead of by the bowl. NOT denying your customers the right to take home the food you expect them to pay for.** That rule alone makes me not want to eat here or give these people my money. However, once again-the food is good enough that I choose to go in and order my plate to go and then eat it later. The waitress comes to our table and tells us that unfortunately they do not have enough rice to feed all of us. That there is only enough for 2 servings-so at this point we need to decide who is going to get the two servings and the rest of us can either opt to have NO rice with our meal or choose to have plain steamed rice. So now, you want us to pay for a meal that we CANNOT take what we do not eat home with us, as well as accept half of it (with no rice) or accept something we did not want or order as a "replacement". We ask her if there is no way that she can cook enough rice for us-as we have just ordered 14 bowls of food-its not like we are only one person and it would be a waste. She says that because they close in 15 minutes that they will NOT cook anything else. (its 9pm-their website says 10:30) so she then informs us that their website has not been updated in many years-they close at 9:30pm but stop serving food at 9:15pm. We insist she asks the OWNER of this restaurant if he would please allow them to cook enough rice for us as we have driven 75 miles one way to eat here and are going to be paying a bill well over $100.00 for our meal. The OWNER then YELLS in front of us- "NO-I SAID NO COOK MORE RICE. THEY HAVE STEAMED RICE, OR NO RICE-THEIR CHOICE". At this point, we have had enough of the attitude, disrespect, disregard for paying customers-and choose to walk out. While everyone else in our party just got up and walked out the door, while all 14 bowls of food were on the grill cooking-I decide to go over and at least explain why we are so angry and that we would like to stay as well as pay our bill if he will choose to give us what we ordered. Before I can even complete my sentence, he starts waving his stir fry stick at me and yells "GET OUT OF MY RESTAURANT AND NEVER COME BACK". In front of an entire restaurant of people as well as his entire wait staff. People were gasping and his wait staff were SHOCKED. They were all trying to apologize to me as I walked out of the restaurant. I do not understand how anyone can expect a business to thrive-no matter how good your food is, when you treat your LOYAL customers this way. Its unfortunate that he did this because we used to frequent the restaurant in Raleigh before it burned down. His children (who run the Raleigh restaurant) are dear friends of ours. They would absolutely ASHAMED out how their parents treated us. I will say that I have never been more proud to walk out of a restaurant as he did NOT deserve our money or our business. It brings me joy to know that he had to throw away 14 BOWLS of food as well as 7 drinks as a result of him being rude. He is SO concerned with money and how much hes going to LOSE by not allowing his customers to take home their leftovers etc. I am sure that was not a nice reality when he had to throw all of that food away. I wou read more

it's college cafeteria, not a restaurant anymore. Owner touch money and touch food with out washing...bad customer service. it's that bad.

Went to Bali Hai in Durham as a special treat for my sons birthday. Food was ok not as good as normal and then when I got ready to light the cake I asked for a "Plastic Knife" and the owner lady was rude and said "You should bring your own stuff"!!!!! Really I asked for a plastic knife. Not only is it not fair that we can't take home our leftovers you act this inconsiderate when it's my sons birthday party. I will never go to this location again. We spend over $100 every time we go and we are treated like this. I can take my business elsewhere. I only whish Isaac and Esther were still running this business.......yes and that's another thing I've been coming to this resturant since they were little...since 1986 I've given them my business and had no complaints until the children left the business. Your business needs to remember it's all about Customer Service in your business. I'm surprise with your new attidue and new rules you have any business at all. You have the power to change this ....there were so many loyal customers you could win back. read more

Went out with a few friends just a few days ago and had an amazing experience. The food was delicious, our waiter (an older looking guy with a balding head) checked up on us what seemed like every 5 or 10 minutes despite them being very busy and was very friendly and helpful. We always had what we needed and never had to actually get anyone's attention. The wait on the food wasn't too incredibly long despite most the tables in the place being taken and a ton of students crowding the grill. The sauce (I got what they call the combination which is a spicy/sweet mixture) was delicious. The place had a very friendly atmosphere. You can choose from one or two bowls of food from a bar that has veggies and meats and you also pick from a list of five available sauces. You can get as much as you can fit in your bowls (even by stacking) however they don't allow you to take any of it home. For the price, it's a great place to have a cheap (but well cooked) meal. The only thing that kept me from giving this restaurant a solid five stars was that the woman at the cash register (maybe the owner?) was a little short with me and at one point during our meal rushed out from behind the register and started talking very loudly to a few of the servers about something that I guess she didn't like. Honestly, it was a little rude considering we were trying to enjoy our meal and all of a sudden there is yelling going on. And it isn't the first time I've seen her yell at her employee's either. Despite that, Bali Hai is highly recommended. read more

Went here for a weekday dinner with a friend and was hoping that this time, my experience at Bali Hai would be more memorable/better than my last visit . Sadly, I can't say that this was the case. Upon walking in, my friend and I were promptly seated over to the side. All of this would appear to be normal and usual except the rude service that was given to us once we were handed the menus. The waitress, automatically assuming that we knew about the menu items, pressed us for our order. Normally, this wouldn't have bothered me so much, but she was blunt and sorted of seemed just irritated to serve us. After a brief minute or so, she came back and again asked us. When we told her that we still weren't ready, she again walked away slightly irritated. From looking around, the restaurant does do a good job of accomdating groups and there is plenty of seating. However, I did notice that the owners did not necessarily have the best relationship with their employees with several instances where they had to push the waiters to go around to fill water glasses. As for the food, Bali Hai is your typical make your own Mongolian grill where you have the option of putting your own vegetables and meats together with a side (White Rice or Fried Rice) together. The quality of the food is not bad and about standard in terms of freshness, but is hampered by a couple of factors. First, given the price range of the restaurant, there simply aren't enough vegetable and meat options. You only really have about 2 or 3 greens, some carrots and cabage, and 3 meats (pork, turkey, and beef) with sides such as chicken costing extra. Next, the sauces that they have (Sweet and Sour and Spicy) really do not live up to their names. I ordered an 8 out of 10 on spiceness and did not taste any of that in my cooked food. Finally, the portion sizes of the meal you get really aren't that big -- Satisfactory, but a little smaller than expected. All in all, Bali Hai doesn't necessarily serve bad food. It's mearly average in the scheme of things, but given the much better options for food in Durham, especially in the 9th street area, and the slightly offputting behavior of the staff, I would stay clear of this place/ maybe only visit here once for the novelty of the food. Honestly, a big chain restaurant that serves similiar style food like Genghis Grill is better than this place. read more

My wife and I wanted Mongolian food last night and went to Bali Hai in Durham. We first were seated then reseated after we settled in. Then we reviewed the menu and saw a choice of 1or 2 bowls. We have been to numerous Mongolian grills and never had to only pick 1or 2 bowls. We decided to pick 2 bowls each and make one bowl at a time I order to enjoy the evening a take our time eating. When we decided to make our second bowls a waitress started yelling at us not to make more. We tried to explain we only made one bowl each, she still was yelling at us. Then after the big scene we just wanted to eat our food at home in peace, but the restaurant does not give a container for your food, against their policy. We paid for our food and the restaurant is not a buffet so we should be able to get a box for the food we do not finish. The restaurant staff made us feel horrible and would never go back again. read more