I have always had an affinity for Mongolian BBQ and this place definitely hits the spot. One thing to be mindful of is that there is a lack of consistency inherent with this type of dining, which I will get into in a sec.
First of all, Stir Krazy is located in a nondescript strip mall that has plenty of parking. When you enter, you have to wait to be seated and the thing you notice immediately, is food being cooked on the large flat grill and the buffet style bar that has all the ingredients to make your meal. Once seated, the server explains the process, one-pass, choose all the goodies you want and bring it to the counter for it to be cooked on the grill. There are some add-ons not available for self-serve, like shrimp, but all-in-all, you will find 99% of what you need in the self-serve bar.
For about $18.00 you get a good sized bowl to stuff with your favorites. You start off with proteins...any combination of beef, chicken, pork and/or turkey. All of this is thinly sliced and frozen into rolls to take up room in the bowl. I simply use the tongs to smash the proteins flat in order to get the rest of my toppings comfortably into the bowl. Next step is choosing greens an other toppings. Their selection is too much to list out, but here are a few: onions, green onions, zucchini, broccoli, sprouts, tofu, cabbage, mushrooms...you get the idea. The final step is topping it off with some noodles and an assortment of sauces. Again, too many sauces to list all of them, house sauce, soybean oil, sesame oil, chili oil, pineapple, lemon water, garlic, fire sauce...again you get the idea. To help, they have some recipes to look at with suggestions of sauce combinations and quantities. This is where the quandary I mentioned lies. There are so many combinations of proteins, veggies and sauces that no two meals at this place will ever be the same. Today, the combination of proteins, veggies and sauces was absolutely delicious. I wish I took a metal note of what combination of sauces I used and their quantities, but I did not. The next time I visit, I will get reasonably close, but will it consistently taste the same? No, it won't but that is also the beauty of this place...it will not always be the same, in fact it can actually be better too!
Here is a pro tip, when you get to the final stations, hold off on adding the noodles. Top the veggies and and proteins with the combination of sauces you want to use. This marinates the meat and veggies, while you wait for your dish to be cooked. Add the noodles last and add some more of the sauces you liked on top of the noodles. In my opinion this makes the meal that much more flavorful.
Your custom creation is cooked right in front of you and you can add a scoop of rice if you would like. The meal is piping hot with huge amounts of steam coming off the plate. To me, there is nothing better than a hot meal when you eat out. The final step is adding optional sauces, like sriracha, soy, hoisin and others, along with sesame seeds and fried wonton skin strips for additional crunch.
For the variety of fresh meats and veggies, $18.00 is a great value. If you like Mongolian BBQ try this spot. I think you'll love it. read more