I’m glad I wasn’t looking for a barbecue when I went to dine at Mongolian BBQ. I wouldn’t have found it.

But what I did find was a restaurant much improved over what it was when I last visited, seven long years ago.

Located in the southeast corner of the Fred Meyer Shopping Center on Bend’s south side, the Mongolian offers an interactive dining experience that is highlighted by the preparation of dishes on a large, flat, circular grill.

Diners fill their bowls from a selection of more than two dozen ingredients, mostly meats and vegetables. They add ladles of oils and sauces before handing the bowls to a chef to cook. It doesn’t take long.

Back in 2008, I wrote about the lack of basic cleanliness and maintenance in the restaurant. Coupling that with rude service, it should have been no surprise to anyone that it took me so long to return.

But something has changed in the interim. On my recent visits, the tables and buffet area were uniformly clean, and the pleasant service was directed toward creating a better dining experience.

At least part of that transformation might be credited to the lone room attendant on my two recent visits. The woman was as fastidious as she was energetic — greeting new arrivals, describing the dining process, offering drinks and rice to accompany the meal, delivering the check in a timely manner and cleaning up afterward.

Buffet service

At the end of the buffet serving lines are small, medium and large-size bowls. Diners in the know fill their bowls with a balance of meats and vegetables, then finish with a mile-high stack of egg noodles, or as much of a mountain will stay atop the bowl without falling over on the short walk to the grill. The oils and sauces are almost an afterthought.

I recommend not filling up too heavily on cabbage and bean sprouts, which are near the front of the line. If you’re an omnivore, it might be wise to direct your first steps to a selection of sliced meats — beef, chicken, pork, bacon, even pepperoni — even though they’re not of premium quality.

Take what you want, then add fresh vegetables. These include a choice of mushrooms, broccoli, onion, green onion, celery, carrots, red and green pepper, zucchini and jalapeño. As well, there are frozen water chestnut, baby corn and green beans, plus cherry tomatoes, cilantro, pineapple, peanuts and tofu.

If the egg noodles are not to your liking, you might also consider broad white noodles, fettuccine noodles or crunch chow mein noodles.

Then you may proceed to add the oils and sauces. The dozen choices boost the flavor of the food as it cooks. I opted for a combination of ginger, plum and hot pepper options, passing on sweet-and-sour, garlic, curry and other choices. Then I handed my bowl, now almost overflowing, to a cook.

He deftly flipped the ingredients onto the grill and began circumambulating the sizzling disk, stirring and turning the veggies, meat and noodles with a large paddle as he went. About three minutes later, he shoveled the fixings back into the bowl and returned them to me, fully cooked.

Simple decor

Mongolian BBQ seats more than 100. I took a seat along the bank of windows that face the Fred Meyer parking area on two sides. The décor around me was simple and somewhat eclectic: artificial plants, diverse hanging lamps and a variety of pictures, some of them Chinese in theme. A single television near the restaurant entrance was tuned to a sports channel.

My table had a napkin and silverware; I requested and was quickly brought a set of chopsticks, which is how I prefer to eat noodles. Salt, pepper and such condiments as soy sauce and Sriracha sauce were on the table, along with a carafe of fresh ice water.

Before I finished my meal, I placed an order for additional food to go. Although I saw no former printed menus here, cards mounted atop the buffet line announced the likes of egg rolls and breaded prawns.

I requested take-outs of pot stickers and crab Rangoon. It was clear to me they were not made in-house, but had come from frozen packages. My regular dining companion, who had not joined me on my two visits to Mongolian BBQ, enjoyed the crab puffs, which were plump with a mix of crab meat and cream cheese in wonton shells. On the other hand, the pot stickers, filled with minced pork, were not softly sautéed, but had a cardboard-like skin that made them nearly inedible.

One of the few other downsides of my recent visits to Mongolian BBQ was at the cashier’s station. I was glad to have left a cash tip on the table for my attentive server because the woman charged with taking my money — clearly, an owner — kept turning her head to sniffle and sneeze as I proffered my credit card for payment.

I told her I had seen an online ad indicating the restaurant was for sale. I had previously asked the server about this, and she was totally unaware. But the owner acknowledged that, after eight years, the Mongolian BBQ is on the sales block.

It would be nice if she were to let her employees know.

— Reporter: janderson@bendbulletin.com