JB's Mongolian Grill is located at 75 Consumers Drive in Whitby, just west of the Thickson Road exit of Highway 401. Booth seating is available, but the one we had was a little too small and cramped for taller people. The interior reminded me more of a "bar and grill" of a different sort than a restaurant with its layout and was a little louder than usual, with much clanging of the grill. Grill and side dishes are included in the AYCE "feast" price, but dessert is not included. The only sides available were green, macaroni and potato salads, coleslaw, two soups and some assorted toppings. Pop is AYCD for $3.
Macaroni salad was okay but didn't have much flavor other than sweet. Potato salad was alright and fresh, but rather generic. Coleslaw was okay, but again was very generic. House salad dressing was excellent, although the salad itself was rather plain and only one variety was available. Tomato bisque soup was good but tasted pre-made, and similarly with the classic chicken noodle soup which although good was reminiscent of being made from a powdered mix base. Pepperoncini peppers were stale/off and dried out to the point of being like plastic… the sides here don't hold a candle to Genghis Khan's full buffet of fresh offerings. Not off to a good start...
Thankfully, it picked up with the grilling, which I improvised as usual. The ingredients appeared fresh and quality. For my first grill: beef, miki noodles, pineapple, Szechuan sauce, garlic and cayenne… an excellent combination which accidentally was (almost) an actual Mongolian dish. For my second grill: sausage, honey mustard sauce, rotini, green pepper, basil, parsley, lemon pepper, mushrooms… a nice combination. For the third grill: chicken, rice noodles, teriyaki sauce, water chestnuts and bean sprouts. Unfortunately the teriyaki sauce was diluted to the point that I could barely detect it; unlike Genghis Khan, this location pre-adds the required cooking water into the sauce to prevent the food drying out and burning, rather than the chef adding it as needed during grilling, and in this case it washed out the sauce's flavour. Unlimited tortillas and rice are available to make do-it-yourself tacos, so for the fourth grill: pork, jerk sauce, jerk powder, black pepper, oregano and rice in a soft taco shell made some wonderful jerk pork tacos.
Dinner is currently $23.95, and $16.95 for lunch, on weekends; unsure if it is different during the week. This isn't bad considering that Genghis Khan is now $32 for weekend dinner, but there is so much less other than the grill itself, what with the sparse sides and no dessert, that the two are barely comparable. JB's was quite good if the grill was all one was there for, but I think I preferred Genghis Khan's complete variety and nearly perfect quality.
Rating: 7-7.5/10
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