U Grill: The Informational Review

U Grill opened up last week. They are located in the old Linkhaus building at 7817 E. 37th St. N.
316-425-5730

They had a “soft opening” according to Kansas.com on Wednesday so I was able to make it in twice in the past week to try out their Mongolian Grill and their hamburger.

U Grill serves Mongolian Grill food (chicken, meat cooked in a large bowl with your choice of starch, vegetables and sauce). A much smaller scale than what can be found at Genghis Grill, Hu Hot, etc. They also serve Philly cheese steaks, burgers, brats and hot dogs.

I guess the big thing here is everything is under $7 but note that it’s a la carte. Your burger is one price, and then you can add a side of fries, salad, tots or whatever else for an additional charge. Here’s a picture of the menu that I was able to take a snapshot of:

That’s my thumb in the lower right hand corner. My nails are freshly clipped!

Upon walking inside, I was greeted both times I arrived. I did not get warm fuzzies inside though. Now if they said, “Hey Eddy” that could be a whole other story!

The very first time I ordered the Fresh Sliced Ribeye bowl and pad Thai noodles. I went through the small vegetable line (about 8 to choose from) and selected tomatoes, mushrooms, green peppers and jalapenos. They have quite a few sauces on hand; I counted 16 bottles the first time I was there. Made my selections and handed it to the server. This meal ran me $7 and that includes tax. All prices on their menu I believe include tax already. When I was given my receipt, they handed me a card for 10% my order the next time I come in.

Went to my seat and it arrived shortly after. The bowl looked pretty small when it arrived but it actually filled me up. It all tasted pretty good outside of my bad mixture of sauces but that was my own fault. The ribeye tasted fresh as well. The wait wasn’t that long either, of course there were only three other patrons in there so I’d like to see how they do when they are busy.

On my second time coming, I ordered a quarter pound burger and tots. They gave me 10% off without even presenting my card (who knows they may have recognized me from the previous time). So my total for a burger and tots was $4.96 which is on par with what you’d spend at any fast food place. They gave me a bowl to choose any vegetables I wanted grilled with my burger so I selected jalapenos, tomatoes, onions and mushrooms. I chose not to add any sauce. A short while after, the food came out and I was ready to grub. A buddy came with me the second time and he asked the server what kind of bun they used. We were told it’s a roll. Interesting. I’m not sure I liked it but it wasn’t bad just not my thing. Don’t take my word for it though; I’m the guy who takes the crust off of his sandwiches. My buddy seemed to enjoy it, something different and in his case, different ended up being unique and a good thing. The tots were really good. The burger in general was pretty good, I loved the grilled vegetables on it, really added a lot of flavor. I wouldn’t put it up there with the best burgers in Wichita’s like Ty’s or TJ’s but it was still worth the price of admission or in my case $4.96. One of the employees came around with a big bowl of fries and was giving them out to people for free. I went ahead and tried some and they were pretty good. Just your regular steak fries that were seasoned with salt.

U Grill also has a little condiment bar with a ton of pickles. I. Love. Pickles. So it was nice to see that there. I loaded up on a bunch of pickles, they aren’t Claussen great but edible enough to make me happy.

The following song lyrics started playing in my head:
“Heaven isn’t too far away!!!!!!!”

The inside of the establishment is still exactly like Linkhaus. My friend notices the slogans on the wall still have “Linkhaus” themed quotes. I didn’t even notice that on my first time coming in. The chairs are the same hard plastic chairs that are not too comfortable. I remember learning in my Wichita State marketing classes many moons ago that these types of chairs subconsciously make you want to eat faster and get out of there for higher turnaround. The natural lighting in this building is great in the afternoon. That’s always been my favorite part about the U Grill (formerly Linkhaus) building.

The back bar room is completely empty. I was told they do not have their liquor license yet but plan on having it soon.

Everything seems so sad when liquor is not involved……

Service-wise, you could kind of tell they are trying to get everything down. The smoothness of ordering wasn’t there yet. What I mean is the communication is still in its learning process. The first time there, I was given a bowl right away for my vegetables. The second time, I had to ask and the server was like “Oh yeah that’s right, sorry, I forgot to.” Plus while distributing the food out to the table, the server looked lost and asked tables if “this was what they had” and the patron would say yes or no. I’ll give them time though. They are just opening and obviously haven’t spread the word about it in great detail. I’m sure they want to knock some of the kinks out before the major advertisement starts…. if there is any. The owner did go around from table to table to ask how everybody was doing. At least I think he was the owner.

Right now they are open daily from 10 am to 9 pm. I guess they are having a drive-through set up for later hours for drive-through only (midnight Sun – Thurs and until 2 am on Fridays and Saturdays). Linkhaus was supposed to do this and never did. Different owners though for U Grill.

If you’re in the area, stop by and check it out. I really do hope this place does well. It’d be a nice extra spot to add to the lunch list. I’ll probably check it out again as they start to get everything into gear and smoothly going along. Their slogan is FRESH – FOOD – FAST. They are right about each one so far. Let’s see what they are like 3-6 months down the road.

Lastly for kicks, check out my receipt and the server name.