Sum’s Mongolian Bar-B-Que Restaurant

Reviews

• Aurora M.

  star star star star star 3 September 2026

  Service is always super friendly! Soup is delicious so are the chips with sweet and sour sauce! plenty options of how to make your noodles! Mine is 10 scoops of spicy sauce ! Me and my family come here all the time! Free ice cream too

• Felix M.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 28 August 2026

  When they get busy they ask you to move to another table and pressure you to leave. I just finished my meal but not my soft drink and all of a sudden I'm not welcomed

• Annee C.

  star star star star star 28 August 2026

  I have been eating here at this same location for about 30 years now...back when there was the old fire station on Lincoln Way.
  
  I have been to several states and even more cities looking for thee best mongolian food there is and hands down SUM'S MONGOLIAN BBQ is the only place for authentic quality mongolian food!!!!
  
  Everything is fresh, the sauces are delicious and they legit have the same cooks they did when I was a little kid.
  
  After you enjoy your all you can eat extravaganza they have vanilla soft serve with chocolate sprinkles :)
  
  The staff is always friendly, the food is always GREAT and I am never left disappointed :)

• A. M. H.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 18 August 2026

  The worst Mongolian BBQ ever!  We went here after reading all of the good reviews and were blown away by how filthy and disgusting this place was.  There are hardly any ingredients and the grill they use is filthy.  We saw the cooks putting cooked food back into the bowls that had the raw food originally.  My bowl was being cooked by one guy and when it was almost done, the other guy dumps a bowl of someone else's raw meat on the grill and all of his juice went all over my food which was then just scooped into my bowl.  Then we got our bowls of food and it tasted terrible.  I am going to report this place to the health department and hope that I don't get sick.  We have gone to every Mongolian BBQ restaurant in Placer Co. and this place was by far the worst - and some of them are pretty bad.  They must put something in the ice cream that gives people amnesia....we didn't even touch that!

• Theron H.

  star star star star star_border 14 August 2026

  Sandwiched between two other businesses in downtown Auburn is a funky little Mongolian BBQ place called Sum's.  An off-white sign hangs above the windowed front where a dragon advertises Tsingtao beer in neon green, and their "Open" sign sits inside a neon blue cauldron.  
  
  Inside is an interesting rectangular space.  To the immediate left is a circular grill where two cooks toss and grill ingredients for customer's custom noodle bowls.  Following the wall along the left to the back is an LED-lit bar where all kinds of ingredients sit for customer picking.  Noodles, frozen meats, vegetables, fruits, and sauces of all kinds offer plenty of combinations during an all-you-can-eat visit.  At the back left (right of the noodle line) sits a soft serve machine where you can get free vanilla ice cream during your visit.
  
  Immediately right of the front is the cashier, but past that and under a white arch - with a pair of gold dragons -  is the main seating area.  Two rows of dark green booths and a single row of chaired tables; all at greyish-white tables where the menu sits under a clear glass top.  A waiter was quick to seat me before asking my drink order.  It seems assumed that you are there for the buffet, so the only thing really asked is if you want the complimentary sides of wontons, egg drop soup, and white rice.  But to the line I go where the bowls await to be filled with all manner of good things.  
  
  Lamb, beef, noodles, onions, carrots, onion, sprouts, peppers, white wine, ginger, garlic, teriyaki and kung pao sauces all get piled on.  After a short wait behind other customers, it was my bowl's time to get flash grilled.  The two cooks threw the bowl of goods onto the grill all the while circling and keeping all the noodle dishes separate with two large sticks.  At the end of a rotation, one would scoop up the now grilled food into a new bowl and that's that.  It is now time to enjoy.  Overall, everything was quite good.  The noodle bowl can be dependent on who is making the combination, so if it's under-sauced, that is partially your own fault if you've never made anything at a Mongolian-style restaurant like this one.  But mine was a sweet, slightly vinegary noodle bowl with plenty of grilled meat and garlic.  The noodles - already cooked a bit beforehand - were still nice and chewy.  Thankfully not overdone and mushy.  
  
  For the sides: the rice was a tad overcooked, the wontons were a bit stale though the bright-orange sweet 'n' sour helped with taste, and the egg drop soup lacked flavor.  Not the worst, but just needs a tad bit of improvement though the noodles are the main focus.  
  
  It's a no-frills place where the custom noodle bowls are the name of the game here.  While the sides could use a bit of work, this place is quite good for the price.  It gets a great 4 from me.