Joy`s Mongolian Grill in Ames

Foods is good every time we visit

While Joy's may look not look like much at first glance, they offer AMAZING authentic Chinese food for a very affordable price, and their serving sizes are very generous. My personal favorites are their spicy beef kimchi fried rice, red braised pork, and poached beef in hot chili oil. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! I would absolutely recommend Mongolian Grill, just be prepared to bring some home!

Absolutely the best place to eat, great price. I've moved out of town since they opened back in 2010, but every time I come back I absolutely MUST eat here!

The pork with garlic sauce was spicy too me but good. I am hypersensitive to spice, though, so it may be a bit mild to others. The lo mein was great, and my kids (2.5 years old and 8 months old) both liked it pretty well. The crab rantings were pretty great. It felt like it was pretty authentic compared to some other Chinese places in town.

Open late for Chinese food, not the most exciting but better than average. Stick to the classics and won't be disappointed

Authentic mongolian food. Great service, great prices, always satisfying. Best Asian cuisine in Ames.

I had to wait a long time for very expensive Chinese food. I was very disappointed with the ingredients and flavours of the general chicken and beef Lo mein that I ordered. The noodles reminded me of dishwater and the chicken was mostly batter. I would say that this is not worth your time or money. Stay away from this restaurant if you like to keep your money and spend it on better stuff!

The hot pepper chicken is exquisite. I would recommend this to anyone that likes good food.

Excellent food for a fair price!

Really good food, decent prices.

I've never had a bad experience here and the food is always delicious!

Great food, cheap prices, wait typical of a Chinese place

Joy's has the BEST lo mein in ames!

PSA: unlimited fried rice, white rice, and egg drop soup for $3 as a lunch special every weekday. Just get there early, because once it's busy, it's gone. Not that much seating, so bring your Tinder date elsewhere.

Fantastic food for a great price. Very laid back restaurant, definitely nothing fancy but one of my personal favorites.

food great, service great, for what they have to do, (get you a drink ) attitude if you don't tip sucks. let me get my own drink and stop interrupting my conversations and giving me attitude. I don't need that on my lunch break. I'll tip at night not when I'm in a hurry to get back to work. Don't get as much out of a buffet to pay 12, 13 dollars for lunch. leave a jar for tips for the bus boys would work a lot better. NOW I WANT TO GO BACK BUT IM AFRAID I MIGHT GET THE SAME GUY. If I get my own food I'm probably not going to tip, if I am paying 10 dollar for lunch. SORRY TIMES ARE HARD for the people who read this and think well why didn't you tip.

The food here is unbelievably good!! It's a hole in the wall ma and pa place so don't knock it for that. Eggdrop soup and rice with meal if you dine in which I appreciate. Just eat and enjoy!!

I think it's great. A couple of the menu items don't taste as great as they once used to, and that's one of only two complaints. The other is the unavailability of enough of or the complete absence of fried & white rice and both soups. However, when all is right, the experience is great. You should never have to leave this place hungry.

Food was amazing and the service was very friendly and speedy! Will definitely be going back.

This is a bit of a hole-in-the-wall place. But they make some great food, like 20 dumplings (jiao zi) for $8! And the only place in town with dumpling variety. Their beef noodle soup is also great. A great option for great prices if you're looking for a more authentic Chinese place.

Got the stir fried chicken with chili’s... it was Spicy. Chicken was cooked perfectly! Also got the pork dumplings with bokchoy which were delicious. Definitely going again

This is my go-to place. Their food is good, has fair prices for college kids and the owner is nice.

Best egg drop soup i've ever had!

It took along time for them to cook the food. We had two orders of shrimp lomein, an order of Mongolian beef, hot and sour soup and crab rangoons. The noodles in the lomein were very large compared to other lomeins I have had and were overcooked and flavorless, ironically enough it was spicy which is odd for lomein, they ended up in the garbage uneaten. The Mongolian beef was also spicy, not the normal sweet sauce. The soup had an odd smell to it and tasted the same, threw it away after everyone took a bite and agreed it was not good. The crab rangoons were the one thing that was eaten and enjoyed by all. We will not be back. Spent $60 to only be hungry after we waited so long for the food.

Very tasty. Cumin is excellent with any meat.

Love the food there.

Good food!! Would give 5 stars if there was some soft music playing/little more scenery

Revisited Joys Mongolian Grill tonight, after I dont know how long... I ordered 4 egg rolls, and Hot Braised Beef in chili oil. Only complaint is they came at same time, but both were very good. Truth is after I sat down, literally 12 other people came in at once lol. Thats a good thing! Also a busy thing lol... Joy was moving at light speed! Too bad summers are slow in Ames, hiring extra help is risky cause what if no one comes in eat? Anyway, Beef was very tender and good, dish includes tofu, black mushrooms, onions and red chili flake, good portions too, help yourself to rice and water at buffet table. It a very basic, no frills dining experience that focuses on the food, definately will return in the future

So good. People expecting a hu hot type deal, this is not that! Just a regular Chinese place, but the best food in Ames easily. Best crab ran goons I've ever had, free rice and soup, general tso chicken is pure.

Service was ok, don't really have wait staff that I could see, looks sketchy when you walk in. The food on the otherhand, is amazing! Will definitely return when I am in town.

Amazing food, great staff, and extremely reasonable prices on everything. All other Chinese food in Ames can’t measure up after eating here, this is the only place I’ll go now. I worry about what I’ll eat after I leave Ames and Joys!

While the restaurant itself is looking a little rough from wear and tear, I LOVE the food here. Best chinese, non-buffet style restaurant that Ames has to offer. I especially love their sesame chicken. You get plenty of filling food for a good price.

The hot pepper chicken was very good. Small little place good for lunch between classes. Don't be intimidated by the non-English signs: the food is worth it!

The most legitimate authentic Chinese restaurant in Ames! Wonderful dishes, mostly Szechuan cooking, that taste just like you're sitting in grandma's kitchen. Kind staff, speedy service, and fair prices for the high quality food you're getting. There are two menus, ones for Americans with American palates, and the other for those with an international palate.

Great authentic food ...great taste my wife's Hunan pork was amazing. My combination fried rice was awesome. You get plenty of food. Be ready to wait for awhile because everything is made to order but well worth the wait.

Absolutely wonderful! I’m very picky when it comes to Chinese food and this is some of the best I’ve ever had. The egg rolls are so yummy and full of flavor. The lamb was tender and delicious. The shrimp fried rice was was cooked to perfection. The portions were huge and one order easily served my boyfriend and myself with some leftovers. The prices are pretty great too. I can’t wait to go back!

Go there and you get all you cab eat soup, tea, and rice. I never leave unsatisfied. They have great Mongolian food too.

Food was good! Did not like their service. We had to wait for an hour before we got our food (they seemed understaffed). We would have appreciated if they had told us when taking our order that it would take a while.

This place is not as crowded as other Chinese restaurants but it doesn’t mean that the food quality is poor. The owner is very cool. She’s like my mom.

You know, this place is great IF you can read the special menu written in Chinese located near the cashier. I can't read Mandarin, so I had to ask the waitress what does the menu mean. I like the Chopped Cold Chicken (no, it is not a cold dish, it is a steamed chicken) and the Red Braised Pork. Simply saying, most of the special menu written in Mandarin were awesome. I asked people who work there why they did not translate the menu into English and they said they found it hard to translate those food names into English because of their language barrier.

Very interesting restaurant! Have been twice for lunch. First time I had a spicy pork and vegetable dish that was great. Second time I had a spicy chicken and onion dish that was good but probably liked the pork better. The food seems fairly well rooted in northern Chinese cuisine. Also if you're looking for some out of the ordinary meat choices both kidneys and pig ear are on the menu for the more adventurous diner!

As a Chinese student, here is my fav Chinese restaurant in Ames! Very authentic, with multiple choices. Sometimes has special dumplings or Baozi and Chinese pizza! Owner is nice.

Great food! I haven't had the buffet but I'm sure it's good. I really like that there is always rice and egg drop soup on the buffet table. I will always choose Joys over any other "Chinese" food place in Ames

Cheap and quick eats.

Food is great, as usual, but they need to put more effort in to cleaning. Perhaps it is because I arrived at 7:30 for dinner, but the floor was sticky.

Amazing authentic food from scratch only downside is slightly higher prices than average fast food or dine in food. For example most foods are around 9 but fast food is like 5 for an entree but totally worth it.

I love this place! The food is great and the service is great too! This is always a place I come to if I'm in Ames. It is a must!

Delicious hot pot and lovely service

Super tasty, flavorful, and authentic Chinese food. They have an AMAZING stir-fried chicken with chili oil (kind of hot for some people I'm sure but I loved it!). A great place to go by yourself or with friends!Food was on time, fair price, and had kind servers. Most of the menu isn't in English but they have an English menu online. Another thing I might add is that if you're a novice Chinese food eater this may not be the best place for you. They certainly have the fried rices and the lo-meins but I wouldn't say it's their speciality, but that's because they're probably focused and working hard to kick butt on their other unique and specific dishes (like the ones I enjoyed!)! Go there, eat well, and you'll be satisfied!

Nothing too bad, but absolutely nothing worth commending ( both the food and service here). It makes me really astonished that there are many friends recommend this restaurant!! Do they never ever have a chance go to a REAL Chinese Restaurant??As a Chinese restaurant, this one is far below the average. The taste is far from authentic Chinese food, the employees are respectful and nice but not professional. And one good thing is that it is close to campus.It is sad that some friends love this place because of the free soup.