Genghis Grill in Texarkana

We'll cut right to the chase: Good food, lousy service. Correction: service beyond lousy.

The idea is good – Fill up a metal bowl with a bunch of ingredients; give the ingredients and a smaller bowl of sauce, plus your pasta choice, to a griller; sit down and wait for the food.

After ordering drinks – sweet tea for Priscilla; hot tea for me – we went through the line.

I had Beef Broccoli – sliced beef (paper thin); broccoli heads, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms; citrus garlic seasoning; spiral pasta; and 3G sauce.

Priscilla had Citrus Beef – sliced beef; classic stir-fry vegetables; Mongo mix; ginger citrus sauce; Udon noodles.

We filled our bowls, gave the bowls to a griller and returned to our table, where we found:

Our server had spilled a glass of hot water (for tea) on the table and in my chair. He apologized and got another chair … and left the spilled water on the table. I got another server’s attention and asked, “Can I get this cleaned up?” He looked around with a somewhat disturbed look, said, “Yes, Sir,” and got a couple hands of paper napkins and wiped up the water, except the water underneath a large square saucer, which held another glass of hot water and a bag of green tea.

After a few more minutes, our original server came by. I asked, holding up the tea bag, “Do you have another kind of tea?”

The server replied, after looking around the restaurant, “I don’t know. I’ll ask in the kitchen.”

“Thank you,” I said.

He returned about three minutes later, saying green tea was the only kind the restaurant had.

I do not like green tea. It tastes like minted grass. There is a reason: Green tea is grass, with mint added.

I made my tea anyway, added three packets of sugar and squeezed a lemon slice, making sweet lemony minted grass-flavored hot water.

Priscilla and I checked the servers while we waited for our food. All the waiters were men in their early 20s. All had close-cropped hair. None smiled. They looked like young, short-haired men on work release from county jail.

The food arrived 10 minutes later. The food was good, beef cooked just right, vegetables hot, and pasta of the right consistency, all flavored quite nicely.

Overall: Décor, 1.5 stars; service, ½ star; food, 3 stars; price; 2.5 stars. We left a minimum tip.

Liklihood of return: Not.