Mandarin Garden Restaurant

Northern Chinese food amidst a sea of Korean restaurants
Mandarin Garden stands out from the rest, not only for being a Northern Chinese restaurant in a sea of Korean restaurants, but also for it’s décor outside. They’ve got lanterns and giant signs to attract the attention of any passerby (including myself). The place is small with several tables lined up and the kitchen looks to be tiny. Menu offers Northern staples like dumplings, cold platters, and dim sum items like green onion pancakes and bbq meats.
I had an order of BBQ Lamb Skewers ($ 5.99) and an order of Pan Fried Pork and Leek dumplings ($ 5.99 for 8). The lamb skewers were fairly small and the meat had an overpowering amount of cumin. The meat was cooked decently and was tender enough, but I thought they went a bit overboard with the spices. Portion size for the price isn’t worth it in my opinion.
The Pan Fried Pork and Leek Dumplings were decent. I enjoyed the meat inside and the dough was fine. They were a bit oily though which was a problem. The meat tasted good though and the dumpling itself was enjoyable.
Service was good as the waitress was readily available when needed and the cook (matriarch type figure) was going around explaining things to clientele (actually…i’m not sure that was a good sign…). Anyways, the prices are right around the same as other places, maybe a tad bit higher? Not as bad as the other reviews make it out to be, but I guess I had other things they had.

Horrible! Horrible!Horrible! The worst place I’ve ever been. I couldn’t imagine that sweet and sour chicken could be so disgusting. I don’t even think it was chicken, it felt like bubbles from bubble tea. Ehh! Never ever will come back here. Zero rating!

Yikes! Never gonna go again! Three out of five dishes I wanted to order were not available, so I asked the owner to suggest something. I ended ordering barbecue sausages. They were 6.99 so I thought they should be good. But all I got were two Frankforts (1.99 for 10 in supermarkets) with lots and lots of salt and pepper and were terribly burnt. I don’t wanna go there again.

EEK EEK EEK!
Nope, will not come back here every again.
Every dish was so oily, I felt like I was going to have a heart attack after my meal.
You’ve been warned! Dishes are drizzled with hot chili oil and $ 10 for a bowl of soup? I think not.
I agree with Raymond — everything here is done wrong.

I never had a Unilocal account prior to writing review but I feel that I had to make one just because the food was that horrible. I ordered 3 dishes, one being yang chow fried rice. I’ve had yang chow fried rice in many different chinese restaurants but I never seen it where they substituted bbq pork for luncheon meat. The rice costed 10 bucks but the portion is also half the size of what you would get at Congee Wong. The fried tofu with green pepper and eggplant dish tasted so bland. I can’t stress enough at how bad this place is. I only tried it because I was walking by the restaurant one day and happened to notice a lot of people eating there (Mostly students) so I decided to give it a shot without reading previous Unilocal reviews. This will be my first Unilocal review and my only Unilocal review unless I encounter a restaurant that can top luncheon meat yang chow fried rice.

My husband and I had a hotpot at this restaurant. It was the worst hotpot we ever had, yet, the most expensive hotpot.
The service was slow. We waited for 45 minutes for the soup base to come.
This restaurant already includes the tip on the bill which happens at many hot pot restaurants but tip is calculated after HST.
Our experience at this restaurant was bad so we won’t go back.

No. no no no. this is all wrong.
Everything is done wrong at the Mandarin Garden, utter rubbish. Just bollocks.
Sometimes my buddy Romeo brings me to his Portuguese restaurants, and I introduce him to Chinese cuisine in return. It’s a culture exchange between the two of us, and it’s always a good time. But Mandarin Garden just had to go and fuck that up.
I apologise for the vulgarity, but having just returned to Toronto from an Military Exercise, I’m in Army mode. and I’m not quite how you say… civilized.
I was attracted by the lanterns hanging from the outside, a bold statement in a Korean dominated area. I thought, «This place has got bollocks.» But no, it’s just bollocks.
Tight space with buffet like chairs, and the tables (though cleaned) just appeared to be dirty. There was one twenty something year old FOB (Fresh Off the Boat) guy working as the server. The kid was nonchalant and offered no hospitality. This is supposed to be a ethnic eatery serving Northern Chinese food. I should know, I’m from the North. I always say I’m from the North… I even use it as a pick-​up line…“I’m from the NORTH!“
The food is disgusting, it was as if I was eating someone else’s leftovers. I think I actually was eating leftovers, I had leftovers better than their entrées. I got this chicken soup with noodles thing, Romeo putting that thing in his mouth was nothing but politeness for me. It’s as if I was trying to get revenge on him for something by taking him to a restaurant that took their menu off of Fear Factor.
Lamb skewers, one of the elemental foods for Northerns was absolutely butchered here. I don’t think they even used cumin on the lamb… that’s like baking cake without sugar. The fried rice I ordered tasted like packaged food, it doesn’t even compare to the take-​out counter at T&T Supermarkets. The chef here make the T&T chefs look like Michelin Star masters.
I was straight embarrassed for bringing Romeo here, I have never been embarrassed by a restaurant before. On top of that, the waiter kid kept walking away from me when I asked for more water, or made any other sort of demands. Romeo had to tell me to calm down, because I was about to jump up and confront him. There were gonna be some Asian on Asian crime. NAW MEAN?!
I was so dissatisfied with Mandarin Garden, I seriously considered walking out. There could not be enough words for me to use to voice my protest. If Mandarin Garden were the Qing Dynasty, I would be the Boxer Rebellion.
This is perhaps the worst Chinese restaurant in all of Toronto. I can’t believe I have to give it a star to complete my review.
BOLLOCKS!

Mandarin Garden Restaurant is a Northern Chinese Restaurant located in North Korean Town at Yonge and Finch…
Menu consist of standard stable of Northern Chinese Restaurant like dumplings, buns and anything that is spicy cooked in hot chili oil.
Dropped by here for Lunch Specials. with over 20 items to choose from but almost of of them are a meat item made to to order with a bowl of rice and soy bean drink.
L7 Spicy stired fried pork and vermicelli ($ 6.99)
— I can hear the hot gas stove and the hot wok all the way at the back in the kitchen with the chef preparing my lunch
— My vermicelli Steamy hot, but not spicy hot… more on the salty side… definitely need to eat with a mouthful of rice
— portion is standard, which I can finish with no leftover
Services here is homey… with the single old lady as waitress and 2 cooks in the kitchen.
There are free parking at the back of the restaurant, or you can park at the meter right in front of the restaurant for $ 2/​hour.
Mandarin Garden Restaurant, though average is a great alternative when you are tired of eating Korean food in the area…