Mandarin Garden

We’ve come here numerous times and we continue to come back for the food. We are always satisfied with our meals and never have any complaints there. The lady that runs the place is so so. It’s not that she’s extremely rude, she just doesn’t care whether she gets business or not. Her sign says closing time is 8:30 but you better be there by 8. She’s refused us before it has only given us the option to take out. I’ve seen her refuse people even before 8pm! So, I’ve you want guaranteed service get the before 8!

I love this place! The lady in there (the owner I believe) is always so nice. She seems to work alone, she is such a hard worker! I don’t care much for Chinese food but I love their sweet and sour chicken. Sooo good!

Had a terrific take out of Mobo Tofu and a bunch of sides. We had to wait extra long because they were so busy, the owner was good enough to give me free beer while I wanted… Got home the food was excellent!

We usually get take out here, and it is very mediocre. We went inside this time and we were quite happy with our meal. We were greeted by our server and she really knew the menu. The wonton soup for two was delicious to eat and beautiful to the eye. We also had beef with peppers and shrimp with lobster sauce. It was very good! Give it a try.

This review is only based on take out. We ordered over the phone for dinner. It included broccoli beef, fried rice and chicken chow mein. Our order was ready for pick up at the time we were told, the order was correct and was made fresh. The chicken chow mein was solid with good flavor and good chicken to noodle ratio. The bean sprouts and green onion still had a crunch and weren’t mushy which is a plus.
Broccoli beef is par for the course as far as being fresh and cooked well but was lacking flavor. The carrots and broccoli were not over cooked.
We were too full to eat the fried rice so I can’t comment on that. All in all, I would go back. Might give it a higher rating dependent on dine-​in service but it seems like solid 3-​star take out chinese food.
** I think the soy sauce packets might be a little old. The taste was off and when I emptied the packets they had a yellow tint and film left to them where the soy had solidified.

always need waiting a long time and then the waitress slowly come and slowly take older. the dish is sooooooooo small. i never see this small dish in LA chinese restaurant. when you older a beef or pork, most are vegetables in your plate. and the price more expensive than others. but it’s ok. beacuse you don’t have chioce. this is the only one chinese restaurant in here.

I’m not sure if was there on an «off» day, but the food was not very good. I had the Sesame Crispy Shrimp. The shrimp was overcooked and the steamed rice was very dry. I’ve honestly had better leftovers. I will go down the mountain the next time I crave Chinese food.

My husband is a great fan of their almond chicken with fried rice. I tried the Mongolian beef and found it quite good. The tables are very casual, but clean, and it is an ideal family spot. Prices are average for this type of cuisine.

I can honestly state that every visit to dine-​in or take-​out has been 5 starz. It’s not a perfect world and the place does get very busy which means what? … that the food is good even when the service might be compromised due to overload. That’s what every business owner should wish for. For those that reviewed with issues — don’t give up, try it again. Read the positives. Sorry, gotta go … my order is ready for pick up!!!

This was quite possibly one of the weirdest dining experience of my life. Apparently the lady ‘running’ this place is known for her… «quirky» behavior. She clearly does not need any business because she was TURNING people away whom were walking in to be seated by saying she was backed up with to-​go orders. AH the expressions on people’s faces were priceless, which I found slightly humorous, but also extremely uncomfortable! I don’t like confrontation nor do I enjoy watching it while I am trying to eat my meal. I was just waiting for someone to scream at her because the way she was asking them to leave was SO RUDE! Which is sad being that I am sure multiple new restaurants/​businesses would do ANYTHING to get patrons in their doors. Tsk Tsk.
The dining area is very small; but multiple tables were available on Saturday night but the lady kept pushing people whom were walking in to eat/​order to go orders out the door by saying she had no space/​time. Granted, the phone was ringing off the hook with her to-​go orders, but seriously? Offer to-​go orders only if you cannot accomodate dine-​in customers, especially when you have multiple tables open. Apparently the only dine in customers she welcomes are parties of 2, and even then it still feels as though you are an inconvienence.
Oh yes & the food; my boyfriend ordered kung pao chicken and he enjoyed it. We also really enjoyed our sizzling rice soup; we love sizzling rice soup! Overall, I give our have to give Mandarin Garden 3 stars because regardless of the «drama» we made the best of our situation and enjoyed our meal, plus WE were sat right away with no wait, were served our food on time and it was steaming hot and yummy.

Terrible experience for us. We had a party of 5. The server barely greeted us when we went in but eventually sat us at a table. She spent the next 30 minutes waiting on other tables and handling «to go» orders. Never even took our drink order or gave us water. We eventually walked out and ate somewhere else. Can’t comment on the food. Won’t be back.

I’ve eaten take out from here a few times, once with a big group so I had the chance to try several items. They were all awesome. Not awesome for being the only choice because you’re in Crestline, just plain awesome. I don’t understand these bad reviews, I was really impressed and I’m just as big of a food snob :)

Always good food and good service. Love the orange chicken. Service is great! Family style dining is awesome.

I just recently went back and had two great dishes. Both were quite fresh. I was particularly taken with the Curry Bean Curd. I was pleased to see that every table in the restaurant was full and there was a brisk takeout business going.
Expect a dollar or two more per dish than you would get down the hill at a comparable establishment. Consider it the transportation tax! :-)

Cozy Chinese restaurant in the city of Crestline, and the only Asian food you’ll find in the immediate vicinity, near Lake Gregory.
We had the following:
~ kung pao beef (my entrée) — it was pretty tasty and surprisingly spicy… The laughing Buddha would rub his belly proud (one of the better Kung Paos) :P
4 stars!
~ kung pao shrimp (my spouse’s entrée) — 4 stars — his rating.
~ Both orders of kung pao came with steamed rice on the side.
~ 2 egg flower soups — (3 stars for A-​OK) there was plenty of egg and some veggies in it. My son had an entire bowl of egg flower soup to himself. It is filling and tasty — each order of soup can feed 2 people.
~ combination fried rice — what’s a rice-​addict to do? Order more rice of course! However, this combination fried rice was BLAND to the core, as in where did my taste buds go? 2 stars.
Pros:
~Fresh
~cooked to order — food comes out piping HOT
~fair dinner portions — we had some leftovers the next day
Slightly pricier for the area, considering that this is a mountain resort (not far from Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear). My husband paid over $ 40 and took the food to-​go.
We’ll be back for the kung pao, since my children’s Godfather owns a 4 bedroom cabin in Crestline, and we get to stay there for 2 – 3 nights at a time (the cabin is walking distance to this restaurant).
Skip the fried rice and get your kung pao-​on!

Some of these reviews are too harsh. I have eaten here several times and this is not the absolute best Chinese food I have had but every time my food was fresh and made to order. The owner is friendlier than she appears. It is a bit pricey for the location but you get a fair amount of food and I have never hated anything I got.

Ive lived on the mountain for a little over a year now. I had recently found this place and gave it a go. the location does not stand out, but if you know what you are looking for its SUPER easy to locate. There is not a lot of seating, however, if you get there early or on a non busy day, its perfect.
My husband and I order for pick up 90% of the time. We always seem to get the same, which is Orange Chicken, Fried Rice and Chicken Chow Mein. I was shocked. i believe the words that came out of my mouth where «this has got to be the best Orange Chicken i have ever had». It was love from that day on.
I do have to say that it’s hard to tell when this place will actually be open. There are a few days when it is close all day, open at pm, or open at some random time. There is not web site, that I can locate, that will inform of hours or days that they will be closed for cleaning etc.
the woman that is always there, Im assuming she is the owner, does seem distant from the customers. When i call to place an order for pick up she is very quick to hang up the phone. So customer service does lack, but I don’t blame her for being short. It can be busy in this small place.
When all is said and done, i do love this place. im actually going to order for pick up right now. If they are open hahaha

Over priced and under serviced! ! Just drive to lake arrowhead or down to san bernadino for chinese food

Being from the Los Angeles Metro-​Area I am so not used to having only one choice for anything. When I went out to find my outdoorsy side this weekend I started to crave some Chinese food. I pulled up my Unilocal app and found this place.
Going in it was very VERY small. The waitress and host sat us down, she was very nice.
When ordering I asked to not have Egg Flower Soup and to switch it with another soup. They then told me that they wont give me that soup because they have to cook it and the other soup was already made. That kind of irritated me and I ended up paying a extra $ 2 for the soup they actually cooked.
It took a long while to get our food. Which I found as a good sign in this kind of joint because I had a feeling not many come here and that they we’re going to throw in some old food.
When waiting I heard a scream and a women ran out of her chair. Her date jumped up. I quickly scanned over and saw a HUGE black widow spider on the table. The guy smacked it off with a piece of paper.
With all the commotion a older women comes over and we tell her what happen and show her to half alive spider. She goes on to argue with the customer that it is NOT a black widow spider and that they should calm down. This irritated me. Then she went on to say that it was wrong for him to kill it and that she doesn’t kill animals.
This shocked me. I asked for our food to go after this and I told our waitress that the people next to me deserve a free meal or at least a free drink.
I found the whole situation ridiculous.
The food was good, but after that incident I do not see myself returning. I normally like supporting Mom and Pop places but not when the Mom or Pop are not good to their customers.

Your average Chinese place. It’s quant and fun. Just don’t show up right before closing… The lady wants everyone out by that time. We enjoy it!