Mandarin Dish

DO NOT EAT HERE!!! Unfortunately I had to select 1 star in order to post a review. Finding a WORM in my beef green pepper steak was sickening and disgusting to say the least! When my mother and I brought this to the attention of the owner, (who also waits on tables), he took my plate «to show it to the cook». Did not apologize or seem (at least) a bit shocked. Which made me wonder how many times this incident has occurred before? He came back asking me if I wanted to order something else. I told him no, all I wanted was the check. He said he was not going to charge me for the dish, but never apologized or seemed to be a bit troubled. Not only was I disgusted at what I had found in my food but was also disgusted at the lack of care and concern displayed by the very owner!!! It was not our first time eating here, we have been regular customers for years now and he knows us. I can only hope this was the first time I have eaten a bug in my meal and food had been fine the numerous times we have eaten here in the past. Save yourself an unpleasant and sickening sight, eat elsewhere.

If you can get past the dated décor, this place is great. It’s probably the most authentic southern Chinese/​Cantonese place in the Culver City/​MDR area. The lunch specials are a great deal and you get a lot of food. The kung pao shrimp is very well seasoned, and the honey walnut shrimp is a favorite. Very crispy, great sauce, honey toasted walnuts, and the shrimp tastes fresh. If we are eating in, the house crispy noodles is very good, but I imagine it may lose some of the crisp in a take-​out box. Service has always been very good and friendly.
This place is definitely a good find in a dated strip mall, it’s in the hallway to the right of the CVS. Lots of parking as well.

Really, the food deserves 3.5 stars but I rounded up since the staff is always friendly and efficient. I order from here fairly frequently, usually get delivery. It’s not *amazing* but it satisfies my urge for Chinese. I usually get some combination of the following: pot stickers, egg rolls, braised sting beans, sweet and sour chicken, beef with broccoli, honey walnut shrimp, fried rice, lo mein, or chow mein. All dishes are yummy. My only complaint is that the fried rice sometimes has gigantic chunks of broccoli, bok choy or onion randomly thrown in and sometimes there’s just too much salt.

Many of my friends call this restaurant the «New York Style Chinese Food». Don’t know what that means, but some of the dishes are very authentic Chinese, some are downright made for the Western Palate.
I almost always order the Eggplant with Hot Garlic Sauce. This dish is made super well. You can also get meat in this dish if you want. The eggplant and sauce are well cooked in a well seasoned brown sauce. Tons of garlic to give it that delicious taste! Grade: A–
We also ordered the House Special noodles, which was wok fried noodles with a mixture of meats (chicken, pork, shrimp, etc) and veggies. I think this is what my friends referred to as Non-​Asian food. Not a fav of mine! Sorry. Grade: D.
The meat combo plate is kinda fun to eat — BBQ Pork (Char Siu), ribs, and other meats all on one tasting plate. Grade: B
Service is outstanding here. Friendly wait staff.
Food Grade: B/​B–
Service Grade: B+ /​A–
Worth the Money Grade: B+
Overall Impression Grade: B

Will never return,
Ambiance is as old as it gets. It just does not look clean. Must not make a profit as interior is 40 years old.
Pork moo sho made me sick. Only tasted the other food. Quantity of other food is great but tasteless.
Prices are low but so is quality.
Jack H
Playa Vista

Tucked in the back of a very quiet strip mall, this isn’t a spot most would even think to come to, unless you just happen to be attending a function next door at the Courtyard Marriott.
Plenty of reasonably priced ($ 7.50) lunch specials. Although the place is called Mandarin Dish, the menu is made up of mostly Cantonese style, Panda Express-​like dishes. The lunch specials include rice (white or fried), chow mein noodles, an egg roll and soup.
If you like Panda, this place is just fine. Don’t worry about parking or getting a table here. Most people skip this area and head straight for Fox Hills Mall across the street.

First off I was a little disappointed that they did not offer me the lunch rate when I asked for mapo tofu, but fair enough since it’s not on the list. However if you tell me that you do offer this dish I expect it made a certain way and with the same care you would make any other dish. The ground pork was missing and the sauce tasted like they just mixed in a bunch of chili garlic sauce with soy sauce and it was very runny. I have made better mapo tofu at home. It was not a bad experience, but not what I expected either. The food did come fast, but I would have been willing to wait for ground pork and the sauce to thicken up. Bottom line, if your not really prepared to make a dish just tell the customer no and I would’ve chosen something else and most likely had a better experience. Also, give everyone chopsticks, don’t assume that I want a fork just because I’m white. Thank you.

Today I discovered for the first time Mandarin Dish Restaurant. Tell me its been there for 20 years and really feel I wish I had discovered them years ago. Sunny my server was by herself but expertly capable of handling the tables alone. The food was so good I ended doing lunch and taking a to go meal as well. I highly recommended the Combined Egg Foo Yun dish, and Chicken Eggplant in Garlic Sauce. I will get back there soon and you should go!

Love this place. Huge portions of fresh food. Friendly, reasonably priced, and PLENTY of parking and seating space. This hidden gem is one of my faves.
Wonton soup is fresh and delicious. I’ve never eaten anything bad here. Great for pickup, delivery, or dine in.
Definitely give this place a try. You won’t be disappointed. Oh, and portions are HUGE.

I live in Culver City CA in an area which is fairly close to this restaurant! I was pleased to find that they deliver, I forgot the name of what I ordered but it was delicious!!! LOL It took about 15 mins all together for delivery to arrive and it was a sweet old mann awww he was so nice! Will order again.

Ok… So checked into the Courtyard by Marriott right around the corner (this is less than a two minute walk away!) Started off with a bowl of hot and sour soup, followed by an order of egg rolls, an order of honey walnut shrimp and Szechuan chicken.
For starters, the bowl of hot and sour soup was nothing to write home about unfortunately. I was hoping for something that was sweet sour and spicy. What I got was nothing close, so I had to doctored up with some hot chili paste that was on the table.
The order of egg rolls (two at a time) are cabbage based (Yuck!) but what I can say that I liked was the sweet-​and-​sour dipping sauce with the spicy mustard already mixed into it.
Our main courses were fantastic! The honey walnut shrimp was sweet crunchy and delicious. The Szechuan chicken was ordered at a seven out of 10 heat level, and it was equally as good as the honey walnut shrimp.
All things considered (walk from the hotel, prices, food) this was a pretty solid dining experience. But what caused this store to get four out of five stars was the outstanding service by one of the owners!
So here’s the rundown:
Satisfied? Yes
Return? Yes
Advocate: Yes

The sign on the door may say Mandarin and the menu may say Mandarin, but the staff here are definitely Cantonese.
After recognizing the fact that the staff was Cantonese, I ordered a very Cantonese dish 乾炒牛河. It was a little under seasoned but at least it wasn’t super greasy.
It’s a little tricky to find this location, but it’s there.

Ordinary food selection, service was fast but they still made mistakes on orders. Food was just fine. $ 15 per person, very cheap quality.
Egg Roll — ** very salty
Fried Wonton — ** so so
Barbecued Spare Ribs — ** very dry and lack of flavor
Fried Shrimp — ** no crispy
Bar-​B-​Q Beef Stick — *** average taste
Paper Wrapped Chicken — ** so so
Hot And Sour Soup — *** average taste
Sesame Beef — ** so so
Orange Beef — *** tasted ok
Chef’s Seafood Delight — ** so so
Sizzling Scallop And Beef — ** tender scallop and beef in special wine sauce, funky smell and beef was not fresh

This restaurant is located right across from where I work so decided to get dinner to go and food was good but a little heavy but they do give you a lot of food! So if you’re in the mood for that then this is the place!
I called it in to make it faster and when I got there food still wasn’t ready even though I gave them more time from what they told me. Prices are pretty average and staff is pretty nice.

Arrived approximately 6:30 p. m on a Saturday. Food was good, which is where 3 stars came from, but service was slow. It seemed like only one person was working in front and perhaps one in back.
She was very pleasant and friendly, but it took about ten minutes to take our order (which was when we were first approached to place any order for drinks or food).
Other booths had dirty dishes still on them. Some of those tables were where she set her tray when handing out the order at the table next to ours, and eventually our order to.
About 15 minutes later a gentlemen came out to deliver someone else’s order and then started bussing the dirty tables.
If I need a quick meal, I may call in an order on another stay at the hotel next door but wouldn’t go out of my way to return if I had more time/​energy to go elsewhere.

YUUUUUUUUM & YUUUUUUUUM!
I was motivated to search a mom & pop Chinese restaurant after seeing so many friends post pics of their recent Asian food outings. What popped up on Unilocal and caught my attention was Mandarin Dish.
Good call to those of you who shared this place.
Its basically what everyone else is saying. A simple place to eat a freshly prepared meal at a ridiculously low price.
LUNCH:
I played it safe with the Orange Chicken special. It was a plate of O Chicken with broccoli, a plate of noodles & rice (you can order fried) a fried wonton, aaaand a bowl of soup (egg drop for me). I also had some hot tea. ALL THIS was less than $ 9 and I didn’t finish the meal. It was too much!
SERVICE:
My server was a man of few words. He was polite enough and thorough. No BS chit chat… I like it!
MISCELLANEOUS:
On the 1^st try its tough to find. Its tucked away in the back of what use to be a bustling strip mall now being held together by a CVS, a Marshalls Store and a liquor store. Plenty of parking. Look for Mandarin Dish and when you see the green banner, you’ve arrived.
OVERALL:
One or two more visits should bump this place to 5 stars in my book.
The orange chicken was hot & fresh and everything was well presented. Highly recommended for lunch in the Culver/​Westchester/​Fox Hills area and for take out.
You may even wanna drop by for dinner?
Cheers.

Really nice find while on business in LA. Ordered delivery to the hotel and could not be happier. My order arrived quickly, 100% accurate, and very hot.
Ordered several dishes and all were a hit. Shrimp Lo Mein, Hunan Beef, and Won Ton soup were all excellent. Huge portions and very fresh.
I believe the gentleman delivering my order was also the order taker. Very cordial and friendly, this guy was a great change to the usually sour delivery person.
This place is a keeper and I highly recommend it.

Service was great. Lady was very nice! The food was good but the décor was old and dingy. Bathroom was a bit scary. I would come back because of the service but most likely do take out!

If you aren’t coming here specifically, you might miss it. The building is set behind and to the side of a CVS and Quiznos.
It’s very casual, not a place to go if you’re trying to be fancy or if you’re in a hurry but we loved it regardless. The staff was nice, and though we didn’t see them much my water glass was never empty.
I got the tea and they brought the whole tea pot which was nice because the cups for tea are traditional and small.
Overall it was great and we would definitely go back or at the very least, take out/​get it delivered.

For a fast & cheap meal — I can’t complain.
The service is not the best, but I have experienced worst. It’s not bad — they are just un-​attentive and oblivious about the fact that they should move a little faster.
I came in at 6pm — there were only two tables with people. I was ready to order right away but, had to wait a good 5 minutes before anyone came to me.
I ordered the wor won-​ton soup, hot tea and egg-​rolls.
The tea came out right away. I was pleased to see that although there was only me — they still did bring me the tea-​pot so I could give myself refills rather than bringing just a cup.
Five minutes after, the soup came out. It was a good size and hot. I really didn’t like the wontons in it — but the chicken, veggies and broth were good– so I was satisfied.
The egg-​rolls came out when I was almost done with my soup. Oh well– I ate them and enjoyed them.
My dinner total came to $ 8.35 plus tip.