Mandarin Garden Restaurant

Ordered the Beef Chow Fun and Pork Chow Mein noodles to go, it was OK. Could have more flavor, but in a pinch the food was decent enough to eat. If you want more flavorful food, go to Chen Ling Palace in Riverside.

Love this place for a quiet dinner. Generous portions, great service and delicious food. If you’re not too adventurous with your cuisine choices, you can never go wrong with the broccoli beef and or orange peeled chicken.

Well from the pictures on Unilocal the food looked delicious and I was excited to eat hear with my wife. Unfortunately when we went we waited 10 minutes before someone noticed us waiting to be seated and then we were seated we waited another 20 minutes without being greeted by any server. We got up and walked out without ever being noticed by any employees. We weren’t the only ones noticing the Terrible service!!!

This place was delicious! We had the orange peel chicken, soft noodles and shrimp with sizzling rice. All dishes were very tasty! The server was great too. He was very helpful and accommodating to our questions regarding the menu. In terms of ambience, the restaurant is very quiet and clean. Quiet, without being too quiet — the radio was on in the background and there are a couple of big screen TVs playing ESPN. A great place for families.

Friendly service and very clean.
I had the cashew chicken special and found it to be an excellent value for the money paid. Also had a hot tea which was good but served in a tall glass, not the traditional tea pot. The wonton soup was pretty standard and identical to that which I’ve had at many Asian restaurants.

This review is actually for those who grew up in the San Fernando valley back in the 80s and 90s…
Remember when back in the day, you would go to a Chinese Szehuan restaurant and the menus had a meal deal based on the number of main courses and sides you chose? This restaurant was recommended because quite frankly, we missed a good old fashioned Chinese restaurant. One of the locals up here said this place opened 35 years ago and has been cranking out authentic Szechuan and Mandarin dishes since.
I am extremely pleased to say, this place is it! If you want to relive your childhood in the valley, come up to the mountains. The décor and the layout of the restaurant reminds me of so many Chinese restaurants my wife and I used to go to as kids. Her favorite place was Joe Woos Chinese restaurant. Mine was May Lin’s Cantonese restaurant off of Laurel Canyon Blvd.
We sat down with our large family and couldn’t believe how this menu hasn’t been changed in over 35 years. To some restaurants, that would be the death of an establishment. But we can tell with Mandarin, you don’t go 35 years serving awful food. It is great Chinese if you are craving those old staples like a decent Chicken Chow Mein, or my personal favorite, the Kung Pao Chicken.
We enjoyed the good food and the nostalgia this place brought to my wife and I. For the kids, they really didn’t care for the décor, but I told them it’s because they were used to eating at cruddy establishments like Panda Express.
If you’re missing your old Chinese restaurant and you want to enjoy a scenic trip up to the mountains, check out Mandarin Gardens. But watch out! This place only has 4 parking spots… yeah…four! The locals will get super pissed if you take up all their spaces.

I gave this place a try, in fact. I went back and tried it again.
Their food here is extremely oily and bland. Their soup has absolutely no taste at all. Hot and sour, there is no sour to it. It has no taste. It looks like it can be good, but the soup is horrible.
I grew up loving beef with west lake style soup. This place gets it wrong. WRONG WRONG WRONG… They put peas and carrots. No egg drop in the background and where is the cilantro? There is barely any beef. Again, it tasted bland. absolutely zero taste.
Their food is extremely oily… Oh wait, I’ve mentioned that already, but I’ll say it again!!! OILY. The food was practically sitting on a bed of oil. It makes my stomach so upset.
I am not understanding how can this place received 4 stars out of 5?
I do want to say one thing… their staffs are extremely nice. Super friendly and kind so I really appreciate that.
I don’t think I can come back. I am in search of a great authentic Chinese food. This is not the place.

The best thing on the menu was the slices pork belly with garlic sauce. When I say garlic… I mean garlic, was so so good!
Mongolian beef was good too!

One of the best Asian places that I have had in a long time. Very friendly staff! Great service! Everything that I ordered was great!

My favorite things to order here are the Lemon Chicken, Orange Peel Chicken, Chow Fun Noodles, or Shrimp & Walnuts. Everything tastes fresh and well-​cooked, the service I’ve had is great, friendly, and makes me want to bring my friends and family here! Favorite place to get Chinese food in Riverside.
For college students, they have an all day lunch special $ 6.95 & $ 7.95 with rice, an egg roll, soup, and your dish. (To go orders do not include soup)
The best way to eat here though is family style!

Wonderful food and an amazing staff! The perfect place for a couple, a family or a group of 64!!! Excellent food choices, delicious!!!

This place was yummy! I discovered this place while admitted to Riverside Community Hospital. I hate hospital food so my husband would bring me food on his way home from work while in the hospital and after trying darn near every Chinese food place in close proximity and on University Ave, we discovered this little gem. I ordered the Pan Fried Noodles with pork and asked for extra sauce-​yumm!
They were not stingy with the meat and the sauce was very flavorful. We also ordered BBQ pork egg foo young– again yumm! The order of egg foo young came with three hamburger patty sized portions covered in a savory and slightly sweet sauce then topped with BBQ pork pieces. It was delicious. The portion sizes were large in my opinion. The prices here aren’t bad either. The Egg Foo Young was $ 6 and the Noodles were $ 7 I believe.
I will certainly be ordering from them again as the food was delicious and prices and portions are just right as well. I think next time I will try the Honey Butter Walnut Shrimp which seems to be highly recommended by other helpers.
Overall, I think you should give this place a try plus I heard there may be some sort of discount for UCR students!!!

Super nice boss!
Delicious food!
Excellent service!
Best Chinese food in Riverside!
A must visit place when you are craving for Chinese food!
Salt and Pepper chicken with Jalapeño is the best!

100^th review on this restaurant!
Family style restaurant that is super spacious– good as an event/​venue space. They also have a full service bar with scorpion bowls so if you’re looking to get some alcohol… you know where to go!
As far as Riverside, there really isn’t much Chinese food out here, so this is one of the few options that are available. The prices are very reasonable, and the food is not bad! Got the shrimp and broccoli combo and it was good! Comes with an egg drop soup as well. My friend enjoyed his pepper beef combo, and our table was super content.
This place doesn’t seem to get much traffic as it is in the middle of nowhere, but if you are craving some family style Chinese food for a really good price, you know where to go!

I’m not exactly sure how this place is this highly rated. I’m actually quite disappointed in you, UnilocalERS. I feel mislead by your positive reviews.
It was a dark, chilly Tuesday night when I awoke from a nap — lazy and befuddled. «Oh, no!» I thought. I had missed taco Tuesday at Rubios. What now? What could replace the delicious juicy fish hidden beneath that decadent crunchy exterior? More so, what is open this late in Riverside? Your reviews, UnilocalERS, led me to my ultimate betrayal: Mandarin Gardens.
I ordered a feast on the phone, deluded by visions of culinary grandeur. As Shawn Spencer would say, I was blinded because I was a «fan of delicious flavor.» Mongolian beef? Yes, please. Mandarin Special Hot Plate? Yes, please. Hmm… Option C it is! These two plates for two came to a whopping total of $ 33. That’s almost as much as my AYCE lunch at Asahi earlier that day was.
It must be so beautiful! That was my thought before I got there. They must give so much food! Another thought. But alas, I arrived. There was no beauty, only a barren room that needed a drastic makeover. The floors and tables looked like they seen better days. The exterior or interior both looked ashamed of themselves, the only thing worth pride was the A that hung in solitude at the front of the store. The portions were not huge. At the price of $ 33, I expected, well, more.
Nevertheless, I was excited to take the food home and devour it… But devour it I did not. The Mongolian beef was severely overcooked, drowning in sauce that tasted like nothing. Absolutely nothing. I have never tasted anything so bland in my life. The fried rice was, dare I say, SOGGY! Soggy fried rice? From what? Oil! There was so much oil in everything, I had to use a top secret technique reserved only for pizza just to eat it! So I took the darn napkin (yes, only ONE) that they gave us, and dabbed the heck out of those dishes. I was left with a napkin sopping with greasy oil. Ew!
Next was the House Special SOMETHING. Same story. Bland. Disgusting. No flavor! So much oil! Why, UnilocalERS, why?! Then came the soup. It tasted like nothing. It’s supposed to be «three flavors soup»! I tasted no flavors. NO FLAVORS! How dare thou advertise THREE FLAVORS! Shame, shame. After showering it with pink Himalayan salt, paprika, cayenne, and a multitude of other spices, I skimmed it of its oil, and tried again. Marginally better. I should be a chef… Too bad I hate dishes.
Next, the fried shrimp and egg rolls. The egg rolls tasted like a white person made it. That’s not to say that a white person can’t make egg rolls… But that’s how it tasted to me. Like someone didn’t know what they were doing. It was like the chef didn’t have ANY experience whatsoever with cooking asian food! What?! YOU’RE COOKING AT AN ASIAN RESTAURANT! Please, learn for the sake of your business! The fried shrimp was more batter and oil than anything. That wouldn’t have been so upsetting if the batter was good, but it was not. Shame, shame. Again.
Now, here is the jewel of the night. The barbecue ribs! Oh, my lord. The only thing stopping me from returning with stakes and pitchforks instead of cash and an empty belly are these bad boys. And when I say bad, I mean bad is good. (Where’s that from, again?) These are a delicious MUST TRY. The barbecue was spot on. So much flavor! How about you guys rename the «Three Flavor» soup «No Flavor Soup» and rename these bad boys «Three Flavor Super Dank OMG Ribs». That’ll nip the false advertisement right in the bud!
Overall, a ¹⁄₅ star experience – that’s being generous. The only good thing were the ribs… And my dog stole them from me, when I was making my masterpiece soup.
My consensus: don’t come here. Try Rice & Spice if you’re craving asian. It’s Thai, but it’s also to die for! Seriously, I’d probably die if I could cook that well.
Over and out, UnilocalERS!
— a fan of delicious flavors

Honey butter walnut shrimp with pineapple is what keeps me coming back to this place!!! It’s so delicious. It’s like dessert for your entrée. I definitely recommend ordering it. Also, all of their smoothies are really good too!
The only reason why I’m not giving Mandarin Garden a 5star is because it is always so damn quiet and awkward in here. You have to whisper to the people at your table so the other 5 people in the restaurant do not hear your conversation. More people need to come here to reduce the awkwardness, so check this place out!

This is hands down the BEST Chinese food in riverside.
If you want fresh delicious food come here.

Came to this place with Wifey and our Daughter not expecting much and parked. As we were getting our Girl out of her car seat, we noticed an Asian family walking in. We both looked at each other and nodded our heads yes. Asians come here! It must be good!
Walked in and was immediately greeted and welcomed with all the friendliness in the world. Big place, nice décor, options of booth or table. My Daughter squealed with delight at the sight of the «Fishies».
Ordered some Hot Tea that was standard fare and some water. Got it right away.
Ordered some eggrolls. They were good, but the hot mustard-​wasabi dip stole the show. Less and less places are serving hot mustard to my dismay. Glad they still have it, and with a spicier twist! Also served with a generous helping of sweet and sour sauce. And ketchup (?)
I was pleased to see that they serve Lamb here, so I had to try some. I asked the waitress what she preffered out of the three lamb dishes and she instantly replied with «Zi Zan Lamb» so I tried it. Im glad I did. It was a tasty dish full of Basil and cooked perfectly. The meat wasnt cooked TOO much, retaining that «lamby» flavor, but the onions were just as good and just a tad crunchy. BOMB.
Wifey tried the Orange Chicken, and it was quite good as well. Not too spicy, but not bland either.
My 3 yr-​old Daughter is fast becoming our resident Egg Drop Soup expert. «Sllluuuuuurrrp, its delicious Daddy!» Was her take. She even ate the couple of mushrooms at the bottom, which is unheard of.
They also served us a generous portion of steamed rice, compared to most other places.
The Waitress was AMAZING! Cute, brunette girl, not asian, but knowledgeable of what she was serving. Hope we get her next time. We wanted for nothing.
Place was clean, including the bathrooms, and smelled good.
We WILL be coming back, as I must try ALL the lamb dishes, and Wifey wants to try the Cashew and Kung Pao chicken. So we will rereview soon. Looking forward to returning.

Great location, great space, great atmosphere, great service, and best of all: great food at a great price! A cup of egg flower soup was only $ 1.50. My meal was $ 7 – 9. Wine: under $ 5 (note: wine tasted cheap, but I didn’t mind cause it was cheap). I would come here again with friends, family, business clients… anyone & everyone!
The menu was huge, and had a great selection for me as a vegetarian (more options than the average chinese restaurant).
I ordered the sweet & sour tofu. I asked the waitress for more batter, slightly overcooked, and extra crunchy. The result: the best sweet & sour tofu I’ve ever had!

Didn’t know this place… hehe
Pretty good food except heavy on salt. Service’s good too. Their cooktail drinks are good but they listed under well drinks almost missed… lol