Mandarin Gourmet

I am writing an update to my last review. I was contacted by Elaine Tnuong of Mandarin Kitchen after she read my review. She expressed concern regarding our Peking Duck. She was extremely sorry for the poor quality of our selection and gave us a full refund. I am giving this a 5 star because of her graciousness. It is very appreciated.

The absolute best Chinese food on the central coast. The Phở noodle soup is the best anywhere. When Iam sick I come in and get a bowl and feel better afterwards. It is very health soup that has lots of ginger and takes hours to make the broth each day. The Restaraunt is certainly the best. Friendly/​neighborly service with the best Chinese food around

Excellent food. The best in the whole area. Love their chow mien, rice, and vegetables. Parking is easy, ambiance is fine.

I have been a customer for 20 years or more. I ordered delivery last night and it took 2 hours to arrive, and my order was incomplete.
This is not an isolated incident. Please hire an additional delivery driver.
This long of a wait is unacceptable no matter how busy you are, and one driver is unacceptable. I’m extremely disappointed and I think you have lost a customer.

Well we usually frequent this little place and never have had a bad experience but tonight well tonight was different ! The food was a bit tasteless, took quite awhile to get our food and when it came I started eating my moo goo gai pan and low and behold there was a hair in it. yuck! yuck! yuck! another waitress did take my plate away apologized and our waiter brought us a fresh plate with apologies but when when we got our check there was NO compensation what so ever we surely didn’t expect the meal for free but a small discount for inconvenience would have been nice just don’t know if I will come back

A decent eat. The sesame chicken was a bit overly breaded but was still enjoyable. The Mongolian beef lacked many crispy noodles but was good, not spicy like the menu indicated. The rice was nice and moist and we liked our Thai iced teas, very well made. When our regular tea arrived at the table, it the tea clearly had just been put into the water and took 15 minutes before it was a decent tea rather than hot water with hints of tea. Service was very slow and the option of dessert wasn’t offered. I was intrigued that they offered a Vietnamese dish (phở) even though it was a Chinese restaurant. Overall, decent place, just hope we had better service and a little more flavor. They have really really nice chop sticks, though. Like super nice premium chopsticks, maybe that’s what the higher cost paid for rather than flavor.

The best beef phở in town! Staff is very friendly, they deliver, take out and easy parking and not privy at all

My husband and I ordered the dinner for two with Almond Chicken and Hunan Beef which was just so-​so. The sauces seemed a little sweet. I was doubting that the cooks were Chinese because the seasoning was a little «off». The real turn off was the condiments container with the 3 jars of sweet and sour sauce, hot mustard and another brown type sauce. The tops of the jars were filthy dirty, covered with dust and sticky. Who know when the last time they were washed. That ruined my appetite. The waitress was very good, friendly and courteous and that was the highlight of our meal.

Nice little place, pleasant service, but the food tends to be sweet, greasy and bland. For some reason, the delivery food is worse, greasier, and once I even got sweet-​and-​sour chicken that was sour-​only, somehow.
There really isn’t any good Chinese food in SLO – this may actually be the best in town, though even Panda Express can beat it, at least in consistency. (Oh, but if you want Vietnamese food, the new phở is good here.)
Wish someone wonderful would buy the Golden Gong – great location – and change that.

This place is okay and has better Asian food than most places in SLO. The phở soup is good but they don’t add much flavor to it. I have tried the other dishes and they aren’t bad at all. Craving Asian food in SLO? Well this is the closet thing to Asian food!

Went Saturday at 5pm for dinner. Good thing we got there early because that place was packed when we left!
Great service. Attentive staff. Quickly took away plates, refilled drinks.
Ordered the «Gourmet Dinner» which is a set dinner for $ 16.95 each person (sizzling rice soup, gyoza, sesame beef, shrimp something with veggies) and got an extra order of combo chow fun. The sizzling rice soup was perfect! I would go back to get this dish! The other dishes were ok. They lacked flavor, the gyoza was super doughy and thick, the sesame beef was all batter and no meat.
Yes, I would go here again because they have other items that are probably better. Its a very popular place and offers free deliver to SLO. I saw many large groups as well as people picking up togo orders.
Probably your best bet for Chinese in SLO, but definitely doesn’t compare to anything you would find in the bay area.

Great Ginger chicken with cabbage and just greasy enough stir fried vegetable rice!
Too much romaine in the shrimp spring rolls. Too salad-​y, very bland, and too dry, I am sorry to add.
Don’t expect a lot of spice, the spicy red sauce condiment was spicy and the peanut sauce was peanutt-​y; so you could heat/​flavor-​up it up a bit on your own. I ordered delivery to a hotel, and I don’t know if there are Szcheizwan (sp?) choices.

We ordered a noodle platter with beef, chicken and pork to share and war won ton soup to share. Also a Tsing Tao beer. The wait service is dry good. Ambiance is lovely. They won the 2015 restaurant of the year. The Won Ton Soup was loaded with everything and delicious. The crispy noodle platter was excellent. This was an excellent choice. I heartily recommend this restaurant and their food.

PHO is served HERE!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
with HEARST BEEF!
Being that one of the owners & chefs, is Vietnamese, they do offer good Phở for the area, in a big bowl, with proper fix-in’s if asked (e.g. Fish Sauce), & at a fair price in a pricey area.
They have three choices of Phở, but by far the best, is the pricey one with thinly sliced Hearst Beef. Make sure that you ordered it on the side and put it in yourself.
For proper Phở making tips, see my other review on Grover Beach’s resident Phở place
(Dynasty).
For those who are Phở purists, they will be happy to know that Mandarin does know how to make a good Phở broth without too much MSG… but they will neither like the few choices of variants, nor the price, as compared to San Jose bargain basement Phở. Even though it is pricey compared to either the Bay Area or Orange County, I think that the level of the quality of the beef is far better. You do get what you pay for. I am quite confident that the rents here are far more than those populated by a huge Vietnamese population & lets face it, they would hard pressed to offer only Phở and still make enough to stay in business.
Just as in Grover Beach’s Dynasty, where their Americanized Buffet keeps them in the green, Mandarin’s Americanized Chinese Food keeps them in the green & in business. So in a way, the Phở in both places are subsidized by other cuisine.
Since the servers are generally non-​Asian, and really are not Phở-​literate, you are on your own as to what extras you need to put into your bowl of Phở. You need to ask for Hot Sauce, Stinky Fish Sauce (DO NOT SPILL THIS ON YOU!), Hoisin Plum Sauce, & sometimes more (or fresher) Basil. I sometimes speak to the manager and order directly from someone who is Vietnamese and really knows what I want. Don’t be shy about Phở.
As far as, the Chinese food is concerned here, it is fairly standard, but it is not my cup of tea, as it tends to be on the over-​oily side. Their Mo-​Shu was pretty good, but their fried Shrimp appetizer was too oily. As to why this place is crowded with locals eating Americanized Chinese food, is because they apparently do not know better. I do prefer the Chinese food that is made with less oil down the road, opposite Madonna Shopping Center.
Since they do such a great business, I think that the seating & décor can use a much needed rehab. While I do appreciate the booths, the stuffing is too compacted from age. The whole place could also use a good cleaning to try to remove some of the oily smell that seems to perfuse the place.
Appart from these minor criticisms, I am so glad that they are one of only three places in the area that offer Phở. While the other choice in SLOtus has a pathetic small overpriced version, and the Grover Beach’s version is up to Bay Area standards, Mandarin is the second best choice within hundreds of miles.
There is a Phở /​Vietnamese place in King City to the North, and several to the South in Santa Barbara. So if you are a local craving Phở, but not a long long drive, the choices are obvious.

This is the go-​to place if you are ever craving Chinese food when in Central Coast. The service was great and the staffs were very friendly. They gave us complimentary rice because we ordered a couple entrees and always made sure our drinks were full. For appetizer, we got the Lover’s platter which was definitely not the highlight of our meal. It was not as flavorful as we’d hoped. The dumplings were too heavy on the flour and the tempura had too much batter.
However, the combination chow mein and Satay Beef with Basil leaves were quite delicious. It was not spicy at all which was disappointing but the beef was really tender and the portion was very generous. The chow mein was no doubt the best dish of our meal. It was not too oily and it complimented our satay beef really well.
Overall, the atmosphere was very authentic and we will definitely be coming back to try other dishes!

There are several Chinese restaurants in San Luis and most of them are completely average. I would say that Mandarin Gourmet is at the top of the average list. It’s the best we have to offer.

Too American… ordered Szechuan pork which can is 鱼香肉丝 taste nothing like it. It’s sweet and sour like almost.
Disappointed. Looking for a Chinese food place that serves real Chinese food. Sigh… Panda is even better than this. When my food came out I couldn’t even tell what did I order. Taste is so off.
If you like the Americanize Chinese food then this place maybe for you. But if you want some real Chinese food then this is not your spot.
Service is nice. So deserves 3 stars

Everything was terrific. Great place to eat. A must try is the lovers platter for two. Ask for extra fire because it dies out, but you can put your hot stickers and pork onto the fire for more crispy taste. They say it’s for decoration but I used the fire anyways. The Hot and sour soup was great for two. Large bowl enough for 2 or 3 people for seconds. The General chicken was very tasty. It’s a must get also. Everything was great food and a come back to.

If there is a better Chinese place on the Central Coast, I haven’t found it.
PROS: Spring rolls are very good; white rice always perfectly steamed; we have tried multiple poultry dishes, and the Orange Chicken and Gen Tso’s generally are pretty good (caveat below); they serve Tsingtao, as well as several Japanese and Thai beers (to include ½ liter size, which is nice). Service always friendly and prompt.
CONS: We had not been in over six months, and I knocked off a star from last night’s meal because some portions of the chicken entrees (Orange and Gen Tsos) had excessive breading on them. I realize these dishes are deep fried, but last night’s effort was a bit off. Also, a visit to the Men’s room means a trip by the kitchen entrance — not appealing.
We like Chinese food, and tend to be very picky about it. Mandarin Gourmet meets our occasional taste for half-​way decent. .. worth the visit.
Cheers!
RS

THE PEKING DUCK IS JUST DEEP FRIED DUCK. I was craving peking duck and after a Unilocal search this seemed to be the place. I was to be disappointed.
We started out with war won ton soup. It was very good. If they used MSG, it was in such a modest amount that I couldn’t taste it.
Our next dish was the foil-​wrapped chicken. This is a favorite Chinese dish from my childhood in Oakland. Mandarin Gourmet’s foil wrapped chicken was an unpleasant, spongy texture. It was neither marinated nor wrapped with the common flavorings such as scallions or ginger. Just spongy white chicken bits cooked in foil. In fact, it was the same taste and texture of a Chicken McNugget, if the batter were scraped off. Blech!
Only one word is necessary to describe the peking duck: Fried! I couldn’t believe my eyes so I asked the waitress, «Is this fried?» «Yes, they bake it, then they fry it.» There was a part of me that wanted to flip the plate up and onto the floor, jump to my feet, and loudly proclaim, «THEN THIS ISN’T PEKING DUCK, IS IT???» I didn’t. No attempt was made to lacquer the skin nor rend the fat. It looked and tasted like unbattered deep fried chicken. The skin wasn’t crisped, it was just greasy. I posted a pic.
The waitress hid away from us throughout most of the meal but when the duck came she spent several long, awkward minutes cutting it up and then asked if we wanted her to wrap it for us. I thought maybe there was something special involved so I agreed. She dumped a few tablespoons of hoisin sauce onto a flour tortilla (no spring pancakes served here), and then a HUGE amount of green onions, and then some pieces of duck. She used the spoon from the hoisin sauce to fold up the burritos and got the sauce all over the tortillas so they were a sticky mess when put on our plates. We ended up opening the wraps because the onions and sauce totally overwhelmed the duck. Plus the duck was so fatty that I wanted to pick the fat off of the meat.
This was a ½ order of duck and it cost $ 18. For that price I would have expected more effort than just ½ a deep-​fried duck on tortillas. No flavor at all.
I might go back for some standard chow mein type of dishes but I’ll leave the peking duck to places that know what they’re doing.

On cherchait à manger simple et léger et on s’est régalés au Mandarin Gourmand.
Demandez le ½ canard et on vous servira ce «crispy duck» dans des galettes avec herbes et sauce. Un régal.
Service rapide et très souriant ! N’hésitez pas à demander conseils au serveur pour les trucs à faire dans le coin !