Margaret Kuo’s Mandarin

Ahh! Another great dinner with excellent service. Try the vegetarian hot and sour soup for two the Mandarin will win you over.
Renee, Malvern

When we moved to Paoli 26 years ago one of our top priorities was to find a great Chinese restaurant. We were so pleased to find Margaret Kuo’s Mandarin! We’ve been regulars ever since.
I’m very picky. If there’s something that can be improved, I’ll find it, but there’s nothing to improve here. From their specials, to their regular dishes, to their Sushi bar, to their annual Chinese New Year gourmet multi-​course dinner, everything is consistently delicious.
We have too many favorite dishes to list them all.
It’s no wonder they are consistently packed and they have won so many awards. Definitely recommended!
Oh, and it’s BYOB, so you can bring your own favorite wine!

Coworkers and I ordered from Margaret Kuo’s for lunch. My coworker claimed its good food and they never forgot items for take out.
We ordered: steam pork buns, 2 egg rolls, mandarin duck, and mandarin spicy chicken.
They forgot to pack the egg rolls but by the time they called me back, my coworker has already made it to work. Had to stop by during my break to grab the egg rolls. I called them right before I went to pick them up so they made them fresh and they gave us free almond cookies.
I was surprised to find out that their steam pork buns are actually soup dumplings. I expected the soft white buns with the pork inside so I was sadly disappointed. I have yet to have time to eat the mandarin duck so i can not comment on that.
My coworker could not finish her mandarin spicy chicken because it was too salty and not spicy at all. She ended up tossing her lunch,
The service was nice for take out so I can not comment on the service eating in. Maybe it would’ve been better if we ate in instead of grabbing lunch. One day soon, we’ll try it again and I’ll update my review but as of right now, they are just okay in our opinion.

Where here last night with a party of 9 for the prefix meal. We all really enjoyed our experience, and customer service was excellent !! The food was great. Will definitely return.

I went to Margaret Kuo’s Mandarin after reading Unilocal reviews, and I was not disappointed. I love that its BYOB. We had the sampler appetizer and a main course. Service was great, price wasn’t outrageous, décor was festive, and food was yummy.

This particular Margret Kuo’s needs to learn about customer service… They gave us a reservation for 8:15pm, offered us a pre-​set menu, we ordered it, and the chef REFUSED to prepare it! Why would you offer us the menu or even give us a reservation if the chef was not willing to prepare food!!! The server said it was because he leaves at 9pm!!! Really? Then do not offer a customer a reservation at your restaurant! This happened at the Malvern location. It was our first time at Margret Kuo’s and will not be going back to that location. Still hoping to give one of the other locations a chance… Maybe!
The date was Feb 10.
We tried the Wayne location on Feb 12 and were treated fabulously and will definitely return to that location. I would advise Margret Kuo’s staff from the Malvern restaurant to go to the location in Wayne to train so they can provide a better experience to customers in Malvern.

The lunch buffet is currently $ 8.99 and comes with your choice of soup that the waitress will bring out. On the buffet they had salad, egg rolls, friend chicken wings, dumplings, fried rice, lo mein, a few entrée choices, and some sushi. While the buffet entrée choices were good, I do wish there was a bit more variety. To me, a buffet is all about trying a lot of different items. MKM’s only had a few to choose from. Also, the sushi options seemed to be all vegetarian, so I wish they would have had more options of that as well. Some spicy crab rolls or shrimp tempura would’ve really hit the spot.

We ordered takeout a few times, trying different dishes. So far, the sushi and sea food and dishes close to Cantonese style are worth trying, sorta fresh with light but right flavor.
Problem with this restaurant is they are trying to include too big a range of dishes from different regions of China, most of which the cook is really not good at. Northern style foods are too salty and have way too much soy sauce; Sichuan food got no right spice and taste; fried dishes have too thick mushy coating on plus thick, heavy, sticky sauce; dumplings with wrappers thicker than cardboard…
BTW, if you are not in a hurry, don’t try the lunch buffet. The limited choice, less than a dozen, charge more than a Chinese buffet with full menu and tons of choices. And the dishes are put out and left there too long, not tasting good.

We come here with the family when in town. This place is your mainstream Chinese restaurant. Not awesome but not awful. I’m finally getting around to putting a review up– 8 years later! My boys always enjoy looking at their fish tank in front. Yes that’s a plus when you have boys!
I do love the pickled cucumber dish. Bummer they don’t have the peanuts anymore.
We typically order the same dishes:
1. California rolls — 2 out of 5 (rice can be dry/​hard & a little light on the avocado)
2. Spider roll — 3 out of 5 (dry rice but good fried soft shell crab!)
3. Xiao long Bao — 3 out of 5 (Pork soup/​juicy dumplings — not very juicy)
4. Walnut shrimp — 3 out of 5
5. House fried rice — 3 out of 5 (dry/​hard rice)
6. Moo shu pork — 3 out of 5 (need more mushrooms for that traditional crunch)
7. Shrimp with walnuts
Btw– this last trip out we had pretty poor service. Our waiter kept forgetting things like our tea, more soy sauce and even somehow wrote our order down wrong. Instead of walnut shrimp with the sweet mayo we got some sweet & sour shrimp dish that no one really liked. Oh well!
Overall this place has been consistent through the years so that’s a plus. Just nothing to write home about.

This is truly a find! Excellent menu, attentive service, and very good food focused on quality! Their lunch buffet while limited is very good and won’t leave you disappointed.

Margaret Kus Mandarin is a great example of how really fine Chinese cooking here in the US can sometimes be confused with the omission of anything ethnic or spicy.
We had a selection of dishes from lamb to duck, chicken spicy not spicy, noodles — the whole shebang. While there were a few stand out dishes in between –primarily in the appetizer arena– the vast majority, while well prepared and presented, lacked the verve I a associate with Chinese cooking.
Given the extraordinarily high price of the food (at least for Chinese), I frankly expected significantly more flavor. It’s simply left me flat. Apparently I was not the only one.
This is as American-​ized Chinese as you can get IMHO.
Fool me once shame on you, full me twice…

Love the weekday buffet!

This is my favorite Asian restaurant that I’ve been to! The food is amazing. Every time that I try something new I am never disappointed. My favorite appetizer is the open ended dumplings. Every time I go out to eat here I feel welcomed as soon as I walk through the door. The atmosphere is calming and classy. Whenever anybody asks me to recommend an Asian restaurant I always tell them about Mandarine. Great food, great staff and great atmosphere!

A bit pricey for dinner considering what I got. Most certainly better than your run of the mill Asian cuisine.
It was largely the portion size to the steak and shrimp. The shrimp was large, but had a slight sea taste, and the steak was not what I would expect for 20 dollars. The dish was quite sugary, with a thick brown sauce. In my experience, good ingredients speak for themselves and need little help from our good friend, sugar.

Date Night!
This is a great restaurant with high quality Japanese and Chinese menus with very accommodating staff. The food is some of the best Asian food in the region. We have enjoyed going to this restaurant on a regular basis for over 10 years. From a simple evening of sushi at the bar, or a nice sit down dinner, this restaurant can accommodate the party for two to the party of 20 with their private dinning room.
The restaurant also does a great job in honoring and providing fun dinner options around the Chinese New Year celebrations.
If you are looking for a low key restaurant but with high quality food with great service, check this one out.

My go to for take out when staying at the Sheraton in Malvern. Always consistently good food and fast service. I really enjoy the hot and sour seafood soup.

Rarely do you find a restaurant with a combined Chinese/​Japanese menu that can pull both off well, but Kuo’s offers the best of both in the main line area. Chinese-​wise, they offer amazing imperial shrimp, orange-​peel beef and chicken and broccoli. Their wonton and hot & sour soups are also delicious. Their Japanese menu is great as well, especially their sushi. Their latest sushi chef has been on point. I always get the kani salad (crabstick, cucumber and spicy mayo sauce) and all of their rolls are delicious, but the dinosaur roll is a must have. Their presentation is beautiful and the service is pretty good. Take-​out options are prepared quickly and always great by the time I arrive home. My only complaint is sometimes they change sushi chefs and allow them to put certain twists on their menu. One of them was awful, but I think he’s since been fired.

Outstanding Food & Service at Margaret Kuo’s Mandarin. My son & I came for lunch today (4÷11÷14) and had the lunch buffet, everything from the appetizers to entrees & sushi and choice of soup also came with lunch which was delicious too. The service was great, our server was very attentive & friendly.
The only thing I would like to point out & let the management know that my son & I noticed customers were not using a clean plate each time they would go up to the buffet and my son who is a Chef takes sanitation seriously was taken back when we witnessed this. A sign at the buffet table would be an appropriate measure to avoid this matter.
As far as Margaret Kuo’s Mandarin, this is a outstanding Chinese establishment :) You won’t be disappointed. From lunch to dinner everything on the menu is spectacular. You’re in for a great experience :)
Highly Recommended!

First of all, I’m not a fan of Margret Kuo’s as a chain. Margaret Kuo’s Mandarin is the only one left that I constantly rave about, and it’s solely because of its lunch buffet.
I can’t count how many people I have introduced to the «one of the kind» lunch buffet, and I’ve always got «WOW“s and «This is the best buffet ever» responses.
Buffets normally turn foodies away because it tends to be too salty and overcooked. This is EXACTLY how Margret Kuo earned her stars — their buffet sets on a round table, with fewer selections than your normal buffet– 4 hot appetizers/​sides, 3 appetizers/​sides cold sides 8 main dishes, and fried rice and noodles. But don’t worry — quality is definitely over quantity here. Quicker turn around time make you feel you’re getting a real, freshly cooked meal out of the price and selection of a buffet!
The hot appetizers — 3 stars. They used to be better selections, but now they replace full athletics Chinese items with American Chinese items — Fried Chicken Wings are never Chinese! The only thing left that interests me is the fried dumplings. And they do have good sauce for them too.
The cold dishes — 4 stars. You can find salad, fresh fruit and variety of sushi. The best part is Sushi. They are ALWAYS fresh, with enough selections of veggie and seafood. I can have a full plate of it, easy!
Main dishes — 5 stars. There is chicken, there is beef, there are veggie dishes and there are shrimps. Most importantly, they don’t taste like buffet food! They taste like dishes you order from the menu. Trust me, this is as good as buffet could get!
The reason that I gave 4 stars overall, was because I did sense slightly slacking/​declining in quality and selections of dishes each time I go. I do keep my fingers crossed that they’ll try to maintain the high quality, because I really do like eating there and I plan on bring more friends there!

I’ve been here several times since my last review. I’m confident in updating this now.
Now, they’re not a Chinese buffet by any means. To call them a Chinese buffet would not do them justice. But let me say this… their lunch buffet that they put out is a fantastic deal at $ 8.99 for the food quality you get, which is far better than what the local buffets put out. They don’t give you a lot of choices on the lunch buffet, and it tends to be the same dishes each time (at least when I’ve gone), but what they do give you is always good and well prepared. Sometimes I have to wait a while for service if I want my water refilled or some soup brought to the table, but that’s due to them being busy.
Otherwise, I’ve only ever been to this location for their sushi. It’s excellent sushi. Maybe a little highly priced given that there is more competition in the area now. But you won’t go wrong with it by any means. Of course, I secretly wish they would put a few creative rolls on the buffet, but I guess you can’t always get what you want.
It’s a little cheaper for a Chinese buffet lunch up the street, but you’ll do well in giving Margaret a couple of extra shekels for her food instead. You’ll leave happy.