Mandarin Bay Seafood Restaurant

Good tasting Chinese food. Not too greasy and they have a really good price for their lunch special. They’ll even honor the lunch special prices on take out orders.

I’ve been coming here for the last 18 years, ever since they were called Capital Seafood — don’t know why I waited so long to write a review for this place, but I will write one now.
The food and service here has been consistent through out the years. I was a little anxious when I found out that they changed their name, but knowing it was still run by the same people, I eased up. It was good to know also that the portion sizes didn’t change, and prices still remain very affordable.
Food here is fantastic! No panda express shit here! The sauces and spices they use here will wake up your palate, and you’ll be happy to eat the left overs. Favorites here include the honey walnut shrimp or house special shrimp, kang kong (sauteed spinach), and the crispy chow mein. Always cooked to perfection!
And the service is pretty good, even when they get busy. Normally that gets neglected for a lot of authentic asian restaurants, but this place is usually quick to respond to requests, and bring food out as if it’s fast food. If you’re lucky enough, and you get John, who’s been there since Capital, you’ll get the best service you’ve ever gotten from a Chinese restaurant. I remember him as a bus boy and now he is manager — he has always been very helpful and friendly to customers.
Over all, this is one Chinese restaurant I will gladly stay loyal to for as long as they remain open.

Everything is a must try. I go here every Saturday lunch menu is great! Comes with soup and dessert so it covers all around meal. Must try for your self

Absolutely amazing. 1^st time here, brought my wife, (girlfriend was at work) j/​k.
Service was done beyond expectations. This place is open at 1030 am. Can you believe that?
I ordered a lobster and had it prepared Chefs choice. That was a great idea. Garlic butter with vegetables and jalapenos. Almost gave it a schezuan taste which we love. Chinese broccoli with hoison sauce on the side and squid hot pot, house style.
The meal came with jasmine tea, white rice and warm tapioca soup for dessert.
All this for less than 70 bucks. Truly an amazing meal and we could have fed 2 more people easily.
Treat yourself right. There was so many other items I will be back to try!
Lunch specials are inexpensive. The owner is a great guy. He has a photo of himself with President GH Bush on the wall.
Only complaint has to be the chairs. The food makes up for it.

The food was really good well expect for the stir fried Kang Kong (the water spinich) was over cooked. The Sweet and sour pork was good but it have tomatos in it. We got the house special fish which was amazing. We also got fried rice and it was really good too. I will be back for more fish for sure.

I always go here during there lunch special, prices are really good for a proportional amount of food that everyone can al la carte as a group. Special is from 11am-​3pm. Parking is a hit or miss but def a great place for seafood

_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​
\ /​
/​-: OVERALL RATING : — \
\ /​
/​4.0÷5: Venue/​Décor \
\ 5.0÷5: Service /​
/​4.5÷5: Ambiance \
\ 5.0÷5: Food/​Variety /​
/​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​\
-: — SERVICE -: —
Still coming back here for lunch on the weekends. This venue has not failed me yet. My 10 year old god-​daughter, who is super picky with food esp when it comes to Asian cuisine, only likes to eat white rice with soy sauce. But after taking her here she actually likes & eats the French Style Beef Steak! It’s like OMG hallelujah!!! This girl has hopes! LoL
I’ve noticed they hired more staff during my luncheons there. Food comes out fairly quick & yummy as usual. I haven’t had anything I did not like at all.
-: — ADDITIONAL FOOD -: —
Items rated [5/​5]
Braised Fish Fillet in Hot Pot
Chinese Broccoli & Beef
House Special Gravy Chow Fun
House Special Chow Mien
Shrimp w/​Green Bean
Items rated [4/​5]
House Special Squid
Kung Pao Shrimp
Scallops w/​Green Vegetable
-: — TIPS -: —
1) One restroom per gender. Fairly clean.

The food was great. The service was awesome. Their fried rice was perfect. I suggest to order the fried whole shrimp with spicy salt and shrimp mayonnaise with walnut! The only complaint is the table we were on was uneven. It’s the kind that unfolds from a square shape into a circle shaped table, it made eating uncomfortable cute you’re always worried about the water spilling over.

Ok here we go! My aunt decided she wanted to come here for her birthday lunch. We arrived with 6 adults and one child. They say us at a round table with a spinning top for sharing dishes. They say is at a table, the ONLY table with no table cloth of cloth napkins as we observe them ever so neatly fold for all of the EMPTY tables around us lol. We arrived at about 3:45 pm and it was absolutely empty except for a couple who was at the end of their meal.
We sat down and out of the older man and woman working here they ignored us for like 10 minutes, didn’t even ask if we wanted to order drinks which is the first thing restaurants do normally. Their fish, lobster and seafood tanks were completely empty. Very odd to me. We had to call someone over to just order drinks and the man working here was more focused on folding napkins for all the imaginary customers who weren’t dining here or spending their money here with them. He should have been paying attention to us, the customers RIGHT in front of him. I literally see him in the corner next flipping channels and watching TV! Oh man! Lol.
As we proceed to their restroom to wash our hands prior to eating the hallway looks a bit dirty but the restroom was pretty clean.
Coming out after we ordered Thai Iced teas we get all but one! Geez. Anyway, they bring us out hot and sour soups which I didn’t try but my family did. Hot teas in a kettle was available already on the table.
After forever we get to order and got three dishes to begin. I tried to order their House Lobster they say they don’t have any more, so then I say ok how about the Salt N Pepper Crab? Nope! They don’t have that either. I mean we drive all the way to Rowland Hts through Asian traffic jams (don’t worry I am Asian too I can say this lol) primarily because I was excited to have those two dishes! Fail. Next I say ok fine Salt N Pepper shrimp, they finally had something on their menu. I also ordered sauteed pea sprouts, shrimp with green beans, chicken chow fun with gravy and later we got Mongolian beef and crispy duck. This came with a medium size pot of white rice.
Salt N Pepper Shrimp: ⁴⁄₅ your typical salt n pepper shrimp, good size and plenty to share.
Sauteed pea sprouts: ³⁄₅ again typical and plenty.
Shrimp w/​green beans: ⁵⁄₅ I actually really enjoyed this dish. It was my favorite one. Shrimp was good and green beans were cooked perfectly.
Chicken chow fun: ⁴⁄₅ also really good, it was also typical but I like chow fun so I’m being biased on this one lol. Good amount of chicken, noodles and veggies. Enough for all to share!
Mongolian beef: I didn’t not try so I can’t rate personally but everyone else seemed to like it.
Crispy duck: I also don’t eat duck but got comments at the table about how it was bland and not so tasty. I suppose you shouldn’t order the duck here.
At the end of the meal they brought out tapioca desserts that was also yummy. I really liked it. Their thai tea wasn’t like real THAI tea. It wasn’t creamy just a little sweet.
Overall, bad impression of this place. We first felt like they didn’t want to dirty their table cloth even for a big size party while literally having no other customers. Being ignored half the time wasn’t great either. I gave this place a three because I did enjoy some of their food. Unfortunately, I feel like if a place has a large menu and advertisements of fresh lobster and calls themselves a «seafood» restaurant they really should uphold that. Otherwise it’s just false advertisement for people who come from other cities to find that specialty they claim to have, I probably will not return and sad to say will never get to try the house special lobster I’ve seen photos of on Unilocal.
Service is soooo important here in America. I know Asians and people from other countries aren’t big on it but when you done you think of family, culture and spending time together enjoying good food. It should be an experience, I feel like some people don’t care to being their customers that. I wish these types of places can match their services to what they advertise.
Price wasn’t bad everything we ordered came out to about $ 70.

This place has the worst service ever. Placed our names on the wait list 12:05. Got in at 1pm. Ordered immediately and now it’s 1:40 — and we still haven’t gotten our orders even after multiple follow ups. And they just came to our table saying they lost our order and asked us to place it again. No apologies. No offers of compensation. Never coming here again.
Just got our food and ate. The food is nothing to write home about — and definitely not worth the inconvenience. The place is now almost empty. Again, no apologies were given. No compensation offered.

This is the SPOT my family comes to chow down. We’ve been eating here for YEARS! They changed their name a couple of times. The dude still remembers me when I used to be a little wee toddler LOL! And recently they have more customers than usual! That means this place is going DOWN! ITS LIT! This place is always good.
My favorite dishes are the sweet and sour pork. Make sure its the whole pork chop. BONE and everything. They have another with just the meat but its just not as good.
The other dish I believe is the House Special shrimp. It’s like fried shrimp and then tossed in their BOMB ASS SAUCE. I’m like drooling thinking about it. It’s crispy and perfect.
There are a lot of good dishes on the menu but those are my favorite with some rice. Don’t forget the sauté pea sprouts. Ohhhhhhhh lord.

Walk into a Chinese restaurant in a Chinese plaza in a Chinese neighborhood… None of the patrons are Chinese… Hrm, cause for concern?
My review is only based on the two dishes I tried, the French Style Beef and the Sauteed Pea Sprouts. I decided on the french style beef based on the Unilocal tips… Bad choice. The French Style Beef suffers from the super typical over tenderizing that takes away any resemblance of beef texture.
The Pea Sprouts were good though, though slightly saltier than how I usually prefer it.
The service does appear to be top notch for a Chinese restaurant though… Food and service combined? A solid average… 3 star

From NOLA and are so glad we found this place. Everyone was friendly even if I am Chinese married to an round eye… lol
The food was delicious and plentiful. My fellow Unilocalers… you must try this place. I definitely will be back here every time I come to San Diego. Thanks for being so welcoming. Please continue the good work.

This place has been in this plaza for a long time; with good reason. Prices are cheap, portions are big, and more importantly, food is very tasty!
The best time to come here is during lunch because the specials come with hot and sour soup and tapioca soup at the end. The hot and sour soup is gloopy and liberally doused with black pepper. The tapioca soup is warm, creamy, and sweet. It’s the perfect ending to a Chinese meal.
They have the best Crispy Fried Tofu that I’ve ever had. Blocks of silken tofu are dipped in batter and fried so that the outside is crispy but the inside is hot and soft. It comes with a sweet chili sauce and soy sauce.
Their hot pots are also good; filled with big chunks of seafood and fried tofu, shitake mushrooms, and bamboo shoots. The Stir-​fried Ong Choy also is a great vegetable dish to order.

**review is for Lunch Service only**
Hot and Sour Fried Fish is MOTHER FISHIN’ DELICIOUS. it’s defishious. THE HYPE IS REAL!
Lunch specials are A STEAL! Prices range from $ 6.50 — $ 7.50 for a huge selection of Chinese entrees, and INCLUDES rice, hot and sour soup, and a tapioca mung bean dessert. YUM!
What your plan of attack should be for ultimate food coma yumminess is to come here & eat FAMILY STYLE.
DO GET:
— Hot and Sour Fried Fish — ⁶⁹⁄₅ ($ 7.50 for a WHOLE fried fish drenched in tangy sauce and topped with onions and jalapenos — it’s only spicy if you eat the jalapenos; otherwise not spicy at all)
— Seafood Chow Mein (Crispy) — You can ask for the seafood gravy on the side to keep your noodz xxxtra crispy
— Spicy salt and Pepper Pork (although sometimes its a wee hit or miss — needed a little bit more flavor)
MEH:
— Scallops with Asparagus in Chili Mint Sauce
— Kung Pao Chicken (pretty standard)
**I ordered these two dishes to-​go. FYI — you definitely get more quantity when you eat in. They don’t give you soup and dessert to go.**
WHAT MAKES THIS PLACE DIFFERENT: There’s a certain waiter that is working 99% of the time I’ve been here… maybe hes the manager, maybe he’s the owner… I dunno but he provides the most STELLAR service you could ever get at a Chinese restaurant, trust! Even when this place is packed and people are oozing out of every nook and cranny, he was still patient and served us with a genuine smile and casual conversation!
OVERALLLLLL 4.5 stars — knockin’ off half a star cuz one time their women’s restroom LITERALLY stank like hardcore manure (and this is coming from someone who has a high tolerance of Asian restaurant restroom smellz). I took my parents here and they are now addicted. I am also slightly addicted. We may or may not now compare every other Lunch Special to this restaurant’s lunch special. We may or may not now be their number one fan girls.

I’ve been coming here since I was a little girl since it was still «Capital.»
Every time I come to visit my parents this is a definite must. Nothing I miss more than eating here! John is the best! Sweetest ever and super funny. If you’re filipino, he’ll say a few things he’s learned over the years: P
Can’t go wrong with the fried whole fish, peking style pork chop, fried tofu, french style beef, and snow pea leaf!
and be sure to stick around for the tapioca dessert! yummmmyy

Surprisingly for a place that has four stars on Unilocal,they are pretty empty during dinner time.
Food was good though. The walnut shrimp was well made. It had a crunch to it. The beef filet French style was actually pretty good here. Not many places can pull that dish off. The lime and salt on the side complemented it well.
Service here is a bit better than other Chinese restaurants.

Came by for dinner the other night and it was an exceptional experience! Mandarin Bay took over Capital Restaurant and the interior is regular and non-​upscale. I did find it odd that parking was readily available in the newly expanded parking lot and the restaurant had over ²⁄₃ of the seats available during the peak Saturday evening…
Despite having Mandarin in the restaurant name, nothing seemed Mandarin except that some of the wait staff spoke Mandarin. The cooking was more of Vietnamese-​Cantonese style.
Started off with the French Style Filet Mignon that was perfectly cooked over a bed of raw onions. The flavoring was quite bold and strong.
Moved on to the Tofu Fish Filet clay pot that came out over a small lighter that kept the dish warm. Both the fish and tofu came in a generous portion and was perfectly cooked.
The bean curd ong choy was also a hit. Not too oily and well flavored. Vegetables were fresh and portions were generous.
Walnut prawns came out as a huge portion too! The batter and mayo was rather light which was perfect. Walnuts were candied too!
Crab E-​Fu noodles were perfectly cooked. There were huge chunks of crab and the E-​Fu noodles were lightly blanched to maintain the al-​dente texture of the noodles.
Meal ended off with the complimentary tapioca dessert which was also decent.
A super big bowl of rice is $ 1.
~$ 27/​head after tax and tip for dinner with plenty of leftovers.

Stumbled upon this gem on Unilocal… I need to expand my restaurants… I’m settling into the role of the comfortable married couple with the restaurants I’ve been frequenting in this area… so on a whim I decided to grab lunch there and I’m glad I did. The lunch specials were a great value and so delicious. But the real standout was the dinner we had the next night… I called ahead and asked them to prepare the jello koi fish… they like at least 24 hours notice.
The house style lobster… it was insanely good… the salt and pepper crab… the birthday girls favorite… very good as well… noodles…for long life… were crisp covered in a seafood medley…
The service… the wait staff was so pleasant… so nice. Smiles galore and we didn’t have to flag down anyone for service. Plus since we called ahead for our fish… they had a reserve sign on our table… my birthday girl felt extra special.

4 ½ Stars. My first time visiting this restaurant which has been here for fifteen years per the waitress.
On Saturday they offer lunch specials until 5:00.pm! The special includes hot & sour soup which was yummy. For entrees I ordered beef chow fun, shrimp with asparagus and clams & basil. Everything was delish and the portions were large enough for take home leftovers and we also received complimentary tapioca dessert which made for a happy ending. The service by all entire staff was solid and friendly.
Another pro here is they accept credit cards unlike their competition across the street so I’m looking forward to returning here again.