Mandarin Garden Bar & Restaurant

Don’t waste your money on terrible food. We placed a carry out order for our office and not a single one of the 9 of us would order from them again. Food was disorganized on arrival — only a few of the items were marked. Side rice for the lunch specials were all bunched into one container (kudos on the effort to save the environment, I suppose). The food itself was the biggest disappointment. One guy said the soup smelled «like it came straight from a urinal», another gave his Walnut Shrimp a C-​, consensus on the chicken was blah, and my Ants on Trees was bland and had very little pork. I do not recommend (x9 according to my colleagues). I wish my coworker had seen the other Unilocalers warnings before he chose this restaurant. Never again.

This is one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in Mira Mesa. Best plates are Mongolian beef, and their house special pan fried noodles. Its always worth getting. They use to have a bar here, but they closed it. Happy hour was actually fun there. I hope they reopen it.

The overall rating is 2.5. I went a little lower. I was hoping the chef was in a good mood. I used Eat24/7’s app to order. I think I”ll give that up too. It took three attempts to finalize the order and two chat sessions.
When the order arrived it had two out of 5 items screwed up. I’m baffled how that happened it was two appetizers, one entrée and some Pop.
I had the BBQ Ribs sounded SO good on a Sunday evening as the sun was setting. Tender, moist, fall off the bone, caramelized BBQ sauce. Rich and flavorful with a little taste of sweet and spicy to finish off the flavor.
Doesn’t that sound good? Well keep looking honey you can’t get those ribs from Mandrian
Gardens! If anyone knows a rib house besides Phil’s let me know.
I also order the Shrmp appetizers. Six jumbos to an order. They were frozen and looked just like Van Camps. Exactly like you’d get at a grocery store.
The biggest flavor came from the breading
and that was very bland and predictable.
The dipping sauce was out of a can — plum flavor. Grocery store calling they want their sauce back!
The driver was friendly and helpful. Kudos!
Overall what a let down for $ 30.
Buyer beware.

We ordered: Mongolian Beef, Cheese Wonton with Crabmeat, Wonton Soup, Chicken Fried Rice & Lemon Chicken. The food was flavorless. The Mongolian beef and the Lemon chicken weren’t what I’m used to. The Cheese Wontons were mostly wonton, no crab flavor mostly cream cheese. Though the wonton soup did not say there was shrimp in it, there was shrimp in it and it didn’t have any flavor. The wontons seemed like they’d been sitting in the soup for hours — fell apart as soon as I scooped them out. The Lemon Chicken was super DRY! They put the sauce on the side, which was fine, but they over cooked the chicken.
HUGE disappointment!

My parents LOVE this place. Growing up we’d often go after church and they’d always without fail order the Chef’s Special noodle dish.
I’m not so much a huge fan of Chinese food nowadays but this place I can tolerate — probably just for nostalgia’s sake. Located in the lovely Mira Mesa Mall (oh the memories!), it’s one of the only places that has lasted in the area (Oh how I miss Millers Outpost!).
The service has always been fine the times that we’ve gone and their prices are decent. Dad still loves the chef’s special and I still get Mongolian Beef, Walnut Shrimp or Orange Chicken — you can’t really go wrong with those. The jasmine tea is standard. The last time we went the Hot & Sour soup was questionable. I’ll only go here if my dad wants Chinese: P

We went in to grab drinks and dinner. No drinks as they no longer have a liquor license. It was completely dead inside so we decided to go down a few doors to the new Mongolian grill. Much better choice!!!

Not sure why they still call this place a Bar & Restaurant when they do not serve or sell any alcohol. The employee stated that they sold their liquor license. I really don’t visit Chinese food restaurants for their alcohol so it wasn’t a huge deal breaker, but the fact that they still advertise on their website a happy hour of $ 2.50 well drinks AND half price appetizers but no longer offer either is a bit of a disappointment.
Food was hot but average at best. Chicken wings were a bit dry. Potstickers /​dumplings were ok. Main entrees were big and filling with lots to take home for left overs. The employees were great and kept checking up on us.
Please update your website :)

Website advertises «Wing Wednesday’s» 50% off salt and pepper wings. When I asked, they claimed it’s no longer valid and that they don’t have time to update their website. Hostess also said «if you want chicken, go to KFC. They have buy 1 get 1 free».

Mandarin Restaurant in the Mira Mesa Mall isn’t what it used to be. Not since it was bought out from the original Chinese owners. It is now owned by a filipino family and the employees are all new. The food isn’t what it used to be. Seemed like the new owner has changed their food ingredients for example their sauces in exchange to a cheaper brand ingredients. It was such a disappointment. Mandarin Garden restaurant used to be my favorite place to go to for Chinese food. I would rather go to Panda Express.

I went to this place a few days ago… craving Chinese as usual.
I walked in with a friend of mine, and the owner started panicking and yelled for a waitress to seat us. The place was empty.
My friend asked a question about their pan fried noodles, and the waitress started arguing with her about what constitutes legit pan fried noodles. Dumb waitress! We ordered soup and the soup bowl was dirty.
At the end of the meal, my friend discovered lipstick on her water cup! Thank God for the creation of straws… NASTY. Needless to say I’m never going back.

Mira Mesa staple that has slipped over the years but the memories keep me loyal. Stick with lunch specials and the slight slippage in taste and service are tolerable. My tomatoe beef lunch with fried rice has been pretty consistent with only a few hiccups over the years. I even know for a fact that a few of the waiters were serving me there in the 80s. We all move a little bit slower as the years go by right?

I’m envious of my Asian peers (as well as some Unilocalers) who say things like, «I know REAL [ethnic] food from growing up, this place is faux and phony!!»
Like, sue me, man. I grew up eating microwave dinners and Wendy’s salads — our family is more of a «eat to live» rather than «live to eat» kind of people.
That being said, I thought my kung pao chicken (Yeah, I know) was diddly darn alright.
It almost seemed like a Kitchen Nightmares episode (Limited patrons, shaky service, unstellar reputation… Darn, but no bitchy owners) but honestly, it wasn’t that bad. Food was piping hot, it wasn’t bland, and it didn’t make me sick. It was edible and satisfied the palette. But in some ways, it reminds me of my mother’s cooking; effortless, mixing everything together with cut up pieces and packaged seasonings, serve it with rice and call it a day.
I imagined Eddie Huang sitting across from me, arms crossed and head shaking in disappointment, telling me that I could probably do better than this and I shouldn’t succumb to this place when there’s probably better joints out there. (Imagery aside, I’m probably not going to come back here for a while.)
It’s a cute, quaint little joint, don’t get me wrong, I just think that it’s not very memorable. Figures. I’ve lived in Mira Mesa for 21 years, and it’s surprises me how they managed to stay open for so long, despite the seemingly slow service.
I’d call Gordan Ramsay on this one. Maybe it’ll be good as a take out-​Panda-​esque-​style as opposed to a sit down restaurant.
P. S. A big old fuck you to the guy who referenced FIlipino food as dog food.

Solid lunch spot. Service is very good and it’s pretty cool inside. They have the Americanized Chinese menu for the most part except for their soups. I got the pork with mustard greens. Pretty basic but a very good lunch. Could of used some more greens but I was very happy. Got a couple of eggrolls and they were OK. Lots of delicious greasiness. Ill be back to try some more. Wish they had beef chow fun and mixed chow fun soup.

We were craving Chinese food tonight (Monday) and our usual place is always closed Mondays, so we decided to get take out. I called in an order of wonton soup and asked the woman if the tofu in brown sauce is better than the braised bean curd. She responded, «I don’t eat it, I just sell it.» Um OK, went with the bean curd and now I know why she doesn’t eat the food.
We came home, served up the dishes and my mom literally spit out her first bite of soup. It was foul and off in some way we couldn’t place. Next was the braised bean curd, which was really just thickened hot and sour soup with a ton of tofu. It was not good at all and had almost no flavor. We literally trashed the entire dinner, something we have NEVER done because even when something isn’t good, it’s usually still edible.
AVOID THIS RESTAURANT. We truly wanted to like it, but it was disgusting. I would’ve had a more enjoyable time flushing my money down the toilet dollar by dollar.

Cozy family style meals. The place has definitely slowed down in the last couple of years, not sure exactly what it is, maybe because the portions got smaller and the food got a little saltier, but this place used to be a family favorite.
We used to come here all the time from celebrating Mother’s Day, Birthdays and even a couple of times for dinner before some of my High School Dances! Obviously this place has been a staple at Mira Mesa Mall for years and still gets a lot of business, but like I said not as crowded as I remember it being.
Although we don’t frequent this place as much as we used to it’s definitely still a good local place to go to for a sit down Chinese food.
Favorites:
Chefs’ Special Chow Mein
Honey Walnut Shrimp
Sweet & Sour Pork
Beef & Broccoli
War Won-​ton Soup
Tip: Sign up for their email newsletter, you get % off coupons sent to you regularly, sometimes up to 25% sometmes!
Tip2: Although I’ve never been here for the bar, they do have one and in passing I’ve seen they have TVs for those trying to see the latest sports scores.

I showed up at noon for lunch and I got a bad feeling when the hostess started spraying down the tables and seats with 409. Before opening is a good time to clean the place.
I started with won ton soup. Didn’t care for the flavors in the broth. The won ton wrapper had strong dough flavor I didn’t like. The pork was not very flavorful. Didn’t like the vegetable that came in the bowl. There were some pieces of pork in the broth which had no flavor. Go to Sam Woo for won noodle soup where the won tons have a tasty wrapper and the won ton is a delicious mix of pork and shrimp.
I also had the salt and pepper wings. There was a nice crunch on the batter. The flavors from the batter and the wings were not that great. Mostly salt and msg. The quality of the wings themselves were not that good. I’m guessing frozen, defrosted, and sitting around too long.
I can see why they have so many 25% off deals. I’m going to stick with Hong Kong BBQ across the street. Much better food at a similar price.

If I don’t want to drive down south to my Royal Mandarin, this is where we’ll go. Back in the day people spread rumors that this place was run by the MOB, and kids believed it… well. cause as kids… we were gullable hahaha but whatever, it was fun daring kids «I dare you to eat there!»
Anyhoo…this place is like a Mira Mesa landmark, it’s been here for years. We’ve seen places come and go, or new establishments pop up to replace the old, but this place has managed to stay open. AWESOME! but kinda weird, cause every time we go… it’s not really busy.
But anyways, you must try their Zombie and Fogcutter from their drink menu… but if you’re under 21, um… I guess you can have soda, water, or tea HA!
Note: their orange chicken will not taste like Panda Express’s orange chicken or any of those other orange chicken that you get a fast food asian joints. It’s kinda hard to explain the taste, it’s just different.
Great place to have a nice sit down dinner with family, a date, with friends. They also do food catering as well. Oh, they also help the community with letting you use them as a fundraiser (but not sure what the percentage of the split is…)
The service is always awesome. Kinda pricey, but not toooo bad. It’s cheaper if you keep in mind «Sharing is Caring» haha!
BUT their lunch menu is pretty affordable

I haven’t tried anything else but their «Chef’s Special Chow Mein» and it’s delicious!
Will always come here to get the chefs special dish
Customer service is great.

This is a Mira Mesa institution — if not THE Mira Mesa institution. I remember when this place had a huge old-​school cash register when we were kids. While that’s gone now, the place still has some great Chinese food.
We came here for my birthday — after my father and I ordered beers (he had the Heineken, I ordered Tsingtao), they were brought out along with chilled glasses. The waiter then poured our beers into them — very classy!
We ordered the Wor Won Ton soup, Singapore style noodles, beef with Chinese broccoli, honey walnut shrimp, and the house special chow mein. All of it was delicious, though the noodles were a bit on the spicy side.
Also, when I asked if there was anything special for people celebrating their birthdays (hey, I had to ask!), I was given a piece of New York Cheesecake. Tasty, yet it wasn’t fully thawed out.
Still, we had a great time, and we even noticed local newscaster Pat Brown of NBC ⁷⁄₃₉ fame having dinner with a friend of hers! No, we didn’t ask for pictures; that would’ve been rude. But, who’da thunk that a local celebrity would be in the Mecca?

I’m pretty tough to please when it comes to Chinese food since both my parents are Chinese chefs. So, of course, this place did not impress me at all.
The place seemed pretty small and cozy, but they actually have a whole other private room for large parties. They have a full bar in between the rooms, but I did not utilize it this visit (nobody else did either).
–Egg Flower Soup: Not bad, but super salty. Would have been better if it was diluted with 1:1 hot water.
–Vegetable Chow Mein: Barely any veggies and super salty. The noodles were also super dark — could have been a different type of sauce they used, but nonetheless, too salty.
–Scallops with Vegetables: Barely any scallops… most of the round white things were water chestnuts.
–Mongolian Beef: A little on the salty side, but not bad. However, it wasn’t spicy at all and they didn’t have those crispy white noodles on the bottom (which is fine since I don’t care for them anyway).