Mandarin Inn — Restaurant in Gold Coast City

We normally go to a very good Chinese restaurant in Benowa, but last week I was having a chat with one of our customers who asked me if we'd ever tried the Mandarin Inn. Obviously I replied it's 15 minutes from Benowa Waters and we love the food at our local Chinese restaurant. He said that he was sure that the Mandarin Inn would be just as good if not better and compared to what we pay in Benowa it would be considerably less. So this afternoon I asked my wife and daughter if they're up for trying a new restaurant that was only 15 minutes from Benowa Waters and the response was a solid yes. When we arrived it was around 730pm and to be honest there was only a couple of tables occupied and I said to my wife and daughter that we were about to experience one of 3 things, either the food was not tasty and fresh or the food was delicious but very small portions for the low price or were in for a great meal at the right price. And boy was that right, every dish we tried was delicious and delectable, not only that the portions sizes of the mains were absolutely fantastic. We had the prawn cutlets and chicken satay sticks with peanut sauce and then proceeded to enjoy the sizzling beef with onions and capsicums, the beef was so tender. We also ordered the salt and pepper king prawns which were crispy and fresh, and we also had the crispy skin chicken which came with the 5 flavour spice that you sprinkle on the chicken before it melts in your mouth. The special fried rice was fresh and full of prawns omelette and ham and my wife and daughter had the steamed rice. We arrived without a booking, being a Monday night we assumed it wasn't necessary, we were immediately welcomed by Sam the manager who explained the specials of the day and turned out to be a wonderful man with 30 years plus experience in the restaurant industry, he was very helpful and polite. We eventually met the owner Danny as he popped outside to visit his guests. In short this review really does prove that living in a wealthier area does not mean better cuisine or service, quite the contrary sometimes going a little out of your area and receive excellent customer service like the good old days and enjoy delicious food for 30% less than you've been paying. We were so full they packed us a few doggy bags to take home, we will...

Very disappointed tonight. We are regular customers and often get the same or similar menu items. Tonight I specifically asked for a chicken dish with chicken only, no veggies or onion - it came with pineapple, pawpaw and carrots and the sauce was watery. This is usually my favourite dish and have never had this before. Then we got a Mongolian beef.. the beef was so chewy we couldn’t swallow it and the onion was that raw it made our eyes water. I wouldn’t usually write a review but after calling the restaurant to see if they could rectify our meals, we were just told ‘sorry’ and they hadn’t changed recipe or chef so this is normal, when I asked if they would make me a fresh meal or something different the answer was no and the call was ended. Only thanks is to the receptionist who was genuinely apologetic but obviously out of her control to do anything when she then had to pass the phone to her manager. Very sad by this experience and...

Ordered takeaway at 5.35pm, he said ready in 10-15 minutes .

I arrived at a little before 5.45pm, confirmed & paid for my order. At 6.10 I asked the restaurant staff to please check on my order, he goes behind the front desk, picks my order up & says here you go.

The food was sitting there the entire time I was waiting being 25+ minutes & told him I wouldn’t accept it & requested the meals to be recooked, he wasn’t happy. He disappeared into the kitchen when I approached the young staff member requesting my rejected meal be keeper in my line of sight as I wanted to be sure the meals would be recooked.

The older staff member bought out my original order holding it up with 1 finger over a table. I told him there was find & dropped the bag on the table & walked off.

Front of house staff need retraining in customer relations, very...