Mandarin Palace Chinese Restaurant Lismore — Restaurant in Lismore

The food is ok but this is not really an authentic mandarin restaurant. It is aussified to the extreme. Forks are on the table by default and there are no chopsticks on any of the tables. The staff do not appear to speak mandarin. I believe this is because there isn't many mandarin speakers in Lismore but if you're from out of town and were looking for a Chinese restaurant of the kind you would find in a capital city (dual language menus, chopsticks by default with forks only on request, live seafood etc) it may come as a bit of a surprise. For example, there was pineapple and large pieces of vegetables in the hot and sour soup and it looked like a spicy tomato soup with a deep red colour. It wasn't a bad soup and the vegetables tasted fresh but it was not what I was expecting from a Chinese hot and sour soup. I was also disappointed they didn't deserve quail.

The only thing that tasted authentic was the Chinese tea. This may not be a bad thing if you just want some decent quality food but it's not the type of Chinese you would usually find in Brisbane, Sydney...

A classic suburban Chinese restaurant - loved the authentic decor, light fittings are amazing! Staff were friendly and accommodating when we arrived on a Saturday evening with no booking, fitted us in before a 6:30 booking (we arrived at 5:35, 2 adults and 2 small children). Accommodated our kid requests for ‘chicken with rice not chips’ and were quick to take orders and bring drinks and food. The waiters were busy but friendly and helpful! Food was yum, perfect standard local Chinese restaurant food. We had a pork chow mien with soft noodles (flavoursome with a nice mix of vegies) and sweet and sour pork (Cantonese style ie battered- really yummy, started using the 3 year olds chicken to dip in the sauce!). Kids loved the rice, prawn chips, prawn and calamari. Nice selection of drinks too. Recommend for a family dinner out, good takeaway or a cheap, quick...

Food was dry and bland and over dressed with sause, "special fried rice" had way to much going on the chicken yes the chicken in the rice was very rubbery and dry, all the meat you could tell it was frozen and over cooked in myg opinion the food was over priced for the quality. I sat down and was immediately confronted by staff expecting myself and my partner to have already decided what to eat and drink. It was very unprofessional for the staff to be exchanging cash payments on the dining room floor and discussing other matters infront of guests, the owner or manager was sitting filling paperwork at a dining table eating chocolate the front office was very disorganised and chaotic. All wine options should be given the option for a single glass not have to buy an entire bottle. Over all im dissatisfied with my meal and currently feeling ill...