Ristorante Cinese il Mandarino — Restaurant in Syracuse

I found this restaurant via Google Maps when searching for an all-you-can-eat buffet. We (family of 5; 3 kids, 2 adults) drove 35 minutes to get there and were excited to eat. We were slightly confused as we entered the restaurant as it doesn't look like your typical buffet location. The space is small and there are no buffet lines. We were hungry and ready to eat but had several issues throughout our dining experience.

Issue #1: The restaurant was empty and so we were immediately seated and the server handed us an à la carte menu. He seemed friendly until I inquired about the buffet advertised on their website. He immediately got agitated and brought us the buffet menu. The price for the buffet was higher than what is currently posted on their website (€20.80 vs €18.80).

Issue #2: My wife doesn't eat much and neither does my youngest child. They asked to order from the à la carte menu while me and my two other children ordered from the buffet menu. He argued with us and told us that we all had to order from the buffet menu (more expensive). We continued to tell him that these two family members would only be ordering one meal. He finally relented and let them order from the à la carte menu.

Issue #3: When it came time to pay the bill we were overcharged on two things. They charged us for an extra bottle of water and there was an issue with the coperto (dining fee). The buffet menu states that coperto for the buffet is €1.00 and the à la carte menu states that coperto is €1.50. We were charged €1.50 for all five of us even though 3 of us were eating from the buffet menu. When I mentioned this the server again argued with me and said that buffet doesn't pay coperto but that we had to pay the €1.50 coperto price for the à la carte menu. Which doesn't make any sense.

All the food we had was delicious and was delivered relatively quickly. It was so good that we had planned on going back again the next day for lunch, even though the restaurant charges coperto. After having to deal with the poor attitude of our server and his general unfriendliness, and the overcharging us for water and coperto, we decided not to go...

Genuinely the worse takeaway I’ve ever had. Cannot comment on the restaurant premises itself but the food is atrocious.

We ordered on Deliveroo to have a change from Italian food while on holiday in Siracusa. Food took 1hour 35mins to arrive which got us off to a bad start but the food was even worse. Spring rolls were soggy and sweaty, tempura prawns were tough like they had been sat keeping warm for hours. Sweet and sour chicken came with chicken and sauce in separate containers both looked pre-made earlier in the day, not fresh at all. Didn’t even bothered eating most of it, not fit for consumption.

Absolutely avoid, just go for a...

Se dovessi dare un soprannome a questo ristorante sarebbe "Il ristorante dei ricordi". L'esterno richiama quello dei classici locali che si possono trovare nelle periferie e nelle traverse delle città in Cina, quei posti da cui non ti aspetti il massimo della pulizia ma sai che mangerai da Dio. L'interno è semplice ma elegante, PULITISSIMO, in sala non si avverte alcun odore proveniente dalla cucina. Nonostante fosse quasi al completo, non abbiamo dovuto attendere molto né per ordinare né tanto meno per ricevere i piatti. Su questi ultimi avrei da fare tantissimi commenti, tutti positivi, ma credo che basti dire che ho finalmente ritrovato i sapori che hanno caratterizzato il mio soggiorno in Cina. Nei vari ristoranti cinesi frequentati in Sicilia ho assaggiato piatti buoni, ma non erano mai "I PIATTI", mi spiego? Spesso si somigliavano tra loro, tutti accomunati dalla classica "colla di pesce". Non troverete questo al Mandarino, troverete LA CUCINA CINESE, accompagnata da playlist e programmi cinesi. Anche la cucina giapponese sembra davvero buona, ma ho provato soltanto un onigiri, il 72. Personale disponibile,gentile!!! Indossano la mascherina tutto il tempo! Non vedo l'ora di...