The Mandarin — Restaurant in Guildford

I ate at this restaurant this evening. I was the only customer and it soon became apparent why. I ordered two courses, both came in record time. The starter was ok, the chicken chow mein I had for the main course was the smallest plate of food I have ever had served to me. Nobody asked if the food was ok and the attitude of both waiting staff was abrupt. I was there for no more than 20 minutes. When the bill came I asked for the 10% discretionary service charge to be taken off the bill. I was told this was made very clear in the menu. I pointed out that it was also very clear that the charge was discretionary and demanded it be removed. The guy's attitude was appalling, he didn't even ask what the issue was! If you are looking for small portions of very over priced, mediocre food then you might like this place. If not give the place a very wide berth and find a decent Chinese...

The restaurant looked well appointed, but I found the dishes to be over-overpriced and of varying quality. Unfortunately, we found the two beef dishes to be inedible. The shredded beef was just a mountain of orange cornflower, with the flat sweet taste of crispy carbs. The sizzling beef came in thick chewy slices, so we could not eat it. It was too rubbery. The starters, duck and vegetable dishes were nice and portions quite generous. We should have really returned everything at the earliest possible time, because we were given no leeway on the price, nor on the 'obligatory' tip, at the end of the meal. The staff were nice, the manager however, was not so generous about...

Just wow ! My partner and I called in for dinner and we were actually quite blown away. Everything came out quick, sizzling and super fresh. Nice wine and beer selection too. The crispy chilli beef was some of the best I’ve ever had and the mixed chicken, king prawn and beef black bean sizzling dish was superb (my partner finished off the sauce with the spoon).The staff were super lovely and could not do enough for us. We had a great chat with our fantastic waiter. The vibe is genuine, real, no BS and family friendly. We’ll be back....