Mandarin — Restaurant in Del City

I have eaten at this restaurant since I was a little kid so for over 40 years now. The food and service was always so wonderful, we ate there at least three times a month.

Since Covid the younger generation has taken the restaurant over, they discontinued dine-in even though all other restaurants have started up again and the food is way too inconsistent, we have had the worst experiences there the last four times and we would drive 45 minutes from our home to eat there in the pre-Covid era.

The tall young man at the register says “we are making too much money as take out only so we will never reopen the dining room, we don’t want to pay help, another young man said they will reopen as a Panda Express type of place in 2024 to avoid servers”. What the younger generation fails to realize was the decades tradition of Christmas Eve dinners there, the servers like Jenny who were favorites and a big part of why we went there, as well as the great food. Something has changed, the eggrolls do not taste the same, they are similar but not the same, we ordered broccoli beef and it was like soup with two pieces of meat in it, the quality has drastically changed and it is such a disappointment now. If I am in the area I will stop for a few eggrolls but I do not order anything else as the soup was like pudding the last time and the veggie low mein smelled rancid.

I hope someone helps them realize how much better they could reopening as they were with a little clean up and remodeling/ decorating with all tables/chairs and remove the old booths.

The biggest part…smile and say thank you or have a nice day rather than act like customers are evil, a smile and thanks can go a long way because without customers you have nothing.

I would love to see them open a real take out side as well as a dining room or a drive up/take out on the backside/curbside ordering.

It is a shame this Christmas Eve of 23’ they will be closed and our 28 year tradition of eating...

I had not eaten here in years but I remembered it being one of the best Mandarin places to eat so I was really looking forward to it ... extremely disappointed. No ... I'm being kind. Truth: the food was AWFUL (and the service wasn't so good either). The fried "shrimp" was a glutinous mass of flour soaked/fried in old oil and the shrimp had to have been in the freezer for years -- absolutely no shrimp taste (I'm not completely convinced it was even shrimp). The garlic chicken was obviously refried leftovers; tough, dry and extremely hard to chew. The sweet & sour pork was edible but very large, extremely chunky, over-battered, and lacking sauce. I couldn't bring myself to eat the chicken chow mein; it consisted of overcooked bean sprouts with a few bits of extremely thin-sliced chicken in a tasteless sauce; I did dig around in it and found maybe 10 soaky chow mein noodles (on the bottom) which resembled overcooked pasta. I didn't try the soup (my appetite was completely dried up at this point) and while the egg roll looked decent, I only had an extremely small container (less than a tablespoon) of sweet & sour sauce so I passed. Seriously (and I'm being kind), a box of frozen Chinese food from the grocery store probably tastes much much better (and much cheaper). So so so...

I have been going to Mandarin in Del City for decades. Its not a fancy restaurant, hey it's been around for decades, but the food makes my stomach happy and my taste buds salivate. Hey if not for the dated and not the most well lit ambience I would give this place 5 stars overall but it does get my 5 stars of yumminess. Either the lemon chicken or the General Tso's chicken are my personal faves but I am partial to the lemon chicken simply because of the sweetness and tartness. The Hawaiian chicken is good as well. Lots of choices. If your bold be sure to ask for some of the hot pepper sauce to put on your food. Get the veggie fried rice, love the water chestnuts, and most important of all don't forget to order the eggrolls. I will drive clear across from the NW side of OKC to Del City just for the eggrolls with some of that yummy sweet sauce they have on the table. When I'm in the mood for good Chinese comfort food, when am I not, this is where I go. I will gladly keep coming back until the day I can't. Prices are much more reasonable for the quality...