Mandarin House — Restaurant in Downers Grove

12/11/24 update: The last time I came here it was when they first opened. Their service have gotten quicker, food was made fast and they all came at once. The servers have gotten better at being more attentive like checking to see if you need water refills or if you need anything else. I’m surprised this place isn’t busier since they have so much seating. This time we ordered deep fried mantou, crispy duck (half duck), gan pong chicken wing, and seafood tofu casserole. Pricing is still reasonable for the large portions. Overall, my score is the same. About 4.5. It’s a solid Chinese restaurant and one of my go to.

Just a side note: it’s painfully obvious which reviewers are non Asian, just by looking at what you ordered. Please stop with the lame dishes like beef fried rice, crab rangoon, egg drop soup, orange chicken, kung pao chicken, etc. They have a vast menu with different items. It’s a great time to introduce yourself, your friends, your family to something new. You might enjoy it.

-deep fried mantou 5 - Yes it came with the condensed milk to dip the mantou in. They were hot, crispy, and moist inside. I haven’t had these in a long time but they were fresh. -crispy duck (half duck) 4 - I love duck and the meats were juicy. The reason I took off a point is because there were pieces with barely any meat on them. Too many bones. -gan pong chicken wing 5 - I like the savory sauce, it has a mild kick to it. Meat was crunchy and a sufficient amount of meat on each lollipop, -seafood tofu casserole 5 - I was surprised they added sea cucumbers to the dish, usually it costs more to add them. The dish had big pieces of tofu chunks, shrimp, scallops, and a lot of sea cucumbers. Very tasty dish.

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We went there last Wed, reviews on Yelp and Google were mixed. This is next door to Hooters but you have to drive around Hooters to get there. That is the easiest way to find it. Parking lot is ample.

Just to clarify on some of the other reviews, they are wrong of course on many aspects. They do not have overly sweet sauces, not sure if they went to the same place or they just made that up. Don’t believe anyone that would go to a Chinese restaurant just to get pad Thai. Not even a Chinese dish. It’s like going to a taco shop and trying to get cheeseburgers and hot dogs. Stupid, right? Lastly, people that literally go to every kind of Chinese restaurant just to get your typical orange chicken, Mongolian beef, sweet and sour pork, chicken fried rice, etc, I always take with a grain of salt. They have a large menu with different kinds of items, it’s like an insult to get the typical American dish.

I’m Chinese and thought the food here was pretty good. The menu kind of resembles Chef Ping’s except it’s much closer. We ordered shrimp toast, seafood Peking noodle, and beef belly & tofu stew. Portion sizes were sufficient. You’ll have leftovers. Prices are standard, well I guess it depends on what you order. They do have a great lunch special. Service was good. They were attentive and our food came out hot and fresh. They are kind of understaffed as they are family owned. Please have some patience. I would come back. Overall 4.5 but I will round it to 5 since they have some unique dishes for this area.

-shrimp toast 5 - crispy and good size shrimp inside. -seafood Peking noodle 4.5 - they provide scissors to cut the noodles. A lot of meat, could use more seafood in there. -beef belly and tofu stew 4.5 - beef was very tender. Tofu was soft and a little bland. Very...

I ate here at the Mandarin House but let me tell you how I got here because I’m still unsure how to move past it. I was riding the Green Line, as usual, heading home after a long day at work in the city. That’s when I met a beautiful and curious Latina woman named Jen (with a "G"!!). She was savoring her last golden-foiled chocolate by licking it, and I tried not to stare, but I couldn’t help but wonder if her hands were sticky by the way she was holding it. Haha!

We ended up making eye contact, and I freaked out, making a face straight out of a Jim Carrey “The Mask”. Then she asked if I wanted to try it. I took that soggy mess and mimicked her expressions while licking it vigorously as she had done. We ended up having a friendly dinner at the Mandarin House, sharing pineapple chicken and egg drop soup.

I’m not an a-hole, so I made sure to mention that I’m married. I also shared my experience of being a father, working late even on weekends, and missing out on valuable moments. Jen talked about how her dumpster-diving weiner dog, Juli, is like her kid, and how she’s always picking up after it. She also expressed worries about the imminent deportations and told me how she learned to make better timalees than her mom thanks to TikTok.

There was something about this encounter that made me feel all sorts of emotions. I love my wife very much, though she may not know how to make “oblong-digas” meatballs—whatever those are—but I couldn’t help reflecting on life in that moment. We didn’t exchange names or contact info, and Gen was only visiting a friend in Westmont. Part of me hopes to see her again, but I’m not sure why. Life has too many paths, and it’s hard to know which one to follow. But sometimes, if you just follow your heart, you’ll either be happy or regretful.

The mandolorian deserves 5 stars, not only for the service and the way it fed our hungry souls but for helping me realize that life is short, and I don’t want this wonderful interaction to go to waste. I only have this one picture—though I was trying to get a shot of the food, Gen couldn’t stop laughing, so I ended up capturing her and sharing with the world what a perfect human being looks like.

If by chance I do see her again, I’d love to share my hospitality and have her over for dinner at my home. But I’ve seen millions of people on the train, so I doubt it’ll happen. In the meantime, I’m going to get Duolingo again and master Spanish to hopefully connect with this woman.

I love you Gen, as a friend! If you read this and don’t think I’m weird, just know that I take the Green Line every Saturday at the same time and always sit in the same spot where we met. You mentioned your dad has loud chickens, and I’ll always be reminded of that when I hear news about Trump. You bet I’ll be looking for you. Life is too short—I just need you......

I've only carried out from Mandarin House once so far, while helping a friend with errands. I frequently prefer to visit a few times before writing reviews, but I enjoyed my lunch enough to want to comment. They had only opened a few days prior, but the staff seemed to know what they were doing. When I was there, they had done a nice job converting a section of the old Olive Garden into a simple but cozy Chinese-themed restaurant. It's a big spot, so they should have plenty of seating for large parties (though I'd call ahead if possible).

Mandarin House's menu was predominately northern Chinese dishes (dumplings, noodles, and buns featuring beef and chicken), but also had some Guangdong, American-Chinese, and some Korean inspired dishes. I wanted something quick, so I got the Garlic Chicken from their lunch menu. It was a lot of good food for the money, with tender chicken, savory straw mushrooms, chopped garlic, and water chestnuts that were well prepared. I asked for white rice instead of fried rice, which was nicely steamed. The egg roll was pretty good, with a lot of veggies (I love a lot of cabbage in mine). They also have Grape Fanta, which is awesome!

The plaza they are in is fairly convenient to get into from either direction on Butterfield, and you can enter from northbound Findley near the Rockwood Taphouse (the road connects to the shopping center). There's PLENTY of parking on either side of the restaurant, which is in the corner space. Sadly, my previous favorite carry out place in the neighborhood, Double Dragon, hasn't been as consistent - I'm hoping my good experience with Mandarin House continues in my future visits. I saw they had Beijing-style zhajiangmian and fusion tangsuyuk pork on their dinner menu, which I really wanna try...