Mandarin Express, Chinese Halal Restaurant — Restaurant in Laurel

7/13/2024; In search of the perfect chicken lo mein...

I ordered a chicken lo mein and general tsos chicken which comes with white rice. Cost me around $32, which is a little bit on the expensive side. Overall, I want to give them a decent score 3.5/5 with maybe some upside surprise.

I thought the lo mein is passable, they give you a large portion, which is good but you need to add your own flavor. The chicken is initially flavorless; they probably need to marinate the chicken beforehand. I'm not sure their recipe includes oyster sauce or garlic; I guess oyster sauce is debatably halal, so maybe they can't use it for that reason? But I would like them to figure out how to enhance the flavor profile. I ended up adding two soy sauce packets and some of the chili oil they give you, which made it much better, but in it's original condition, I cannot recommend, unless you want that sort of thing. It'll satisfy your desire for a mouthful of noodles, but I've had much better elsewhere. 3.5/5

Gen. tsos chicken is decent, nice real pieces of chicken, lighter flavor than you are use to when you think about gen. tsos which is usually in a thick heavy sugary sweet sauce. This tastes healthier... which is up to you whether you like it or not. Combined with the rice, and the rest of the chili oil, I kinda enjoyed it. 3.8/5

I'm going to give them a 4/5 overall, nice cashier; and I didn't have a bad experience. But not knock your socks off, "I have to come back here every week kind of thing". This place might appeal to you because you want halal food, or like milder/healthier taste.

I'm personally interested in coming back and trying some other dishes, esp. if they have a more reasonably priced ($10-12) weekday daily special menu which I saw advertised on their web menu.

As for the perfect lo mein? This is not... the search continues.

To management: if you make improvements to the lo mein, please let me know... I'll come back and...

This halal Chinese food is a nice place but the food taste did not meet my expectation as someone who is a professional chef and foodie. I drove over 2 hours but I was dissatisfied at the food taste. The owner is a very kind and generous person and he made my experience pleasant. He made me samosas and served them to me for free and the samosas were delicious but unfortunately I cannot be dishonest about the food. I ordered orange chicken, chicken with broccoli, chicken with garlic sauce, shrimp with broccoli, and chicken corn soup. Every dish and all the food tasted more like desi food than Chinese. I ordered the shrimp and broccoli which was a big disappointment. The shrimp was extra small ( frozen baby shrimp) and over cooked, very greasy, and tasted rubbery. The chicken dishes all tasted the same ( he used thesame sauce) and each dish was very greasy and lacked salt and real flavor. The disappointment was that I thought I was getting Chinese food but it was a desi stir fry . I hope he considers hiring a Chinese chef so this restaurant can grow and thrive and he can become successful. I will not return to this restaurant again and I threw every dish I bought in the trash. I wish him nothing but success and I hope that he understands that Muslims want authentic Chinese food and he should not advertise that this is a Chinese...

I recently visited this newly opened halal Chinese restaurant with a friend for lunch, and I must say it was an absolute delight! The ample parking outside made it convenient for us to access, setting a positive tone for the entire experience.

The highlight of our meal was the Beef Pepper Beef with Onions, which was nothing short of delicious. The flavors were rich, and the meat was tender, leaving us craving for more. Additionally, the Karak Chai was a delightful surprise – so good that it became the perfect ending to our meal.

The owners mentioned their plans to expand the menu with options like kabobs, which is exciting news for those looking for even more variety. It's great to see a restaurant that is committed to continually improving and diversifying its offerings.

The overall atmosphere of the restaurant was welcoming, and the cleanliness of both the dining area and bathrooms was impressive. The staff provided excellent customer service, making us feel valued and attended to throughout our visit.

I highly recommend this halal Chinese restaurant to anyone looking for a delicious meal, friendly service, and a well-maintained dining environment. I'm already looking forward to my next visit to explore the new additions...