Mayflower Seafood Restaurant — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Let me start off by saying the food here tastes good. Don't be diswayed by my 3/5 rating. Food tastes is 5 stars in my opinion but the service leaves a lot to be desired.

The husband and wife owners are friendly and nice elderly couple. You know they have been running this family restaurant business successfully for many years.

But the service here needs improvement. Let me explain.

I came here recently with my wife to dine in on a Saturday around noon. Was guided to our table. Didn't have to wait for one. We sat down and a few moments later a waitress places plates and forks and spoons on the table. Later she brings out hot tea. Now it's where things get derailed. The plates and tea cups were still dirty. Not dirty dirty but not fully clean. We had to wipe it down with napkins using some of the hot tea. We also placed the utensils in a tea cup and let them soak in the hot tea hopefully sanitizing it lol.

No one bothered to give us a menu. I had the pleasure of walking around the restaurant to find and get the menu myself lol. Seriously there were no workers nearby our table. Then after a few minutes of choosing what we wanted to order, I again had the pleasure of walking and finding someone to take our order. They took our order pretty quickly and shortly a waitress brought our drinks. We ordered 6 items including the drinks. About 10 minutes later the waitress brought out the first item. Thinking they will bring out our other ordered items while eating the first one they brought out, nope... After already finishing it, I had to call over the wife owner to tell her we've been waiting for almost 30 minutes to get our other ordered items. After apologizing to us, the next item was brought out about 7 minutes later. Followed by the rest about a few minutes later.

After finishing, we boxed the leftovers, paid for our meal, and left. I chose not to leave a tip. Pretty obvious why. I usually do when I dine out but the service we received here didn't warrant for one. Thought we even deserved a discount or something to recoup the poor service.

Oh, forgot to mention the part where we had to wait forever to pay our bill. Actually something not the owner's fault. There was a group of foreign tourists who took forever to pay. There was about 8 to 9 people in the group. But it seemed like they were individually paying for their meals... and with card payment.

My advice, just order for pick up here but don't choose to dine in. Couldn't even find parking on the street here. Had to pay $4...

3.5 stars

When the pilgrims came to America, not only did they bring with them tobacco & the idea of property ownership. Nope, they also brought large portions of competively-priced fried rice & chow meinJ/K ;p

Mayflower Seafood Restaurant, a popular Chinese restaurant of Manny Pacquiao & other Pilipino celebrities.

Visiting Olvera Street for Dia de Los Muertos, we thought no better way to celebrate the traditional Mexican Holiday than to have Chinese food at Mayflower ;p

Inside, lots of plant decor greeted diners as they walked in.…

Complimentary tea was brought to our table while we selected our food-

House special fried rice- Large portions! Bits of BBQ pork, shrimp & other meats to tantalize the tastebuds. The rice wasn't as oily & salty as I'd like (bad, I know), but it wasn't awful at all.

House special chow mein- Squid, BBQ pork, chicken and other meats on top of fried chow mein, accompanied by bok choi, carrots etc. I was expecting stir-fried chow mein, but I went with it. The bits of meat were tender, in a hearty sauce. The chow mein on the perimeter had a delightful crunch.

Mongolian beef- Large, tender cuts of beef with a spicy little kick. This was a favorite for us.

$2.99/Fried sole- Mayflower has a promo in the weekly Pilipino newspapers for $2.99/fried fish. We were pleasantly surprised by how much fish the $2.99 got us. The sole had to have been 2 lbs! We pecked away at the tasty flesh like piranhas.

Not being able to finish & asking for styrofoam containers, yet another pleasant surprise awaited us - complimentary tapioca for dessert! Warm, sweet & delightful - like me! ;p

Seating is plentiful, with 3 suites used for seating and 1 banquet hall. You may consider this a Pilipino restaurant with all the Pilipinos dining here. It was like a Pilipino convention ;p We were lucky to watch a birthday celebration a few tables away.

Parking is metered in the front, with a pay lot nearby. Mayflower is open late to 2am everyday.

I recommend Mayflower Seafood Restaurant for a quick bite or for your next large gathering. The food, while not the best Chinese I've had, certainly wasn't bad, either. 3 stars are what I would normally give. However, the friendly owner kindly checked on us, thanking us for coming. That, along with the complimentary tea & tapioca, added a 1/2 star from me, rounded up to a...

2.5 stars (not 3). Only been here 3 times since 2013, so take my review/opinion with a grain of salt. ;P Think I"ll just echo or reaffirm what others before have already said.

THE FOOD. The food is okay... average, to say the least. As one person here already said; they're not that great or the best, but they're not that bad/terrible either. I like (if not love) the serving size of their dishes; they're plenty!

THE STAFF. The servers aren't that --what's the word-- friendly, welcoming, hospitable, accommodating? They hardly or don't speak English at all. They either nod to let you know that they got your order, or lean over to you so you could repeat what you said a little closer to their ears. Heck, they don't even smile. It's as if they'd rather be elsewhere or doing something else (another job?), which kinda made me --at one time-- regret even eating there 'coz they made me feel guilty for making them do their job.

THE PEOPLE/PATRONS. Eventhough the place is Chinese, majority of the people that actually got to eat there are Filipinos. Why? It's because of Manny Pacquiao. As reviewer here said, "herd mentality." Probably the main/only thing that keeps this place relevant is because of Pacquiao's name is virtually attached to it. Heck, it's probably also the reason why this place became well-known (especially to the Filipino community) and not mainly because of the food. If you've eaten here or have heard about this place then chances are is because you know someone (i.e. a friend) who's Filipino. But again, don't get me wrong, the food is...