Mandarin — Restaurant in Reston

Stopped in here on a Sunday evening right around 6:30pm to order takeout.

The staff: Very polite and helpful. Brought us our Bubble Tea while we waited at a table and then put all of out food in a box (which helped to prevent spilling anything).

The atmosphere: While we had ordered takeout, the inside dining area was quite nice. There about 6-8 tables or so in the area, which while small is big enough for people to dine in if desired. Lighting was nice, light pop played at a good volume, wall decorations were about what you would expect from a takeout Chinese food restaurant.

The food: Good, OK, and not so good. We ordered 2 bubble teas (melon and strawberry, both in coconut milk), one order of egg rolls, one container of hot and sour soup, and two of the hot crispy shredded beef. The bubble teas were excellent. My only complaint is that the strawberry one had about 1/3 the cup filled with ice, so less content than expected.

The egg rolls were as expected, very crispy and tasty. The soup was OK, but was overall rather bland in flavor.

The hot crispy shredded beef was both good and bad. The good is that the beef was hot, it was crispy, and was pretty flavorful. The bad is that 1/3 of the container (for each container) was the sauce. It was almost more of a soup than a dish. When I dumped it out on a plate at home, the plate filled to the brim and all the provided rice became a soup (and that was a full sized dinner plate with a 1/2" deep brim). To give you an idea, they had to double bag each container to prevent leaking. Besides the soup/sauce, the veggies included were cut so small as to barely add any flavor or texture. In fact, besides the beef and sauce, I barely tasted anything else in the dish (except maybe oil, of which there was a little too much).

Summary: Overall I think I had an OK experience. However, the soupieness of the beef dish left a whole lot to be desired. The food we ordered did not stand out as exceptional, simply just average (and in the case of the excessive sauce, bizarre). The staff were polite and the restaurant was nice, but the food was just meh. I will keep this place on my fridge next to my other takeout menus because they have bubble tea, but I will be trying other places before I return...

I am a regular long time customer (over 10 years). I usually pick up lunch from Mandarin 1-3 times per week (depending on leftovers from home). We also pick up dinner about once a week for our family of 6. The owner and staff are always friendly and helpful. I have a number of colleagues who were born and raised in China and they also order from Mandarin weekly. Over time I have accumulated a number of favorite dishes that I rotate through depending on what strikes me on a given day. For lunch: Kung Pao Chicken (I ask for a hot sauce when I pick up and add it for extra spice), Double Cooked Pork, Chicken with Fresh Hot Peppers, String Bean Pork and Shredded Pork with Chili Pepper (a recommendation from a Chinese co-worker). When ordering dinner, we have a few staples for the kids who aren't as adventurous. Fried Chicken Wings and Shrimp Tempura appetizers, fried rice of some variety and Sesame Chicken. In addition to my lunch favorites, we also like Moo Shi Pork and General Tao's Chicken. My wife and I have been trying new dishes over the past couple of months. Recent hits: Salt & Pepper Squid (for my 16 year old as well), Beef Chow Foon, Beef with Black Pepper Sauce, Shredded Pork with Dry Bean Curd. Recent misses: Crystal Chicken in Hot Garlic Sauce and Hot Crispy Shredded Beef. To be clear, these misses are not throw the dish out type misses, but dishes that we didn't love. The prices have risen slightly over the years, but it is still a relatively inexpensive meal. I get lunch for under $8 and we can feed the family (with leftovers for the next day) for around $60. I...

This was my first time ordering from this place. First I would like to start that I was very disappointed they didn't provide any chopsticks or utensils. I didn't think to ask because what Chinese Resturant doesn't include that?! I also got only one package of soy sauce, again, why? And the fortune cookies were stale!!! As far as the food goes, I got two appetizers and two entress. The Steamed Vegetables Dumplings, they were way way way too thick, and the doe was still raw and chewy. The Beef Egg Rolls, which tasted good but barely had even a hint of beef. The Mandarin Lo Main, which was ok but the noodles were tooooo soft. And the Mandarin Fried Rice, which tasted good, but had no vegetables except for a lot of onions, a hint of shredded cabbage, and some evidence that there was an egg hiding somewhere in there. Was it the worst I've had? No. Was it the best I've had? No. Maybe you'll like what I...