Mandarin Restaurant — Restaurant in Rexburg

I do not often give one star reviews, but my single experience with the food from Mandarin Restaurant merits it. Before posting my review of the food, I will state that I had excellent customer service at the take out counter. Additionally, the restaurant itself looked clean and the decor was fine.

I ordered the following food items for takeout: Orange Chicken, Fried Rice, Egg Rolls, Crab and Cream Cheese Wontons

Orange Chicken: The chicken itself had a dry texture to it, which is common in Chinese restaurants that use frozen meat. It often became chewy as I ate. The sauce was an abomination. The flavor was not terrible, but the texture was gloopy and often left stringing tendrils hanging down from my fork. I did not enjoy it at all.

Fried Rice: The fried rice was aesthetically pleasing, but was far too mushy to have any redeeming qualities as a food item. I am an admitted rice snob, but I'll typically still eat rice that I consider subpar. I could not take more than two bites of this offering, though. It's almost as if the kitchen staff pan fried the rice in water instead of oil.

Egg Roll: They are large, and the wrapping is pleasantly crispy. The filling was disgusting. The texture was slimy, and the only flavors that really came out were celery and salt.

Crab and Cream Cheese Wontons: I liked these. They had a good crispy texture on the wrapper and the filling was well balanced in both flavor and proportion. I would order these again.

I am fully aware that I come across as a pretentious snob in this review. Read my other restaurant reviews and you will see that I try very hard to present my restaurant experiences in a very thorough, unbiased manner. I will not be ordering from Mandarin...

I was not satisfied with the overall experience that my fiance and i had, but that is not to say that everything was bad. The good: -One of the servers was very respectful of some of the troubles we had tonight -The food was decent, not great, but decent. The bad: We ordered a Dr Pepper and a Diet Dr Pepper, the normal Dr Pepper tasted more like a watered down version of a Dr Thunder, the Diet Dr Pepper was just gross. They were both so bad that we just asked or water instead, and the waiter that was more attentive to us, told us there had already been several complaints about it already. -We waited for 35 minutes from when we ordered the food to when we got it and we only had 2 plates of food. A party of 7 sitting next to us, who were seated after us, were served before we were. -The table seating is very cramped, so unless you are lucky enough to get a booth, or the one table set by itself, you are going to be sharing elbow room with strangers. -You can get the same food (the exact same menu) that tastes 2-3 times better at New Fongs. Good/Bad: When we went to pay we told them about our dissatisfaction with the drinks, the waitress was very apologetic, and took them off our ticket, but the manager standing next to her was very rude in how he handled the situation.

Overall not the worst, but you can do better if you only travel another 5 minutes to get better food, and faster service...

This is probably my favorite restaurant in Rexburg. Is the the best chinese food you'll ever have? Probably not, but I have been to many restaurants and nobody does gyoza (potstickers) like these guys! They are very affordable and usually have great service, unless they are packed clear full. If you have an itch for Chinese food, I would highly recommend this place. I have tried at least half of their menu, and as long as you order something normal (orange chicken, general tso's, mandrin chicken, sweet and sour chicken/pork, chicken lo mein) you will not be disappointed. Some of their other dishes can be a little interesting, but stick to the basics and you'll be fine!

Their Cho Mein is what you got to watch out for, many people order the Cho Mein thinking it is the Lo Mein and they're highly disappointed.

Their lunch prices are like .75 cents cheaper than dinner options, and it's usually less packed than during dinner. Dining during dinner may result in slower service because they have an influx of people and takeout orders they are trying to prepare for.

Ordering takeout from these guys is great cause they pack you up! They really fill up the boxes when you do take out.

Overall, an amazing establishment, I cannot speak enough great things about this place. It definitely hits the three A's: Affordable, Attentive staff, and...