Mandarin Garden Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Salinas

Mandarin Garden Review

Currently traveling and wanted Chinese food, looked at the reviews of all the Chinese restaurants in the area and chose this place based on other people's experiences!

Small House Wonton Soup: White fish, charsiu, lots of plump handmade pork wontons, carrots, zucchini, napa cabbage, mushrooms, and bok choy in a clear, light broth. Hearty, and good for about 3 people. 7.5/10

Beef Chow Fun: Wok stir-fried wide rice noodles in soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sesame oil, white pepper, ginger, green onion, perhaps a little shaoxing wine and sugar. Well seasoned with the distinct taste of wok-hei. Generous with the beef. Not too much mung bean sprouts and shredded carrot, which I appreciated. Amazing, I was very pleasantly surprised. I grew up eating beef chow fun and it is my go-to order at Chinese restaurants, and this is one of the best I have tasted. 9.5/10

Mongolian beef: Requested to be non-spicy. Looks amazing, lots of beef, good texture, but flavor was okay. Had just a slightly off taste that I personally didn't like. Tasted like the meat is just a little old or sitting in the marinade for too long and the flavor has oxidized. 6/10

Walnut Honey Shrimp: Huge shrimp pieces deep fried in a light batter and tossed in a light sweet mayo sauce, and topped with perfect lightly candied walnuts. So so so good. 10/10

Ice Tea: Tastes like McDonald's sweet tea but less sweet. Not bad, just not my cup of tea (no pun intended). 6.5/10

Overall, I enjoyed this restaurant. Big portions. Very fair price. Clean restroom. Hard working and attentive staff with big smiles. Thank you for a great meal! I would definitely recommend this place for anyone looking for a quick and hearty lunch or dinner.

这个饭馆的做饭很好。 我最喜欢你们的牛肉炒粉！好吃了😋...

Love this place so much 💕 been coming here since I was a kid and the food is still great. I think they have new owners? Not sure but the food is still delicious! The customer service is great too, very kind workers. I don't know why people are complaining about the wait time in the comments... This isn't fast food it's a Chinese "restaurant." They will be cooking the food for you, it's worth the wait. But I do think they take longer when you are eating in the restaurants as opposed to pickup. Every restaurant does this honestly..

If you don't want to wait too long, one tip I can give you is to order for pickup. I always order for pick up. They tell me it will be ready in 15-20min. It takes me about 25min to get there and my food is always ready by the time I arrive. This giant order I placed was ready when I arrived (it took me about 25min...

Small, quiet Chinese restaurant. We took my in-laws out for lunch for Father's Day. The food was delicious and portions were generous. Its decor was "American diner" but our booth was comfy and large enough for four adults.

I especially enjoyed the "Happy Family" dish which features three meats and variety of veggies. It's garnished with fried wontons. The fried shrimp appetizers were very oily and bland. The Kung Pao chicken had the right amount of heat. Mom-in-law liked the chow mein and the sweet and sour pork.

Parking was a problem. The restaurant is across from the Rodeo grounds and a big event was going on. We found a parking place near the restaurant but it was a struggle getting out of our space and out of the...