Mandalay Restaurant — Restaurant in San Francisco

Very weird experience here with multiple waiters who pressured my group of 4 to make quick decisions on the spot about what to order, added an order of balada that we never received to our check, and charged us 1.4-1.5 x's the base price of the lamb chops and fish chowder respectively that we ordered because they allegedly increased the portion sizes to accommodate what they deemed appropriate for our group, but the portions were still underwhelmingly small, only allowing for a few bites each.

The dishes we ordered were: • green tea leaf salad (2/5) • balada (1/5 because never received but got charged) • fish chowder (1/5) • spicy basil chicken (4/5) • lamb chops (3/5) • coconut rice (5/5)

They’re known for their green tea salad here which has no lettuce yet won an award. I find it absurd they don’t include lettuce because they’re trying to maintain the integrity of the salad. Without the lettuce, it’s not really a salad, and it tastes at best like trail mix. I’ve tried the green tea leaf salad at Burma Love, Teakwood, and Inle Burmese Cuisine, all of which were remarkably better.

My friend, who’s a fan of fish chowder and persuaded us to order it here, said that Mandalay’s version is thin and without chunks of fish. It could use improvement.

The spicy basil chicken was the best dish in terms of flavor, but it was such a small portion, there wasn’t much to go around the table.

The lamb chops were overly sweet and too fatty. Lamb is naturally expensive, but we got ripped off.

The coconut rice was arguably the most authentic dish on the table. They didn’t mess this one up, but at $5.50 per bowl, and our table ordered 2 servings, it’s the most expensive coconut rice I’ve ever had. Not worth it when other places serve the same exact thing for a fraction of the price.

To recap the dine-in experience, the waiters hovered around our table essentially trying to get us to order more and agree to up-charges for larger portions without disclosing that there were associated price increases and did not confirm with us that we approved the additional costs. The staff also got us to order the off menu lamb chops ($44 for 4 small pieces) without disclosing the price in advance. It took us two attempts to get the charge for the balada we ordered but didn't receive refunded after the meal. We had split the check between 2 credit cards, but only one received the total refund. Overall the situation with the helicopter staff was a huge scam, annoying to deal with, and left a bad impression. This is undoubtedly the worst experience I have had dining out, which has led me to update this review 3 times already to add more details in the hope that it will influence other potential guests to avoid giving this restaurant their business. Next time when I’m craving Burmese food, I would just go to Teakwood or either Burma Love restaurant in the City where I've never experienced...

Cozy little Burmese restaurant in the Inner Richmond on California Street in an area where parking can be challenging. Colorfully decorated and illuminated with a table of fruit offerings to a small Buddha near the entrance and small booths in the center and tables along the sides. We sat in a booth and were greeted almost immediately by a very friendly, Chinese waitress. The somewhat kitchy ambiance and attentive service were the high points of the evening. We were looking forward to ordering a Tea Leaf Salad, but both the picture and the description looked far too "nutty" for our tastes. The online menu listed an Indian Naan bread, but it is not available, so we ordered a Balada (Burmese pancake) which we all enjoyed despite the non-descript sauce/gravy that accompanied it. I was curious to try a Burmese curry and ordered a shrimp curry, only to discover that it really wasn't a curry at all. It came with a bland tomato and onion sauce, in no way similar to an Indian, Thai, or Chinese curry. Our waitress informed me that that the chicken or beef curry was a more traditional, spicy curry, but curry lovers should take warning. One of my Chinese friends who had recent dental work ordered a plate of noodles which seemed either too soft or overcooked, which in this case may have been fortunate. My other Chinese friend ordered the Szechuan Beef which was clearly the best tasting dish on the table, although it was not very spicy even though it featured lots of green and red peppers. I confess we had come to Mandala because we wanted to eat Burmese food at Pagan Restaurant on Clement and 33rd, but it was closed. Frankly while the interior of Mandalay was far more inviting than Pagan, the food was disappointing. It was also far less Burmese. Pagan appears to be something of a family run Burmese operation with Burmese and Thai food, while Manadaly appears to be a Burmese restaurant with Burmese and Chinese food with a largel;y...

I wish I could give a Zero star for service. Pathetic service, we were let in at 8:45pm close to their kitchen closing hours. We asked them whether we will be able to sit and eat food till 9:30 pm at least to which they happily said a yes.

1. as soon as we got out table, we were told by our server to take our time and order the food, but the manager came and said we have to order the Appetizer, main course and desert , drinks all at one goo. Which we agreed and ordered. Coming to food now, Any Burmese restaurant has Tea leaf salad served with lettuce and cabbage in it, our server forgot to get the lettuce, we had to remind her for the lettuce. Second dish we ordered was Lettuce Tofu wrap with was super bad in terms of quantity. We ordered a Burmese chicken curry that was amazing with the coconut rice 10/10, total banger…

We even ordered a vegetable Burmese rice, that was very bad.. almost no salt not spice. Felt like some dry rice with lentils in it.

I will never go back to this place and will not recommend anyone. The quality has just gone down…

About the service we had 3-4 servers including their manager coming and asking us indirectly to eat our food fast and leave. They started taking away our plates as soon as they were empty, one server even asked me if I was going to pack the rice or eat it at the restaurant. I felt very awkward at this point as the server was wearing her bag pack and handed over the cheque to me as she was ready to leave and end her shift. I understand everyone needs to go home, if that’s the case please do not let the customers in after 8:30pm. Our total bill was $182, not worth a...