Mandarin House Restaurant — Restaurant in Twin Falls

Our server barely talked to us and only came back to our table once. We got the buffet for 14.99 a plate and the food was dry and old tasting. The host walked by and asked if it was delicious, took one look at our food and said, "let me rephrase that, was it ok?", completely acknowledging that she was well aware of the quality of their food. When I went to pay she commented that she was surprised our server had even come to check on us once, stating that customers were always having to go find their server if they needed something. Our Bill was 35.19 which was way more than the food or service was worth but I paid it without complaining. I paid with my card, signed the recipient with NO TIP and we left. The next day I was checking my card balance and realized that there was a 43.09 transaction from Mandarin House which meant they charged my card for 8.10 more than my bill was. I called them immediately and the woman who answered found my bill and told me she couldn't do anything about it but would put a note on her managers desk, she didn't ask for my name or number so I asked when I could expect it to be fixed or when I could call back to talk to the manager myself and was told he just comes and goes randomly, usually in the afternoon and that it usually takes 3 to 5 days to fix payments, giving me the impression that this was a common thing she dealt with. We used to go there all the time years ago and loved their food and never had issues with the service but I honestly think they're scamming people and I will never go...

Oh lord. I don’t know where to start. The selection was depressing. When I go to a buffet, I just expect a good selection. They had mashed potatoes that were obviously instant and lumpy. I got my son noodles and some breaded chicken. The chicken was like dry and old. He took two bites and was done. I almost choked to death on their old dry rice. That’s not even exaggerating at all. The general Taos chicken tasted freezer burnt to me. My husband just said it was obviously not fresh. But the crab looks were alright and the chicken broccoli was good thanks to obvious massive amounts of MSG. So ate my full of those and just had plans to pay and go home and make the most of our night. Then the bill came. $15 Er adult and $7 for a TODDLER that couldn’t even get more than 2 bites in without being done because it was gross. We could have gone to sizzler across the parking lot for that price and had a decent soup and salad bar. We could have gotten an amazing dinner at Mexican restaurant. Hell a $20 dinner at McDonald’s would have been better than this. After seeing the $7 charge for my TODDLER. I go and get him a big bowl of ice cream so he gets something out of that ridiculous cost. No ice cream toppings so I added a cookie. My toddler said the cookie was yucky....

So, I just got done eating at this buffet for the first time. I’ve been to all the other Chinese restaurants in Twin Falls; of the buffets, it is the best. Having lived in numerous large cities in Texas, NY, et cetera, I’d say the food is 2.5/5 stars objectively speaking, but it is 4/5 by TF standards. The best restaurant is Peking, but it doesn’t have a buffet. This is the best buffet (note: I’ve never tried the dinner buffet here, only the lunch).

The lunch buffet is relatively small but it is only $10.00 in 2025 money. It had a salad bar on one island with: honeydew melon, cottage cheese, jello, pudding, potato salad, etc. Everything tasted fine. The entree island was not so good. The best five items were the BBQ meatballs, mashed potatoes, green beans, imitation crab meat stir fry, and fried shrimp and cocktail sauce. The sweet and sour pork and chicken, the noodles, and the fried rice were mediocre. The egg drop soup and chicken almond ding were not edible.

As for service, it was prompt. And the waitress was friendly. And the food at the buffet was replaced quickly. All in all, it is a good value for $10, but it isn’t good Chinese food by any stretch of the...