Mu Lan Taiwanese Restaurant (Waltham) — Restaurant in Waltham

GREASY, TASTELESS, INEDIBLE

Mulan is the kind of Chinese restaurant designed for those who want to pretend they are in China. if so this could be a great stop if your goal is merely to get a warm fuzzy feeling from watching people eat Chinese and speak Chinese in the burbs.

However, if your goal is actually eating authentic delicious Chinese food, avoid this place at all costs. The dishes may sound wonderfully authentic from the menu, but it's obvious from the first bite, the cooks in the kitchen, don't have a clue as to how to prepare them, or know how to cook in general.

No my family and I are not Nubies when it comes to Chinese Food, My wife is Chinese and I have visited China many times but we couldn't get down more than a few bites of three out of the three dishes we ordered. Each dish that arrived at the table seemed to be worse than the last

First we had as an appetizer a dish I had had many times in other restaurants. including NYC Flushing China town resembling a crispy scallion pancake which serves as a wrapper for a beef filling cilantro etc Sounds good but the dough was greasy and limp to the touch and the beef and onion filling flavorless. If you want a much better version of this dish go to Sichuan Gourmet, Brookline

My son Robby ordered a Pork Chop Noodle Soup, a generally satisfying Shanghai dish especially on a cold day bursting with flavor -- thick noodles, a crispy chopped up pork chop etc.,with spinach on top, At Mulan the soup broth was about as tasty as hot water, from the tap, and instead of a pork chop you got a greasy deep fried piece of pork on a plate that had to be dabbed with a napkin to remove the excess oil. Arrggg!

Then there was the pork dish, with cabbage a, brown tasteless 4 inch pile of shredded meat, directly from the meat grinder. We tried to ask the manager to change out this dish, but she flatly refused, which antagonized me "Do you have a version of this that doesn't look like a brown blob? Do you have knives to cut the meat vs. grind it?" She ran off in a huff and started chatting up other customers

My wife continued to peck away at the dishes, but my son and I just sat there unable to eat any of the food without seeing the non verbal expression of YUCK! written all over our faces My wife felt very bad and almost burst into tears. We paid the check and left as fast as our feet could carry us, My wife said, today I will never go back to that restaurant...

When you walk into Mu Lan it is like you are transported to Taiwan. They have some "Americanized" dishes, however they are known for their authentic dishes. My Chinese friends that also own restaurants told me that Mu Lan is the real deal. I went at lunchtime. Most tables were occupied. I was one of the only non-Asian customers. To me, that's a sign of a great restaurant. As soon as I sat, they brought me over tea, water with lemon, a ramikin of peanuts and a ramikin of pickled cabbage and carrots. A very pleasant start to the meal. My waiter, an older gentleman with glasses was very friendly and was one of the English speaking employees. Part of their menu is written in Taiwanese. Those items had pictures. You can also easily use your cell and Google translate. I should note the restaurant was extremely clean and had nice Asian decor. They give you chopsticks. There is forks/spoons available if needed. I use chopsticks at home so this wasn't an issue. I started with a cup of Hot and Sour Soup. It's a favorite dish of mine and I was curious to see how they did it. Great flavors with the normal fillers like tofu, golden needle, black fungus, egg etc. Had a good amount of heat to clear your nose. My next course was half of the House Duck. Also delicious! Although reading the reviews it sounds like people lean towards the Smoked Duck. I finished with some Cuttlefish Dumplings! These were amazing! I believe the wrapper was black from squid ink. Overall, very happy with the food and the little extras they give you.

When they bring out the bill, they also bring Orange slices!!! Kind of like the pineapple back in the day! They have a large menu with a lot of interesting choices. From a cultural perspective it was really fascinating to watch some of the families eat. Each person would get a bowl of rice. Then the table would get two giant bowls One looked like a soup. The family members would pick at the big bowls and place items on their rice. After a few bites they would repeat the process.

Definitely worth checking out for great fresh, authentic Taiwanese/Chinese food. Prices were very reasonable! Excited to go back and try...

A dreadful restaurant! I asked if I could order the eggplant dinner with tofu added to it for extra protein. The waiter said no. I thought he might have a problem with English so I asked him again in various ways. Still no, so I chose the tofu with mixed vegetables.

When it arrived the sauce was terrible - tasteless but vaguely sour. I asked if they could bring me a different sauce on the side - maybe one slightly sweet (like the lovely sauce that P.F Chang uses on their eggplant.) The waiter told me that they had no other sauce to offer whatsoever except duck sauce. I took another bite trying to tough it out and realized then that I simply could not eat this meal at all.

I called my waiter over and asked him to take my full plate back as it was inedible. The waiter said no, as did the manager when I asked to speak to him. They said I would need to pay for it though I did not eat it and did not suggest I could exchange it for another dish. So I had them pack it all up knowing I could doctor it at home and not waste the food I had just paid for. I watched my companion eat her dinner as we chatted and I ate nothing. I took it home and will cook it up in a sauce that I will make myself of some diluted soy sauce, some sweet chili sauce from Trader Joe's and a dash of my favorite Chinese sauce called "Old Spicy Mother" in English from Super 88. It will not be as fresh as it was on the first cooking but I am pretty sure it will taste a whole lot better.

My friend ordered the sweet and sour chicken. It came out in a bright orange sauce so sweet it would put a diabetic into a coma. She offered me some but when I tasted it there was a tiny nugget of chicken in the center of a wad of fried dough, most of which she left on her plate. She mentioned to me as we left that the food was of low quality despite the white table cloths that give a false impression of quality. I was embarrassed about being so grumpy at dinner and apologized to her but she he told me that she also was not favorably impressed with this restaurant and would...