By Silva

My wife spent 9 months in China teaching English to preschool-aged children. I mention this because I tend to use her for our personal "best of Chinese" places to go. We've tried a few buffets around town, and we've gone to a couple of the more traditional dinner establishments as well. So far from everything we've tried, she mentioned to me that Mandarin Cafe tastes the most like actual food from China. Now we started going here a while back, so I'm going to try to remember the first experience as best as I can, incorporating anything recurring from other visits that either boosts or counts against my view.



We tried this place on a whim one day just looking for somewhere to eat. It's located on Veteran's Parkway inside of the small shopping center where you can also find Mellow Mushroom. When we walked inside, we found the decor to be like any typical local establishment around here: white walls with paintings, plaques, and other knick-knacks from the restaurant's genre. I did find the veils hanging from the ceiling at the booths along the walls as a nice touch, giving you the sense that this is not some quick fast food Chinese delivery joint.

We were lead by a very friendly greeter to our table, and were served by her as well. She gave us our drinks and we ordered a couple of dishes (I'm going to try to avoid the particulars of what we ate in this and future articles, unless it's vital to my opinion of the place). For a second, the selection had me anxious, because it was exactly the same stuff that I've seen in all Chinese food places, however it was inside of a better menu. If there's one thing I've learned about the quality of Chinese restaurants, it's to look at the menu. Typically, if you see the classic green/red color scheme on it, you're in for not-so-great fast and loose Chinese. I saw no color, so no worries.

The food came, we had generous -very generous- portions of food, served in a traditional manner, where you receive an entree meant for two on a plate by itself, and the rice comes in a large bowl. Each person gets an empty plate, and you grab your food just as if you were at a family dinner. The food was better than your average restaurant, and as I've stated earlier, the entire experience reminded my wife of Beijing.

The price for the meal could be a little on the high side for those wanting a budget meal, but for the amount of food that you get, and for the extras that come with the meal, like after dinner fried banana wontons and fortune cookies (because in America you need to have them), I feel it's worth it. As far as crowd goes, you will find a larger than normal difference between peak and off hours for the place, going from max capacity during lunch and Friday/Saturday night, to almost empty any other time.

Overall, I feel that Mandarin Cafe is one of the most accurate and delicious establishments around for traditional Chinese cuisine. Yes, even beating out the famous Chef Lee brand. While they may need to work on the looks of the place, everything else seems just right.

Update: If you think your favorite local Chinese dining spot is better than this, feel free to let me know by saying so in the comments!