Genuine Food & Travel Review

We are still in midtown but we are doing something slightly differently this week. North American Chinese buffet reminds me of my teenage years growing up in the US, where you can find relatively affordable buffet with wide varieties of selections from meat, vegetables and seafood. Mandarin buffet is a well established Chinese buffet in Toronto offering 30 locations in Ontario. Today we are reviewing the one located in Midtown!

Website: https://www.mandarinrestaurant.com/

Value & Vibe

Value: I would say average value for a buffet. I went during dinner on a weekday and its $35.99. However, I would have thought that the seafood will be slightly better with this price but honestly cant complain too much. You get the full course meal with all the selections appetizers, sushi, entree, salad, steaks and dessert. So overall if you are looking for a decent Chinese “North American style”, then I would say you will have most of the dishes!

Vibe: We went during dinner and honestly the vibe was good. The servers were attentive. Diverse crowd. Decent amount of people (typically a good sign for buffet) so that the food gets rotated out but at the same time not overly crowded that you are constantly waiting for your food.

Taste

Now it is quite difficult for me to really describe all the dishes that I taste on this post as I tried so many. I will instead describe it as a general group of items instead. My usual strategy for buffet these days is try as many as I could. Only try one or two pieces until I find a couple that I like. (Unfortunately I can no longer eat the same amount like I used to in my teenage years haha so I need to be more selective)

Sushi station: I would say decent. Have the typical offerings that you might expect such as rolls and sashimi. A lot of choices. Great appetizers for me!

On to the main station, I would say that you can find almost all the typical Chinese North American dishes here. All kind of carbs that you want to pair it with. A lot of fried food (chicken, shrimp, etc…). There were also some BBQ ribs and salmon. So overall, you can find most things here but like many dishes associated with Chinese buffet, your offers will lean toward deep fried and stir fried dishes of variety of protein and vegetables.

These were just two pictures of my plates. As you can see, only a few bites of each first so that you know what you like! I definitely like deep fried food so my typical selections would be deep fried dishes.

They also have a “steak” section in which the server will cut you a slice of meat per request with mashed potatoes or fries as a side. Randomly, there is also a waffle station…. I didnt try this one as I couldnt eat anymore. I just found it interesting. Might be good to eat it with icecream as part of the dessert.

Now to on to the desert options. Surprisingly there are MANY more options than I thought. At that point I was getting pretty full. There are many flavors of ice-cream, soft serves, cakes, pastry, donuts and among other things. Although not a dessert, but the salad bar is also quite big so plenty of options for you to choose from as well!

All in all, I can see why this has been fairly popular in Canada. This is very representative of what a decent Chinese buffet would look like growing up in the US. I would say that the food offerings are fairly mild which lean toward the North American/Canadian customers. I wouldnt say that they are the most “authentic” Chinese dishes, but, if you are craving some North American Chinese cuisine, you will find most of the varieties here. The options for dessert was a pleasant surprise.

Score

Atmosphere: 7/10. Great servers. The staff by the bar could be slightly more attentive but overall great atmosphere and respectful staff. Great for a family gatherings.
Price: 7.5/10 (Great price for the variety. LOTs of options for dessert)
Taste: 7/10 (Great North American Chinese cuisine. Remind me quite a bit of my teenage years)

Scale:
Would not recommend: Below 2
Need some improvement: 3-5
Average: 5
Decent: 6
Great: 7
Excellent: 8
Outstanding 9+