Date: 19.02.11
Restaurant: Mandarin Buffet Queensway location
Address: 1255 The Queensway ON M8Z 1S1
Phone number: (416) 252-5000
Food served : Canadian style Chinese food/buffet style
Takeout/Delivery: Both
Price range: $$ ($11-$25 not including tax)
Rating: 2/5
Alrighty then my first review! And what better way than to start off with a very popular buffet restaurant, Mandarin! Now to start off if you plan to go here, make sure to make reservations as soon as possible, at least on Fridays-Sundays. It does seem to be very popular,seeing as the many time's I have been there, there are usually a mass amount of people waiting to be seated. So again make reservations!
Now I've dined both lunch and dinner at this establishment more than once, and for the most part enjoyed my experience, due to the company i had attend with me, either than that... well its hard to say if i really enjoyed much else. The moment you walk into the door, you are usually greeted with a line of hostess saying in there most (scary) cheerful voice "Hello, welcome to mandarin!" usually the customers ignore the greeting while others cringe at the sound. i on the other hand think it's a little excessive. Now i can' blame the hostess, seeing as it seems its part of their job, I've even over heard the Female manager, speaking to these ladies saying "Louder, and smile", again...to excessive.
If you don't make a reservation sometimes, depending on how many people you attend with, you may be waiting for 10-15 minutes on a regular day. if the restaurant is more busy, lets say special promotion or even weekends, some groups may have to wait 45 min-1 hour. Now if you have small kids i suggest don't put them through that long of a wait and just move on to another restaurant. the area gets to crowded to fast with the amount of people who have to wait for a seat.
Now onto the dinning experience! first off there are 6 rooms all alphabetized from A-F. Now most of the rooms are a relatively large size, and can hold a lot of people. Actually it seemed like the manager just said "fit as many tables in here as possible!" i swear there isn't very much personal space between you and the next table. Also since i spoke about the hostess...the servers well the sound like robots, if the greeting at the front didn't phase you, the constant good bye chant they give to every leaving table will bother you to no end! again, i'm assuming its part of the job...but again to excessive....
As for the food, well there is a good amount of food, from salads to pizza to chow mein. variety is always nice, but not always the best. though most of the dishes tasted really good, others were just not appetizing at all. Such as their sushi, as a big fan of sushi, Mandarin's sushi just didn't come up to snuff, so to say. it tasted as if the sushi was premade, frozen and then defrosted for the buffet, definitely a disappointment.
Overall, mandarin would not be my choice for a date restaurant, going with a group maybe, but its still not a first choice on my list. Some may disagree others may agree but that's my review on Mandarin Queensway!
Dine out and Enjoy!
~DITO ;3
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