Mandarin Kitchen - Bloomington

After dropping off friends at the airport, we stopped in, not having dined here for almost 3 years. Things certainly have changed. They've undergone significant renovation with a koi pond and a stand offering roast pork and duck. It certainly is spacious and classier. The bathrooms are now decent. Has business been that good? I have a theory where they got the money for the remodeling...more later.

We ate at a time when just about everybody else was having dim sum. We ordered Crispy Pork, Hong Kong Style Beef, and a Seafood Hotpot. The prices had gone up significantly from what we recalled and were above competitor prices. My belief is that sometimes you pay just a few extra dollars and you get a quantum leap in quality. Mandarin has been one of our favorite TC Chinese restaurants and this had always held true. How would three years change things?

The Crispy Pork came out soggy drenched in garlic sauce. It had a nice semi-peppery flavor but some of the pork had a slightly odd off taste bordering on stale.

The Hong Kong Style Beef comes with a sweet sauce just coating the surface. The beef was tender but lacking deep flavor. Some of the beef also tasted slightly off.

The Hot Pot was fairly decent with lots of seafood including squid and bountiful scallops and shrimp. The flavor wasn't deep as usual with hotpots.

At the beginning I said I had a theory how they got their money for the rebuild. When you eat dim sum, they automatically add 15% tip to the bill. We didn't have dim sum and they still automatically added 15% tip to the bill. This wouldn't be so bad except wait staff was mediocre to bad. When we called one of the wait staff over near the end of the meal, his tone and words were a rude "What you do want?". I always sensed a certain arrogance from the people here but I'm also willing to put up with it if the food is worthy to counter. It wasn't.

Bottom Line: Mandarin Kitchen use to be one of our favorites but I won't be returning on my dime. Mandatory tip? Screw it. Average food for above competitive price? Screw it. Bad service? Screw it. The TC has other Chinese restaurants with better food, better prices, and better service and they don't tack on a mandatory tip.

8766 Lyndale Ave
Bloomington, MN