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| - Sure, we survived 2012 - but I'm going doing something here that might be a sign of the apocalypse: 3-stars for Chinese buffet... from a Chinese guy that hates Chinese buffets.
Okay - maybe I'm being soft. But just say 'all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet' to most Chinese people and you will most likely receive a look of disgust. Beyond just being 'inauthentic' (more on that later), it simply just sucks. It's not like a western buffet, where you can have a salad bar and things like mashed potatoes or roasted chicken that keep well in heated trays (... barbarians...). Most Chinese food translates poorly in this format. So, even during my youth - when buffets were the greatest thing in the world to me - I avoid Chinese buffets. I've been been to one that didn't suck.
Well - Mandarin doesn't suck. It's more like a western buffet with a focus on Chinese food. We were here for Christmas Day lunch and they had a lot of items with high turnover. We had reservations (it being Christmas Day and all) and we were immediately seated ahead of the big lineup of people that didn't think ahead.
You have your typical western buffet items (salad bar, dessert bar, roast beef, chicken, pasta, steak, torpedo shrimp, etc) with a Chinese food section, sushi stand and some dim sum. Overall, most of the items were pretty good.
As expected, there are a lot of faux-Cantonese items like egg foo yung, egg rolls and sweet & sour chicken balls (it was my first time having the latter two). It wasn't bad. Definitely inauthentic - but that in itself doesn't make it bad. For what it's worth, the other Chinese items (i.e. har gow, siu mai, stir fried beans) are pretty close to the 'real' thing and pretty good.
It's comparable to a mid-level Vegas buffet. Selection is good, turnover is high and food was inoffensive. This might sound bad, but 'inoffensive' is probably the highest compliment you can give to a buffet. Out of all the food I tried, nothing really sucked. And that's all you're looking for when you're just having foodstuff at a buffet.
The only downside was the pricing. On regular days, it's $12.99 for lunch - which is a fair price. On weekends and holidays, they add another $5 to the price.
Sure, I understand supply and demand - but for a near 40% price increase, I believe turkey (which was dry) was the only thing they added to their holiday menu.
So as a buffet, this is actually a 4-star since Mandarin is pretty high in those terms - especially if you come here during the weekday. But for $18/person on any other day than X-Mas, I rather order up a storm at an actual Chinese restaurant and leave equally stuffed. However, Mandarin is pretty good for what it is.
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