I came here tonight with my family and this Mandarin confused me a great deal.
First off, it was weird seeing a Mandarin not packed with long lines outside during a holiday weekend. In fact, the place was half empty.
The food here split into 2 categories:
Crab legs ... and then everything else.
The good:
1. The crab legs were surprisingly small.
2. The sashimi/sushi here are starting to be passably authentic.
3. I loved the peking duck and turkey dish for Thanksgiving.
4. The pineapples (for the first time in forever was sweet) at the salad bar
The bad:
1. HOW WAS THERE NO BREAD AT THE BREAD STATION?! I walked by here several times and there were your usual rolls but the sliced bread was demolished.
2. The dessert place was falling behind as it got later and later into the night. Everything started becoming half empty: especially the waffles ): and the cook was too busy to use both griddles at once.
Everything else was your usual "Chinese" (westernized) food as per the Mandarin quality - not bad but not brag worthy.
My service was excellent. We got Joe as our server and there was never a time we couldn't find him when we needed him. He refilled drinks and napkins constantly without being asked.
I loved how the manager came out to greet the tables and inquired about satisfaction.
I think the only other thing I have against this table is that the servers that come out to refill the pans in the buffet tend to walk backwards and talk to others who are still on the floor. Almost caused me spill everything on their heads a couple of times.
I'll be back when I'm craving crab legs again.