I came here on the weekend for lunch. We did not have reservations so my dining companions and I got here before they opened on Sunday for lunch. Good thing we did. This place gets packed. Crazy packed. It's super busy and it's like a feeding frenzy at the buffet tables after 12PM. Fortunately I was pretty much onto dessert by the time the hordes were clustering around the entree tables.
Let's be honest here: this isn't gourmet food. It isn't authentic Chinese food. This is North American Chinese food. For what it is, Mandarin does it very well. Nothing is going to blow your mind here. If you like seafood (I don't), they appear to have a good selection. Some of the dishes were lukewarm at best which leads me to believe that the warming tray temps weren't set high enough. That's the only reason why I would knock a star off.
The service is impeccable. Gracious, polite, efficient, super friendly. No complaints here whatsoever about the service.
I rarely go to buffets because I hate that sick feeling I get after I force myself to eat two plates of food and one plate of food would seem like you're not maximizing your buffet cost especially since I don't eat the expensive items like seafood. I also don't like the majority of the type of people who come here. People who go to the Mandarin in sweat suits or ratty jeans and sneakers. People who pile up their plates to the sky as if they were only allowed one plate and have to make the most of it. People who make a mess of the buffet or washrooms. It's because of those types of people that I probably only go to the Mandarin a couple times a decade.