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| - To me, a great dining experience is defined by the combination of taste, value, atmosphere and service. I didn't arrive at Mandarin for inventive Asian food, I came to be glutinous.
Its been over 15 years since I last dined at Mandarin, but what I found upon arrival brought joyful tears to my eyes. Families, couples, friends; talking, dining, drinking, being happy in the simplest of ways. There are few things that bring humans together as Mandarin does, because lets face it, an unlimited buffet spanning multiple ethnic cuisines forms the basis for what makes our society the greatest in the world.
Service: Mandarin has some of the most well educated and attentive servers in the entire Toronto restaurant industry, hipster servers working downtown take note, and pray they dont come after you. Our server kindly introduced herself while distributing hot towels, took the time to explain the restaurants deep roots and origins as well as the menu available to us. She quickly took our drink orders and was back in a flash with our drinks.
Food: To say that mandrain is pushing the envelope of a Chinese buffet would be subdued, while the overall menu is meant to please the massses, one finds gems amongst the hoard. Fresh ontario blueberry frozen yogurt? yes please. Unlimited fresh crab fridays and saturdays? yes please.
I want to highlight the service here in particular Myles, the managing partner of this location. Once we realized crab was a buffet item, we understandably set our eyes on devouring as much of it as we possibly could, considerate of the fact that we might be asked to stop and or leave. Myles noticed us fumbling with crab legs and introduced himself kindly, we thought it was a ploy to get us to stop eating so much crab but rather he was concerned that we were not benefitting enough from the crab offering and proceeded to deliver us a heaping plate of crab legs, then carefully instructed us on the appropriate way to de-bone the crab to yield the most meat from each leg. A complete stand out.
Later, I found Myles giving new mandarin devotee's a thorough tour of the restaurant.
I cant think of anywhere else id rather be on a Friday or Saturday evening. Thank you Mandarin.
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