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| - I've been to many a Chinese buffet..but the one that usually remember the most is the Mandarin Chinese buffet in Canada. This was the first buffet restaurant that I had ever gone to (when I was a child) and this is the brand that I usually associate most Chinese buffet to. The Mandarin chain of restaurants has been around since 1979 so it the first of its kind in Canada The this location in Brampton, is supposedly the largest and the corporate headquarters to all the Mandarin locations.
My wife and I decided to go to the Mandarin for my birthday dinner, this was because of the free dinner promotion on your birthday that it had become known for. Since I hadn't been here in a couple of years, I thought it would be a good location to rediscover. The complex is located in the industrial district along Steeles and 410 and can be a little difficult to find if you don't pay attention to the signs. This location is different that other locations as it houses the corporate HQ and a conference center along with the restaurant. You get the impression that the restaurant is the size of the building (which is quite large), but it only occupies 1/3 of the building (a little disappointing). We were greeted quickly and I told them it was my birthday and asked if I get my complementary dinner..the host smiled blankly and wrote on our bill B-Day in red pen along the top of our bill and said the host will show us to our table. The hostess was quite nice as she mentioned all the buffet tables and stations along with her choices of top dishes to be had. We were seated in Room C along with what we found out was almost all the tables were celebrating birthdays (more on that later). We were greeted by our server duo who was tending to the tables in Room C very quickly and took our drink orders. After our greeting and order taking we were on our way to the buffet. The selection was extensive and diverse, food ranged from Prime Rib, Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, Pizza, etc...
The quality of the food was not spectacular or bad..it was just buffet quality. Most food that sits under a heat lamp for a number of minutes tends to lose a lot of quality. My wife and I went back a couple of times for different items and it was alright. Our servers kept the table bussed and our waters full. At the end of our meal, our servers brought out a Chinese hat and sang the Mandarin "Happy Birthday" song along with a cake and a free picture. This practice was fun when it was your turn..but in our area there must have been 15 birthday dinners, during our meal and by the time they came to my table I sang along wit the servers. It was a little annoying during our dinner as we were trying to have a conversation. We asked for the bill and it was quickly given. The surprise was that the "complementary" birthday buffet was not complementary at all and 2 full price dinner buffets were charged. I asked our server about this and she smiled blankly and said "You need a coupon".... "A coupon?" I asked.. She walked away and I had to look it up online. As I searched on the Mandarin website, I found that Mandarin does give a free birthday buffet...if you sign up for the email club. It was my mistake for not looking up this online before, but from previous experiences at the Mandarin..you show up...show your id on your birthday...get a free buffet. There are other Chinese buffets in the area that offer this promotion and you just show your id...and voila. In retrospect, I wish the hostess at the front would have informed us of the new policy of signing up for the email club to get the complementary buffet before we sat and our servers in our section would have asked if we had our coupon (which they didn't)..All in all the Mandarin experience was like a remember and not like I remembered...it was good...and not so good...3 stars
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