Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Mandarin Garden - Chinese, Santa Rosa

1973 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa CA 95401
(707) 575-1628
Parking: in shopping center parking lot

Last Visited: May 10, 2004

Food: 2 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Service: 3 stars
Price: $ to $$

At $5.85 for an all you can eat lunch buffet, you really can’t go wrong. The Mandarin Garden buffet offers fresh green salad and a variety of other vegetables, jello, imitation crab salad, kim chee, and the like in the salad bar. From the hot food bar, you will find fried won tons, egg rolls, chicken wings, hot and sour soup, braised green beans, almond chicken, sweet and sour pork, beef with broccoli, prawns, chow mein, fried rice, fried bananas, and a few other dishes.

The place is neat and clean with little decoration. The table is adorned with paper place settings. The service is okay, but the food quality is typical of that in Sonoma County. The flavor of most of the food – chow mein, fried rice, vegetables, and meat dishes were fine. There seemed to be a bit of MSG used though. The hot and sour soup was a bit too sour for me and lacking the flavor that should be present, but the consistency is right.

Certainly the all you can eat buffet is an excellent draw at this price, but I have high expectations for Chinese food quality, so while others may rate it at least three stars, to keep it in line with the ratings of authentic restaurants listed on this page, the most I can give it is two stars. I found myself thirsty after the meal, and I attribute that to the MSG used. This place is great if you’re eating on a budget.

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