Mandarin House

Reviews

• Annie Z.

  star star star star_border star_border 13 June 2026

  My friends and I ordered congee through Snackpass. I didn't bring my wallet when I went to pick up our orders since we had all paid through the app. However, I needed a bag to carry all three containers of congee and plastic bags are 10 cents each. The lady at the counter was generous and gave me two bags to carry the takeout congee with, but reminded me to give her a quarter the next time I come.
  
  [ Mushroom Chicken Congee ] The congee is on the watery side and I usually like my congee thicker. Aside from the small chunks of mushroom, the congee lacked flavor. Also, the mushrooms tasted a little bit sour? The pieces of chicken were pretty dry and flavorless as well. Nonetheless, this was good comfort food for a cold day.

• Vince Y.

  star star star_border star_border star_border 31 May 2026

  I came here to eat when coming to Berkeley to see a concert. My buddy is a sushi fiend so he went to that small shop. This is located in a small quad that has 8-10 shops of food, drink and donuts at a decent cost. Mainly a UC Berkeley hangout for the past 25 years since I first discovered it.
  
  Ok this Chinese restaurant has been here for 25 years or possibly longer. There are maybe 10 tables and a counter to order at. An older lady has been for ions and Iam sure she is the owner and husband is the cook. I ordered the dry beef chow fun for $8.99 but it is near $11 with tax and charges for to-go box, utensils and plastic bag. I think it is a city charge thing to pay for the bevy of disposable junk.
  
  It took maybe 10 minutes. Marry was very nice when I spoke the same language and got a chance to brush up on my Cantonese. The food was an ok portion (used to be larger) but it was one of the worst renditions I have ever had of beef chow fun. Uggh. Inch sized noodles and not the thicker good kind and the beef were not in nice big slices but small inch thick slices. It was kinda bland. Usually there is a good level of saltiness. Not here.  Maybe soy sauce snd salt is rare now??
  
  1 star. 1 more star for the nice lady. With the other choices in the quad, I would advise to choose a different one to try. Especially Gypsy's Italian food.

• Josselynn R.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 31 May 2026

  I'm surprised at how this place is even in business.
  First it was my mistake for coming in here without reading the reviews first. We were walking by & thought it would be a good idea to try this place .. it was not.
  The staff here are RUDE, not just to each other but to their clients as well.
  The food here is OK at best. Don't try the shrimp dumplings, those are gross.
  Mongolian beef is INCREDIBLY spicy. No flavor just spicy. The broccoli beef is ok. The wait time was not bad, however as soon as we walked in we were told to sit, but then to get up and grab our own drinks? That was different. This place is probably still running because it's affordable that's it. Says "no fee" for takeout, but they charge you for every box & bag you use. I paid an extra 75 cents for two boxes? First time in my life that happens. Also watched one of the workers mistreat one of the older workers, wanted to walk out without touching the food at that point. Side note: there's no high chair for smaller kids. So wrap your infant around your waist if you want to eat with your kids.

• Dunant H.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 26 May 2026

  There are a lot of cautionary reviews about this place already... but here's another one. I came with low expectations since most other places were closed and I just wanted some cheap local Chinese food. It is located in the "asian ghetto" right next to UC Berkeley, so there will always be students in the area.
  
  After we ordered, as we walked to our seats we noticed other people who were eating here left most of their food on their plate and didn't pack it to-go so it was already a little worrisome. We ordered a minced beef rice and a Mongolian beef combo with fried rice. As soon as the Mongolian beef combo came out my wife said the rice smelled foul and had a funky taste to it. The beef was very rough but at least not as bland as some describe if you wanted to be positive...
  
  When my minced beef came out, it wasn't what I'd call minced beef but I didn't mind. As the order was brought to my table though, the server saw a piece of metal wire or fiber and picked it off my plate as she was setting it down... little scary. I still have it a try away from that area and it was okay. I had a few bites and it was okay until I had a bite where the rice just had a funky bitter taste to it. Not sure if it's old or gone bad but we had enough and just left to eat somewhere else... save your money.

• Yanjun W.

  star star star star star 25 May 2026

  9.30 night. A cold night before National Day when friends were all watching marching. We ordered two beef meatball rice noodles. I liked it as well as the leaves. They had special scent. They were too slow in cooking but we were talking on Wechat or watching games videos so it was not embarrassing at all. The waitresses said mandarin with a Cantonese accent. 10.14 dinner. The second time. I ordered beef chow rice fun and David ordered cha shao rice. Mine cost $8.95. The chow rice fun contained a lot of onions. Maybe they forgot to add salt so I put soy sauce and salt by myself.  Onions were a little bit spicy. They did not pour water but we could help ourselves. Serving was still very slow, just as last time. With tax and tips ti was $11.25