**** Mandarin Garden has closed
Right off of Mira Mesa Boulevard, and hidden away in a strip mall, is Mandarin Garden. Located in the interior of the mall, you'll never find it unless you're looking for it, or stumble across it while eating at maybe L&L Drive In.
In this location, and if doing a very cursory review of the menu, you'd think that Mandarin Garden is just a run-of-the-mill American-Chinese restaurant, with items like Egg Foo Young, Beef and Broccoli, and Chicken Chop Suey on the extensive 200+ item menu. The beyond the red doors lies a few surprises. Mandarin Garden has more then a few special Shanghainese specialties, and also features a special Saturday and Sunday lunch menu. So after putting our frozen Xiao Long Bao from SDCCI on ice, we decided to drop in on Mandarin Garden for "brunch", from 1130am to 230pm.
Now I understand Mandarin Garden has only been in this location for three years; but the decor screams 70's Chinese, so I'm thinking this must've been another Chinese restaurant before then, right? The lighting in Mandarin Garden is pretty dim, so please excuse the PWTSDS(Posts Where The Sun Don't Shine) quality photos.
We started off with a classic Shanghainese appetizer off the regular menu; Smoked Fish($6.95):
For those who've never had this; the fish isn't really smoked; it's first marinated, then deep fried, then marinated again, for a smokey color. The seasonings also give the fish a slightly smokey flavor. This example was fine, perhaps a bit heavy on the sugar and five spice which over-powered any soy or ginger flavor. The Missus also thought that the type of fish chosen was too "boney"; which left you so busy picking bones out, that distracted you from the flavor of the fish. Still at most Shanghainese restaurants it's either Smoked Fish or Wine Chicken to start.
Off of the weekend menu we chose Boiled Wonton in Hot Sauce($4.95):
Well what to say……The Wontons were fine, except the skin were on the "gummy" side. The sauce was really sad, too sweet, and not spicy in the least.
We also ordered the Niu Rou(stewed beef) Shao-Bing, one of the items written in Chinese(eighth item written only in Chinese – $4.95), I apologize for the photos, I just couldn't get it right:
There was nothing wrong with the taste of the Shao Bing(a toasted layered bread), it was crisp, and had a nice flavor; nor the marinated and shredded beef, which had a sweet, soy and five spice flavor. The only problem was with proportion; too much bread for too little meat. The bread overshadowed the meat filling.
Of course what would a visit be without Xiao Long Bao($5.45):
As the ginger-black vinegar sauce was placed at the table, I could hardly contain myself. But I must say, I was very disappointed. If you look at the photo above you'll notice, all the soup had leaked out of the "soup" dumplings during cooking, leaving just the meatball behind. So I had soupless, soup dumplings. This says that our dumplings were done very haphazardly, and with very little concern for us, the customer! I mean, I made my frozen Xiao Long Bao, and none of them burst……….
The last item we got was the Flakey Turnip Strip "Cake"($2.95), off of the Chinese only menu (fifth item down):
After the massacred Xiao Long Bao, I really was ready for a major let-down. But these little pastries made the visit worthwhile. Crisp and flaky pastry, crunchy strips of turnip, with strips of onion-ny, sweet-bitter-salty filling, made these most delici-yoso!
To think, the cheapest item we ordered was the best!
Even though our meal was a "mixed-bag", I wouldn't give up on Mandarin Garden. Among the Kung Pao Chicken, and Beef Chop Suey, are items like Lion's Head, and according to Candice Woo, the Smoked Duck is divine. Stephanie, who recommended the frozen Xiao Long Bao from SDCCI, also enjoys Mandarin Garden. I don't think we'll make a special trip to Mira Mesa, since we have Shanghai City, but I wouldn't discount Mandarin Garden.
Mandarin Garden
8242 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126
858-566-4720