Mandarin Palace

This is for take out. My family would order take out regularly from here and it’s been a few months since we’ve ordered. We went shopping at the market and ordered food Togo. We ordered two items and when I asked for a side of kimchi, I was told no and that they don’t do Kim chi to go. I asked since when and was told always. Excuse me? I let her know we always got extra kimchi from them before and she just said no, not Togo. There is no sign that says «no kimchi on Togo» orders. I just spent $ 35 for two items… no wonder when I went in at 6:00, there were only 2 tables dining. I’m not going there again!

I don’t understand why there’s so many bad reviews??? Nicest, clean, best ever*** The food is always Fantastic, Specially JJampong – spicy seafood soup, and Palboche – seafood with vegetables stir fry. That’s my favorite food this restaurant. I strongly recommend this restaurant

Nicest, best ever! Been following them from old location to new location; no «parts is parts» like done places. Always quick AND fresh!

Been coming here for years, place is always clean. The food is always bomb!!! Potstickers are on point, the price is worth it!

I came here after shopping at the grocery store next door and I know I was pretty famished but I thought the food was amazing.
1. The honey walnut shrimp is on point. The shrimp is such great quality unlike ones you’ll find at panda express that’s probably frozen and crap. I thought it was pretty pricey but I think if I were selling non-​frozen shrimps at my restaurant, I would definitely up the price for these types of dishes too. I actually saw the ladies peeling and deveining shrimps that were not frozen in the back. This is not an easy task from personal experience after cooking only 1lb of shrimp for a jambalaya dish I made before.
2. The jjampong was a little too spicy for me but the flavor was good. This dish also had good quality seafood as well.
3. I think the mandarin chicken was really good. There is honestly nothing super special about it but the flavor is really good. I would prefer more seafood dishes.
4. I togo-​ed some black bean fish for my boyfriend and it was good but I personally really love black bean sauce seafood dishes.
5. My dad liked the pork ribs but I didn’t really want this to get stuck in my glued on retainers so I didn’t try it but he raves about that.
Yes it’s pretty pricey and whatnot but it’s not a panda express where it’s fast food and frozen. I think with my family always being in the restaurant industry, we understand this. Some people have a harder time.

Don’t know why there is so many bad reviews?!?
Went there today for a graduation dinner.
Excellent — jampong (spicy seafood soup)
Excellent — tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork)
Excellent — palboche (seafood stirfry)
Excellent — sizzling rice soup
Pretty good — jajangmyun (black bean noodle soup)
Not good — this chicken dish that I couldn’t remember the name.
Overall, I liked it because the food tasted very clean. The restaurant itself is very nice and clean too. They are not a «doting» kind of service, but what Asian establishment is? I think the reviews are unnecessarily harsh. Try it, the food is good and very clean.

We’ve been coming here for years, first at their China Village location and now here. The food has always been consistently delicious.

I don’t get all the one & two star reviews!!! We had a wonderful meal (try the spicy eggplant), warm & friendly service and a clean & pleasant atmosphere. Give them a chance… you will be glad!

Interesting place. The ladies that run the joint kinda rubbed me the wrong way. But my girlfriend liked them, so maybe it’s just me. Got my usual kung pao chicken and wasn’t really impressed. My girlfriend got her usual honey walnut shrimp and wasn’t impressed either. The pot stickers and sizzling rice soup were really good though!

My sister and bro law recommend this place to us. They use to go to the old location.
Well I was very skeptical because of the reviews. We came in twice in the last couple of months and I have to say the food is really good. We ordered several dishes and we all shared them. My kids loved the food!
We will continue to patronize this family run business.

Though service is good, taste wise this place fails. Their tangsooyook is good. Delicious one of the best I’ve ever tried but it’s pricey. I believe it was over $ 15. Their jjajjangmyun and jjambbong are reaaaaally not tasty tho :(

Mandarin Palace has been here for years. We had a decent experience a few months ago with the new ownership, despite the bad reviews so we came back for a birthday dinner. I made reservations for 14 and when I did, they told me there was another party of 30. I asked to be in a different part of the room from them and she said ok.
When we arrived, we got seated. We then waited 15 minutes for hot tea and she took our order. By this time, it’s customary to bring out the small side dishes. The waitress came over and said the kitchen was busy. I told her she should have anticipated two large parties to be here at the same time since we both made reservations. After about 45 minutes of waiting, my dad walked over to speak to someone. At this time, we noticed a man literally walk over, into the kitchen, reach in the refrigerator and grabbed a soju bottle. We also noticed the table that was there before us barely get their food. My dad was dismissed by the lady (owner) up front by hand gesture to go away and shoo’d him off! What utter disrespect!!! I was furious! By this time we were approaching a hour of waiting and her behavior was unacceptable. We took our party of 14 and walked out.
This place is not worth your time to visit. I would hate for anyone else to have to experience this. I will never come back to this restaurant and I’m sure they will close down soon enough.

This is a re-​post from my review on 12÷4÷15
Note to all those that hazard a visit to this place: I am re-​posting this review because it has been counted as a «non-​recommended review,» and therefore my original one star would not count otherwise. My one star has to count. It’s my first Unilocal review, so it’s somewhat sentimental, but mostly because… wait for it… It’s true.
If you’ll notice all the bad reviews about this restaurant, most Unilocalers have mentioned something about the owner’s rude, obnoxious behavior. Young is simply a very vindictive, spiteful person, and it comes out of every pour of her being when she is being rude to customers. Believe me when I say, my experience was the worst I have ever had in any restaurant, let alone it coming from the owner!
The owner of this establishment must learn that if one makes their living off of money from a service-​based industry, such as a restaurant, then it stands to reason that one should treat their customers with a modicum of respect.
***ORIGINAL POST FROM 12÷4÷15
Mandarin Palace — Pennywise, Pound Foolish!
I have been using Unilocal for over 10 years and have neglected crossing over into writing actual reviews due to time constraints with my job. I had always hoped that an excellent dining experience would be the impetus for me to write my first review, but unfortunately my experience with this Chinese Restaurant was so unbelievably horrible, that I could not pass up the opportunity to let everyone know, unequivocally, DO NOT GO HERE! Why? Let me begin by giving a bit of history on this place and my entire family.
My whole family, and many of my friends that I have brought here, have been coming to the Mandarin Palace for over 20 years! Yes, that’s right, two decades of patronage — apparently of little value to the new, extremely rude, penny-​pinching, miser of an owner, and worse business mind ever. Our family has owned several restaurants and have been in the restaurant service industry for our entire lives. WE UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF CUSTOMER SERVICE, and HOW TO MAINTAIN A LOYAL CUSTOMER BASE. Our restaurants have been very successful. Needless to say, I was shocked when this ridiculous owner decided not to honor our menial request. Hence my review today.
We ordered two dishes to go for a total cost of approx. $ 26.00. In the past, when the previous owners ran the establishment, I ALWAYS received one Lg. rice PER every dish ordered. Much to my dismay, when the order was ready, there was only one Lg. rice, and so I asked the owner politely, «Is this all the rice I get? Her response? «If you want more you have to pay!» Really??? So two full dishes from the dinner menu, which should be enough to feed four grown adults, only gets one Lg. rice to share? How does that make any sense?
In my perplexed state I explained that it simply was not enough for us, all the while knowing that had we eaten in, we would’ve received unlimited rice at no extra charge. I managed to stay calm and tried to explain to her that it is simply not enough rice to feed us. Her response? «I don’t care, it’s not your decision!» WOW! I quickly added that this is a bad business practice because the money you’d save by offering half the rice for TO GO orders, would be meaningless if you alienate your customers and lose their business entirely.
Being Korean myself, but born in the US, I think I am beginning to understand why so many of my non-​Korean friends and family have commented on the fact that sometimes Korean business owners can be very rude and abrupt. This lady takes the cake. She showed no understanding, no concern, no desire to keep our business, no professionalism, and remained adamant in her pennywise, pound foolish business philosophy.
I said that I would never come back, and that she has lost our patronage, me and my entire family! I have over 60 relatives living in the immediate area, we have had banquets, birthdays, we even came here for my Grandmother’s funeral in the late 90’s when we rented the entire restaurant out to accommodate our guests and relatives. Always with impeccable service with a smile. This lady has lost out big time! In addition, I attend a local Korean church — the Big ONE down the street. Our church has ordered many times from here for different functions. How do I know this? Because I did the ordering! One time we ordered from the previous owners, a 300 person buffet package. Needless to say, I will be ordering from somewhere else from now on.
So how did this sad story end? On the way out the door I said that she has the worst business sense, and that she will continue to lose business if she keeps treating her customers this way. Her response? «Shut up! Get out!» and then slammed her fists on the counter! WOW AGAIN! I finally retorted, «Do you want to hit me? Please try!» Maybe after owning her restaurant and taking over, I will finally get enough rice.

Well… you would think that with the Christian music playing in the background they would treat you a lot better than they treated us. I have posted the pictures of the new prices AND the portions. We tried paying half cash and half credit to split the bill between my father and I ($ 25 and $ 25 for a $ 46.40). The waitress then came over and told me my card wasn’t working (even though I had just paid for gas using the same card). Not a problem… I gave her $ 25 cash. She then came back and told us that we didn’t give her enough to pay the full amount. We argued with her but it was no use. Sure, it’s only $ 5 but still! Where is the integrity? We had never had this problem before here. We have been loyal customers for YEARS. We will NEVER come back to this place. A thief is thief. Shame on your business!

Descent food, good service, just wanted to try out under new management and exceededbour expectation. Jja jang myun (black bean noodle) is excellent, too!

8 of us went to the Mandarin Palace last night to celebrate early Christmas. We called ahead and asked for a round table. Young said she would give us a good table, and she did. We were toward the back of the restaurant and we lingered a long time over our meal. We opened gifts and had a wonderful time. Young and Sarah were very attentive. The food was terrific as usual. Young walked us out and gave us all a gift of an Asian Pear to take home. (I love Asian pears). I don’t understand the poor ratings here. We’ve been to the Mandarin Palace at least 6 times since discovering it in August of 2015 and every time has been wonderful. Love them.

This is a joint claimed to be Chinese and offering Chinese American food. This restaurant is owned and operated by Koreans, a typical way to disguise as the Japanese or Chinese, offering Sushi or Chinese food. These kinda traditional Chinese American restaurants have suffered greatly since those trendy Americanized corporate style Chinese or Japanese restaurants coming up in recent years. These old styled Chinese American food such as sweet and sour chicken or pork, broccoli beef, Kung-​Pao chicken or beef cooked with generic ready-​made neutral sauces have been gradually phased out, younger generation would not appreciate it anymore.
This restaurant had relocated to this free standing building with newer interior décor, but the food is still the same; not typical Chinese but imitated Chinese food by Korean or Chinese Koreans. Food is okay if you only know these kind of Americanized Chinese, not great at all but still decent enough to eat, especially if you have a group of senior Americans who grew up with these kinda of flavors and they deemed them as the typical Chinese food. Their menu covers most of the typical Americanized Chinese food but even so, their flavors are NOT as great as it should be but marginally acceptable.
A Korean Chinese restaurant especially favored by American senior citizens with just so-​so food at higher prices.

Mandarin Palace is a true jewel in Fullerton. From the extensive menu from which every item is unique and delicious in its own right to the above excellent service, this place is incredible. I had the privilege of meeting the owner on our last visit, what a wonderful time we enjoyed. I highly recommend not only the food but the warmth and hospitality of the owner and staff.

My family had been going to this place for more than 20 years and we loved it! Then they got new owners and it was so disappointing. Haven’t come back since

WOW! What an experience! (said while laughing out loud!)
Had not been here in 5 years and noticed they completely remodeled, and decided to check it out.
We ordered shrimp chowmein, one iced tea, and one ice water.
When asked «is that all,» my friend said, «and an order of rice.»
We next received our drinks, and some complimentary fried egg noodles,
and a sweet and sour type sauce, it was good. It was dusk and I just raised our window shade to about 12 inches. We were immediately snapped at «PUT SHADE DOWN!» And she stood there with her mean smirk, while I lowered the shade. I did not understand what the big deal was? But it was not customer friendly, thats for sure!
When our order that we shared came (about 9 small shrimp) it was a little small for $ 10.99
but I can say it was good.
About half way through we wondered where the rice was, it was a little late to enjoy it now.
Our waitress then showed up to refill my ice water, and my friend asked for an ice tea refill. I
then asked to cancel the rice. She said, «You didn’t order rice.» That solved that.
While waiting some time for the tea refill (no hot tea offered) I noticed only two other patrons and wondered what the waitress was doing. when I looked, it looked like nothing, so I got up and asked for the tea. Then I was snapped at «okay, go back.» The tea came, with the bill about two minutes later.
After looking at the bill, all looked normal except the «sharing charge $ 1.99,» especially after
the marginal service. we then decided rude service does not deserve a tip.
My friend used their credit card to pay the bill and was asked to fill in the amount on paper, to charge on the credit card, I looked at the total bill which was $ 16, and I said Write in $ 16, and my friend did.
Holy Holy!!! «I’ve never encountered anything like this before!»
The cashier grabbed the paper we wrote the amount on, crumbled it up on the spot, and with a totally nasty disposition, threw it with a disgusted gasp on the ground behind her!
As we exited, and as I was saying how good the food was, our waitress blurted out in an Asian language, an obviously (very vicious) rude comment. That, I did not expect, even after all that had happened?
I will not be returning any year soon!
Tip for «rude horrible» service? Sorry, I don’t do that.
I might try again in 5+ years or so? «If they are still in business, with new owners»
I agree with another one star post:
«I miss the old place with their tacky décor nice waiter and great food!!»
What could cause the personell at Mandarin Palace to be so «wicked to customers»???
Are they being forced to work there, or? Your guess is as good as mine?

The food was not pleasant nor was the service… it’s way too expensive. And the owner is so rude. She yelled at a customer and told him to leave. She kept on yelling at him and calling him stupid and to shut up. After she kicked him out she cursed in korean about him. I was so shocked on what happened that I quickly finished and left. Do not go here unless you want to be yelled at.

I have been s loyal customer for 15 years now that they are in this new location, Young and her staff have worked hard to create a beautiful environment to go along with the great menu. Egg Flower soup is the best, and you must try the honey walnut shrimp.
Chicken /​broccoli is delightful, as is the sesame chicken and lo mein. Service is great and Young Me always welcomed you with a smile

I have been to this place many times before where the food was okay with previous management. Today, I found out that there is new owner and the place is renovated.
Ordered jjampong, one regular and one seafood, and it tasted so so. They raised prices for these, $ 13 for seafood. Way too much for jjampong.
I do not recommend this restaurant.

My first encounter…2012 previous location on St. College for delivery… OUTSTANDING!
Young and Sara the greatest…
Always friendly, VERY FUNNY, and mostly appreciative of my patronage.
The food is the best! The Walnut Shrimp… BEST EVER!
New location is great, the restaurant is TOP NOTCH!

So this is my story.
Been here many times before. Brought a friend to celebrate her birthday in May and met the new owner. Dinner was good and conversation was pleasant.
My kids asked where would I like to celebrate my birthday and I chose this place. So, upon arrival I was surprised to see family and friends all there to celebrate my special day. Right away I was told that the servers were being pushy for the orders even though they knew they were still waiting for me. The two large tables were apart and I wanted to move them closer to have my family and friends all near me, when we started moving the tables the owner came running over yelling and screaming that she had already said NO and she walked away so angry. We were shocked by her behavior. My niece went to her to tell her that what she did was mean and unprofessional and she basically told my niece that she didn’t care and said that we can just leave. I then went over to her calmly expressing how I felt and asked why was she acting so different, since my last visit was pleasant. She was so rude and didn’t want to hear anything I had to say, just kept telling me to leave. Wow!!! So walking out the door we told her that she was wrong for what she did and that we would give her a bad review on Unilocal,she straight up yelled at us that she didn’t care so obviously she doesn’t need the business after what we went through and reading all these other bad reviews. I hope she gets what she deserves.

This place is renovated and clean at all but the employees are so rude. I went with my family and the employees didn’t greet us or bring us to a table until we went up to them and asked them if there was a wait. And we tried to order the lunch special they were telling us not to order them and how it’s not made for «Koreans» so it wouldn’t be that good. Then why is it on the menu in the first place. So they told us to order the main plates ($ 19.99 per dish) instead of the lunch special ($ 7.99 per dish). So we ordered two main dishes and two noodles ($ 12,$ 13) and they took forever. And the employees never smile and when they serve the food, they just shove it on the table. They’re so rude and it’s so obvious they don’t wanna work there.
It’s overpriced for the portion you get. Not coming back.

Formally China Village on State Collage in Fullerton. Same owners moved here when China Village closed due to construction. Awesome food and the owner is friendly and immediately recognized us from the other restaurant. Beautiful clean restaurant. Cozy booths and large tables for big parties. So happy I found them and they are closer to home. Bonus… no train tracks in the parking lot. Best Chinese food in Fullerton!!!

I don’t know why this place has such low ratings and not that many reviews. I think everyone should try out this restaurant. Maybe it is because not many people know that the owner and the chef have changed about a year ago. I have never come here before this new owner, but something more than the vibe of this place must’ve changed because I thought this place was amazingly delicious.
We ordered jjajangmyun, yangjangpee, tangsooyouk, and jjamppong. Jjamppong wasn’t very hot (temperature wise) and it wasn’t as good as I expected it to be. The yangjangpee is never really my favorite– so I don’t know if I can compare the one from this restaurant to any other ones. The jjajangmyun and the tangsooyouk, though, was fantabulous. One of the BEST jjajangmyun I had in California (and I’ve visited about 5 different jjajangmyun places within the past two weeks). The tangsooyouk was also really close to what you would expect tangsooyouk to be. I’ve had a hard time couple of the times I ordered tangsooyouk at other places because it wasn’t what I expected– it was completely different from what I had as a child in Korea. But the tangsooyouk from this place was quite like the one I had when I was little.
I would highly recommend this place if you are looking for Korean-​styled Chinese food.
Recommendations: jjajangmyun and tangsooyouk.

What can I say… nothing has changed since my last visit.
They’ve actually gotten worse! Food was terrible, super slow service and to top it off, our waitress was rude for no good reason.
Wish Unilocal allowed 0 Star.

2 stars seems low, but I just went by Unilocal’s «Meh, I’ve experienced better» quote guide. I wrote a 5-​star review for the previous ownership, but the menu is changed now with the new owner and some items we used to order for the past 25+ years are now gone (like pork meatballs or nan ja wan zi). The prices seem to be a bit high too. Don’t order the sizzling beef with scallops which was $ 22…not worth it at all. We had a party of 7 and they automatically added 18% tip. No biggie because we probably would have added that much tip, but why not let us add it? I understand that some restaurants add that on for large parties, but 7 people is not that large of a party.
There was a rumor that they lured one of the chefs from Yong Gung in Ktown to cook here… but so what? I think Yong Gung is overrated and over-​priced too.
About the service: I must say that when we first sat down and ordered, we all felt the waitress was a bit «off» and slightly rude. She wouldn’t respond well when we ordered stuff and seemed to be a bit mad for no reason. But I think she saw that we were all miffed about that and when she came back she was super nice to us from that point onward. She even refilled tea without us asking. So, we were OK with their service.
The only good thing about the new ownership is that they renovated the interiors much better than before and it feels cleaner. The previous owners did a bad job of keeping the interiors looking clean and new but at least the food was much better. I don’t think my family will be coming back… unless we really don’t have any other Chinese/​Korean style restaurant that’s nearby.