No pow in kung pao chicken. In fact no spice noticeable in anything we ordered: Mongolian beef& pork. Vegetables over cooked.. don't accept credit cards. Would not recommend. read more

Business is cash only. staff handle cash while they serve food. while I was waiting for my order, the young guy swept the carpet and a second later continued serving customers carrying food and touching tableware. prices have gone up everywhere but I don't understand how four spring rolls and a portion of beefy vegetables over mushy chow mein to go should cost $23.50 read more

I am still a fan--but I need to know for sure: does this place put in MSG even when they say they do not??? (I got a headache after eating there!) The people that work there and the prices are great !!! read more

Good food! My go to place for take out. The food is always fresh but I would suggest to call ahead of time. They are a small business and often get busy in the afternoon. read more

Great food at very reasonable price is always reliable and consistent. Over there at least every other week just love the place

I am so surprised by the rave reviews for this restaurant. That was not our experience. We were in San Rafael for the evening. We arrived about an hour before we were meeting friends and decided to grab a bite to eat. There was a parking spot right out front of Little Mandarin, which we took as a sign. It maybe was, but not the one we thought it was! There were only one or two tables occupied at 7 o'clock at night. Looking over the menu we asked to order family style so that each of us could enjoy a variety from the menu. The staff didn't seem to understand our request. All of us were confused as we have each ordered this way when dining with friends and family at just about every Chinese restaurant we have visited in the Bay Area. We ordered broccoli and beef, cashew chicken, and prawns in oyster sauce. There was no difference in the sauce between the broccoli and beef and the cashew chicken. The cashew chicken had peanuts no cashews. The sauces were more like gravy than a sauce. Although we ordered three dishes, we were brought one spoon for serving. When we requested a couple more spoons (three different dishes), we were brought one. The meal and the service were disappointing. We will not be returning. The bathroom was clean. read more

This Hole in the Wall with 12 tables is packed. Tables full. Maybe dozen standing ordering foods... guess to Take Out. Looks like most Entries are served over rice. Exceptions are Cantonese Beef Chow Fun, Hong Kong style fried noodles. Beef Chow Fun is excellent. Authentic. Mongolian Beef very good. HK noodles pan fried noodles is Americanized. In Vegies. A Clear white seafood sauce. If you love American vegies then this is Your Dish. Should satisfy. General Tsoa Chicken. Not sure what to Think just now. Pot Stickers ordered to Take Out. 6 big ones for $6.88 The Nantucket Nectars Pineapple, Orange, Guava... and the Beef Chow Fun... were 5 stars. Mongolian Beef 4+ stars. Hong Kong Shrimp fried noodles... 3 to 4 stars. Depending on taste buds. Have'nt truly tasted potstickers yet. All this $50. Big portions. read more

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I was anxious to find a decent Chinese restaurant since moving to San Rafael. I went there for diner last night and ordered the Mandarin beef and potstickers. I requested that the Manderin beef be spicy (hot). The Manderin beef came out first and I asked about the potstickers. I was told that they would be out shortly although I assumed they would have come first? So I started eating the beef dish and realized it was NOT spicy, but it certainly was a generous size dish and somewhat tasty. The potstickers finally came half way through the meal. They were the worst that I have had in over 50 years. They were chewy (rubbery) and the filling had NO flavor. I was only able to eat 2 of the 6 and just left 4 on my plate. Overall, it was a disappointing experience and I definitely will NOT return! read more

This family owned place is the best! Great food Every time. I recommend the Mongolian Beef. read more

Little Mandarin is one of our go to places when we don't want to cook. The dishes we order are consistently good. Thank you Alice and Denise and your entire family and crew! read more

Not a very luxury place or nice and friendly ambience but food was very good. Small local restaurant. Fast service, everybody speaks mandarin . They accept Cash only !! Large verity of Chinese food and large portions that you can easily share . In general good place to go for a quick lunch when you are in San Rafael. read more

My favorite hole in the wall in Marin! Delicious every time. My go to is the Mongolian Beef but I also love the chicken with mushrooms. My kids love the lemon chicken and the chow fun! read more

I usually pickup food here after work. I LOVE the Little Mandarin chicken and Mongolian Beef. They are very tasty. The portions are big and the prices are cheap. It cant be abit of wait if you go after work on Friday. read more

One of those REALLY hidden gems that really look tore up on the outside but honestly the food is on point. When they say, don't judge a book by it's cover, really you shouldn't. The meal starts off with free egg soup that's super simple yet flavorful. Add them hot pepper oil and mm shits on point! WITH NO EXAGGERATION AT ALL, I don't think I've tasted better Mongolian beef in my life. First off, it's sooo flavorful and the way the meat is cut is so thin allowing the marination to really soak up the meat. Might I add, the portion can feed an army. My favorite dish of all has to be their most popular entree, mandarin chicken. There's a Shitton of mushrooms, which I LOVE. It's slightly spicy with a hint of sweetness. It's freakin Amazing, especially with hot oil. Everything here is no more than $8 and it's HUGE. As a health OCD freak, this place is a treat for me. They do use oil and the place isn't the healthiest place to go, but for a splurge, I can use up a cheat meal ticket for this place! So worth it. FYI this place ain't fancy, it's straight up looks grimey. But for a place that doesn't look like much, it's easy to become a regular at this place. 10 years and still going. Through thick and thin, this place will not disappoint you! I can vouch for it:) read more

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Upon landing in SFO The mandatory text message is sent out, "I'm back! Little Mandarin?" It doesn't matter how long I've been gone, the gang gets together and the woman there always recognizes me, that's home :) The mongolian beef is the ONLY thing my entire table will order, and we never leave anyone behind. Everyone gets this dish regardless if the're broke or not even hungry. It always tastes the say and is never disappointing. And as with tradition, it makes for a mean breakfast the next day too! Little Mandarin, I salut you, and will love you for ever and ever. read more

Little Mandarin - Mongolian Beef! - Chinese Near Me - San Rafael, California

Best Chinese food in San Rafael, i've been going here for the past 20 years since I was a little kid! Mongolian beef over fried rice is my go to plate! read more

If you can look past the aging carpet, the tired chairs, peeling paint and the guy sitting in front of you with dreadlocks that have sticks and leaves in them and that look they have a hidden colony of creatures living in them, and you want a great, inexpensive meal, this is the place to go. Most things are $6.79 and it is a HUGE plate of food. The people are so nice in here as well. I was very cold lastnight and asked if I could buy another soup, and she just gave it to me. Maybe she thought I was sitting with bug man! I love these places. No pretense, just good food, and the people eating it were grateful for it. Some people looked a bit down on their luck. Me, I'm getting over the flu and didn't look great either! It was the last $8 I had until payday today. Money well spent. No atmosphere, a bit on the chilly side, I don't think they put the heat on. It reminds me of an old cafeteria that gives out free meals, but the food is good, and the people working here are real. 3.5 stars. Mu moo shoo chicken was good, fed my belly and the place, it nourished my soul. I am grateful. read more

I've been coming here for over 20 years - the Mongolian beef is the best that I've found anywhere! Try it with chicken if beef isn't your thing... the Mandarin beef/chicken is also a go to for me as well. read more

Looking for a cutty place that has bomb food with a cheap price? Come to little mandarin! The moment I walked in, they give us a free egg soup. The egg soup is light and has a dab of sesame oil like flavor. For our entrees, we decided to order mandarin beef, Mongolian beef, kong po prawns, and broccoli prawns. Every single dish was incredible! Also, a plus to this is that NO MSG IS ADDED! Yum yum yum~ read more

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This Chinese place is great for Marin/North Bay. Any where else in the Bay Area, this place doesn't compare. I called in an order to go and they said it'll be ready in 15min. I was surprised and thought wow that's fast. I ordered the orange chicken, Hong Kong noodles, and the chicken mushroom green beans. All of which was great... in the beginning of eating it. After awhile the taste was lacking, didn't seem fresh, and I was ultimately disappointed. I would give this place another try so I hope next time the food is better. read more

Finally placed an order after driving by for years. Huge portions for cheap but so disappointed. We ordered tofu and chicken, combination chow mein, mongolian beef and spring egg roll. Except for the egg roll, everything was bland. Void of any taste. Was it an off day? I really want to support this family owned business so I may give them another chance. We'll see. read more

The food service, the atmosphere I thought overall everything was outstanding it's definitely an experience that I would like to experience again. read more

The food was very bland. I lived in Asia for a long time. I know what this stuff is supposed to taste like. It had few vegetables and that made it flat tasting. Where's the red and green peppers and onions? I think my Kung Pao Chicken had a whopping 6 peanuts. Maybe. The portions were good, but I suspect the food they cook at home for their family is considerably different. Oh, and you only get the egg flower soup if you eat in. Sorry, but maybe your trip will be better. read more

Best Chinese in Marin! It's not fine dining but it's still delicious. The only down fall-cash only. They have a tasty complementary egg-drop soup before your meal. They have the juiciest potstickers. The crunchiest egg rolls and the food is phenomenal. I've been coming to little mandarin since I was a child, back when it was just a to-go food place next door because they don't have enough room for a restaurant. It's crazy busy for dinner and lunch time always. There's lines on the side just for a table to sit and eat. Either way, busy or not, I'll always come back hungry for more. read more

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I really used to love this restaurant, but I want today to get some food for my kids and i, and i really didn't like it, it was mostly steam rice, terrible if I wanted to eat rice I will cook rice at home and not pay almost 40 dollars for 3 plates of rice. Very disappointed. read more

Great food! Granted the plate is piled high with rice, but the portion is also decent. Most dishes are less than $7. The building itself is not much to look at, but don't let that deter you! You don't go to this place for anything but good cheap Chinese food, and good polite service. Cash only. The dishes that I've had that are great include Mongolian beef, cashew chicken, mu shu chicken, broccoli beef, hong kong fried noodles, and chicken curry. The orange chicken was a bit dry. Enjoy! read more

Little Mandarin - Menu side1 - Chinese Near Me - San Rafael, California

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I just love this place. Service is great, food is amazing. Mongolian beef is bomb! Also the pop stickers. The place is busy always which means is good! The price is good too (about 10 dollars the plate) for the amount of food they serve. We come here once a week. Complementary soup is delicious. read more

Little Mandarin - Mongolian Beef - Chinese Near Me - San Rafael, California

Total hole-in-the-wall, but great food. It was said in other reviews, but some of the best Mongolian Beef I've had. read more

5 stars every single time! A heap of tasty food for chump change, what a DEAL! And the Roger's Special, consistently yummy since that first day. :) Check it out, you will be pleasantly surprise. read more

This place was recommended by a coworker. Decided to give it a try since I was in the mood for good Chinese food. Drove to the location and found a parking spot right in front of the restaurant. During this time, they were only open for take out orders. They had a table set up blocking the front entrance, with a clear barrier right above it. I had phoned in the order earlier but I still had to wait about 10-15 minutes because there was a line just to pick up the food, not a big deal. Food was pleasantly good and the price was reasonable! I would definitely come back to try out a few other items on their menu. read more

Little hole in the wall cash only place but constantly PACKED. The best Mongolian Beef I've had around here. They don't deliver, they don't take credit cards....but who cares when the food is inexpensive and good! Parking is a bit of a pain, so keep your eyes peeled for a parking spot. Busy one way street , totally worth the little quirks **I've been getting Mongolian Beef here for years, I just keep forgetting to write a review read more

All the one star reviews are cap this place is bussin yes portions could be bigger but the taste is unbeatable best spicy Mongolian beef in sr all these one star reviews are from white people who never season their food just read the names lol. read more

The service is really bad. The server did not even gave us menu and asked if we are ready to order. When we said no, he quickly walked away not even asking us if we want any drinks. I ordered mongolian beef because according to the reviews its good. I personally think that their mongolian beef is just okay, nothing really special. read more

Best place! A hidden treasure right next to hey 101. Caution, they only take cash and parking sucks! But it's all worth it.

One of my favorite spots in san Rafael better than sol food cash only. I personally order the spicy Mongolian beef with shrimp

I been coming here for Over 25 YEARS!!! Since 1992,it was next door at a smaller Location but eventually upgraded.If you expect Top Notch 5 Star service,then you need to take your Prissy self somewhere else but if you want 5 Star Delicious food then this is the place! You have to get the Little Mandarin Beef with rice, one of my all time favorites.The lady owner is very nice and helpful with her lovely staff and the place is Constantly packed,CASH ONLY.Its worth every penny.Better than the Sol restaurant. read more

Loved the Mongolian Beef . My employee had their food for lunch a few times . I went over to try it & it was packed . A little hole in the wall place with good food . Reasonable prices & friendly wait staff . Will definitely be back . Yum . read more

Ordered the Mongolian beef with chow mien and chicken chow fun. The complementary soup was definitely nice. The Chow mien instead of rice was $1.5 more, I'll have to try the fried rice next time. The food was a good portion size but on the oily side, but not much flavor for the chow fun, my husband thought the Mongolian beef also was less flavor than usual Chinese food. I'm not to picky on service but our food came out after a while and I'm not sure if it's because if it had to do with what we ordered or that we ordered at the table. The place has about 11 tables and all the tables were filled and they definitely kept things moving at a decent pace so there wasn't a long wait for a table. Also you could order the food while you waited for your table to be open to help improve the food wait. Unfortunately being our first time there we didn't know what we wanted yet. I took a picture of the special menu and now wished I had ordered the fish to see if I liked it. Next time. read more

Little Mandarin - Chinese Near Me - San Rafael, California

This is one of my top favorite top places to go to. If your looking for well seasoned, good portion, plus quality, you can't beat this place! My favorite is the Mangolian Beef and chicken, extra spicy! (It's really not that spicy at all) plus my favorite egg drop soup! Everything on the menu is really good, I've tried almost everything and some of my favorite side dishes are orange chicken & egg rolls. Everything is excellent! Plus they are quick!. read more

I'm in town for work from Southern Cali & found this cool little spot. It was pretty crowded when I came by around 8pm, but I can definitely tell why. Great fresh tasting food cooked to order. They do only accept cash. I had to walk to CVS and get cash from the ATM which was no biggie. So bring cash if you go! read more