We are living in La Jolla for a year just down the street from the Mandarin House. I'm a native New Yorker and grew up with really tasty Chinese available on every street corner all the time. Well, Americanized Chinese -- I've probably never really eaten real Chinese food. We've lived in the Midwest though for the past 15 years, where the Chinese food is sub-par at best. SO, I think our taste buds were shocked and awakened the first time we ate at Mandarin House. The crab rangoon are clearly house made, and have actual real crab and great flavor. The dipping sauces also appear to be house made and not your typical plastic pouch of duck sauce or what have you. The orange chicken nearly knocked our socks off with the complexity of the sauce: bright sweet orange with lots of orange zest, deep rich umami without overwhelming saltiness. I don't recall what else we ate that night, but we left there buzzing with anticipation of meals to come. Our next few meals didn't match our original experience. The orange chicken and crab rangoon have definitely set a new bar for our expectations, and they continue to be met by Mandarin house. But I've ordered all over the menu, and not everything has delighted me. The pu-pu platter was meh. The hot and sour soup has been inconsistent -- sometimes stellar, others, kinda gloppy with too much cornstarch and out of balance enough that I find myself adding vinegar, then hot sauce, then vinegar, then soy sauce.....We have had very good service from friendly wait staff who immediately recognize us and welcome us warmly. We do continue to go here. Just kinda not always sure what to order besides the rangoon and the orange chicken. I've read the kung pao chicken is good -- so we'll try that next time. read more

I think it is tough to find good Chinese food in California but this place will do. Family owned business That care about their customers.

I don't know what this place is like outside of Ubereats, but don't get delivery from them. Ordered Wor Won ton and received a large container of broth with two won tons. Called the restaurant and spoke to a very bored teenager who said we could come and pick up the right order. We explained to her that this isn't how delivery works, and she asked what we wanted her to do. Hmmm....deliver the right order? She said it'll be 40 minutes so we ask for a manager; she talks to someone else, and he says they will over in 20. An hour later we're calling the restaurant and talking to the manager who becomes very agitated and says that their driver should have been there. Also says he can't credit us since it's through Uber. Another 30 minutes later the driver calls us because he's lost. We tell him we're not interested anymore and he starts yelling. Seriously? read more

Best crispy beef I've ever eaten! Of course, I always start with sesame shrimp toasts or pupuu platter. Disappointed that they don't serve egg foo yung. Egg drop and hot & sour soup are usually great. I almost always order BBQ pork fried rice but my last 2 visits its tasted a lot like the wok it was cooked in. Shall we talk about the service? I think they had jobs in a funeral parlor before working here. Maybe there's a culture/language barrier but we are friendly yet respectful. read more

Finally found a real good Chinese restaurant in SD. Their stearin rice soup is superb ! 5 stars

Definitely on the pricier side for a typical American style Chinese place but the food is absolutely top-notch if you're trying to fill that strange niche that only Chinese food of this genre can fill. read more

This is hands down the best Chinese food I've had anywhere in the entire world. Hands, down. Everywhere I've ever lived finding good Chinese food has been a struuuuuggle, and it always ended in despair. This place is an hour round trip from my house and I regularly, and happily, make the pilgrimage. We've tried so many things on the menu but tonight we did orange chicken and buddha's delight in the garlic white sauce. I mean - the chefs here know how to cook. Most Chinese places just heap on the sauces and over fry the crap out of everything, balanced and delicate is what I would say about their cooking. The chicken is perfectly tender, the breading not overdone, the flavor - spot on. The buddha's delight with the white sauce was also cooked to perfection. My husband absolutely adores the guy who runs the place, he always takes the time to joke with him when we pick up our order. I can't say enough good things about their food. If your palette hasn't been destroyed by our modern U.S. diet you'll be able to appreciate wonderful food here. HIGHLY recommend. read more

One of the most unique and original menu's I have seen. Make sure to ask for John's chicken! This is hands down the best chinese food in San Diego. read more

This place rocks. I have been coming here for 30 years and still is #1 in my book. The Kung Pao chicken is off the hook as well as the Peking duck. Yip and his crew are great. Thanks for 30 years of great food. See you soon read more

Adjectives to describe the food and generally how my body felt after eating are as followed - slimy, greasy, gooey, and grotesque. Only thing that was enjoyable was the eggrolls. read more

I ordered the Chicken Chow Mein and it was soggy and flavorless. I do not recommend and will not be ordering from here again.

Yummy! Higher quality Chinese food. Probably Americanized but I love their schezhuan beef and noodles.

I hate to say it as I am a local but the the food is TERRIBLE! We tried the cashew chicken (drenched in oil), mu shu pork... Mealy pork (the little that there was)... And hot and sour soup (meh). I am so bummed as I really wanted to like it. And the topper was that the bathroom was disgusting. Sorry to say that I won't be going back. read more

I guess I will never be able to review this restaurant for its food quality because they will never, EVER, get my business. I am new to the area and apparently there are NO good options for Chinese food in the UTC area. I was not feeling well so didn't want to pick up but no one delivers around here for God's sake! So I tried this place and when the man who answered the phone abruptly asked "where?!!", I said UTC and he said "no?!" and hung up on me. Wtf? I guess I will have to wait on Chinese take out until I find some place that actually CARES about my business. Rude. read more

Took my uncle to this somewhat of a dive Chinese restaurant but he has been coming for years and since it was his birthday I gave in. We just ordered ice water to start. It came out with lemons in it. Most people would prefer this however since I am in the biz I know putting those lemon wedges that have probably been handled by 3 different people can be a bit nasty. Anyways no big deal I just fished it out but upon my fishing I noticed a shade of lipstick on my glass. I'm a man and don't wear lipstick. Pointed it out to server and she promptly took it away and replaced with clean glass . I then ordered hot tea that was brought out quickly and she told us to let it steep for a few minutes which I thought was a nice touch. We ordered some special for two that started with hot and sour soup. It was below average but I was hungry and it was edible. It would seem to me that a place that has been around this long could have hot and sour soup that would take my tongue to a special place! C'mon it's not that hard please change the recipe!!! The special came with Mongolian beef with green onions and cashew chicken. Mongolian beef was blah I can make it better and I'm whiter than a fortune cookie. Now the cashew chicken was delish!! The last part of special was fortune cookies which I thought was insane to liken this to an actual dessert course. Thankfully our server overheard us talking and it was my friends birthday. She surprised us with a mango sorbet served in a carved out mango! Now that is desert! Service gets 5 stars, management was never seen nor did they stop by to ask how anything was. Overall I know I'll be dragged back by my friend but I hope next time you guys can update marquee out front and spend some cash to make the place look more appealing from outside. Inside was fine. That's all for now. read more

may be popular but manager must be change,he is the most selfish guy i have ever seen.when i was there waiting for seat,he talk with delivery guys like a shit,and also food was cold,and not tasty read more

Know that this is not "Authentic Chinese"... but authentic American Chinese. Lunch specials are tasty, and at a good price. Loved the old school decor. read more

Good environment but bad food.The front desk seems always sad due to bad business.I ordered a diner for two,but it's hard to swallow in my stomach.Almost 80percent abandoned. I will never come back again. read more

This was our go-to take out place when I lived in La Jolla. LOVE their mixed vegetables with tofu in white garlic sauce (special request). So healthy but so yummy! read more

Now I know why we were the only people there upon entering this restaurant. Go to Panda Express and save yourself time, money, and honestly your taste buds. The fortune cookie was the definitely the best part of our meal. read more

Pretty terrible food. Ordered from here our first night in town after moving. Wanted something other than pizza and this was close by and delivered. It was awful. I don't know if we'll ever eat here again. The chicken was so over fried you couldn't even tell it was chicken. Just little friend chewy crunchy kernels drenched in sauce. Yuck. read more

Service was terrible. We were sitting for over an hour before we received our water and tea. The food took 90 minutes to arrive and that was only because we kept asking. Some of the food was cold when it arrived as it had been sitting in the kitchen waiting. We will never go back. There are much better restaurants that care about service. read more

Hmmmm, the season chicken is delicioussss! I also love the beef and broccoli. My favorite Chinese resturant in San Diego I must say!

Mandarin House is one of my favorite Chinese food restaurants. It has a divey feel with the outdated decor and is a lot of fun to hang out in. The food is great too. read more

Christmas night I had made reservations and called 3 times Christmas to confirm reservation. Upon arriving to a very busy restaurant I was told in a very rude mannner they would not honor our reservation and I told them we had brought a handicapped friend who had a stroke recently with his attendant but this made no difference to a very rude owner. I shall never eat there again and would advise people not to eat there. There are several chinese restaurant nearby that are much better. We could not get in that night. Please do not do business with these people read more

Best Chinese Food in San Diego! Great scorpion bowls too. I order here at least once a week and haven't had a dish I didn't like. They even deliver! read more

The cashew nut chicken was OK not really what I was expecting the chicken was good but the sauce was over cooked and pastey.

I have rarely experienced service this unapologetically terrible. Our party of five showed up for dinner (admittedly on Dec. 25) at 5:05 pm and were told that there would be a 20-25 minute wait. We were not seated until 6:20 -- and even so, only after we made ourselves extremely visible to the personnel at the front desk. When a restaurant is this slammed, they ought to be honest about it, and they also ought to be squeezing people into tables when they can. We watched as parties of four were called ahead of us again and again and had to beg for a table. When we were seated, we waited 15 minutes while trying to flag down someone to place our order; at that point we gave up and left. No customer ought to be treated with such indifference. This restaurant doesn't care about its customers; we certainly won't be back. read more

love this place! been going here since I was a little kid. family run, great service, yummy food. So many things to choose from and all is good. Few to recommend: brocoli beef, kung-po chicken, mandarin pan fried noodles, mongolian beef, ccrispy beef, walnut shrimp, egg rolls... read more