This place has good food. Lots to choose from. Great service. Very expensive for me. Not sure about the parking but we had to pay for parking read more

We have eaten at a number of Mandarin's but really enjoyed the variety at this one. If you are enjoying with people that do or don't like Chinese food, it is great for all diners in your group as you are sure to find something for everyone here! There is dim sum, sushi, hot table with roast and mashed potatoes, lots of different kinds of seafood, soup, salad, side dishes -- great asian ribs, spicy chicken, asian noodle dishes and of course, desserts. They even have a frozen yogurt machine with fresh fruit toppings. Very handy to the Famous Players theatre too! read more

Good old Mandarin buffet... We were here for the birthday promo, a free meal with 3 or more guests. You also get a cupcake and fridge magnet picture. (regularly for weekend lunch $19.99). - Same old same chinese food - I always go for the classic torpedo shrimp - The sushi is not so great (not recommended) - They have seafood - mussels, shrimp, fish - A good dessert selection - cake, pudding, fruit, waffle station, cookies, icecream and froyo soft-serve machine I got cotton candy! This made me happy. It's Mandarin, a place for everyone. Especially kids and old people. Great birthday. My friend received a little candle to blow out and fridge magnet with an instant photo taken there. read more

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Fooods always fresh and appealing. Service is 9/10 great and drinks come fast as well :)

Buffets of any kind have never been my favorite and we try to avoid then whenever possible. However this visit was particularly disappointing. The service is excellent. The place is clean. The decor is very tired. But the Chinese food was mostly overcooked to be almost inedible. Some dishes were ok but those in sauces in warming trays had been there too long. The roast beef was good because it is sliced to order. Desserts were delicious and plentiful. As a general rule Chinese food is delicious, not expensive, comes hot and made to order so unless you really want to gorge yourself I don't see the point in eating reheated mediocre fare. read more

+.5 for service I've only been to Mandarin a total of three times in my life. Sad, eh? Well I always find Mandarin to be a westernized Chinese buffet location, and my visit last week certainly didn't change my view on this chain brand. I was definitely impressed with the service, and in fact I think they overdid it. Every time I used the napkin to wipe my mouth, they immediately gave me a new one. Okay? Thanks, but I can usually make a napkin last a few rounds. The food for lunch buffet wasn't anything special, and as I mentioned: Westernized Chinese cuisine. They do have quite good variety though, such as sashimi, sushi, rolls, torpedo shrimp, mussels, noodles, rice, etc. The dessert variety was also quite good, with yogurt, ice cream, and fruits aplenty. In fact the dessert was probably the highlight of my meal, as the yogurt and ice cream tasted very delicious! At the end I'm still not a Mandarin fan, but for those who want to experience mass Asian food without going to an actual Asian restaurant (I don't know why), Mandarin is certainly not a bad choice. read more

Ok this review is for the mandarin at hey 27 and queensplate I got screw for the second time I got two of their 201 combo The first was fine both had rice mixture but the second had rice had some dark brown meat of something it's hard to explain but I asked for and exchange on the rice they wound not exchange it or refund my money And the first time I got screwed Was I place my order an hr later I call them back and they said it would be there soon so I give them another 30 mins I call back they said my order was not placed so they say they would take $5.00 of my order and to give them 15 mins more so I agreed when it arrived the rice was dry the rice pudding was water down and some of the shrimp was burnt I call to complain they said it was fresh and they refuse to give a refund read more

Amazing buffet spread. Soups , salads, wontons, meats - fries and roasted, sushi, desserts and super friendly staff read more

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One of the best Mandarin locations. Always great selection and they are on top of refilling your water. Polite service. Just disappointed they discontinued the crab legs! But overall, no other AYCE restaurant compares to Mandarin! read more

The service is pretty good and they were friendly to my Filipino family! They serve more than the ordinary Chinese food. The butter tart is to die for!! read more

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I ordered a big take out for my party. The food was good. And they were packed in a nice (three big delivery boxes, each dishes were in individual containers). Cutlery, napkins were all included. If you are planning a party but don't want to do it yourself, it's a good option. If you order certain amount free delivery services will be given to you read more

Can I give this place a 0 star? I would if I could! It's gross! Please note: Mandarin is not authentic Chinese food! It's Westernize Chinese food and most of what they serve you will not be able to find it in China. They also don't take care of the quality of their food because it's a buffet! You are paying so much money too! Save it and head up to Markham. Much better choices and options if you want real Chinese food. Just so you know most Chinese will not go to Mandarin...the only reason why I went was bc it was a work function. read more

Very clean and great service! We enjoyed the food tonight it was my first personal experience here and I highly recommend this place! Come hungry my friends and you will be happy! read more

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This is your typical mandarin, with all you can eat everything. And friendly staff saying "welcome to mandarin" as you walk to your table. I got plates full as per my usual the food was cooked to perfection, Spicy when it should've been and sweet when it should've been. But what stood out to me most was the not so creamy crème brûlée, and the DiSaronno sour(served in a jar you can take home-sans alcoholic bevy of course), the creme brûlée for starters wasn't as rich and creamy as I remember it being back when they were using actual glass dishes, it had the texture of a very soft cream. The spoon broke right through like my spoon was on thin ice. Usually it has plunged into the cream. This is indicative of the fat content, and in this case fat = flavour. Flavour that would be worth complaining about if they didn't have many other tasty choices to eat for desert. Secondly the DiSaronno Sour while it was good, the mixture was done in a way that left the sweet Amaretto on top on the sour citrus on the bottom. Besides that this drink is amazing, so much so that I ordered it twice! read more

Speed read 1) I am very thirsty after having dinner there 2) shrimp is good 3) good service 4) crab leg is not very good. Especially the hot one. Cold one are actually better. I believe they ruined the crab leg 5) almost $40 per person, definitely not worth it. I went there for a birthday party t friends. Food to price pairs for is not worth it. There's better place to spend $40. Good service. The shrimp texture is very good. Bouncy ( not sure if it's the right word). Both cold and hot shrimps are good. read more

They're service is bad. This restaurant was very disrespectful and discriminative towards my friends, when I was there. I was attacked and ambushed by various workers, and accused of stealing. When I was just going out for air! I don't like how they judged and assumed, as well as how much simpler that situation could've been handled. read more

I like going there every few months, it's a good place to chow down, there menu though is kind of static, I can go there and see the same menu that I saw there three to six months ago. That can be a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. I would visit any franchise if I saw them out side the city and know I was getting a good meal for my dollar read more

Is Mandarin's food authentic Chinese food? No more than Tex-Mex being real authentic Mexican food. So no, it is not. It can be quite bland and flavourless. However this is not why you come to Mandarin and if you did, you may have just thrown away $25 --or however much you paid. Now this particular Mandarin is clean, gets really packed during dinner hours and depending on the night, reservations may be required in order to avoid unnecessary waiting and hassle. Which of the few times I have visited I have always gotten beforehand and they have always proven handy. So, like in a Masters chess game, if you selectively decide, pick and sacrifice items you will be eating, then your visit can truly become a feast to behold! Also ignore the tried and true attempts of an AYCE staff to constantly re-fill your glass with water in order to fill your stomach with inexpensive liquids. That is not why you are there for! :P Of course what I pick is completely subjective but this is what I do. Ignore: * All Western food. I can get pizza, BBQ Beef, etc, at better restaurants. * All deep-fried stuff. Which I generally do anyways. * Most rice dishes. Who needs those calories at this point? * Most breaded dishes as they would just taking up valuable stomach real estate. * Most soups, as they tend not to be the best and for the same reason as above. * Ignore most deserts, as; A-) Most of their desserts tend to be kind of sub-par. B-) Personally, I am not big on the sweet-tooth. What to love: * Shrimps & more shrimps * Mussels * Crab Legs * Sushi (Yes, it is only okay and limited but I *did* say I was being highly subjective and I like me some seafood. * I break for ribs! * Seaweed salad! * Seafood! * Wontons and maybe the odd dumpling. * Some steamed veggies just for taste. And once you are winding down, for your final moves, maybe a touch of soup or a dessert to quench the palate! Then, pay the bill. Checkmate! read more

You don't come to the Mandarin for the food. You come because you want to completely gorge yourself senseless. It's self-immolation. You're trying to hurt yourself, most likely to subconsciously prove a point. It's amazing that this gluttonous slopfest actually has a "sugarfree cheesecake" option for the diabetics. Perhaps it's because almost all of their frequent patrons will come down with the chronic condition and they're trying to proactively acclimatize folk to the future. It's hard to say. While waiting in the feed line for dollops of trollop, I came to the instant realization that it's hard to fault this place for being exactly as advertised. I mean, it's not exactly fair to compare this to Toronto's culinary hotspots. That's like comparing apples to buckets of MSG-infused gravy. Everything ran smoothly. The food was always plentiful, and empty plates disappeared faster than you could say "vomit soaked food coma". Hey, at least no one died. read more

A small group of us went to Mandarin on a Sunday night. If you don't want a 45 minute wait then I would suggest making a reservation as they are very busy. I never really hold out much hope about AYCE buffets, however this buffet was just fine! AYCE crab legs, YES! But no shell cracking tools, meh! The food is not out of this world or amazing but there are some really good dishes! Spicy chicken was tasty. There was a great selection of food, Americanized Chinese food, western food. They had a roast meat station where they were serving roast beef and yorkshire puddings. That was what really won me over and raised this place from a 3 to a 4 star rating. The beef was cooked perfectly! Good salad bars, sushi bar (I never tried but it looked ok), pizza bar. The dessert choices are just something else, chocolate covered strawberries and rum truffles were good....red velvet ice cream so tasty! Eyes bigger than belly syndrome kicked in and I thought I was going to have to roll out of this place. Atmosphere etc: It is loud, it is busy and some people have no manners! But what do you expect when you come to an AYCE buffet?? The price is right, location is convenient...a stone throw from Yonge and Eglinton subway station. The restaurant is clean and our server was friendly and we did not feel rushed. Definitely a must try sort of a place. read more

That's one more Mandarin buffet lunch under my belt...heh, heh. The ROMEOs (Retired Old Men Eating Out) met there for lunch again today. It never disappoints. Always bright, friendly torpedo shrimp...I mean waitresses. Penny was particularly nice, she used my iPad to take our pictures. Did I mention the sweet and sour waitresses? No, sorry, I mean chicken balls. The staff are all sweet and the food is always wonderful. See you again when someone else has a birthday. read more

This was actually better than I expected it would be. It is a huge place (the different rooms are labelled so that you don't get lost trying to get back to your table), and the food is constantly refilled. The service was prompt and efficient - our dirty plates were taken away almost instantly. I would say the food quality here is average, but the beauty is in the variety. I can't even begin to remember all the things that I sampled but it included hot and sour soup, crab legs (special for the holidays I think), torpedo shrimp, spare ribs, lots of stir-fried veggies, mussels with cheese, salmon, dumplings, and curry chicken. Same thing with dessert - nothing that I tried was absolutely amazing but I did enjoy the cherry cheesecake, lemon meringue pie, mango pudding, nanaimo bars, and the waffles (with a variety of fruit toppings). There is also a salad bar, a sushi section, and a section of french fries, pizza, roast beef, mashed potatoes, etc. I've heard that there can be long waits for tables, especially on weekends, so a reservation would be a good idea. $23.99 for dinner on the weekends (and on holidays, and during the entire Christmas season). While the food quality here doesn't quite stand up to some of the best buffets in Vegas, it's not a bad substitute. read more

I think value is still there if you are a fatso but the food aaaaaaarrrrrrgggggg the food.. and dada I am going to reveal a big secret here... the time has arrived... all will be known............ I think I have figured out why the food at Mandarin is tasteless Across The Board. They cook the food and boil everything in water to heat it up just prior to serving. That makes everything completely bland, tasteless, FLAVOURLESS and neutral. The fish tastes like the chicken tastes like the sprout tastes like the rice tastes like the cake. The most flavourful thing was the fortune cookie. No, a really tasteless affair read more

Mandarin is a buffet style restaurant and it's the same in almost every location. The buffet is massive and has a variety of Oriental food and desserts. This location is nice and big. I love the huge colourful fish tanks, cozy and fun décor and their food! At the buffet you can expect: A variety of hot soups, salads, grilled veggies, plenty of Chinese and Thai dishes, sushi bar, ribs, meatloaf, seafood, waffles, desserts that include jelly, cakes, pies, fresh fruit, a sundae bar with tons of topping choices etc. Besides water, all other drinks are not included in the buffet price. Those other drinks include- wine, coffee, cocktails, soft drinks etc. I've always experienced the staff here to be very kind and efficient. The service has always been good. The prices are very reasonable; I think I paid under $23 for the buffet- not bad. The variety of the dishes is great, but I would not say the food is excellent quality. The food is not bad either, just in between- it's good. The major downfall about this particular Mandarin location for me is that it's almost always crowded with either kids who are running around or large groups of very loud teenagers. Also, every time I came here I had to wait some time in line in order to get a table. I would highly recommend making reservations to beat the line-up. Overall, I would recommend Mandarin if you're looking for some yummy Oriental food. However, do expect crowds and noise. Personally, I can't wait to go back for their jumbo fresh strawberries half dipped in milk chocolate! read more

To anyone who wishes to come to this location and happens to drive.... DO NOT PARK HERE! They normally would validate your parking for free but only for dinner and weekends. I don't mind this policy in place, what my concern is where they have placed the sign. Now I had my ticket validated before so I was in the routine of just driving into the parking lot and assuming they will validate my ticket. However, after being told and showed where their policy about validating parking, it was in the restaurant.... There weren't any signs before entering the parking lot about their parking policy. So I asked if I can get it validated since I didn't know... They said no, so basically for a weekday lunch, it costed me $32.50.. I say W.T.F. Good Job Mandarin..... read more

To me, a great dining experience is defined by the combination of taste, value, atmosphere and service. I didn't arrive at Mandarin for inventive Asian food, I came to be glutinous. Its been over 15 years since I last dined at Mandarin, but what I found upon arrival brought joyful tears to my eyes. Families, couples, friends; talking, dining, drinking, being happy in the simplest of ways. There are few things that bring humans together as Mandarin does, because lets face it, an unlimited buffet spanning multiple ethnic cuisines forms the basis for what makes our society the greatest in the world. Service: Mandarin has some of the most well educated and attentive servers in the entire Toronto restaurant industry, hipster servers working downtown take note, and pray they dont come after you. Our server kindly introduced herself while distributing hot towels, took the time to explain the restaurants deep roots and origins as well as the menu available to us. She quickly took our drink orders and was back in a flash with our drinks. Food: To say that mandrain is pushing the envelope of a Chinese buffet would be subdued, while the overall menu is meant to please the massses, one finds gems amongst the hoard. Fresh ontario blueberry frozen yogurt? yes please. Unlimited fresh crab fridays and saturdays? yes please. I want to highlight the service here in particular Myles, the managing partner of this location. Once we realized crab was a buffet item, we understandably set our eyes on devouring as much of it as we possibly could, considerate of the fact that we might be asked to stop and or leave. Myles noticed us fumbling with crab legs and introduced himself kindly, we thought it was a ploy to get us to stop eating so much crab but rather he was concerned that we were not benefitting enough from the crab offering and proceeded to deliver us a heaping plate of crab legs, then carefully instructed us on the appropriate way to de-bone the crab to yield the most meat from each leg. A complete stand out. Later, I found Myles giving new mandarin devotee's a thorough tour of the restaurant. I cant think of anywhere else id rather be on a Friday or Saturday evening. Thank you Mandarin. read more

I went there for lunch and am still stuffed 10 hours later. Starting out with one spoonfull of every single salad, moving onto the "chinese" food, then the "white" food, the sushi, then....the dessert. O-M-G Note please that I am veggie these days and still managed to beyond stuff myself satisfactorily and then some whilst touching zero ex-land creatures (I did however try the 'Torpedo Shrimp' which is probably the best thing I had the entire day, which includes about 15 kinds of dessert). I think I put on 5 pounds at lunch alone, I skipped dinner and wanted to nap the rest of the day. Oh I cant forget to mention the sushi. I am not a huge sushi person, find it super over-rated and I hate raw fish or any kind of that scary seafood uncooked stuff. They had more veggie sushi options than fishy ones, and they were so scrumptiously awesome...well, for sushi. My fav. the yam, they also had inari, avocado, veggie, and many more I didn't have room in my tummy to even look at. If you like sushi, there was a surprisingly awesome plethora of options, even for the veggies! And the dessert....where do I begin? I tried one bite of *almost* every dessert but then I gave up after about 10-15... SUGARFREE cheesecake (start with this bc after a few bites of the amazing other goodies this will taste like nothing, but I really like that there is a dessert option, however limited, for the diabetics) squares, ice cream...although the flavour options were disappointing, amazing variety of cakes including fudge, cheese, lemon meringuey-style, black forest and god knows what else. There were chocolate dipped marshmallows, bananas dipped in chocolate, eclaires or something that resembled them, mini croissants, waffles!!!!, so many toppings....god you could seriously go there for the dessert alone. I love eating, but I don't want to look at food for like...3 days after this. But for dinner it's gotten kinda expensive in recent years. Lunch is $12.99 and seniros get 20% off :-) for those of you dining with the wiser ones. read more

Crab legs on the weekend here had me shooting stars or shitting Mars bars looking... Yeah you get it! But the point is, we all have the once in while desire to stuff our faces silly and days you can't decide between Chinese food, pizza and sushi? We've got Mandarin as a blender of concoction ready to fill you up for as long as you can withstand belching and the after effects of over eating. Free parking validation, 3rd floor located on the street west of the resto. At the entrance, pass the theaters on your left, down a flight of escalators, turn right!! TADA! That was your warm up to a speedy ticket to overindulging!! Lots of selection during dinner. I concentrated really hard on saving room for dessert, but of course had it mid course to abstain from the grease. Good enough is good enough. read more

Time travel is an exact science, so follow my words carefully: the year is 1998 and (you) I am a penny less college student. You and your roommates treat yourselves to a Mandarin weekend lunch once a month. To prepare for it you skip breakfast, maybe a light dinner the night before. We ate for hours and loaded for the rest of the month. Short version: Mandarin got me through college. Disclaimer: we ordered drinks and always tipped 15%, because you know, they gotta make money, and yeah don't eat out if you cannot tip, you cheap bastard. read more

The food was super good, and there was plenty of it! Service was great, we started out with a male server and ended up with a female one, not sure how that happened. Staff was super prompt in taking our used plates away from the table, but not prompt in refilling drinks. Obviously the location dictates that it'll end up being super crowded, we went on a Sunday evening around 5, and were able to walk in and sit down, but with a stern warning that we had 1hr 45min to eat. Which was no big deal but a bit weird. By the time we left there was a lengthy wait though. They validate parking if you spend more than $30, which is very easy if you have more than just yourself eating here. read more

This buffet was nice but felt a little dry- I understand that a buffet should have a good variety of food and that it can be hard to keep up dish quality (we came around 7:45 which might be later than the usual time for dinner) but many things looked too dry or soaked to eat. Some of the fried meat had semi-jerkified when I tried it. Their salad bar was lacking as well- only some torn up iceberg lettuce with an average amount of toppings. The desserts were pretty nice though- they have quite a few choices from mango pudding to creme brûlée. I've had worse, so I might come back if others want to go. read more

Great food at this location! They have Yorkshire puddings! Also they have Belgian waffles with syrup and whipped cream!! The service was excellent, my water was never empty, and the staff are really lovely and friendly! Definitely going to visit again! read more

The restaurant gets 3 stars from me only because of the atmosphere and wait staff. It is pretty interesting inside, and the wait staff are extremely pleasant and continuously refill napkins, water, and clear your tables each time you get up to the buffet. The food however, is pretty bland. By the end of your meal all you will feel on your tongue is the leftover feeling of grease and salt. (But at least there's a dessert section if you still have room :3). Now talking about the price... AVOID Weekend nights at ALL COSTS because they will empty your pockets. A dinner for 2 with 15% tip was 80$, and trust me you can get much better food elsewhere... and lots of it for EIGHTY DOLLARS. Good location if you want to organize a work event or something, otherwise go somewhere else or come back weekday lunch hours if you wanna piggy. (I suggest just ordering a ton of food somewhere and eating at home if you want the latter option) read more

Ordered take out... When did chinese food = bean sprouts???!! It was terrible, absolutely terrible! I would not in anyway order from there again... Unless under inescapable duress. If I check in here, then I'm here against my will, please come help me!! read more

We come to this location for consistent quality, service and a great selection. I've been to this particular location many times over the years with friends, family and company functions. I rarely eat at Chinese AYCE places but when I do it's usually where the eaters can't decide what to eat and it's a mixed group then this is our go to place cos there is something for everyone. If you are on diet and trying to lose weight I'd suggest to stay away cos the selection is overwhelming. For the money, it's good value and if you eat in moderation, this will be a good experience. The high turnover of food in a busy buffet restaurant is a very good thing... nothing worse than having food under a heat lamp drying up cos no one is eating it. Oddly enough, I don't really enjoy the Chinese food (not much is really authentic and the taste tolerable so nothing you would write home about), sushi or pizza is a forgettable experience (or regrettable depending on your stomach) but it's the roast beef I like here. If you like beef ribs, this is my personal pick though I'm rather fussy when it comes to handling food requiring the use of hands to eat. It's also not good for you if you have health issues which is why I would restrict my appearances here to less than 3-4 times a year unless you enjoy seeing your heart surgeon on a regular basis. Still they have enough variety here where a vegetarian can get by or if you want to just have desserts and salads alone, you can still have someone cart you out in a wheel barrel. One of the good aspects of the Mandarin is you will get the same experience at all their locations and they're always busy. Having said that, I strongly suggest reservations but this caused some problems with our group on our last visit cos there was a party that reserved an entire section for 90 people but only 50 showed up when we requested a section for our group of 70 and all of us showed up. This resulted in us being shoehorned into a smaller section where we were crammed eating (14-15 sitting squeezed at a table that sits 12) while the section next to us had 6 people eating at a table of 12. It was the only time we've encountered this situation and clearly an operations issue that they may want to address. Still this is a solid 4 star establishment. read more

If I were to compose a list of things I miss most about the GTA, the Mandarin would be in the top 10. Maybe 5. I have been to three different locations in my life, and every one of them aims to please. This location is no different. The staff is very welcoming, polite, and attentive. My glass of water never went half full. And of course, the selection of food is large, piping hot, and presented well. Not bad for a lunch buffet! This location has a lot of usual customers - the hostess greeted several of them by name. I don't know why the reviews are so divided about this place - you guys haven't tried the crap here in Ottawa. Since I have lived away from southern Ontario, I haven't been to a Chinese buffet that even comes close to Mandarin quality. I am sooooooo excited that they're finally opening one in Ottawa! read more

I ordered takeout on a rainy day...picked up dinner on the way home. The fried chicken appetizer was good- huge portion, freshly fried and crispy. Enough for 2 people The Black Pepper Beef Hor Fun was terrible. Huge portions, but they simply dumped boiled noodles into the container and poured a not-tasty-at-all black pepper gravy over it. The noodles were not stir-fried in the gravy, it was Very clumpy and extremely unappetizing. I was not impressed at all. That was simply lazy cooking at its worst. read more

OMFG....a place that serves Chinese food where the chicken balls are made of WHITE meat... I just got home from this place -- for what it is, it's amazing. Crab legs! BBQ ribs! Mussels! Shrimp! Seaweed salad! Even the sushi was decent. I signed on, expecting low quality but massive quantity and was extremely surprised to find decent quality -- I'm Asian, and I've had my fair share of dining in Chinese dives and over-priced 5 stars, but this place...for $23.99 (weekend, prime time, crab legs action)...I can't complain. They even had no sugar added cappucino ice cream and these amazing chewey chocolate chip cookies. And massive strawberries dipped in chocolate. There were so many stations, I couldn't even make it to three of them I was so full....sadly I missed out on the made-to-order dessert waffles, the grilled kabob station and the sliced roast beef/prime rib station. If you want to get your money's worth, stick to the seafood. I sure hope I don't sound like I'm stereotyping my own type, but Chinese who focus on the seafood at these buffets really know how to get their money's worth -- so follow suit! =) You know it's a good place for Chinese food when you actually see other Chinese people dining there. Will be back again. Especially on a lazy week night where its about $18.99 and brunch is $16.99 read more

So Mandarin has definitely lost its shine in my eyes ... we've visited a couple more times since our first visit but I think this will be the last time. During this visit, the only thing that appealed to me were the desserts - the waffles, the caramel flan, creme brulee, and deep fried honey sticks. Basically, that is what I ate as my meal. For $27 including tax and tip, that is waaay too much to pay for an unhealthy diabetes inducing meal. read more

Let me start by saying that I've never been a fan of buffets. There is something unnatural about food that has been sitting there for god knows how long, being touched by anyone who walks by. My issue with the Mandarin is not so much that it is a buffet, but the fact that you are paying so much to eat there. I understand that eating until you burst is what draws people to a buffet, but would you really want to pay so much to stuff yourself with generic food? Toronto has great Asian restaurants, and most of them are pretty cheap. What is the appeal of the Mandarin? I can imagine people keep going to the Mandarin because they like to sample everything they offer. And trust me, they offer a lot. With so many options, you are bound to find something you like. And now that my biases are out of the way, I can begin my review. I went for lunch. The place was packed as usual. The service was pretty slow. As soon as we got our drinks, we headed to the buffet. I sampled a little bit of everything. The food was warm, but I never found any dish that I loved. The person I was with said this particular location was no good, and that other locations were much better. I'm gonna have to agree. I recently went to the Oakville location, and the food was a thousand times better. Give it a try if you are into buffets. If you are not sure, then avoid at all costs. read more