The food here is probably some of the better authentic Chinese food we have had! We were in the area and wanted some Asian food and found this place on Yelp. We were a tad bit skeptical because looking at the prices they were really steep for what we wanted to spend on dinner but we went anyway. We ordered Hong Kong style noodles, Kung pao chicken, braised tofu with veggies, hot and sour soup and white rice. The portions came out and they are HUGE! We were happy to have leftovers to bring home that fed our family of 4 another meal. So thinking about the price of the food now, it was well worth it. The food was very tasty and reminded me of my Chinese Father in Law's cooking. I definitely would come back when we are in the area again. I gave them 4 stars because the service was just okay. Not really friendly and when the bill came, the waiter only gave us 3 fortune cookies when it was obvious there were 4 of us dining. read more

Our experience here was awful The food was heavy and greasy and truly difficult to eat While the staff tried to make our experience pleasant, there was no way to overcome the poor quality of the culinary offerings read more

Really love the food, the service was amazing really loved how welcoming they were. I really loved the chow mein and fried rice 100% recommended read more

Fantastic food and actually the service took the cake. I had ordered a takeaway order and they had missed a sauce. I came back the next day and they not only made it right, they went above and beyond. Food is great and we loved everything (except the Ma pu tofu - it was good, just not to our taste - we don't love the numbing style sauce). Pricy-ish but good. It's a revamp of the older Black Pepper restaurant. read more

I came here on a Saturday noon with my friend and husband because we saw the good reviews on this place. We stepped in, it was not busy at all. I joined the waitlist through Yelp and when I got there we stood there for 10 minutes before the host seated us. We sat down, we asked for water and my friend wanted water and tea, the girl didn't understand or something and a minute later she realized what she was talking about. The owner came and took our order. We ordered pan seared noodle with shrimp, sizzling short ribs, and garlic snow peas. While we were sitting there, we can hear the Microwave opening and closing. 1. Pan-seared noodle - good but portion seems like for only 1 person. 2. Sizzling short ribs - very bland, very oily, does not sizzle on the plate, no rib taste(just taste the pepper) overpriced for something that says it's not what it is and comes out warm not hot 3. Garlic snow-peas - didn't see the garlic, felt like it was only oil and salt. Very very overpriced with just snow-peas and a couple pieces of carrot. The owner told us that Sichuan food is oily and that's how the way it's made. Avoid this place if you can. I've had better Sichuan food and the food actually comes out hot not warm. read more

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Some friends recommended this place, and at first we were a bit wary because their online reservation on Yelp doesn't work. Then we tried Opentable which has a $30 cancel fee for under 24 hours. So, we called directly and the English was spotty. Lastly the prices seemed high compared to other places. But, we got seated and ordered the Hot and Sour soup off their regular menu, as well as an eggplant appetizer off their specials. The Hot and Sour soup had lots of flavor from scallions and other vegetables that I haven't seen other places use. It could have been a little more peppery or vinegary (sour), but no real complaints. The eggplant, however, was the highlight of the evening. The eggplant was cut into french fry like strips, caramelized with a spicy sauce, and served with sliced fried garlic, fried wonton strips, peppers and other assorted toppings. I hope they add it to the menu instead of keeping it as a special. For the main dishes, we had the green pea sprouts, broccoli in garlic sauce, and salt and pepper tofu (off the appetizers). They take extra effort to make sure the green pea sprouts don't have leaves that require "chewing your cud." The tofu is fried to perfection. The outside is crispy and the inside almost melts rather than being gummy. The broccoli was tasty as well. Service was excellent with plenty of refilling our water glasses. They take pride in their dishes and are able to explain them in mouth watering detail. They were also able to accommodate vegetarian as well as vegan preferences like no egg in the soup. read more

This is a very high class Chinese restaurant, with high quality dishes, not some run of the mill Americanized-Chinese place, and you won't find similar levels of cuisine well prepared around here until you get to San Jose or San Mateo. Prices are medium-high but well justified given the preparation and quality of the food. (for example $12-15 veggie dishes, $18-22 meat mains, $30+ for special seafood items) Even standard dishes are cooked expertly, but the memorable ones are the seafood specials (see photo for example). For a new restaurant in the area I hope they do well, and will be coming back here for sure. read more

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I would recommend to try Sichuan peppercorn whole fish here. Other dishes, during our recent visits, it was too salty. I think the food there are decent, but one suggestion to the restaurant owner is that please don't push and train your waiters to upsell dishes to make more money. It's too obvious of an uncomfortable feeling when we dined there. read more

The Mandarin - 藤椒活鱼 Sichuan peppercorn whole fish - one of their signature dish, recommended - Chinese Near Me - Menlo Park, California

Environment: 5 stars Neat and clean. Food: 5 stars Authentic, tasty, and large portion. I recommend Taro Ribs and Tea Smoked Duck. Service: 5 stars The staff are nice and friendly. read more

Been here twice, this place is absolutely fantastic. Hot and sour soup is amazing. The texture and flavor is soooo good. I took my mom there and she's a pure vegetarian, they make the soup fresh so they were able to omit the egg. Other stuff I've loved: Sichuan noodle soup, the pickled veggies appetizer, the mapo tofu (but this will melt your mouth so either order it as a stand-alone or eat it last so you can still taste the other stuff). The spicy broccoli is my favorite, slightly spicy, sweet, salty, super crunchy veggies. The salt and pepper fish melted in my mouth. The braised beef set my mouth on fire. I can't wait to go back. read more

The Mandarin - Dan Dan noodles - Chinese Near Me - Menlo Park, California

An eclectic offering at its best: everything was so flavorful!! The atmosphere was beautiful and our server was very helpful with great recommendations. Love, love the Tea-Smoked Duck!! Can't wait to go back and try all their other offerings! read more

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Was in town for a meeting and decided to give this place a try. Very authentic dishes and ambiance and service is good. Food took so long to come out we were about to leave when it finally arrived. The presentation was fantastic and the taste was very good. Not sure we will go back this week since we are in town again but that's only because the service was so slow the first time. read more

We saw the opening sign and walked in, the food was amazing! Finally I can find something like my hometowns traditional Chinese food. I liked the Tea-smoked duck and Ginko double boiled chicken soup a lot. if you can handle Chinese style spicy, you should try the spicy beef tendon or mouth watering chicken. We will definitely come back soon! read more

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Zero customer service. The waiter never came back after bringing only half our meal. No one checked on us, but the table next to us got 5 star service. Never felt so disrespected in a restaurant. read more

A great new restaurant with excellent design. Fresh crisp flavors! I've eaten here twice since they opened and they totally impressed me. I'm really sick of bad oversauced Chinese food. Well worth the price, I plan on eating here at least twice a month. read more

A great place for some authentic Chinese food on Father's Day. Love it and would definitely come back. read more

The Mandarin - 香辣蟹 - Chinese Near Me - Menlo Park, California

Delicious, authentic Chinese food near home! Everything we ordered was legit Szechuanese food, spice levels were varied and flavor was spot on. We'll be back for sure!! 4 instead of 5 stars because: - a little pricey for the 'home style' dishes - still understaffed as a new place so service was a little slow read more

I have always wanted to try this place. The ambiance is not the typical Chinese restaurant. It looks clean, and the server engaged and would share the day's special dish with you. We tried 3 dishes, tomato noodles, taro duck, and spicy Szechuan chicken. They are good, would recommend this for friends and family. read more

The Mandarin - Chinese Near Me - Menlo Park, California

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amazing food (albeit a bit expensive but it's menlo park so it's what you'd expect) especially their 魚香豆腐 and their chicken soup! interior is pretty nice too; would come with family or for work read more

We're in Menlo Park for a few months. We decided to try The Mandarin for lunch. We didn't realize that they were closing after lunch. The owner kindly allowed us in! At first glance, you see a beautiful inside of restaurant and a pricey menu! It's completely worth it! The food and service is outstanding! The chef came out and to chat with us! My favorite was the salt and pepper asparagus! Overall a wonderful dining experience and worth every dollar! read more

Went to dinner to celebrate my wife's birthday with our two sons. My wife found a hair in her food. When we pointed it out to the waiter he looked at the hair, then looked at my wife's head and reluctantly agreed to change the dish. No apology and very poor service throughout the entire meal. Will not go back. read more

Excellent house made noodles, the elasticity and slight firm texture is just perfect. Braised Beef Noodle with tender beef slices and delicious soup is a must try. Sichuan Dandan Noodle is spicy as expected but does not have the traditional numbing pepper. It is a nice contrast to the beef noodle. We also love the vegetable beef wrap. This is a nice new addition to downtown Menlo Park. read more

Food was creative, innovative and delicious. I will return to try more of their menu. Service a bit slow. Perhaps they were short-handed the evening we were there. Beautiful restaurant. read more

Expect big portions! We were very impressed by the quality of service, authenticity of food, and beautiful presentation. The meat in the Sichuan noodles are very tender and the vegetables were aromatic and savory too. This was my first time trying the tea duck and it was very interesting and delicious. Overall, I would definitely come back to try their other dishes. read more

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Freshly prepared Chinese food with authentic cooking style, preparation, and spices. We didn't go too far in the menu as our stomachs were still settling from Sichuan the day before. read more

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Overpriced Chinese food and the waiters and owner kept up selling us for expensive items

Best Chinese food spot on the peninsula, not even close. Little short handed, owner seems to do it all but super friendly and nice! Support this business we need to keep it open so we can have a decent Chinese spot around town! read more

It's quite different than I was use to when it comes to Chinese food. I had the pot stickers and the won ton soup. They were both ok but not phenomenal. I would like to go back though and try different dishes. I do get the feeling they might have the potential to be good. read more

Food and service are great! My go to spot for bbq pork chow mein. The beef broccoli and sweet and sour pork are also on my favorite list.

I am a regular at this family friendly restaurant. I always get the potstickers. Right when I walk into the door they already know. The staff is friendly. The food is delicious and big sizes. Must try. read more

The best Chinese food in South Bay. It's pricey but you get what you pay for! The rib and corn soup in particular is to die for!

A friend had specifically reserved open food(raw seafood) It seems like this is the only place in the Bay Area that offers fresh raw seafood, as there is not too many competition for this type of food. So, we took an Uber all the way from San Francisco. But... the portions were small and the prices were killer, and that's not even the worst part. The food wasn't fresh! Food poisoning alert!!!!!! Three of us were knocked down, vomiting and having diarrhea the next day. We contacted the owner on Xiaohongshu At first, they were very proactive and wanted to add our contact information. But as soon as we brought up food poisoning and demanded compensation, they started playing the blame game. They asked us to go to the hospital for tests and to go through the insurance procedure, wanting to group chat and understand each of us. We're all too busy to deal with this every day. Reality also proved that defending rights after food poisoning is very difficult. If anyone has experience, please share how to handle it. Thanks! Let's talk about the other dishes. [Bomb] When the owner recommended the Grouper, we didn't ask about the price and just ordered. When eating, we felt that it was quite dry for a steamed dish. It should have been cut a few more times to enhance the taste. When paying the bill, it was 158 a sky-high price, it was a direct hit. [Bomb] The roe of the Fresh Pickled Crab wasn't as good as what we had in LA. And the meat couldn't be scraped off, indicating it wasn't very fresh. After finishing the meal, my friend started to feel unwell with stomach discomfort, dizziness, and nausea. Both the Fresh Pickled Shrimp and the Crab were priced at 90, killers indeed. [Bomb] "Taro Crispy Duck", this was basically a vegetarian dish. It could be directly called Fragrant Vegetarian Duck. My friend was full of expectations when ordering Crispy Duck. But it turned out to be full of taro, what a surprise! At a price of 38, it should indeed be a vegetarian dish amongst the 180 dishes. [Bomb] The owner gave us a plate of glutinous rice cakes, and we must give thanks for that. But this was the softest glutinous rice cake I've ever eaten. Perhaps someone might like it. #BayAreaFoodDisaster #BayAreaFood #AvoidInBayArea #ChaoShanFreshPickles #ChaoShanPoison#ChaoShan#FreshPicklesKillerGolden Crab /Golden CrabGolden PrawnsWestlake Beef Soup read more

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This newly opened restaurant offered Sichuan/Hunan-style spicy Chinese food, different from the Singaporean food at the previous Black Peppers at the same location. We ordered takeout for dry-braised green beans, boiled whole fish (spicy/oily instead of bland-like-steamed, contrary to what the name suggested as I learned by mistake during my first trip to China), and sweet osmanthus fermented rice sweet dumplings. All tasty, and the sweet dumplings (more like rice balls) were especially good. read more

Food is good, total score 3.8 stars Mongollian beef 7/10 Sliced pork belly in chill sause 8/10 Sweet Osmamthus dumpling 8/10 Service 9/10 Price 8/10 read more

I never expected a Chinese restaurant can be in such crazy expensive! It charged $16 for four tiny spring rolls--which are never better than the ones you can get a whole bag from Costco in $10. Totally over price! If it wants to charge higher price for its menu, it should provide better food. Never come back to this restaurant! First time got the feeling of be robbed in a Chinese restaurant, terrible experience! read more

Pretty authentic Sichuan food, the presentation of the food was really nice. Tea smoked duck was really tasty (sorry, no pics) kou shui jie was really good, the sauce was tasty and with just the right amount of spice. read more

We ate here on Christmas night. We were a party of 7 (6 adults and a 2 year old). We had a 5:30 reservation and were seated promptly, and our order was taken quickly, but the restaurant was clearly short-staffed with only 3 servers for the entire two story restaurant. The servers were obviously stressed and working extremely hard, and though we did get our soup and appetizers fairly quickly it took about an hour and a half from the time we arrived until we got our main dishes, and an extra 20 minutes after that to get our white rice and drinks. My 2 year old was NOT happy about that. The food was pretty good, but the lack of servers really tainted our experience. It took us over 2 hours to finish our meal due to the service, and what we expected to be a fairly quick meal before going home to watch a movie as a family turned into a lengthy dining experience my 2 year old wasn't prepared for and he had to go to bed when we got home with no movie. We were disappointed that the restaurant took so many reservations without the staff to wait on them. We probably won't be back. read more

Generally great place for take-out, albeit on the expensive side at $25/entree. Just got an order tonight and 1 entree was missing! 3 orders, rice, and egg rolls in total so not complicated. It required my hubby to drive back 15 min to pick up the missing item, which means his entree will now sit for 30 min total. Sucks as he ordered General Tsao's chicken, which is deep-fried and hard to keep warm. Everyone getting takeout, make sure you check your order before leaving the place! read more

Good quality Chinese food. The prices are way too high for the food items. Definitely trying to glorify some dishes with a fancier plate and higher prices. read more

Very disappointed at this place. Want to give 0 star if I can. Before the pandemic we came here with parents and it was after owner took over pepper kitchen, used to be pepper kitchen. Owner is not there to greet anymore. Servers were swamped and snobby- not checking in during meals and at the start did not come by to order food, had to flag them down multiple times and one of the server did not service us at all. There were 2 severs servicing 8 tables at the same time. Food was mediocre and flies were everywhere. Prices are exorbitant for the quality and quantity. If you want to be a high end restaurant with high end prices you need to be consistently delivering good food, services that are amazing else people wont come back for the premium prices. Not sure if we will come back again. Sad to see how this place is managed. read more