Mao’s Chinese Restaurant

Mediocre food. And the unclean toilets with no soap in either the men’s or women’s room makes you wonder if you’ll catch anything eating their food. Would be a one-​star if the waitresses weren’t so nice.

If you can see past the ironic veneration of a tyrant or perhaps get sucked in by the enchanting tones of Carla Bruni (the French first lady who is playing constantly when you are there) then chances are you will end up in Mao’s Chinese Restaurant on Brunswick Street. It is after all one of only a few Chinese restaurants in Fitzroy.
But I wouldn’t bother if I was you. It’s not cheap and the food which we experienced was extremely bland despite the dishes we ordered being meat based dishes that are full of flavour. Whilst the service is pretty good, the food really lets the whole place down and at the fairly pricy scale for this kind of food, there are definitely better places to go nearby. For example Café 58 is awesome and just round the corner. It has a mix of Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai cuisine.

Fitzroy isn’t known for its Chinese food, but if there was a decent Chinese restaurant in Fitzroy, it would do incredibly well. Unfortunately, Mao’s continues to do well despite it not being that great.
We decided to check out Mao’s because we do eat a lot of Vietnamese in Fitzroy and that’s worked out perfectly. It was time for a change and I was craving Chinese food. I always know when Mao’s is open because you can hear the French First Lady playing in the background — it is as if they have no other music to play.
The service was great, which was unexpected. You get used to poor service because of the Chinese restaurants in Chinatown and you just accept that fact. Unfortunately, the service was the best thing about this place.
We ordered an entrée of spring rolls that was average. Then we ordered two mains to share — one with duck and one with scallops. What came out? Identical dishes, the same white sauce and the same vegetables, but one with duck and one with scallops. I can’t recall what the dishes were, but we didn’t order the same dish and just change the meats — that’s just weird.
Considering that Mao’s is slightly more expensive or the same price but with smaller portions (however you want to define it), it just wasn’t that great.