Mandarin Roots

Super good food, service, and ambience.
Went for happy hour, sat in their patio area with a nice heater above us. Most happy hour items are $ 5 and my favorite was the San tung wings!
Also tried calamari, pork belly quesadilla, duck roll, and kimchi Kalbi fries. They ran out of the tacos so I’d definitely come back and try that and maybe skip the fries.
Left super full and would def Come back again! Great for a date night or a catch up session :)

I came in at 11:30 am which was their opening time. We were greeted by a friendly staff, and we ordered chicken lettuce cups, Peking duck and 48hr pork belly. The food came fast because we were the first ones there. The waiter was fast to remove the empty plates because our table was small. The chicken lettuce cups were delicious, and the Peking duck was a little above average though it was a little dry. The 48 hr pork belly didn’t really impress me, but it was really tender and flavorful. I was already stuffed after two lettuce cups and cup Peking buns. Haha, but I got to try the latte macchiato gelato. They don’t serve egg puffs anymore, but the gelato was not bad. Good customer service and decent Chinese food.

First time here and everything turned out good to great.
Highlights were
— XO seafood fried rice loaded with shrimp and scallops
–Lettuce cup chicken with edamame for added texture
— Kobe beef tacos
— Lotus and lilly root vegetables with wooden ears
— Pea shoots with garlic
— Lava cake
The Peking duck was good and came with some nice extras including pickled vegetables… but fell a bit short of the better Peking duck dishes I’ve had elsewhere and was on the pricey side.
Service was outstanding!

One of my favorite places for Chinese food in the area (although might not be saying much given limited options…)
They have San Tung chicken wings here! Calorie bomb of deliciousness. The string beans and mapo tofu (vegetarian) were great as well and generously portioned. The pork belly was served cold/​lukewarm and not my favorite.

My group of friends wanted to meet for our monthly get-​together and randomly chose this place based on their reviews and pictures. Did not disappoint. We made reservations and was seated right away. We also had a bunch of their small plate options, perfect by the way to share amongst friends *family style! Every plate we tried was delicious! It is dimly lit with a bar on the right so more of a romantic feel then for a party scene. I believe there’s a cute patio in the back if you want to get a little rowdy and still be able to eat and drink.

Extremely flavorful & delicious! The staff is also very friendly definitely recommend! Good amount of food for the price :)

Date: 1÷31÷2016
Meal: dinner
Price: $$
Came here for dinner with a friend. The restaurant had a cozy romantic feel to it, more like a date night restaurant. Surprising for a Chinese restaurant. The lights were dimmed and candles lit. We asked to be seated at one of the booth in the enclosed patio with heat lamps. Perfect place.
The food was quite good for what we had except for a couple of things we found was not up to standard. We ordered one app and two entrée to share. Our waiter was nice and always checked up on us except when he disappeared near the end for a long period.
What we had:
Pork belly quesadillas (¹⁄₅) yeah… This was the worst thing we had. The pork belly was cooked good but does not belong in a quesadillas. We wanted to try it.
Honey walnut shrimp (3.5÷5) it was good and had giant plump shrimp and the flavor ratio was there but for me the mayo was a little much after two shrimp.
The peking duck (⁵⁄₅) Beijing style duck with freshly steamed bun to make a duck bun. Yum! This is by far the best peking duck I had so far next to my grandma’s peking duck. First restaurant where i say a dish even beats Los Angeles restaurants peking ducks. My friend who eats peking duck all the time down south agreed as well. The buns come out steaming and the duck was not oily at all. The skin was crisp just right and flavor of the duck meat was tender.
Overall the service was good and the peking duck was awesome. We didn’t experiences much distaste as mentioned by previous Unilocalers except we do agree not all dishes were good. I would return especially for the peking duck unless we find better and also to give other dishes a chance. This place is promising in my book so far.

Great spot, try it! Went there with 3 couples for dinner and drinks on a Friday night. Reservation was a must, a couple came in behind us and were told it was a 40 minute wait for a table.
Cocktails were quite excellent, though the bar was painfully slow — drinks came out 1 or 2 at at time… took about 30 minutes for everyone to get theirs. The favorite in our group was the «_​_​_​Penicillin» (forgot the complete name… which probably tells you we had too many). We tried maybe 7 – 8 different ones across the group, some better than others, but there were no stinkers. Prices pretty typical for this area ($ 9 – 11).
The service was a bit odd… we were mobbed at times by 3 servers who swooped in, then other times we were left looking for one… but overall the servers were friendly and helpful with the menu.
We ordered a large pile of food, and like the drinks, all was very good though some was better than the others. Some favorites for our group:
— Pork pot stickers (recommended by the server)
— Deep fried tofu (recommended by the server)
— Peking (roast) duck salad
— Sichuan Green Beans
Good but not great:
— Tangerine Beef
Surprisingly, the molten chocolate cake was pretty good — we’ve had better (Wild Hare, when it was around), but i’d give MR’s version a solid B+.
Only complaints:
— We sat at a table on the patio (well enclosed) which was a bit cold and dark (but the lazy susan in the middle made sharing everything easy and fun.)
— The floor in the entry/​bar area is grossly sticky when you walk on it… reminded me of dive bar floor or aftermath of a fraternity house party. That was an immediate turnoff when we arrived, but the food made up for it. But still, really, how about some Simple Green or PineSol?
— The lazy susan at our table was pretty gross and poorly cleaned/​greasy (noticeable even in the dark).
— Bar service was SLOOOOWWW
All that said, we’ll very likely be back… we had a good time and everyone enjoyed the food and drinks.

Let’s be totally honest here. My rating is for the staff but I’ll give the food. Jason was our server and to be honest he did okay. The other wait staff and bartender on the other hand have no clue what they are doing. I asked where my drink was and they had No idea. 20 mins later I got my drink but later to find out I got the wrong drink. The host quoted use 45 mins and then sat us down 2 mins later” the restaurant wasn’t even busy.” This place needs new staff big time. Or they just need to relax and calm down and pay attention to what you’re doing!!!

This place is amazing! Have tried many of the menu items and have loved everything! Great service and ambiance as well. Will definitely be back!

The options for good Chinese food are surprisingly limited mid-​Peninsula, ironically. I was excited to see a new option in the area, so I picked up some take out on the way home from work. I went a little overboard since it came out to just under $ 100 with tax and tip for two people. Probably got enough food for four people, although I’d still say it was overpriced.
I got the pot stickers, M.R. wings, Roots Special Noodles, orange beef, pea sprouts, and 48hr Pork Belly. The pork belly was swimming in fat. I know it’s pork, but after it congealed it was… not a pretty sight. Orange beef was mediocre. I personally detest orange beef, but my dining partner, an orange beef connoisseur assured me that it was sub-​par. Like an inferior PF Chang’s. The wings were too sticky sweet for my tastes. Mushy, gummy noodles… why? I wish I’d gotten the Hong Kong crispy style noodles. Pot stickers were okay, not great. No crispy side, thick gummy wrapper. The pea sprouts were good.
Not a repeat for me.

We went there last night. The food was fabulous but there were a few details which made the experience even better:
* Separate and extensive vegetarian and gluten-​free menus
* Good California beer on tap
* Booths which were family friendly
Now rivals Steam as my top Chinese food pick in Palo Alto.

Last night, we had an urge for some Korean hot spicy seafood noodle soup called Jjampong. Normally we go South to Santa Clara to get some, but this time, Unilocal shows Mandarin Roots in Palo Alto, so we’ll be going West across the bridge. There are a few vague reviews on the Jjampong here, so we still drive to try it anyhow. For those who don’t know Palo Alto, the area are for millionaires/​billionaires like Facebook CEOs live, so the land is very expensive, therefore, the restaurants prices are also for people «money is no object». At least, we pretend to be? May be. Anyhow, the restaurant is very small, narrow, the banner for the name is vertical, split the Mandarin Roots into 2 words, may be it’s the design, but very hard for us to find at night even with Audi’s navigation. The drive way to the rear parking lot is exactly 1 car wide, so we don’t really know who has the right of way, in/​out (see the picture). Now, if there’s an emergency evacuation, your car is dead in the parking lot. It was a Sunday night, early 6PM, we found an empty space, great.
Walked in the door, the place is so dark that people have to literally use their iPhones flashlight to read the menu and the price is so tiny that I didn’t even see that my Jjampong was $ 16 (every where else is less than $ 10), again, this is Palo Alto, sit down to drink water would cost you $ 10. OK, tonight we eat high class Jjampong.
My daughter likes steak, so she ordered ribeye skewers, 3 skewers for $ 15, no rice or bread, just meat and some kim chi and lettuce. We asked her if she needed to order something else, these are growing pre-​teen kids.
The Jjampong came, the soup was good, spicy but not HOT (warm), the seafood tasted fresh, the noodles were perfect, A+? Now, this is seafood only Jjampong, there is no beef or pork like most of the Korean Jjampong restaurants we’ve been to. The noodle and soup were so good that my 10 year old son needed more noodles (I think Palo Alto people eat very little, not like us blue color people). So, another $ 4.00 for about 2 – 3 oz of noodles and we had to wait for 5 minutes, the waiter said it took 5 minutes to cook the noodles, and it came out COLD (OK, may be they had to rinse with cold water). If you’re hungry, make sure to order extra noodle.
It was a great experience, did we like the food? Absolutely, was it worth $ 82 including 16% tip (since the servers are very pleasant and helpful) for 3 Jjampongs and 3 skewers of RibEye? May be, it’s dependent on how much you like the restaurant and budget to spend. Will we come back again? It’s debatable, the kids like the place, my wife doesn’t and I just go wherever they like… and the wife always wins.

Excellent service at lunch hour — the waiter was extremely attentive.
Food wise, the presentation was quite good. Flavors may not be exactly what you’ll find at a more traditional Chinese restaurant. While the duck spring roll certainly was well plated, I thought the duck really didn’t stand out too much. Don’t think I’d order that again. The Taiwanese sliders (pork belly bun) was also a tad sweet for my tastes, but overall not bad. I did enjoy the lotus and lilies dish.
I’d come back for the service and ambiance. Food was okay, not spectacular.

Some dishes (e.g., pea shoots, chicken lettuce wrap, pork belly quesadilla, char siu sea bass) are solid, and others (e.g., Peppercorn steak stir fry, Peking duck fried rice, Peking duck spring rolls), just look appetizing without much of an authentic flavor. If you’re paying a lot, you’d hope for taste and/​or quantity beyond looks. It’s so dark that you can barely see the food to fully enjoy it. There are only two dessert options (chocolate lava cake and coffee with waffles) and they aren’t Asian.
The staff is fast, friendly, and helpful. I never had to ask for more water and appreciated the suggestions. Parking is available on the street.

This place is a gem. I went on a business trip to Palo Alto for 2 weeks and tried this place 3 times. Twice at the restaurant and once using DoorDash (Delivery app).
Food tastes Great
5 — Pork Belly Queso
5 — Tangerine Beef (Crispy and flavorful)
4 — Mongolian Beef (I asked Med Rare, but it was very chewy and spicier than I thought)

This is a review from a vegetarian perspective.
I’ve been here twice now and have generally enjoyed it, although it feels a little bit spendy for what you get.
I absolutely recommend the deep fried tofu. It is perfect crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. The dipping sauce is really tasty. I’ve gotten this both times I’ve gone.
The first time I went, I got the moo shu root vegetables. It was pretty tasty, but did not seem more high end than that you would get at your average Chinese take out place. With the price, portion, and quality, I was a little underwhelmed.
Despite looking back at the restaurant’s menu, I cannot remember the second dish I got, which was from the vegetable section of the menu. I do remember it as being okay, but not spectacular. Perhaps that’s why I can’t remember what it was (this is coming from someone who’s able to remember meals I ate 10 years ago with incredible clarity, so…)

I’ve been here 3 times and I’ve enjoyed my experience each time. I agree that it’s easy to miss since there isn’t a big sign on the place and the parking lot is kind of small. However, I’m still a fan!
The happy hour is great — drink specials and appetizers for $ 5!!! Their selection of apps are good. Some standouts are the spicy tuna cucumber bites and kimchi kalbi fries.
Their dinner menu is also good:
Chicken Moo-​Shu — tasty, but the pancake part was a bit too doughy
Potstickers — the sauce was spicy and gave it a nice kick
Taiwanese beef noodle soup (good portion and really good!)
Peppercorn steak stir fry — decent
Lotus and Lilies — delicate flavors and very good
The ambiance is nicer and fancier than other Chinese restaurants and I appreciate that they made an effort there. I can’t wait for the weather to warm up so I can sit in the patio area!
I believe this is a family owned restaurant so I’m happy to support them! I’ll definitely be back for more been noodle soup and at some point I want to try their Hong Kong style waffles!

One of the better fancier type Asian restaurants I’ve been to in a while! Their food is a bit fusion-​y, but the majority was really good. Prices also weren’t bad for the portions. Reservations highly recommend just in case– it was definitely busy around 6:30pm on a Sunday. Since we had reservations for a party of 6, we were seated right away, and tried:
–Pork Belly Quesadilla (Braised Pork Belly, Scallion Flatbread, Mozzarella Gouda Cheese, Mango Kimchi Emulsion,
): Yum, this is a must order for any quesadilla lover. It was very flavorful and the cheese was nice and melted. This dish was on the greasy side, but still delicious.
–Hot & Sour Soup (Fresh Wood Ear, Shiitake, Tofu, Egg Ribbons, Spring Onions, Large, $ 14): I’m not a huge soup fan but actually enjoyed this– it had a great ratio of hot to sour.
–San Tung Chicken Wings (Firecracker Sauce, Scallions, Garlic Candy): Really good, and the chicken was nice and crispy– highly recommended.
–Chinese Chicken Salad (5 Spice Grilled Chicken Breast, Baby Iceberg Lettuce, Cucumber, Cilantro, Lotus Root Chips, Orange, Roasted Peanuts,
): The only disappointing dish of the night– the dressing was super bland, and this was a very boring salad. Skip!
–Garlic Noodles (Garlic Butter, Crunchy Garlic, Garlic Candy, Baby Heirloom Tomatoes, Bean Sprouts, Beech Mushrooms, $ 12): Very buttery but it was good– recommended!
–48 Hour Pork Belly (Assorted Asian Pickles, 63 Degree Egg, Demi Sauce Reduction,
): Delicious– the pork belly was flavorful and super tender. Recommended!
–Honeyed Walnut Prawns (Candied Walnuts, Honey Mustard Glaze, Kumquat Preserves, Asian Slaw,
): Not your standard honey walnut prawns, and we couldn’t figure out if we enjoyed this version or not. The prawns were gigantic, but I’m not sure I would get this again.
–Hunan Style String Beans (Pickled Kohlrabi, Scallions, Fiery Garlic Chili Sauce, $ 9): Solid version of string beans, and very flavorful.
–Moo-​Shu Pork (Cabbage, Rainbow Carrots, Scallion, Asian Mushroom Medley, Jicama, Celery, Served w/​Chinese Flour Pancakes, Pomegranate Hoisin): Again, this was a solid version of moo shu, and very good. Recommended!
–Molten Chocolate Lava Cake (Housemade Toffee Ice Cream, Toffee Crumble, Condensed Milk Caramel,
): Pretty good! It had good chocolate flavor and I liked the toffee crumble.
–Coffee & Waffles (Hong Kong Style Eggettes, House Churned Coffee Gelato, Fresh Mint, Crème Chantilly,
): Disappointing– the waffles (aka eggettes) were too dry/​crunchy, but the coffee gelato was good.
I totally forgot to order the Taiwan Sliders and Dumplings, although now I can’t remember if I saw these items on the menu or not (they’re listed on the online menu). The service started off promising for an Asian restaurant, but it went downhill towards the end when our server got busy and we had to flag her down continuously. Overall, the food was surprisingly good, and this is one of the better Asian fusion type restaurants I’ve been to in a while. I hope to come back and try additional dishes from their menu! Parking is the worst part about coming here– they only have a really small and squishy lot in the back, but there is some street parking available.

*Food: Very delicious. I highly recommend the steak tacos only $ 5 at happy hour!
*Service: Poor. They seemed under-​staffed, it was hard to get the waitress’ attention
*Ambiance: Really modern and cool! We arrived at 6pm and the place filled up pretty quick after that. There is an outside seating area that is covered, heated, and has nice lighting
Notes: We got the Groupon, which you cannot use on Happy Hour specials or on your wine/​beer/​cocktail purchase… You can only use Groupon on Entrée purchases, which range from $ 15 (soup and noodle dishes) to $ 35 (fillet mignon/​duck/​etc.). the Groupon is falsely advertised, but we were so hungry we didn’t mind ordering two entrees.
They have a wonderful collection of appetizers, beer, wine, and cocktails for $ 5 a piece. A great place to come with friends to socialize. They have a bar area that is separated, nice if you want to have a quick bite solo too.

The outdoor patio area is awesome. Wonderful on a warm evening and not too loud, but lively. We had a nice and relaxing time. The service was very good.
The food was 3 stars. The honey walnut shrimp was very good. The 48 hour pork belly was mediocre. The texture of the pork did not have any slow cooked tenderness: 48 minutes maybe.? The presentation on both were good and came with a nice slaw underneath. The duck spring roll was a hit with the 2 year old and the wife although I found it better only in concept. For drinks I’m glad I tried the old fashioned at the happy hour price of $ 5, since it would’t have been otherwise worth it. Beer was ice cold! Entrée prices are high, so the value isn’t there for the quality of the food.
Don’t bother with a Groupon. When I said we had one, our server told us we had to order 2 entrees from a small section of the menu where prices started at $ 15. Well, 2 entrees would cost at least the entire value of the Groupon, which was advertised to be for any food and drink. Applying it to drinks would be mathematically impossible! I docked this review one star because Groupon later confirmed that the restaurant had administered it improperly.
I’d still like to return and and try some more happy hour items, and the molten lava cake sometime.

Wow, I really liked Mandarin Roots up until tonight. I had been there a few times, but this was the first time using a Groupon. They have great food and fantastic happy hour offerings. Too bad they’re such stingy business owners.
First, the good:
— Garlic noodles (⁵⁄₅) — Drowning in buttah and garlic. Yum.
— Kalibi tacos (4.5÷5) — Thumbs up from the husband.
— Calamari (³⁄₅) — skip it. Too heavy on the breading
— Tuna cucumber bites — (⁵⁄₅) — nice and light. Perfect amount of spice.
— $ 3 draft beers
— Beautiful outdoor patio
The bad:
I had to argue with the server to honor my Groupon during happy hour. No where on the Groupon or Terms and Conditions does it say ‘cannot be used during happy hour’. After that, we tried to pay the balance with a credit card and were told they have a $ 15 minimum. This was NOT posted anywhere. Who has a $ 15 minimum? That’s ridiculous. We scrounged together what cash we had and sadly our server got no tip. They don’t have an ATM. We felt absolutely horrible. These two events completely ruined our night out. Sadly we won’t be coming back.
If this is how you’re going to treat customers, good luck running a successful business!
Other negatives:
— good luck finding parking
— dinner menu is waay overpriced. $ 8 for a cup of hot and sour soup? Is that a joke?
PS — in addition to your bogus policies, your signage sucks — even having been there before, we drove AND walked past your restaurant.

Pros: Great atmosphere, top notch service, well prepared drinks (mandarin mule and some sort of really good lychee drink) and the lettuce wraps, which were spectacular.
Cons: Mongolian Beef. The pieces of beef were quite large, and cooked medium rare. We even returned it to be cooked longer, but when it came back out, it was hot, but still pink in the middle. The meat was extremely chewy and (for the first time in my life), I had to ask for a steak knife to cut the pieces of beef, as I couldn’t break it apart with my chopsticks or a fork. I’ve eaten Mongolian Beef all around the world and never had to ask for a knife. This dish alone pulled my rating down and if not for the drinks and lettuce wraps, I would have given this place 2 stars.
Another Con: Garlic Noodles: The noodles, were just OK. Quite salty and too much gravy/​sauce. I won’t get the Garlic Noodles again, and have to really think about whether or not I want to visit this place in the future (especially with Chef Chu’s just down the street… Their Mongolian Beef is spectacular).

My sister was able to secure a reservation one week in advance for our group of 11 for her birthday on a Saturday night. The food is considered Asian Fusion so I was excited to see some cool creations.
While we waited for the rest of the party, we chose to wait in the little bar area at the front of the restaurant. They had a happy hour on Saturday until 6PM so we munched on the Pork Belly Quesadilla ($ 5 off the HH menu) and took advantage of their drink specials. The pork belly quesadilla was made with roti bread which made the taste even better. The pork was a great filling to the dish.
They seated our group in the back patio area. Since it was still winter at the time, the patio was covered and they provided heaters around us.
The restaurant had a lot of tapas dishes which was great, since our party wasn’t ordering family style. My BF and I shared the Ahi Tuna Poke ($ 13), Kalbi beef tacos ($ 7), San Tung chicken wings ($ 8), honey walnut prawns ($ 13), and the garlic noodles ($ 12). All dishes were really great except I wasn’t too impressed with the San Tung wings. I thought that they would be great considering there is a bomb fried chicken spot in SF called San Tung.
If you check in on Unilocal,you get a free glass of red or white wine.
Yummy place overall and I wouldn’t mind coming back. I work in the area for lunch so perhaps I’ll bring my coworkers here.

Stopped by for happy hour with friends of mine (he’s a huge happy hour fan). This is some of the best, freshest Chinese food I’ve ever had. There’s an extensive vege menu, and I ordered vege mushu with pancakes (no egg) from the starter menu, and that proved to be very filling all by itself, and definitely worth the $ 12.
They also have a pretty good cocktail selection, although the mango mojito although fruity, wasn’t that great. The beer selection wasn’t amazing. We sat in a covered outside area and watched the final Warriors game, although a bit too far from the TV to read the score (but thanks to Google, kept up to date anyway).
Talking to the server after, she was very excited about all the vege entrees they offer. Unfortunately, Palo Alto is a long way away for me, so wouldn’t return in a big hurry, but might consider if I’m back in the area.
I can’t give 5 starts unless they better mark the menu with what’s vegan, but a pretty nice joint for sure.

We ate here as a family. The service is excellent, friendly and professional. And the food is FANTASTIC! The Peiking duck is moist, tasty, tender and with subtitle spices. Noodles were delicious, not greasy at all. And all the starters were excellent, you want to try everything: ahi tuna poke, pot stickers, spring rolls (yummy!!!)…
Fried calamari were not my favorite, the batter was a little bit thick.
Overall: Best Chinese place in Palo Alto at the moment.