Mandarin Express

Nasty Nasty Nasty, poor quality. Rice dry! Noodles nasty no flavor! «Beef» had a funky taste!!! Never again will I eat here!!!
This was a waste of money would rather have gave to charity or homeless person. The one star is for the soy sauce provided

I love this place they lady here is so nice. They never slide you the receipt to tip them so you have to catch her and tip her. Really satisfied with the service. Also the food is delicious and consistent. Great little restaurant to come and eat at.

Good value for money but nothing special in terms of quality. If you are hungry and looking for something that is quick and easy, this is a good choice. By generally order takeout and it serves its purpose. While it is nothing super fancy it is not bad either.

I used to love this place… NOT ANYMORE… The food is great and I have been many times… BUT NOT ANYMORE. Today when I came to eat with my family, I seen a man in the back cutting meat as we ordered our food. As he was cutting the meat some fell off the slicer around it and onto the lower part and ground. When he was done cutting he placed the cut meat into a metal bowl. Then he proceeded to pick up the meat around that fell including the meat on the floor. I thought he was just cleaning up… BUT HE PLACED THAT MEAT IN THE BOWL WITH THE SAME MEAT FROM THE SLICER… YUCK…I ASKED the boy who was taking our order what the man IN the back was going to do with the meat I just seen him pick up off the floor and place with the other meat he was slicing… His best response was that he doesn’t know anything because he is a vegetarian. OK…So I ASKED the man IN the back WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH THAT MEAT I JUST SEEN YOU PICK UP OFF THE FLOOR… His response was in a language I couldn’t understand BUT it seemed he was upset with me for asking… So with this we left never to return… YUCK.

My fiancé n I have been coming here for years. Place is definitely mom n pop joint. All the food is authentic and taste like what my parents cooked at home. Typical Chinese style where there isn’t a bunch of oil used.
It’s funny cause Bel Air next door also sells «Chinese food» I don’t understand why anyone would go there when there is authentic chooses food next door.

I love this mom and pop Chinese food establishment. The family is always so nice, remembers your order and provides great food and service.

I’ve been coming here since it opened and I love the food! I usually get my favorite, chicken katsu. It is a family business and they are all very sweet. Always welcoming :)

The food surprisingly tastes pretty good. My boyfriend and I all agree that their food are much better thank any Chinese restaurant in natomas.

The food here is almost always terrific. The only exception is when I have come in near closing & the noodles seem to be reheated in the same wok, and end up with a burnt, charred taste. This is not the worst thing in the world, it’s my fault for coming in so late:) The beef with mix vegetables is always so delicious! House special chow mein is soooooo yummy! The real deal is the lunch special combos, so much variety, HUGE portions and a killer deal. Oh I can’t forget the egg rolls are always so fresh & crispy! Great value for good Chinese!

Solid mom and pop Americanized Chinese for cheap. I’ll go here instead of Panda Express any day.
Avoid the Fried Rice.

Great food at a great price! Everywhere else charged double for orange chicken and fried rice. My new favorite Chinese food restaurant.

This is the worst Chinese restaurant I’ve been to in 20 years. Orange chicken consisted of chewy low-​grade chicken with soggy, flaccid breading and a sauce that couldn’t have been more than OJ, water, and a liitle cornstarch. This dish was flat-​out inedible. Seafood pineapple fried rice was basic food court fried rice with one shrimp chopped into four pieces, one frozen squid piece chopped into four pieces, and one or two surimi krab pieces chopped into 6 – 7 small pieces. This dish was edible but below average. Everything – even for inside diners – is served on styrofoam with flimsy plastic silverware so no dishes need to be washed. Avoid.

I like this place. The cook understands how to make dishes with flavor. Is he using a ton of msg? Probably. But to me they make their dishes tasty. I usually get the kung pao or the house chow mein.

The food is mediocre but it’s cheap, the portions are big, they are fast and it’s better than Panda. They also have «lunch» specials until 5pm.

Place is clean and the staff is friendly. My meal was good. I just had one of the staff choose whichever he liked and asked for extra spice. Got half and half (chow mien and fried rice) and a beef garlic stir fry. The stir fry was yummy. Im not a fan of chow mien since it tends to get greedy and heavy. The rice was not my favorite. Im picky with my rice.
I would actually come back here. I wanted to try their honey teriyaki chicken plate. It looked delicious.
The lunch specials are EXTREMELY priced low. I got out for under 6 bucks. I would recommend this place for a fast food type of meal. Quick and fills you up.
Shout out to the staff who greeted me and stood there helping me. :0
Go!

I work nearby, so I eat here all the time for lunch. CALL AHEAD if you are in a hurry and your food will be waiting for you. Otherwise, you will be waiting for it. The lunch special for about $ 5 is a deal. I almost always get the broccoli with garlic sauce and they let me customize it… I like it a little spicy and with no other extra veggies in it (baby corn, bamboo shoots, etc.) and it is always right.
The cream cheese wontons are very tasty, but I wish you could get a half order. I just recently tried their BBQ pork, which was advertised on the white board behind the counter. Oh dear Jesus, is it delicious!!! Not at all what I was expecting (the greasy, reddish pork like they have at Raley’s or most Chinese places.) This was cold slices of pork loin that had been marinated or rubbed with the same reddish-​hued spices, but it was so tender that it melted in my mouth.
Finally, let me say that the young man who works at the counter is a sweetheart. He is super-​helpful and knowledgeable and is their greatest asset. I hope he gets a raise. :)

I love the crab wontons and the chicken and string beans. I also love that they have plain chowmein as an option. I hate all the extra crap Panda Express has in their chowmein.
Great prices and super tasty!

This is a local family owned small tiny Chinese restaurant. I always walk by this place as I’m either going to Bangkok Gardens or Bel Air. My friend suggested me to try this spot out as they have lunch specials that ranges from $ 4.75 — $ 5.75 so i decided to try it.
I gave this restaurant 3 tries and each time, i had mixed reviews:
First time i ate here, i tried their War Wonton soup as my buddy recommended it to me. I’d have to say for $ 5.50, its not bad. The broth was very tasty but the wonton’s were very small. If i recall, when ordering War Wonton from other Chinese restaurant, the wonton’s are suppose to be huge with more meat and wrapped with at least half of shrimp. This place just wrapped it as if its a regular wonton soup. The soup also came with couple pieces of BBQ pork, chicken pieces, chopped up baby bok choy and 2 pieces of small shrimp. As i said before, the broth was very tasty and good but later, i got super thirsty. MSG must of kicked in.
2^nd dish was the Salt Pepper Tofu. As i was waiting for my War Wonton soup i saw a picture of the salt pepper tofu hanging on the wall. It looked good so i went back up to the cashier and ordered that too. The tofu came out on a bed of white crispy noodles and tons of black pepper in a togo box. I was a little shocked as most places serve the tofu with jalapenos. The tofu was very pepper and salty. I would not recommend ordering this appetizer again.
Round 2: ordered the string bean and chicken over rice with garlic sauce. This plate was ehhh… I was disappointed that they pile on hella rice with sauce & onions and not much of the chicken with green beans. It may seem like you got alot but after moving the chicken/​green beans around, its all rice. On top of that, the sauce reminded me of kung pao as it was very sweet, dark in color and had chili flakes.
Round 3: ordered tofu with chicken over rice. I figure there is no way you can go wrong with this dish. Portions of chicken/​tofu was pretty big and of course you get tons of rice in the togo box. For some reason, the tofu did not taste too fresh as it had a taste where you know if you didn’t cook it that day, it’s going to be bad by tomorrow.
Overall, if you want cheap Chinese food that’s ok, this is the spot for you.
FYI, it doesn’t matter if you order for here or togo with your rice plates, you’ll always receive it in a togo box.

If you’re in a hurry to come and go, then this place is for you. I think they specialize in to go orders, because even if you eat inside the restaurant they put all your food in to go boxes on the tray. I was a little put off by the cashier’s need to up scale our order without giving us an option of ordering a small. When my fiancé pointed it out, she seemed annoyed and frustrated. I’m not sure if this place will be around much longer with the competition of Bangkok Thai food two doors down. But this certainly worked for us on a day where it wasn’t so much about the ambiance as trying to get a cheap meal that didn’t taste like fast food from a chain restaurant.

AWESOME place for lunch. Around $ 5, you can ditch that fast food habit and have a semi-​healthy mean (depending on what you order).
I’ve been here twice so far, first time, I got Tofu, and 2^nd time I got Shrimp with Lobster sauce, both were excellent. The portions were not huge, but just right.
Décor is non-​existent, it’s like a cafeteria, but the food and price are what makes this place a standout.