Mandarin Buffet

Avoid this place, their food is old, everything tastes bad. If there was an option to give them negative rating I would do that.

Hi I’m writing about my recent visit to Mandarin Buffet at 5005 S Campbell Ave, Tucson, AZ
(520) 573‑2977. I went there to eat with my daughter this past Saturday the 9^th around 5pm. My daughter wanted to eat ‘Chinese’ so we decided to try it.
After I got a plate I started looking through all the food choices. I truly had a hard time picking anything out because the fried zucchini, chicken, fries, and stuffed jalapeños had already changed to a dark color from sitting out so long. I knew of bacteria and growth on meat and poultry when food is out long so I just grabbed a stuffed jalapeño. When I took a bite I could feel just a lukewarm temperature which clearly meant that the meat and chicken items were not to temperature. I refused to eat it it or anything on that buffet table. I tried some orange chicken and some sesame chicken from another buffet table. None of it was hot, it was chewy from sitting there long and I actually spit out a piece and noticed a pink color of the under cooked chicken. I decided I wasn’t going to eat any animal products from there and had soup and lukewarm veggies. We were there for 45 mins, I ate a cup of soup and 3 raspberry teas because that was all I could consume from there. I never once saw anyone check temperature nor did a cook or chef exchange out a single tray of food. When we were leaving I saw the same trays of food on the buffet tables that were there when I walked in earlier. As I was paying I asked if they ever change the trays out. The woman at the desk gave a response of ‘they change the trays.‘
I told her I had undercooked chicken in my napkin and she didn’t say anything. I told her I would mention this to the health department to which she responded that the health department was just there.
Now all this isn’t a complaint about management or anything like that but because I myself have worked in food industry for 12 yrs now and I know what unsafe and unsanitary health practices look like. I’m never going back there but this message is about the safety of those that will go there. Oh and while we were there 2 whole pieces about 3 feet by 2 feet of the wet ceiling fell onto the ground.

This place used to have good food. Now the food is mediocre at best. The food is not fresh. Restaurant used to be clean but now is filthy. I don’t know if its new owners or what the cause is. If stay away from here.

Oh boy. Where to start?
I cannot recall giving one star in such a very long time. Actually, I looked — the last time I gave an establishment one star was in June 2011. More than two years ago!
Sadly, this place deserves the single star.
When I walked into the place, I found that it was nearly empty. Strange, on a Sunday late afternoon that only two parties would be seated. Perhaps this should have served as a red flag? I had read other Unilocal reviews on this place which were hugely mixed. I decided to stay and give it a go.
The restaurant is very spacious — plenty of room for large parties of people. I imagined that the restaurant would get packed at times, full of families. Also, I found that the staff was very highly attentive and accommodating. I immediately had a good feeling; believing that if the service is this wonderful, the food must be something amazing.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Sad to say that no matter how wonderful the service, this place could never gain more than one star.
Earlier reviewers were right on – the food is served at the wrong temperature: too-​too cold or lukewarm. What a disappointment, and I was out of $ 10. Nothing like biting into fresh-​looking piece of broccoli and finding that it was below the temperature of lukewarm; that weird phase between cold and warm. Ugh.
My method with all buffets is to take one bite-​sized serving of as many things as possible. Bite-​sized as in one jab of a fork or swoop of the chopsticks. This way, I can try many dishes without getting too overwhelmed at once. Also, it enables me to bypass those things that I find I do not like without wasting any food at all.
So here goes:
The salmon nigiri was too soft and flavorless.
The crab puffs were extremely sweet, like sugary sweet.
The mushrooms looked delicious but were overcooked.
The tofu skin (sushi) was actually quite nice. Very nice flavor. This was my favorite bite.
The batter on the sesame chicken had turned soggy.
The rice on the crab topped sushi roll had turned into a mold of itself.
The BBQ ribs were cold.
I observed a few other things: the restaurant serves fresh oysters, but they were submerged in a container of ice water; the desserts were plentiful, but did not look fresh; the sushi was nearly nonexistent; I saw a slice of a brown banana mixed in with fresh slices.
But it was the rice that did me in. Rice is the grand staple of any Asian-​style restaurant. Here, the rice was served alongside other dishes in the buffet line. The container was wrapped in what appeared to be some form of plastic wrap, leaving the rice — uncovered. The rice was so horribly dried out that I almost complained to the server. But, alas, considering the quality of the rest of the food I really didn’t see the point in complaining about anything whatsoever.
All told, I was at the restaurant for less than 30 minutes.

If your in a rush and want variety, this place will rally your taste buds. It’s clean, usually pretty fresh as long as you choose peak dinning hours. There is even a meager sushi bar to choose from and it’s all included in the reasonable buffet price. It’s not a date night destination, but good for a fill-​er up before grocery shopping. The sautéed green beans are awesome and the sesame chicken is quite tasty.

I dont know how the other person gave tis place such a good review. I went on a Friday evening around 7:30. Just about everything we put on our plates was cold and/​or dried out. Not much of a selection either. I did let them know the crab legs were cold and they did make new hot ones for us which was nice. However I feel like I threw my $$ away. The best part was the cream cheese things and ice cream for desert.

Outstanding customer service, food good, sushi bar was really good great price. Neighborhood .so so