Mandarin was brought to my attention through a Yelp newsletter that discussed places to eat in Reston. We had never heard of Mandarin before that. I looked at the reviews, which are mixed, with some who really like the food but some who were naysayers. Still, we thought it was worth a try. One thing mentioned in a review is that there are currently only two tables in the place. Thus, we were glad to discover that they work with DoorDash. We placed an order this past Sunday. We ordered two hot and sour soups, one order of chicken with snow peas and one order of spicy chicken with garlic sauce. As an aside, rice comes with each entree. We didn't know that so we had ordered one side of rice. As for the food, the portions are large. We got two meals out of them. We were pleasantly surprised by the food. The chicken with snow peas was a mild dish that came with an abundance of white meat chicken and a generous amount of snow peas. The snow peas had a nice crunch to them. The chicken with garlic sauce was mildly spicy and contained white meat chicken, sliced onions, and sliced celery. It reminded me of the same dish I had many years ago: same ingredients, same taste. My husband enjoyed his chicken dish. The hot and sour soup was okay. We've had better, but we've also had worse. If you like button mushrooms, they put a lot of them in this soup. We decided that we would order from them again. read more

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The beef looked, tasted, and smelled burnt. No soy sauce/mustard/fortune cookie was provided in the to go bag.

Honestly the worst place ever. I paid for chicken and broccoli, broccoli well done(mushy). What I got was double cooked, DRY chicken and broccoli. Called them up to voice my concern, food isn't cheap right? I was given a bullshit answer "you need to come here and speak to blah blah" "I'll take your name and phone number but I'm not 100% the owner or manager will call you back" what the ??? Not sure anyone is going to call me back or wait the best one yet "I need to come in and speak to someone about the crappy food I paid for" I can't. I know this is probably one of the most decent places in Reston, but listen...I would drive anywhere and happily give my hard working money elsewhere. read more

Mandarin - Chinese Near Me - Reston, Virginia

This is one of my favorite Chinese carry-out restaurants. I have been here several times. Before the Covid pandemic, they used to have several tables for customers to dine in, but now they only have two tables available. My favorite dishes are shredded pork with bamboo shoots and shredded pork tripe with pickled mustard green. My kids liked their beef lo mein. I like this restaurant because it serves more authentic Chinese food than other Chinese carry-out restaurants. read more

Mandarin - Pork with Bamboo Shoots and Double Cooked Pork - Chinese Near Me - Reston, Virginia

This place has very generous portions, the food is tasty and they always serve more sauce than most places for most of the dishes. They have to me that makes a big difference. read more

About a year or so ago, Mandarin changed owners. I heard through the rumor mill that the previous owner passed. I used to have my "go to" dishes (beef & broccoli, Hunan beef, etc.), which were consistent and very good. However, after the new ownership, many items on the menu have changed, the prices have soared and the beef at least, tastes "grainy", old and with little or no flavor. Also, the hot and sour soup, which was one of my favorite add on menu item, isn't the same and tastes bland and heated over. Unfortunately, I think my days of ordering from Mandarin are over. read more

A hidden treasure in Reston. The family owned Chinese food restaurant is out of this world. The restaurant is sparse in terms of atmosphere and seating. What you do get is fantastic tasting food, we've never been disappointed. If you order over the phone (which I recommend) I guarantee that by the time you arrive the food will be waiting and ready to take home and feed your family. read more

The folks running the place are super friendly! Food tastes great and is a decent portion for the price. Highly recommend

Man, I wish I had some pictures but they are crispy. Beef is what I've been looking for for a long time. It is amazing. Plus the people are really cool. The only other thing I've had is on board. It's pretty damn good too. read more

Lost its authenticity. Got pork and bamboo, pork and peppers, salt pepper squid. All Americanized fare. The first two were fried in the same sauce and the sauce is not appropriate for either dish. Paid $16 for salt and pepper squid. This is not it. The pepper is black or white pepper with small red chilies. They used jalapeños. Not good. That dish gets a 1 star. The cook does not know how to make the items on the menu. read more

Mandarin - Salt and pepper squid. - Chinese Near Me - Reston, Virginia

This is our go to for carry-out Chinese in Reston. Nothing special here but they do make it fresh and it will be what you expect from a place that specializes in pickup and delivery. Staff are efficient if not necessarily friendly, but you're just picking up some food, not going for a "dining experience". They get a little extra credit for having some items that are a little bit out of the ordinary, try those, we have with mixed results. (I'm happier to have had the option to try some different stuff than I am upset that there were a few things that I did t love.) read more

Staff was so so nice greeted right away with a big smile! Food was very good. We got the eggdrop soup, lo míen loved it will be coming back

Ordered to go, it Wallstreet just so so. Not.much flavor in the general chicken. Chicken fried rice was a nice portion. But the the price point it should be all white meat used. read more

My go to for takeout Chinese! The gentleman at the front is always very nice and my food is always hot and ready when I arrive. They don't ask for your name when they do to-go orders, so don't let that freak you out. You will get the right order. There isn't anywhere to sit inside so make sure you plan to take away. read more

This place is average. Prices aren't bad and so is the food. I've been here twice and the quantity for the price is great but the quality is just average. I feel there would be better Chinese options in the area. read more

The food is semi descent, but the service and ambience is really bad. I used to work close by to this place and would eat there at least 1-2 times a month. The owner and people behind the counter do not even acknowledge you as a regular. Also almost every 6 months they raise their prices. read more

Pros: - Convenient location for Reston - Opens pretty early for a Sunday - Food is ready for pick up quickly Cons: Nothing tastes authentic, it's not well seasoned. read more

The best Chinese I've had in Reston/Herndon area. Everything I ordered was tasty and delivered hot. Really generous portion of shrimp toast, too, not this $8 for a piece cut in half nonsense like some restaurants. Don't be put off by the reviews, this place is definitely worth it. read more

So this is my new favorite American Chinese food. They execute everything perfectly and give extremely generous portions. Everything comes w fresh servings of rice and steamed vegetables. Unbelievable value. Best sweet and sour chicken in northern VA. You will not be disappointed. Also very professional and expedient service. I'll be back! $8 for this incredibly generous portion of sweet and sour chicken with rice and steamed veggies and this is a small. This place is unreal. A business run well read more

Mandarin - Sweet and sour sauce, yum - Chinese Near Me - Reston, Virginia

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This place is ridiculous and they are overcharging and changing menu prices on the spot. This is a business that has zero intention to please there customers. I have never been so disrespected buy a restaurant owner. She changed the price of my food and told me the menu was wrong. I told her I would be writing a review and she goes in to tell me it's not her fault the menu was wrong after the food had been paid for and already ordered. There are small business out there that need our support during covid but this business doesn't care about treating the community with care. They don't care about Reston patrons. PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM HERE. I DONT WANT ANYONW DEALING WITH THESE PEOPLE STEALING FEOM THERE CUSTOMERS POCKETS SOOOO RUDE BY THE WAY read more

Hunan beef - my lunch in the trash can. I don't normally write reviews but I really have to say that this is worse food I have ever had in a long time. The Hunan beef has a lot of sauce, salty and the beef smelled and horrible. The vegetables even worse. I will call the restaurant today. I will not be ordering from this restaurant again. As for rating from 0 to 10, I will give them below zero. Go to mcDonald's you will get a better food. Hunan beef read more

Mandarin - two plastic containers with food in them - Chinese Near Me - Reston, Virginia

This place used to be pretty descent... the last 4-5 times the food has deteriorated in a major way, tasteless, greasy and we ordered soup and food for 4, no spoon, 1 napkin!! read more

Again, this place refuses to take an order for pick up or delivery within a hour of them closing. Food is ok, for the area, just poor service and jerks on the phone every time. It's a roll of the dice for consistency, can be a home run or you toss half of your order out. Don't go if you don't have to. Pictures to prove they won't take my order and no this happened before covid, nothing new. read more

Mandarin - Called 45 mins before they closed and refused to take my order- said they are closed. - Chinese Near Me - Reston, Virginia

Really bad customer service. I've been going there for years and I asked for an extra to-go container and they told me I have to pay for an empty container! My family has been doing restaurants for years and the container costs almost nothing when buying in bulk. I will never be back!!! read more

Haven't had good Chinese takeout in a very long time so I was so pleasantly surprised by this restaurant! Everything we ordered was great! Highly recommend the general tso tofu and string bean chicken. Also, the hot and sour soup with crunchies did not disappoint. Very generous portions. Would definitely make the drive to reston to eat here again!! read more

The calamari with pepper's was good not a huge pile of meat but good cook well they supplement the meat with veggies. Lo mein large is big . The wings were not puny. They were man size. Staff gave me how long my order would be ready and met it. Good food not cheap , but paying good money for good food does that really suck? Sorry it looks like a hole in the wall with good food. read more

We ordered general tso, chicken fried rice and crab rangoon- General tso and the chicken fried rice was okay/ good. The crab rangoon on the other hand were gross- it was literally just filled with a glob of straight cream cheese- very disappointing- read more

I'm new to the Reston restaurant scene, so today was the first time I tried Mandarin. I've read some of the previous reviews (including the bad ones); I can't answer about them - all I can say is that I ordered shrimp fried rice and an order of egg rolls for takeout. (BTW, this place is only for takeout and delivery - no dining space available.) The items were piping hot and I did not wait very long to receive my order; taste wasn't bad and the portions were plenty. Not the absolute best Chinese food I've ever eaten, but I will definitely become a regular customer of this Reston takeout eatery in the future. read more

My go to Chinese restaurant. Portions are very generous, food is delicious. I love their Beef Cho Fun without onion though and they make it spicy if you ask I'm their regular for a couple years now and food never disappoints read more

Not good tonight 7/18/23. Maybe they had an off night. Vegetable rolls...only one vegetable. Hunan beef with pepper sauce.. beef over sized and chewy. I could not cut with a knife. $30 plus dollars for that. Advised my wife she might want to avoid eating her entree. read more

Closest to New York style Chinese American food I can find in NOVA. Great price as well! This is my go to Chinese American restaurant. read more

My order was oily and not as described. It honestly looked like cat food when I opened the container. When I called, they were extremely rude and said, "Not our problem." Do yourself a favor and skip this place. read more

Mandarin - Enjoy your $12 Celery and Peanuts - Chinese Near Me - Reston, Virginia

First time trying out my usual Chinese takeout order, which is general tso's chicken and egg rolls. The pros: staff are very friendly/nice, order pickup is seamless and safe (store only allowing one customer inside at a time for pickup and no indoor dining). The egg rolls here were very greasy, but the filling was ample and delicious and the wrapper itself was very crunchy. I've been to some places were the eggrolls had scant filling or has gotten burned, this is no the case here. The General Tso's chicken also seemed fresh, as some pieces were still crunchy. However the sauce was a bit too sweet and had the tiniest hint of heat to it, overall decent. Keep in the mind that the entrée did not come with any vegetables. I'm still continuing my quest for best Chinese takeout place, but this could be my new go to. read more

I was there first a couple of weeks ago and the orange chicken was great!!!

i found several hairs in my food they refused to refund me large order seriously people. i feel like i was completely robbed. read more

This was our second time ordering from here. We were happy both times. We had a terrible experience with another place with a higher rating and it was horrible. This restaurant is close to us so we figured we'd give it a try. And yes we went back for a second time. Hubby had hot and sour soup both times and they were consistent with a nice heat in the soup. The pork lo mein was tasty. My beef chow fun was quite nice. Not everyone has it, very glad they do. Our second time was very good also. Hubby got his soup as I mentioned and he got the Kung Pao bean curd. He said the spice level was much better than other places we've been to. He likes spicy and this had spice. Boneless ribs were good, they were meaty, standard ribs. Nothing stood out but they weren't bad. Like I said they had a good meat ratio. Now for me the star was my pepper beef, aka pepper steak. I loved it. Good amount of peppers and onions and lots of beef. Great sauce too. Very good. So we've had two great take out experiences here. The portions were nice and big. We will get from here again. Pic was my leftovers tonight. Big portions make for easy dinner read more

Mandarin - Pepper beef. Great taste. - Chinese Near Me - Reston, Virginia

Got the (barbecued) pork with mixed vegetables. Vegetables were way overcooked, the pork was none too appetizing, and there was too much bean curd (or whatever it was) sauce left over. I had a craving for Chinese food, but wish we could have found a better place than this close by. Don't have a desire to return, that's for sure. read more

Our first time ordering from this restaurant. Can only speak to the sweet/sour shrimp, sweet/sour chicken, and chicken fried rice, but they were all bad. Dishes were bland, veggies way overcooked, and there was almost no chicken in the fried rice (what meat there was appeared to be dark). Won't be ordering from Mandarin in future. read more

I used to go to Mandarin many many years ago under a different ownership. The owner was super friendly and the food was good. After he sold the place, I stopped going because there were two front desk people who were super brusque- to the point of rudeness. Recently, I went to the Peruvian place next door but they were out of chicken so I decided to try Mandarin again. They have some authentic Chinese food choices there. I ordered pork with peppers and beef with string bean. Yummy food, they did not skimp on the meat and it was big. I went back again for pork with hard tofu and pork with bamboo shoot. They were delicious. The two women are perhaps there but the gentleman who interacts with the customers is efficient, to the point and gets the job done. He's also polite. I happy to be back again...good food, close to home, pretty authentic homestyle Chinese food. read more

This place has my favorite beef Lo mein. I order it without onions and carrots. However, you can tell when a different person cooks. At least that's what I'm assuming. Sometimes, it's not very beefy (maybe they forgot an ingredient?), sometimes the noodles are too tough. I'm not crazy about today's Lo mein. The color seems a little lighter than usual. It was also ready extremely fast. One thing that would make this the best beef Lo mein for me might be slicing the beef against the grain. It can be rather chewy most of the time. The only other item I've had lately from Mandarin is the egg roll. Not my favorite. Rather dry. I like egg rolls with blistered skins. I haven't found any in this area. I'll keep coming back. Maybe just not as often if I'm not going to get a consistently good product. read more