Went there for the first time today and it was amazing! Service was wonderful! The food was fantastic. Definitely recommend. read more

The Mandarin - Sesame tofu - Chinese Near Me - Oberlin, Ohio

I placed my order in Chinese, as I am fluent in the language. I specifically ordered "四川芥蓝" (Sichuan Gai Lan), which is a completely different vegetable from broccoli. While both belong to the Brassica oleracea (甘蓝) family, they have distinct appearances, flavors, and, most importantly, different names in Chinese. Every Chinese knows that 西兰花（broccoli) is different as 芥蓝 (gai lan). However, I was given broccoli instead of Gai Lan. When I called to address the mistake, the owner blamed me, insisting that I had ordered incorrectly. She claimed that in the U.S., "芥蓝" (Gai Lan) is called "西兰花" (Broccoli). Having lived in the U.S. for 11 years as a citizen, frequently shopping at Asian stores, I have never heard anyone--Asian or otherwise--refer to these two vegetables interchangeably. They are simply not the same. By the owner's logic, just because Japanese, Korean, and Chinese people are all Asian, she could refer to all of them as "Chinese" regardless of their actual nationality or identity. That kind of reasoning is absurd and completely unacceptable. This is clearly a translation issue on their end, and instead of taking responsibility, the owner unfairly placed the blame on me. She had no right to do so, and her response has no logic. Under Ohio's Consumer Sales Practices Act (CSPA) (ORC § 1345.02) and general consumer protection laws, businesses cannot engage in deceptive or misleading practices when advertising or selling goods. The owner's behavior has first, misrepresenting the nature or quality of a product, second, Providing false or confusing translations, third, Failing to deliver the product as described. It is the restaurant owner's responsibility to correctly label and describe the items on their menu. read more

See all

The food was different this time! Normally the chicken lo mein and general Tso chicken were very good. But it was different. There went veggies in the lo mein and the tso was watery. Like it was a completely different cook. What ever it was it make my whole family sick. read more

We were eating lunch as part of a college tour visit. The food was good - especially the green beans. The pork dumplings were great - seemed home made, nice, thick dough and yummy pork filling. The service was mixed. We were served complimentary balls and were told it was free, to try it. I had to ask again what it was and told it was free, only to learn they were shrimp. We declined it due to a food sensitivity. Shrimp is an allergen and it's good practice to ask the customer. Nice gesture but really didn't meet the mark. The ambiance was poor. What was hard was the tv right above our heads blasting partisan political commentary, including a comment that the opponent was "very low iq." I asked them to please just remove the political tv channel but they didn't - just muted the sound. It felt very inappropriate to have all of this highly divisive language over our heads. It's ok to have your political thoughts, but I don't want rhetoric loudly overhead as I'm eating. Also, the koi in the aquarium is in poor health. It was depressing to have this right in the middle of the room. The aquarium needs attention. I didn't get the bill with an itemized receipt or told the final amount. I asked but the staff had friends and family (older and baby , it was actually sweet) chatting at check out and didn't pay attention to anything but the fact that I paid. I would get take out in the future, but save myself the vibe kill and lack of consideration. read more

I mainky frequent this place for lunch and for what I pay, I can't complain. I normally do the General Tso's w extra broccoli and I think it's a great deal. It's Americanized Chinese food. Don't expect much else. read more

Always happy with tasty generous portions, attentive service, a friendly casual atmosphere and very reasonable prices. We've tried the Moo Shu (pork and chicken), Moo Goo Gai Pan Chicken, Asparagus Chicken and Shrimp Sui Mai appetizers among other things. It's one of our favorite spots in Oberlin. read more

You would hardly know this restaurant is here because it shares a building with other businesses and can't be seen from the street. We were first to arrive, but shortly thereafter people started piling in and the place was full. There were 4 of us and we shared a General Tao's, Kung Pao Chicken and a Fried Rice that had chicken, beef and shrimp. We didn't want leftovers because we were going out for the night, so this amount of food was perfect for our meal, in addition to the soup and egg roll we had first. Food was all decent, just not fantastic. The two dishes could have been spicier. Service was extremely good and prices are average for a restaurant of this type. read more

The Mandarin - Chinese Near Me - Oberlin, Ohio

Tried one last time.... No longer the goto place.... Sad to see the food change... different owners or chef...

Been eating here for over 20 years I think they have new owners. The food has changed in a very bad direction not as good in anyway what it was like. read more

Walked in and no one was in the restaurant at 730 on a Saturday night. The man was too busy to bring drinks so we walked out. Also, he told us they use to-go containers and silverware when you eat in the restaurant. read more

Used to be a fairly good place. Now I think there are new owners or chef. Good selections on the menu. However, it is waaaaay too salty! Can't eat it. Quit with the salt. read more

This place is great! Seated quick, host was also our server, interesting decor, lovely 150 gallon tank in the middle of the restaurant with koi, soups delicious, tea (never tried EVER before) I devoured it. Wanton soup could do with a little more salt but it's delicious. Moo Gu Gai Pan (veggies and chicken in sauce) is delicious (but needs a little more salt) fried rice AMAZING! And water is well water (giggles) strange fortune in my cookie but very nice experience. read more

See all

Our first time eating here. The place was pretty full (Friday at 6pm) but the service was fast and our meals (egg roll and Szechuan Shrimp, Rangoons and Szechuan Scallops) was fresh and delicious. Both were served with rice and lots of vegetables. The menu has several types of sushi along with a good selection of typical Chinese dishes. Prices are reasonable (our 2 meals totaled $36). I'd say it was better than several other Chinese restaurants in the area. read more

See all

One visit: Tried to change my order immediately after ordering and was told no. Went to pick it up and tried to change it and was told that I was "not nice" and "it was already made". So? I'm the customer, if I want to change my order, I should be able to without being yelled at by the worker. (I was just trying to take something off the order, not completely change it.) Next visit: my sister calls to order, go to pick it up and they have no record of her order. They literally do not have her order. So, she has make a new order and wait. This place isn't even that close to our house. Go to Jin House in Amherst instead! read more

The food is pretty good. You don't have that many choices at Oberlin anyway, so it's one of the best in the town. Anyway, even though the food is good, the service is probably the worst. The wait is around 20 min just to get your order taken. What the heck. I'll probably come again if I want to finish reading a book. read more

I love it here! They have great, authentic Chinese food yet still able to cater towards vegans, which is rare for Chinese family owned restaurants! My favorite dish is the Broccoli Tofu, but overall I would recommend any of their tofu dishes. By the way, if you have food allergies/dietary restrictions, let the servers know, so they can cater to your needs! If you're looking for home style Chinese food, this spot is worth the visit! read more

I really wanted to like this place. But they make it impossible. During our 40 minute wait for our first plate to arrive, another diner was lecturing the server about how this place would not pass inspection. She was right. But then she started pointing her finger and talking about how she was giving them a teachable moment. Blah blah blah. That show was the highlight of our visit. I hated every moment of her display of authority. Sadly, our entire dinner was worse than her outburst. Way worse. Enough said. read more

The Mandarin Chinese restaurant is terrible service your food is hot right? But it's not fully done sorry if you spent your money on this but it was a waste of money. Me and my sister went in their and no one was their expect for one lady and she charged us 10 $ for the cho lo mein it looked good but no! It wasn't we sat down and started eating but my rice was cold and something was moving in it I looked and it was a maggot never eat thier please and thank u read more

This has got to be the WORST pseudo Chinese feed room in the World, bar none!! I ordered the shrimp Pad Thai & she the Orange Beef. When my ??? Pad Thai came it was made with wide, flat egg noodles & covered in a ketchup like sweet sauce. It also had sliced red & green pepper & carrots in it. No bean spouts or any other traditional Pad Thai ingredients, NONE! Her Pseudo Orange Beef, Chef Special, was just as bad & came with what must have been a canned sauce. It also had like 4 small pieces of broccoli & cost $15.00!! Unbelievable! The decor is Slum with the exception of some interesting Chinese silk screen art landscapes & classic Chinese music in the BG, playing. The door to enter is covered in black grease as is the floor leading into the hole! I asked the SA waitress what nationality the cook was & she said Chinese???? If I wasn't so hungry for Chinese, my first thought on seeing the filthy grease on the floor & door was to leave but I thought that in a town like Oberlin, the locals wouldn't tolerate such a low life operation!! Oh well, C'est la Vie!! read more

Now that I have graduated I can finally post this...I highly dislike the Mandarin. It is NOT good chinese food, and it's not even good fake chinese food. Not good at all... The meat tastes sketchy, like it was rendedered off of the chicken (or cow, or goodness knows what) after all of the good bits had already been taken by other restaurants. I wanted to like it, I really did! But 4 years later, I like it even less than the first time I ate there. On the plus side, it is still an okay place to go with a group as long as you aren't planning on consuming much. read more

This place underwent a rather drastic change when it changed management. Both before and after it has been a decent, non-generic Chinese restaurant with food that is fairly Americanized but a lot better and more original than the standard fast-food take-out places. In my opinion, the quality of the Chinese food has gone downhill with the change in management, although only slightly. The new restaurant adds some Japanese stuff to the menu: sushi, and miso soup. The sushi is decent. The atmosphere in here is very pleasant...artful, lots of Chinese characters on the walls. There's a pleasant side-room that is usually used for large groups, and there are a variety of different sorts of seating areas. I still can't get over the grimy hallway leading up to the restaurant, and the grimy bathroom off this hallway...but I guess that's just the way it is. This place is original...and good. In a town where there aren't that many dining options, this is a good choice and I am thankful that it is there, and I am sure the many other inhabitants of Oberlin feel the same way. read more

Ordered from here for years but today is the last day. Prices have gone too high and they forgot my egg rolls. I called to get a refund or and I owe you and the lady argued with me and insisted that she put them in my bag and that i shouldve checked my bags before i took them to the car. Very rude and disrespectful. All their bad comments on their facebook page are about them messing up orders or having complaints and the owner is rude and does nothing to fix it. Take your business elsewhere. They clearly dont care about their customers. read more

This is not good Chinese food folks. In fact, this restaurant is quite mediocre. Even walking in, you get a sketchy feeling. You are forced to walk through a creepy, smelly hallway that is reminiscent of a death chamber. Fortunately, you do not quite meet death as you walk in. The atmosphere inside is actually quaint and cozy. The experience becomes hopeful when you are served soothing tea in decorative pots. However, the service is something to be desired. During one visit, I went with a party of 7 and the waitress was bringing out one entree every ten minutes. The food is not very good. The chicken is rubbery and barely edible. At least the egg rolls and soup are generally good. Prices are cheap (so at least you are not getting ripped off. I will say, that you should be on the lookout from a food safety standpoint because one of my friends found a rusty staple in her food. I hope this is not the case but it seems possible nevertheless. read more

I used to come here pretty often with friends but not so much anymore. Food can get a little salty, the sauces for stir-fry's are soy sauce and cornstarch based, the lo mein is decent, and the main waitress is a boss. It's nice for a meal out with friends when you're feeling like some Chinese food and too lazy to cook. read more

The food is really good- only place I enjoy the eggplant dish! The Szechuan chicken has a lot of veggies, I'd prefer without the chicken , crab Rangoon is fresh as good as expected. There's lots of poor reviews on here- I think It depends in the dish. I come here once in awhile and haven't been disappointed yet. My table mate disagrees on the chicken comment however. We had a lovely meal and like the paintings on the walls read more

The Mandarin - Mandarin eggplant, Szechuan chick- loads of veg! - Chinese Near Me - Oberlin, Ohio

I recently visited the Mandarin in Oberlin. Maybe I was hungry, but I really enjoyed the beef, the sushi, and even the pork egg rolls. I will be visiting again.. read more

Chinese food in this restaurant is very weird. Everything tastes similar. The owner doesn't treat the students as well as she treat the parents. I hope there will be a new Chinese restaurant in this town. read more

I ordered garlic chicken. I had to scrape off all the deep fried hard pieces that had no chicken inside at all to get to the few pieces that did. When I bit into it was so hard that I risked breaking a tooth. The sauce tasted okay but the chicken was hard inside. Obviously not cooked correctly. I waited ten minutes for waitress to come back. I explained to her that it was mostly no meat and inedible because too hard. It was like candy hard. I told her I didn't have time to order anything else as we had 15 minutes left and that wouldn't be enough time to eat and could she just take it off the bill. She said she would have to ask the owner. Then another lady I assume the owner came to table who basically said this is how it is suppose to be and I told her there was no possible way I could eat it. She came back and put the check on the table and had not taken it off the bill. I went directly to desk instead of paying at table because I wanted to have the chance to tell her that I'll pay the bill but we will NEVER come back again and she is losing a customer. She said nothing and walked away. This was an AWFUL experience. Also, we tried the egg rolls and filling tasted off and very sour, which We did not eat. My daughter had sesame chicken which looked better and she said it was just okay. Both the egg drop soup and wonton soups were good. read more

I have been eating at the mandarin in Oberlin for about 18 years. I have never had an issue like what some of the people have posted. It seems like some of these people are acting like they paid $40 a plate and were very upset ( I would love to see there reviews of "high end" restaurants). This is not the case to me, the Mandarin is very affordable and a wonderful place to dine in. The atmosphere is wonderful for the amount of space they are allotted and the food is always wonderful. I was placing my order when I seen the review that struck me as odd, so I must take time out of my day to show that they are worth it. They treat everyone I know (that attends the restaurant) with more respect than most of the business I have been in the 23 states I have traveled. Just my two cents but if you are a bad customer and cause a problem for a locally owned family operated business they will refuse your service. read more

Truly excellent food - wonderful flavors, fresh and easily the best Chinese in the Oberlin area. The egg drop soup is silky and outstanding. The server serves the entire restaurant (about 15 tables) with speed and grace - she deserves 20+%. read more

The Mandarin - Tao's Chicken - Chinese Near Me - Oberlin, Ohio

See all

My go to spot for Chinese in Oberlin. Great lunch prices/menu. Only takes about 10 minutes for pick up during lunch hours. Always fresh and hot. General Taos RULES. In a weird spot that you can miss, but definitely worth scoping out. Plus they have a diverse dinner menu with tons of interesting things like eel and shark sushi. read more

Great food! But they took advantage of my little sister when she was with a group of friends paying for her individual order. They put the tip on her personal check and of course she didn't know any better and still left a cash tip. read more

I feel that the most effective way to introduce my two experiences at Mandarin is to describe how I felt afterward; namely, very sick to my stomach. I have sampled several items on the menu, including the vegetable fried rice, the tofu Nirvana dish, the Szechuan green beans, the General Tso's chicken, etc. etc., and the common denominator that I found in all of these dishes is GREASE. Everything felt like it was coated in a layer of grease and then covered with sauce, so that while the food tasted fairly good going down it did not take long for me to regret my decision to eat it. Add to this the waitress kindly informing my table that our miso soup would be brought to the table "as soon as she took it out of the microwave" and you begin to understand why I was not the slightest bit impressed by this restaurant. The waitress completely forgot to bring out my friend's dish, and by the time she did it was cold. I really did not find anything redeeming about Mandarin- bad service, greasy (and admittedly microwaved) food, knowledge of a horrible stomach ache soon to come, and on top of all of this the meals are by no means cheap. In short, Mandarin serves greasy, sub-par Chinese food at prices similar to the more-upscale Tooo Chinoise. I have eaten there twice and both times I felt both sick and rather ripped off afterwards; needless to say, I don't ask for a take home box. Mandarin Chinese Restaurant: "Did the waitress really just tell us that she was microwaving our soup?" read more

Been going there on Christmas eve every year since 2009, great Chinese food, amazing service, and the owner is awesome very kind lady, also if you ask for them to make your food spicy, OH BOY, they make it spicy lol read more

Gah! Gross. Also, I've gotten dishes that weren't as described, for instance, chow mein with no noodles. And who in the world would dream of ordering sushi here?! read more

Kind of in a weird building and easy to miss. But wow, the General Tso's Chicken was AMAZING. I can't find it this good in Chicago.

Google Pad Thai. It says it is a peanut based dish. This place says they serve Chinese pad thai. It is noodles, chicken and sweet and sour sauce. I called the owner over to the table and they said that is how they serve it. She did not offer to change it or explain why they serve it like that. Second time that we have had food that is so not what we have had at other Chinese restaurants. Don't go here, drive 5 miles and go to the other restaurants in the area! read more

Terrible Chinese food. Ordered Shrimp Chow Mein, tasteless and not even a noodle dish. My friend found a wire in her food, the manager said it may be from a dish brush. Lucky if you don't get sick eating there. Don't go. read more

Service was ok... I ordered the crispy shrimp which actually should have been called the sweet and sour shrimp. Wasn't happy at all.

Working nearby, I eat at this restaurant several times a month and the food is always great. They almost always have it ready for pick up in 10 minutes. The food is priced very fairly considering portion sizes. Their sushi is consistently the best in the area. There are tons of different restaurants and food options available in Oberlin, but Mandarin is my go to when introducing people to the town. read more