In St. Louis this would be the must go for Dim Sum. Almost like a operation right from LA, it does give you the experience and almost equally good food.We usually eat shrimp and leek dumplings, shrimp dumplings, pastry, fried taro cake. And occasionally we get fancy with chicken feet :) My fav is the warm liquid with soft tofu, it's like a ginger syrup. Love it!
Reviewed by:
Ben S. on:
3/3/2013 2:13:00 PM
I love dim sum!!!This is the third place I've tried in the area and I'm pretty sure it is my favorite. I grew up eating dim sum in Chicago and have been struggling to find similar offerings in the area.I really like the fact that the chefs cooking in the middle of the dining room offered me a sample of the scallion pancakes they were preparing to order. It was really unfortunate that this happened at the very end of the meal (my fault, not theirs) as I certainly would have devoured an order had I known about these tasty things earlier.Sure, I branch out and try new things all the time but it has been years since I've added a favorite item to my dim sum rotation. Yep it just happened!Everything else was really good. The crowd was reasonable and heavy on the Asian as opposed to Anglo diners...always a good sign.
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Tracey W. on:
2/3/2013 11:02:00 AM
Most. Depressing. Place. Ever.No, seriously.4 thousand square feet of floral wallpaper, food served on wheeled carts, and elevator music (may have just been imagining the music).This place looked like the world's biggest retirement home cafeteria. I've been to funeral homes that were less depressing.The mostly empty dining room, minus the few elderly patrons and confused college kids (who missed the Loop by a few exits), was less charming than a port-a-potty on the third day of Oktoberfest in Soulard. Except Mandarin House has a koi pond. And fish tanks. But calling those fish tanks would be like calling a chicken coop a zoo.ANYway. The food, for me, was meh. The "sweet and sour pork" I ordered could have passed for any one of five menu items, and though it wasn't terrible, it certainly wasn't better than food I could have gotten for 4 bucks a block from my house. Granted, paying 11 bucks here led to a blissful, food poisoning-free evening, but since giving up sex, smoking, and carbs for New Year's, food poisoning is now the highlight of my weekends. Are you happy with yourself, Mandarin House, for taking that away from me?I found the food overly salty and didn't eat much in the restaurant, but I did end up eating the remainder of the behemoth portion of food once I got home to my empty studio apartment filled with 15 cats and abandoned dreams, and a few shards of what used to be my dignity, which was still less depressing than the dining room at Mandarin House.The high point of this place was the service. I don't give God 10%, but if I did, I would have given this waitress at least 9%.
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Jessica C. on:
2/3/2013 4:33:00 AM
For Americanized Chinese food, ehh, it was A-OK.I think Mandarin House would be much better for dim sum (based on the size of the room and the carts used to serve) and/or if you brought someone Chinese along with you. But two white girls at Mandarin House? Not a stellar experience. When I tried to venture into non-white-people Chinese food, the waitress sighed, rolled her eyes and said, "Just order the Kung Pao chicken." I did not order the Kung Pao chicken. No, I ordered the Cashew Chicken. Showed her, didn't I?Still, I think this place has a lot of potential. I don't know....Mandarin House Dim Sum UYE? I know there are legit Chinese American yelpers in St Louis. I'm not naming names, but I saw you guys order off the special behind the counter menu at Hon's Wok during the St . Paul UYE. Somebody help the white girls of the world out over here!
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Danielle N. on:
1/20/2013 6:58:00 PM
After moving from Washington DC, I had a hard time finding an adequate dim sum restaurant. After I went to Mandarin House, I stopped searching. I have been here too many times to count for dim sum and would definitely recommend people go here for their St. Louis dim sum.They run a typical weekend, dim sum cart service. They have all the usuals and I would recommend: the char siu baau (bbq pork buns), shumai(pork dumplings), har gow(shrimp dumplings), turnip cake, and the veggie dumplings. All so good!I think the price is reasonable for dim sum. I usually only pay about $10-$15 per person but that is with a group of 4. Dim sum is always better in a group. :)
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Pamela M. on:
11/14/2012 3:06:00 AM
Don't let the strip mall location discourage you from eating here. The interior is very spacious, nice, and clean with white linen cloths, chandeliers, and not as cluttered with decorations or knick knacks that characterize a lot of traditional Asian restaurants. Definitely the nicest Chinese restaurant I have ever seen in Missouri! We went for lunch on "Dim Sum Saturday" and were satisfied with our experience. One of the most notable things was the great customer service! Most of the dim sum places I have frequented have the unfortunately, stereotypical not very friendly, 'I don't care about your business' attitude. In contrast, the staff at the Mandarin House was smiling, courteous, patient, and helpful.We definitely experienced the 'eyes are bigger than your stomach' feeling when we were swarmed by the dim sum carts. There are many selections and the dim sum was good overall, especially for St. Louis. I would recommend the steamed tofu skin roll (my favorite), BBQ pork bun, shrimp shumai, pork dumpling, and onion pancake. I wanted to try the juicy pork bun, but I was too full by the time I saw it on the cart. Next time for sure! Do not get the BBQ pork--it looked good, but it was so awful I could not even stomach it.The prices are spendy for dim sum (almost $40.00 for two people), but then again, dim sum is not a big thing in St. Louis and there is virtually no competition. Mandarin House obviously does not compare to many dim sum places on the West Coast, but it satisfied my dim sum craving and I will be back in the future.
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Anna H. on:
10/24/2012 5:49:00 PM
A little fancier than the other traditional Chinese restaurants... fish pond and all... but really good food too! We come here for dim sum and dinner. It's a bit more expensive, but the quality matches the price, so it's worth it.If want to treat your Chinese friends' parents or something, this is the place to go!
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Christina O. on:
10/3/2012 3:53:00 PM
went for dim sum saturday (11-2:30) to celebrate mid-autumn/moon festival with a group of friends. according to our chinese friends, it's the real deal. it was fun to try different dishes from the carts. you can't leave without ordering pork buns though. they're amazing! great place to take a group of hungry people and super affordable.
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Tricia W. on:
8/9/2012 3:20:00 PM
I've been here several times for dinner in the past few yrs, and I always thought it was one of the better Chinese restaurants in StL. However, my aunt would tell me not to go back bc the kitchen staff kept changing and she thought the food was not as good...LOL.Well we finally came here for dim sum and this place is waaaay better than some of those places we normally frequent on Olive. Come early bc it does seem to get pretty crowded, and of course you want to have first pick of all the carts. :) For StL standards, I thought dim sum was def worth a return trip in the future.
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Sonny S. on:
7/3/2012 8:31:00 AM
I haven't been here for dim sum which I hear is great so I'll have to try it! I've been here for dinner and lunch though. This place is located in a strip mall but don't judge a book by its cover the food and service is great. I came here for dinner a while back and was seated promptly once we arrived. Their menu is very extensive with a mixture of authentic Chinese dishes as well as Americanized dishes.Here's what I got:-salt and pepper pork-bacon wrapped tofu (tofu was silky and lightly breaded and bacon was crispy)-beef hou fun-soy sauce chickenOverall, I had a great meal and will be coming back to try other dishes!
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Kelly B. on:
5/11/2012 7:49:00 AM
I used to dine at Mandarin during lunch many years ago when I worked in Clayton and it was pretty good. But, now it seems like a cheesy banquet hall with a lunch buffet that is just A-ok. Nothing stands out except for the flounder, when they have it.I have never tried the dim sum here. Since dim sum is fresh, I am hopeful that they will have some good options.
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Leslie S. on:
3/19/2012 9:09:00 PM
Great Dim Sum! We arrive on Saturday at 11am, because the doors say they open at 11am, but there were already people there. Being one of only a handful of occupied tables at that time, all the carts hit us at once. This isn't a bad thing necessarily; it's better than being skipped over repeatedly (which happened to us at another popular dim sum place not far away). We loaded up our table quickly.My favorite was the pork shumai and I wanted seconds! We had tons of stuff, and I don't remember what most of it was called. I let my co-diners do most of the picking.Among only 3 of us, it came out to only $12 for the food, drinks, tax, and tip. That is pretty damn good value for dim sum, I thought. Oh, and I guess it helped that I printed the 15% off coupon from their website. Didn't hurt anyway.
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Glo K. on:
2/17/2012 7:08:00 PM
Mandarin House Restaurant has probably the best dim sum in St. Louis hands down! St. Louis lacks a good Chinese restaurant for some reason. There are many times I have midnight cravings for greasy Chinese take out which I usually regret the next day. However, Mandarin really makes up for my midnight cravings on weekends by forcing me to wake up on a Saturday morning to experience the bustle and excitement of Chinese-style dim sum.Mandarin's dim sum specials are only on weekends from 11:00am to 2:00pm. It definitely gets crazy around this hour but the service is quick, the dim sums are hot, and the food keeps coming! Plus, you feel a bit uncontrollable with the non-stop ordering of these small bite-sized goodness. SOMEBODY PLEASE STOP ME! You just want a little bit of everything!I totally recommend getting a group to go on Saturday to try almost everything from beef short ribs to sweet bums. So, over-ordering is highly encouraged. Also, Mandarin House is a little bit of a drive out of St. Louis actually, but the drive is so worth it!
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Kat V. on:
1/26/2012 12:52:00 AM
I came here last Sunday with the bf & several friends to celebrate Chinese New Year. I wasn't disappointed. I love this place! Great variety of dim sum. Delish food! Though, their egg tarts were a bit too tiny for me & the pastry itself was a bit too crumbly for me. When it was really busy, it was hard to get a waiter to give us refills on our waters & tea. Excellent & friendly service! The rice noodles with either shrimp or BBQ pork were huge & very delish! I agree with the previous reviews about the dim sum being cheap.
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Mina I. on:
1/26/2012 7:10:00 AM
Wow, this place has some legit dim sums. This was actually my first experience and my white friend, Jaclyn is obessed with this place and she was in Saint Louis for one day so we chose this place because of all of the great reviews.We went on a Saturday afternoon and the place was pretty full but we got sat down quite quickly and once we were sitting, the foods just kept popping up. We tried over 10 different types of dim sums including a tofu spicy dish, shrimp covered in tofu, sweet buns, vegetable egg rolls, claims, beef noodle soup, and more.I would love to come back here again soon!
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James Y. on:
1/13/2012 5:06:00 AM
i know i know....we've all been to a Chinese buffet line that we totally regretted. that's what Chinese lunch buffets are known for right?...super crappy, soggy, but cheap quantity food for broke (or stoned) college students.this place is not like that. spacious & very clean, the lunch buffet items are all very fresh and tasty. Usually, all the dishes tend to taste the same cuz it's all the same MSG sauce on different suspect meats right?Here at Mandarin it's really not like that. Plus it's not all the generic stir fry stuff with overcooked veggies either. Great selection and I really enjoyed it.Not sure what their prices were cuz some friends took me out and paid but I can't imagine it being too expensive.if you're in the mood for some quick chinese or got the munchies, give Mandarin and Jesus a try. you won't be disappointed in either.
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Anonymous on:
2008-12-17
They got so many awesome stuff on Saturday & Sunday that i never had before!! cheap & tasty! shrimp dumpling, fried shrimp ball and much much more. ( of course,they got some real traditional chinese weired items.)?
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Contributor on:
The Scene Open since 1978, the Overland location of Mandarin House (there's a second outpost in Union Station) is getting better with age. From the moment you walk in the door and spy the turtle pond (yes, the turtles are real), you know ...?
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Anonymous on:
2003-12-19
One of my favorite Chinese restaurants, this place used to be wonderful, and through the years, I guess, some of the quality of food has gone downhill. Still, on most night the menu is still very good, though the service sometimes may ...?
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sandiray on:
2005-04-05
As you walk in the first thing you notice is the way the restaurant is decorated. After that you'll notice the great service. When your food arrives you will find it to be excellent. I also noticed there were a lot of other Asian ...?
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ec12345 on:
2006-08-07
This is a nice place to eat if you want to spend a little for maybe an anniversary or if you want to impress someone, or even a business lunch/dinner. But not for casual dining. Don't be fooled by the review with the one dollar sign. ...?
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kitc on:
2006-08-21
This is the best Chinese resturant in St. Louis! The food is wonderfuly seasoned and fresh. The service is also top. This is the place I have always gone to after a special event ever since I was a kid. This is the perfect place to get ...?
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hfung86 on:
2006-10-03
This place is not as great as some people say it is. I remember years ago this place used to be the best chinese restaurant in town. However, this restaurant has really lost it's flavor. The quality is mediocre and the servings are decent. ...?
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Anonymous on:
2008-11-22
I have never had any food from here that wasn't high quality. The only bad part is it is a bit pricey, especially for the neighborhood. I go there e few time a year to get my favorite Mongolian beef. I would go there more if it was cheaper.?
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Anonymous on:
2009-05-10
they serve authentic chinese food; you just need to spot them on the menu. the price is a little bit on the high end their dim sum for breakfast is top of the quality and moderately priced.?
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A TripAdvisor Member on:
2009-06-13
This is the best, most genuine, Chinese food in St. Louis. The menu is integrated with both authentic and more Western dishes, so there is something for everyone. Dim sum is also served on the weekends, which is good. ...?
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