Mandarin Garden

Stopped here over the weekend.  I thought it the food was great.  The decor was a bit outdated.  However, the service was excellent.  I will go here again.

The Mandarin Garden in Blue Jay is pure old-school "Chinese-American" style fare.

It reminds me of the late 1970s- early 1980s style Chinese restaurants: foo yung, chow mein, egg drop soup, cashew chicken, oolong tea, fortune cookie...if you were around in the old days, you definitely know what I mean.

That being said, I must say, I have been to Mandarin Garden a half-dozen times, and I have yet to be disappointed. Their food is delicious, and it is served up in a cozy and hospitable atmosphere.

Solid 4-star old-time Chinese-dive experience.

On a recommendation, my wife and I stopped in for dinner while staying up in Lake Arrowhead.  The initial appearance may scare a few folks away and the 'B" rated definitely had us concerned; however, we were glad we stayed.  

Because of the "B" rating I looked around quite a bit while we sat waiting to be seated (about 10 minutes on a Friday night).  Everything appeared to be clean and in order so I did let my concerns go.  We were seated in a small area to the left of the door fairly quickly.  The atmosphere is very typical of a Chinese/Mandarin restaurant with old outdated decor and some traditional decorations.  

The server came to us almost immediately and was very attentive the entire time.  We mentioned that we were looking for only vegetarian dishes and he confirmed what we ordered met that spec. and also reassured us as he delivered our food.  From a service perspective I would rate them five stars.  

We ordered egg rolls, Hot and Sour soup (comes with chicken ask for it without), sauteed asparagus and the vegetable medley (can't recall the name; but it was a "feast").  All of it was great.  The Hot and Sour soup was fantastic.  Truly one of the best we have had.  The egg rolls were decent; although, larger than most and very filling and the vegetable dishes were very good.  The vegetables seemed fresh and crisp.  It was served with a mediocre white rice; but overall we truly enjoyed the food.  Serving portions were great as well (we ate our leftovers for lunch the next day).

Finding good food up the hill is often a challenge for us (especially considering we don't eat meat).  We get stuck eating at about 2-3 restaurants so finding Mandarin Garden was a thrill.

From a stars perspective, we rated this based on a comparison with restaurants of the same caliber down the hill so that we didn't set the expectations too high.  But it is at least 4.5 based on what that area has to offer.  

If you are looking for Chinese while in the area I would definitely give it a try.