Mandarin, well, this Mandarin out of a chain of now thirty of them, is located at 1881 Fairview St. in Burlington, about 30km w. of Toronto. It’s about a five minute walk from the Burlington GO station so is transit-accessible. There is $2.50 AYCD pop, but no Coke Zero. As with other Mandarins, it has a large brightly-coloured highly decorated interior, with plenty of customers even right after opening.
Hot and sour soup was quite flavourful and not burnt, which is good as it burns quite easily and many places let it sit too long. Mishy loved the cheese pizza so much she recommended it and said it was a must try. Wonton soup was delicious, and would say it was close to excellent as it had much flavour, the seasoning was very balanced and it was fresh. Potato salad was very good and also very fresh. Thai chicken salad was not bad, but oddly seasoned and I wasn't sure if it was going off or not. Chickpea salad was delicious and fresh and had plenty of oregano. Red onion salad was very good and had lots of cilantro.
Kung pao chicken was delicious and I'm happy to see this on the menu. Black pepper beef was very good, but beware there is residual heat which proved unpleasant. Lemon chicken was quite good. Chicken curry also had a strange flavour that I could not identify and it possibly was not made with fresh chicken... like the Thai chicken salad?
Mishy loved the teriyaki beef and mixed vegetables. She also said the roast beef, which is thankfully now available on lunch, was excellent. There was also grilled steak on the lunch menu as well, as it seems only the Oshawa and Scarborough locations ever denied that, but does not anymore... as usual I enjoyed it very much as it is smokey, savoury and has just enough salt to bring out the grilled flavour. Mishy enjoyed it although she said it was a bit dry. Bacon was also quite good, although for this it’s me saying it’s a bit dry, but I didn't mind as I like it crispy. Breakfast sausages weren't bad. Grilled pineapple was very good. Grilled sausage was very good and wonderfully smoky... much better than the breakfast sausages. Grilled chicken was also much better than I remember and also wonderfully smoky. Teriyaki chicken was delicious as the sauce was not excessively sweet. I did not care for the teriyaki fish as it had no sweetness in the sauce and had an odd flavour, again as if the fish was going off before it was cooked.
Burlington Mandarin has AYCE sashimi along with other sushi options at a sushi station, as other Mandarins now do. Ginger is dyed pink. Everything was quite fresh and enjoyable including surf clam, honestly-labelled tilapia, red tuna, and of course salmon. Soy was only a little salty and comparable to most AYCE places.
For dessert, as usual the desserts are overwhelming, with three stations’ worth of them. Soft serve strawberry yogourt was fantastic with a wonderful strawberry flavour and creaminess. Birthday cake ice cream really seems to have actual birthday cake embedded in it, not just a flavour. Banana fudge ice cream is a wonderful flavour combination. Nanaimo bar was very good although Mishy isn't into them. Mango pudding in a muffin tin was also quite good. Tiny burger dessert which Mishy said was meringue was excellent. Mango ice cream is very good and even better with maraschino and cherries and butterscotch syrup on it. It’s $30.99 for weekend lunch. This is pretty standard for these offerings currently. The good stuff seemed to be even better than at other locations and I’m happy for the lunch self-serve sashimi, but there were three noted quality issues, which were all saved by the seasoning from being determined to be off.
Rating: 7 / 10
