Mandarin, or rather this Mandarin, the ninth location of the chain we’ve now reviewed, is at 8787 Weston Road in Vaughan, the municipality bordering the north of Toronto’s west end. We went for weekend dinner, which we usually don’t due to the cost but our other dinner plan didn’t work out and Mandarin was in the area. AYCD pop is $2.50 which is reasonable. It was packed but we still got a seat within five minutes, in contrast to the three to four hours the place we didn’t go to had told us. I sometimes wonder whether it’s worth doing the Mandarins separately as they are supposed to be all the same, but I was glad I did for reasons that will soon be apparent...
Like other locations, sashimi (and sushi) is available, even at lunch. Salmon sashimi was excellent, as was red tuna and surf clam which is a nice addition, and all of them were very fresh. I have not had surf clam sashimi in a while and it's actually better by itself than it is on rice.
Unfortunately there was no grilled steak in the grilling area, it appears that they had run out, or something... I did ask and was advised it would not be appearing. Whatever it was, I've never been to a Mandarin in several years that did not have it, including at lunch since Oshawa stopped cheaping out and included it then. There’s no excuse when we’re paying top dollar for weekend dinner. There was roast turkey as it was close to Thanksgiving, but the portion I was given was about the size of one chicken finger. Mishy said it was very good so at least that made up for the tininess of the portions, but mine was dry. I ended up having a second one later. The turkey gravy was very good and went well with fries and creamy mashed potatoes. Both of us noticed the prime rib was gamey. Sausage and onion stuffing was very good thankfully. Grilled chicken was a remnant so dried up that it crackled. Sausage was somewhat undercooked, and I could tell this even by the appearance before I ate any... this is another first for all the Mandarins I've ever been to. I checked in the Google Maps review for this location, and amazingly the most recent review also noted undercooked sausage, and I ended up with the Aztec Two-Step a few hours later and I blame that. Mishy described the pizza as cold and flavourless compared to other locations.
Mishy loved the chicken balls however, saying that they were full of white meat. Deep fried chicken wings were very good and fresh, which is good as I needed to make up for the lack of turkey. Mishy described the teriyaki meatballs as fantastic... they were pretty much the same as other Mandarins but they're excellent everywhere, and one of their signature dishes. She indicated the spring rolls were comparable to other places, and I do concur that they weren't exemplary. Hot and sour soup was stale and not as good as other Mandarin locations. Boston clam chowder at least was very good and fresh. Unfortunately to add to the negatives, Mishy said that the lemon chicken was very dry, and usually is doused in sauce, but at least it had plenty of white meat.
Plain noodles were not really plain, but had this odd flavour that both of us noticed and did not like. Baked teriyaki salmon was excellent with a very nice savoury umami overtone, though the sauce was a little too sweet for my taste but I can't fault it for this personal preference. General Tso chicken was pretty good, and black pepper beef was certainly that with plenty of black pepper, but it was enjoyable.
There were several Moon Festival items I tried. Ginger beef was very good, although understated, but still quite tasty. Sweet and sour fish... well, I don't think these two flavours go together very well, but other people like it so I can't fault it. Whatever it is, it was good enough and fresh. Spicy mango shrimp were quite good. Chicken with kabocha squash was the best of the Moon Festival offerings and one of the better things I had that evening, as the two flavours go together perfectly; this must be a traditional dish. Mishy was not impressed with the butternut squash soup, although I didn't mind it and thought it was quite good.
For dessert, Mishy described the bread pudding as soggy although delicious. Ube (purple yam) vanilla ice cream, which is a Moon Festival special, was excellent with a warm creamy flavour that I enjoyed, contrary to many other “special” items that I find fall flat. Strawberry ice cream was excellent without being freezer-burned, and had large chunks of actual strawberries. Cherry cheesecake ice cream was fantastic and I wish it was available more places. No-sugar-added lemon cake is a new offering and wasn't bad considering. Moon Festival lotus paste cake was good, but had a muted flavour. Mishy couldn’t eat her chocolate fudge cake as she was full, so gave it to me though I never would have picked it... it was improved by the vanilla and strawberry sauces and whipped cream as topping. Coconut macaroon was coconutty and quite good. Crème brûlée was more like custard but still very good. Tiramisu had an excellent flavour like (or was?) amaretto liqueur and I thoroughly enjoyed it, possibly my favourite AYCE tiramisu. Raspberry cheesecake was very good to excellent. The desserts seemed to be better than the actual entrées.
It was $42.99 weekend dinner. I can’t rate on the higher price as practically all the other Mandarins were done on lunch, so to keep it in line with the others I start from the Mandarin baseline of 8.5 / 10. However there were significant shortcomings (and an important missing item) that weigh heavily on this. For an upper-tier location like Vaughan at the most expensive timeframe, this was unacceptable.
Rating: 5 - 5.5 / 10