The Mandarin Restaurant

Located on Cooke Street next to Cooke Street Market lies this little husband and wife operated restaurant. Since this place is within walking distance from my place, I figured to give this place a shot and I am so glad that I decided to venture here! There is street parking available and if the street is full, there should be parking located in the building.This place isn't your typical Chinese restaurant where you and your party is served family style. Instead, this restaurant focuses on individual servings. The menu is located on the table and each entree listed comes with rice and house soup (egg drop soup). It's not all individual serving; you can order appetizers for your whole party to share. Each item is made to order and the husband usually cooks it for you while the wife is providing excellent service. The meals served here are decently priced and it fills your tummy up. I'm surprised that they don't have much traffic as they should be as their dishes are made with care and are quite flavorful!

I've gotta be honest, I've only ordered 1 thing here: the Mongolian beef with fried rice. It always hits the spot. They pair the plate with a nice coup of egg drop soup (I like to pour it over the beef and rice, add hot sauce and hot mustard). The location is easily accessible with street parking out front. The owners are always very sweet and welcoming.

Absolutely been coming here forever but haven't actually eaten for a few a years. Same owners and same delicious tastes. Ambiance is cheerful but the food is great love that. Service is fast and our food came out pretty quickly. Didn't take all the pics of how much food was ordered. However it was incredible.

The lemon chicken was 3 stars, the egg drop soup on a cold and rainy day was very nice and I'd give it 4 stars, and the quick takeout preparation and value being it to 4 stars overall. The chicken was fine but not very flavorful, decent quality chicken. The portions weren't huge but that was fine, it was a bit more than a single serving of chicken, and a small side soup--it's basically one meal, and it costs about what one meal should. It feels expensive, but compared to everything else on Oahu it's a normal meal, and compared to other Chinese takeout it's nice to have the option to not get a ton of food. I tried to order hot and sour soup without pork and they couldn't do that, so that was one downside.

Husband & Wife operation. If your dish has veggies there's alway a good ratio (prefer more vegetables than meat) and fresh. Chicken dishes I have ordered were made with breast meat, which I find a big plus. Haven't tried a lot of dishes but the ones I did were all very tasty. Also no MSG

Tried their homemade noodle with chicken some veg and a gravy. Was better than expected. There were only two others in here for lunch, a pair of Japanese ladies catching up. Service was fine and quick. Food comes out quick. Today am trying the sweet sour pork. To me it was fine. Tender, only slightly sweet sour with a sprinkle of what I call namasu on top w rice. The sauce set up nicely after a minute since it was served fresh and hot. The crispness of the coating was nice. It also came with a soup the was like egg drop with mushrooms and tofu. Again just fine. There were about 8 people in and out today, seems to me like a routine hang out since folks chat and laugh. Is this the best Chinese joint on island? No. Is it decent to get your fix, yes! Next I will try the Ja Jeng Min or noodle with black bean sauce northern Chinese style.

Love the spicy garlic chicken! My favorite dish. Normally come by for take out whenever craving. Other great dishes, but sucker for my favorite.

not your typical chinese restaurant. we went here for lunch, and when looking at the menu everything was individual plates (main and starch). not family style like i was expecting. i got the steamed fish (one of my faves at chinese restaurants), my coworker got the orange chicken with chow funn. my entree was pretty standard. half of a fish (not a whole fish) served with a bowl of rice. it also came with a cup of egg drop soup. both were served super hot, so do not dig in right away unless you can handle the heat! (temperature)my coworkers entree however was so strange. it was literally chow funn WITH orange chicken. everything was mixed together in the same orange chicken sauce. it wasnt orange chicken with a side of chow funn like we expected. that being said, it was also just chow funn noodles. no veggies, no others meats mixed in, just plain white noodles. needless to say it was not as appetizing since the whole thing was sauced up, and the sauce itself was super garlicy. he only ate maybe half.good place to go if you want chinese food and youre dining by yourself, because the plates are smaller and all come with a starch. not so good if youre expecting family style shareable chinese entrees. i also did not see any chinese chicken salad on the menu, which was surprising to me since thats a usual staple.

There's no reason this place should be dead at lunchtime on a Wednesday! Staff is sweet and respectful, soup and entrees are filling and delicious! No skimping on flavors over here! The restaurant is clean and service is prompt.

If you want delicious, classic Chinese dishes, and Korean-style Chinese dishes, this is the place to be! Excellent service and incredibly tasty tang soo beef, ziajiangmien, potstickers, schezuan eggplants, and string beans. Not many places in the mainland or Oahu will serve this unique style of Chinese food so it was special to find this place and support a local business.