mandarin chinese restaurant / chula vista – san diego, ca

I have been to Mandarin Chinese Restaurant quite a few times in the last two years. My boyfriend took me here when we first started dating and I thought the food was excellent. I’ve finally gathered a few photos together to share my experiences here.

Mandarin Chicken

One thing we always order is the Mandarin Chicken. It’s battered chicken in a sweet mandarin flavored sauce with broccoli all around. I believe this normally comes as a spicy dish, but we get it mild so that I can eat some of it as well. The sauce isn’t too overpowering or sickly sweet – it’s got a nice balance of sweetness with spices that rounds out the crispness of the chicken.

House Special Noodles

I don’t remember what this one is called exactly, I think it’s like the “House Special Noodles” – it’s lo mein noodles with chicken, beef, and shrimp. Luckily, my boyfriend doesn’t like shrimp, so I get to have all of the big, juicy shrimp pieces. It’s got good flavor and lots of meaty parts. There isn’t a lot of “filler vegetables” and you get a lot of it – plenty for leftovers to take home.

Salt and Pepper Wings

This is a take-out photo of their Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings – obviously I couldn’t wait to eat them, so there are some chicken bones in the photos. The Salt and Pepper Wings are one of my favorite items here – when they’re hot, they’re to die for. They’ve got garlic, green onions and red pepper slathered all over them making them smell and taste delicious. I will even eat these if they are room temperature, but I prefer them piping hot.

The other thing I love here are the egg rolls. They’re really crispy, have a good balance of meat and vegetables (not a lot of filler vegetables). A lot of Chinese take out places seem to try to pass off their egg rolls with only filler vegetables, but Mandarin puts meat in theirs – yay!


We have of course been here when the food wasn’t great, but just passable, but more often than not the food is excellent. It’s pretty much more “Americanized Chinese” but that doesn’t bother me one little bit, as long as it’s tasty.

(Update: see my latest post about Mandarin Chinese Restaurant here! And don’t forget to order the bestest egg rolls ever!)

Mandarin Chinese Restaurant
945-A Otay Lakes Road
Chula Vista, CA 91913
(619) 656-8080

Mandarin Chinese on Urbanspoon


6 thoughts on “mandarin chinese restaurant / chula vista – san diego, ca

  1. OHHH I so love those spicy saltr chicken wings!!!!! My #1!!! Is that the Mandarin restuarant across the street from SWC???

  2. Yay, glad that you reviewed this place and give it the thumbs up! 🙂 I’ve been looking for an authentic Chinese restaurant in the area just so we don’t have to drive to National City (I know, like it’s that far, but still… LOL). Thanks for recommending Mandarin Chinese! I’ll definitely give it a try! 🙂

  3. Mandarin is defintely still one of my favorites – I prefer their salt & pepper wings above all of the other ones I have tried! So good!

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