New Lewiston Mandarin

Food was decent. With a large array of options. It was bigger inside then I thought. The bathroom was FREEZING, and didn't seem like there was hot water. And it needed to be cleaned up alittle. The service was nice. Glad to have tried it out. But I prefer Lotus buffet just alittle bit further away.

Staff are friendly and attentive. Relaxing atmosphere, even if it's busy. Food is always tasty. Arrive around dinner hours to ensure there's enough of your fresh favorites. Parking might be tight at peak hours. Only knock is sometimes some dishes are room temp--but that's probably due to dish popularity. Otherwise this is a solid buffet to return to.

Mandarin is great! I recently gave up meat, and they actually have a lot of veggie stuff there. They have string beans, spring rolls, a veggie stir fry, onion rings, fried potatoes, cucumber salad, and broccoli salad! There are probably some other things too that I’ve missed. They also use local produce from Blackie’s, which is surprising for a budget restaurant. When I used to eat meat, I always enjoyed their chicken. It tasted freshly prepared. The staff works hard and they are really nice. You can also order from the menu! We did that once for take-out and it was good. They make your order fresh for you. I think it’s the best Chinese buffet I may have ever been to.

The food: This is actually a very good westernized Chinese buffet. Lots of choices and surprising good. Buffets tend to be dry salty and or old. There is enough turn around that the dishes are fresh. None of items I picked were overly salted. A large menu is also available. I'm pleasantly surprised. The service: waiters are very accommodating and attentive: as soon as you get up they're pretty much behind you to pickup the finished plate. The place: also surprisingly clean and well maintained relative to other Asian restaurants. Parking and entrance is at the rear and doesn't really look inviting: there isn't a visible sign that tells you to "please come in!" Price is very decent!

Me and my roommate went there about a week ago and they only had like 3 maybe 4 staff working. And they all looked and acted like they had something better to do. The food tasted sad, and made me question if the chef was ok. Some food seemed fresh, but it was also cold, little to none of the food was warm. Except when they just brought something out, the environment made everything feel sad. I told my roommate this feels like the place you'd bring someone when you're breaking up with them. It was a one and done for us, the food was okish at best. But it wasn't worth the potential food poisoning. Some people might like it, some people won't. Try it and come up with your own conclusion, it was about $33 for two people, if you have a group of four or more it might get pricy.