Mandarin Express Chinese Restaurant

Reviews

• Paul S.

  star star star star star_border 10 June 2026

  Definitely a hole in the wall and service was decent for a Chinese place, but the food was good and pretty cheap! Pretty much only Asians eating when I was there, mainly because it caters more towards authentic Chinese home style dishes. All the specials on the wall were written in Chinese and our waitress didn't speak English very well. The menu descriptions were tough to decipher what the dishes were, no pictures anywhere except on Yelp/Google, and our waitress couldn't explain the ingredients very well.
  
  Anyways, we kept it simple and ordered crispy tofu, pork with hot peppers, beef and onions Chinese style, and snow pea leaves (or so I thought since we received another green vegetable which was pretty good so we kept it). The tofu was star of the show, light, crispy, and a light sweet/spicy sauce. The beef dish was essentially Mongolian beef, since it was mostly onions and scallions. The pork and hot peppers was good too, kind of spicy, but not overly hot. Each dish was less than $9 and a slightly smaller portion than normal, but it enabled us to try more dishes. I just wish they had better menu descriptions and pictures so I know what to order. Would definitely to try again.

• VyVy V.

  star star star star star 8 June 2026

  Although I grew up in Rockville, I only started hearing about this restaurant in more recent years.
  
  The restaurant itself isn't huge for dine in since they do a lot of carryout and delivery orders. They still have a number of tables for dine in, which is what my friends and I did.
  
  There can be a bit of a language barrier if you don't speak Chinese but the owner's son, Jason (if he's not off or out making deliveries), is super hospitable and is really helpful in relaying the information to the kitchen for you!
  
  The portions of food are huge! They really don't hold back on piling on the rice, meat, and veggies on your plate when you order the lunch/dinner combos. The presentation may be lacking but the flavor is definitely there.

• Bobby C.

  star star star star star 3 June 2026

  Whenever I'm in the area, I love stopping by this restaurant for some quality Chinese food. The dining room can be busy on the weekends but it's worth the wait. The servers are all really nice and very attentive. I got the Wonton Soup, Beef & Broccoli, Snow Pea Leaf and fried Tofu (I also recommend the Cross-Bridge Noodle soup here!). All of my food came out in a reasonable amount of time and was piping hot. Even though my orders are pretty simple, I've never had a bad experience here. I definitely recommend this spot if you're craving some Chinese food!

• DeAndrea C.

  star star star star_border star_border 30 May 2026

  I went TO the restaurant. I was the only person there after working a 13 hour day with a 2hr commute round trip. I ordered tea, soup, and the bean curd home style. I was so happy to have my food I rushed home and what do I have? No tea. No soup. Just the house special. The thing I DO have tastes good, but now I'm out almost 5 bucks and the place is closing. Wtf.

• Molly C.

  star star star star star 21 May 2026

  Get the crispy tofu and the deep fried soft shell crab! So delicious and very easy on the wallet:) Love this little place, wish I lived closer.