Mpls.St.Paul Magazine Food + DiningMpls.St.Paul Magazine Shopping + StyleMpls.St.Paul Magazine Arts + EntertainmentMpls.St.Paul Magazine Travel + VisitorsMpls.St.Paul Magazine HomesMpls.St.Paul Magazine HealthGivingMpls.St.Paul Magazine WeddingsParties + Nightlife
Food + Dining
Restaurant Guide

Search our guide to 1000s of Twin Cities eateries.

Key

  • B - Breakfast
  • L - Lunch
  • D - Dinner
  • Br - Brunch
  • P - Private Dining
  • - No Smoking
  • - Kid-friendly
  • - Outdoor dining
  • - Wine and beer only
  • - Late night dining
  • - No alcohol
  • - Entertainment
  • - Wheelchair accessible
  • - No credit cards
  • - No personal checks
  • - Notable
  • Editor's Choice - Our dining editors' favorites

Price categories indicate typical cost of a dinner entree for one:

  • $ - less than $10
  • $$ - $10-15
  • $$$ - $16-25
  • $$$$ - more than $25

» E-NEWSLETTER

Twice a month, get sneak previews of the TC's newest restaurants, delicious recipes, cookbook reviews, and inside news on the local dining scene.

SIGN UP NOW»

Mandarin Kitchen

Editor's Choice
$$ | Chinese

One of the best Chinese restaurants in town, specializing in Hong Kong-style seafood. Shrimp, lobster, whole fish, and crab dominate the menu, but the roasted crispy chicken and traditional Cantonese favorites are also wonderful. A destination for foodies in search of weekend dim sum brunch.

  • No Smoking
  • Kid-friendly
  • Late night dining
  • Wheelchair accessible
  • No personal checks
  • P | L M - F /D M - Su /Br Sa - Su
8766 Lyndale Ave. S.
Bloomington, Minnesota 55420
Phone: 952-884-5356
84.5
out of 100
0.0
out of 10
  • Critics’ + Eaters’ Ratings »
  • Map »

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY

Critics' Scoring

Scores will be assigned based on a 0-100 scale broken down as follows:

100 = Perfect
90 = Excellent
80 = Very Good
70 = Good, not Great
60 = High Average
50 = Average
40 = Low Average
30 = Disappointing
20 = Nearly Without Merit
10 = Poor
00 = Worthless
84
Mpls.St.Paul Magazine | Steven Brown
12/06
Located on a desolate stretch of Lyndale in Bloomington, Mandarin serves food so authentic, it could easily be located in Chinatown. The ethereal things of which I speak are the dim sum (served from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekends only), and if the lines are any indication of the experience that waits inside, this place might be better than the Wild Thing at Valleyfair.
Read Full Review
81
StarTribune | Jeremy Iggers
08/15/96
The Chinese menu, however, which is translated into English and Vietnamese, offers many dishes seldom seen in the Twin Cities, ranging from crab with XO sauce and jellyfish with beef to roast duck and taro hot pot, and beef tripe with sour vegetable. Nightly specials not on the menu have included live shrimp and Dungeness crabs cooked to order.
Read Full Review

BUZZ

City Pages
Best Of: Best Dim Sum
2006
here are many ways to judge the excellence of a dim sum palace, but for us, the decisive factor has always been dumplings. Mandarin Kitchen has the most: chive flower dumplings, with their dark greens peeking through the translucent wrappers; cilantro dumplings, fragrant with herbs;
Read Article
Metro
Best Ethnic Restaurants
When Wong goes out for dim sum, her pick is usually Mandarin Kitchen, where she keeps an eye out for the carts serving chiu chao fun guo (a dumpling stuffed with dried shrimp and Chinese pork sausage), beef tripe and egg custard, which she says must be eaten while it's still warm. Meanwhile, her kids gobble up a couple orders of sticky rice.
Read Article

EATER COMMENTS + RATINGS

mspmag.com | Mpls.St.Paul Magazine © 2011 MSP Communications, Inc. All rights reserved