Review Imperial Mandarin - San Diego

We came in about a half hour before closing. We were going to do takeout but decided to stay. No flare place as far as ambiance. They saved all the flare for the food, because it was absolutely delicious!!! Extremely fresh, super large portions, well priced, even the egg drop soup was delicious. Our server may have been one of the owners. Super sweet and accommodating. We ordered a sweet n sour tofu that was not on the menu, no problem. I asked for an extra side of garlic because I'm a garlic freak, no problem! I will definitely be returning! I want to try allll the things 😋

I haven't been here in a minute, and I was reminded about what a hidden gem this is! They offer fresh, made daily dim sum at a fair price. The portions are generous as well. The service is friendly and fast. The decor is understated, but the food is the star. I understand that some of the dim sum offerings are only available on the weekends. They offer lunch specials as well. I love this spot!

Very nice Chinese food,I love it!!!🥰They have great service, a clean restaurant, and as far as I know their food is very fresh.

My family has been going to Imperial Mandarin since the 80s! We love the food and atmosphere and we have celebrated so many major family events here! I have to recommend the Sizzling Rice Soup as it’s a classic.

best place to bring families. everything we ordered did not disappoint

Food: 4/5 Service and Setting: 3/5 Value: 3/5 Imperial Mandarin has been a staple in my household in our rotation for Chinese dinners, almost always exclusively take-out. The interior is definitely dated and quite frankly dirty, but that’s part of the charm of eating at a cultural landmark. Service is quick and a bit snippy, but for those of you with speaking anxiety, the workers here speak great English at the front. Like most Chinese restaurants, they can customize basically anything for you and usually will not upcharge. Though I have eaten a lot of their food throughout the years, I recently only get a few items. In general, their food is solid but not mind-blowing, especially their dim sum. I will be sure to update this review as I try more and more dishes from my past. Stuffed Eggplant with Shrimp: 4.25/5 One of my favorite dim sum items can be purchased as an entree at a slight discount and a small side of rice. Sometimes they give you some stuffed bell peppers, sometimes they don’t. I love this dish so much and they make it in a way that tastes “homemade” for a lack of better terms. There is this striking inconsistency not only in-between visits, but also in the same plate of food. Some eggplant is mushy, some firm, some sweet, some sour. The eggplant or bell pepper is usually quite bland and the majority of seasoning is inside the minced shrimp filling. The texture is similar to a siu mai but a bit meatier. These parcels are deep fried and then tossed in a light soy sauce. The deep savoriness of the shrimp with the richness and smooth eggplant create a wonderful dish that is hard to recreate at home but manifests the same feelings as an honest dish. Rich, savory, umami, but not overly so embodies the tenants of Cantonese cuisine and warrants a try!

Love that Mushu! Started with the Hot and Sour Soup and Spring Rolls, yum!! The soup was thick and full of flavor. The spring rolls were hot and crispy on the outside and a little mushy on the inside. I ordered the Mushu Pork and Beef Chow Mein to split. The Beef Chow Mein was good; the beef was tender and the noodles had nice crunch veggies in it. The Mushu Pork was delicious! Lots of flavor rolled into those tasty burritos; and the hosin sauce just added to the already great flavors. The service was excellent! Not only in the timing of food delivery but in the amount of 'check-ins' to see if I needed anything else. Definitely coming back for more!!

Imperial Mandarin is the best Dim-Sum in the San Diego area. They are not currently using carts but the service is very fast and helpful. A picture menu for us old white guys would be a nice addition. Prices are reasonable and food very fresh.

authentic chinese food. our party of 6 got the family meal for 5 and added the peking duck, cooked 2 ways. everything was delicious but the pork spareribs and duck were the best

Wasn’t that early in the morning, almost noon. Only one old lady staff, eating her first meal in the back while serving food to two or three tables with takeouts. I wouldn’t say excellent service but overall some great and somewhat authentic food, Personally love and tried a lot of authentic Cantonese food/dim sum/HK style cafe in Vancouver & Richmond(CAN), Hong Kong. Although quite oily, the shrimp toast was great! Apparently not a lot of places still have it! The steamed bbq pork bun(chasiubao) is...strangely oversized, and the biggest I’ve ever seen in my past experiences with dim sum. The pork is kinda old and hard to chew, also still got a little smell to it, not happy with that. Beef meat ball was good. As well as the steamed rice noodle roll with shrimp, a little bit thick and should be on the thinner side.

Good Hot and Sour soup. Also had Beef chow mein and Moo Shi Pork which was delicious. First time ever to have server offer to wrap the Moo Shi for us, plus brought extra plum sauce. Was definitely a plus and appreciated. Loved the flavor of their tea as well. Service was fast and efficient.

I love this place! Best chinese restaurant I’ve ever tried. I’ve been going to this place since I was very young. My parents like going here on the weekends. We’ve been going to this restaurant so much that the waitress who takes are order knows it by heart. 😅

Pretty good dim sum place, actually. Old school push carts and no wait at 11:30 am on a Sunday. Out of all the dim sum places I've been in San Diego, and I've been to quite a lot, I'd recommend this place for taste and price. Pictures included as well as receipt. Which by the way is counted by the number of lines. Tldr; tastes good, good price (~$35)

Excellent dim sum. My friend also ordered the salty fish fried rice, which lived up to its name. It was was way too salty.

Love Chinese food, you will love this 30 year old family restaurant. Here's a clue, full of Chinese folks. There's a reason. Good people and good value, great food. I will be back.

This is my mom and dad's "go to" place to treat the whole family, for 15+ years, after Mass on Sunday's. The food is very good and reasonable. They always have lunchtime dim sum on Sunday's, but come early because it gets crowded. You can still order off the menu though. Our kiddos always like the Imperial House Special crispy noodles; Mandarin Special; Chicken, Beef, Pork Fried Rice; Salt And Pepper Chicken Wings; Beef with Broccoli, and Deep Fried Fresh Squid With Salt And Pepper off the menu. Everything is very good on the menu and reasonably priced in comparison to other Convoy St. restaurants offering exactly the same items. After 15+ years we've eaten pretty much everything on and off the menu. If something you like is missing they will try to make it for you if they have the ingredients! The dim sum is great too and we usually order: Beef Tripe With Turnip, Steamed Spareribs With Black Bean Sauce, 3 Beef Meat Ball, 6 Steamed Pork Dumpling, Shrimp & Pork Shiu My, and Egg Plant stuffed with shrimp, and yes, grandma's fave, chicken's feet. It's really convenient that they are open until 12am Sun-Thu, and until 1am Fri-Sat. You can also call in orders to take home too. Service is usually pretty good, however, it does get busy at times and you may have a slightly longer wait. Patience is a virtue, and the food at Imperial Mandarin is worth waiting for.

Went there with my family and my in-laws that are Chinese and it was a great experience. We sat in that exact corner table that are in most of the photos shown. It was easy to entertain my kids there and keep them in that corner so that they did not bother any other tables. My kids are very young. The food came out quickly and it was delicious. I can't say I know what we ordered since my in-laws ordered everything in their own language. (I am not Chinese). We went there for dim sum. The restaurant is huge and there is plenty of seating and there's a pretty decent amount of parking in the parking lot, but by the time we left the parking lot was full. One thing that stood out to me at this particular restaurant was that we had to fill our own teapots with more hot water if we wanted it. I've never seen that at any other Chinese restaurant that served a dim sum. I still enjoyed it and would not mind going back there again.