Mandarin Grill & Sushi Bar

This is a go to place to get an awesome blend of Chinese and Japanese food. A great atmosphere and an even better owner. She appreciates all the business and is very kind. The flamethrower roll is awesome. The lo mein is the best in town. I often go for lunch and get a bento box. The best one around. I eat there once a week for lunch and usually get carry out once a week too.

Nice «sit-​down» place. Also, best Mongolian beef around… as in I literally come here just for that. Sushi pretty good, but not awesome. Always have wonderful service too. Give a try!

Easily the best Chinese and Sushi in Des Moines. Can’t beat the prices, portion size, location, or service. The restaurant itself is very nicely decorated, and it is best to dine at night. Every employee is very nice and helpful. The menu offers a wide range of choices. My dish (Garlic Chicken) had wonderful vegetables. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes good Chinese food, and a nice clean restaurant to eat in,

Decent place for lunch. Sushi is solid, nothing crazy though. I do like the Ghost Pepper roll… typically has a really nice kick!

Likely the best Chinese food you’re going to find in Des Moines, which isn’t much of an endorsement. It’s fine, it will do, and you’ll be (mostly) full when you leave.
Our last time we got it go go and the sweet and sour chicken’s sauce tasted like ketchup mixed with vinegar, the General’s sauce tasted like the same only with a little less vinegar (and it wasn’t dark meat chicken throughout).
There is no shortage of amazing SE Asian fare in Iowa, but the Chinese offerings are few and far between. Still looking for that quintessential Chinese place, but this will have to do until I find it.

Slow service, sassy waitress, sexist waitress, did not inform me there was tofu in soup.

Had some sushi and beer here with a friend for dinner. My dragon roll was really good and my friend liked his spicy salmon role but wasn’t a fan of the other one that he got because it was a bit mushy. The environment was nice and seemed like a good place to bring a date to or have a peaceful meal and perhaps a beer.
Their menu had many other options other than sushi. I have ate here before and their Mongolian beef is really good. Overall I like this place and would come back again to try something different.

My friend and I felt like something light so we decided to try the sushi here. He ordered the dragon roll (eel, avocado and shrimp) and I ordered the unagi (eel) roll and spicy salmon roll. Both came out rather quickly so that was nice.
My friend enjoyed his roll alot. I tried a piece too and it was tasty. Just the right amount of eel, avocado and crunch/​texture. The spicy salmon roll was good too, though it had a different taste compared to other restaurants. I think it had ginger pieces in the roll. It also had a good kick to it too. The unagi roll was very disappointing. The rice fell apart and the eel was very mushy. So it was not an enjoyable experience when eating this roll.
The service was very good, the place was clean and the prices for sushi were reasonable so maybe I’d come back and try one of their Chinese or Korean dishes. But I’d probably skip on the sushi.

The Sushi was marginal. The fish was fine, but way too much sauce on the Unagi roll and the maguro was thrown on a blob of rice.

Stopped here while in town for business and it was yummy! Check it out!

Checked out this place for lunch today. Got there a little before noon. There was no wait and plenty of seating. I opted for the shrimp and vegetable lunch special with aside salad. The ginger dressing wasn’t the best I’d ever had. My coworker ordered the generals chicken with potstickers. The food didn’t totally wow me but I’m not sure if it could. Considering it was the lunch hour I was happy to get in and out had fast as we did. The service was prompt and attentive.

Like the rolls, sushi, and sashimi along with sake and mainstream Japanese beer here. Setting is austere. Not bad for the area, but not as good as Miyabi 9. Wish the specialty rolls had better lunch time pricing.

Rating based on food, not service. I went for lunch, it wasnt busy at all. My meal had quick order-​to-​table time, unique tasting sushi (autumn roll is a real conglomeration), and I was served a large amount of jasmine tea in a teapot for a buck. Service was impersonal.

Most authentic Chinese food in town from a Chinese perspective. Ask for the special menu (with Chinese and Korean scripts).

I’ve been coming to the mandarin since I was 5 years old. Even tho it has changed locations this restaurant is better before.

Certainly nothing special, and perhaps hovering towards a two, but I found their menu choices to be somewhat different from other local restaurants of this nature. The Captain Crunch sushi roll I had was one of the worst cooked rolls I’ve entertained – the shrimp wasn’t tempura, but was closer to fried shrimp you would expect at Red Lobster. It certainly made the flavor off-​putting and is not something I would ever expect at an Asian restaurant. Additionally, while the sauce was plated nicely, it was overdone and detracted from the delicate balance of flavors sushi should have.
The bento box was decent in portions and it certainly was nice having edamame on the salad. The dressing was creamy and had a hint of garlic and sesame flavors. Perfect balance to the rest of the components in my meal. The tempura vegetables were awful – as if they hadn’t been fried long enough. It was crisp on the outside but very soft inside, indicate they may have been rushing since I went in towards the end of lunch. No ponzu sauce was included. The Korean bul-​go-​gi (thinly sliced beef) was very tender but didn’t seem to have much flavor outside of the sesame seeds sprinkled on top. A minimal amount of rice was included. Miso soup was average; there’s an option to switch to hot & sour or sizzling rice for $ 2. You also get a sampling of a California roll.
Service seemed rushed, I felt like there was a need to order quickly. This may have been due to only having one server (that I noticed) working the entire restaurant.
As this establishment is a fair ways away from both work and my residence, it’d have to be outstanding for me to become a regular and I’d have to say it just doesn’t distinguish itself in any discernible way.

Poor lunch experience. Service was the hallmark of this bad experience. Felt rushed in and rushed out, felt scolded by the waiter… list goes on. He asked if we needed more time to order and I said «yes please this is our first time» and he said nothing and rushed away. My mom and I had decided on an appetizer but he skipped over our table to help the next one, who had come in after us (they also recieved their entrees before us despite ordering after). Waiter angrily refilled my water more than necessary, often when only ¹⁄₈^th of it was drank. Edamame overcooked. Crab rangoons taste like chip dip. Sushi was good. I’ve never felt more unwanted anywhere when taking my mom out to lunch. Do yourself a favor and go to Zuzap or Haiku

We ordered the following:
The serving size for the price you pay I would say it’s on the smaller size. Service wasn’t too bad. It appeared our server was the only server for the entire restaurant. We came on a Saturday around 7:30 PM.
Fried calamari: the batter was okay I believe it was tempura with two dipping sauces. One was ponzu and spicy mayo.
Pork potstickers: these were very small and tasted like they were from a bag.
Sushi: was okay, but not the best in DSM. The fried tempura rolls were on the greasy and soggy side and a lot of sauce was put on top of the tempura roll.
Kalbi: you get about 6 pieces for one order. Tasted decent, but not the best I have ever had. B
Chow fen/​fun: This a Chinese noodle dish. I thought it was rather on the sweet side and very greasy.
Tres Delight: typical stir fry with chicken, beef, and shrimp. Once again portion size isn’t much for the $ 13 price.
Twice cooked pork: probably one of the better dishes we ordered. They use pork belly stir fried with some various vegetables.

Choose elsewhere if you consider yourself a «foodie» or well versed in Sushi or Hot-​N-​Sour soup. If you are not from the Des Moines area PLEASE don’t eat here. I would hate for you to judge this city’s sushi ability by this place, I have a list at the end of this review of my suggestions. If you are from the Des Moines area go elsewhere too (see the list below).
Lunch today 2−4−14 was a total disappointment and waste of $ 35. We ordered the Hot-​N-​Sour soup that so many below recommend. It was OK at best. We also had an order for Crab Rangoon, again ok but a little over fried (Haiku down in the Drake area is light years better for perfect hand made Crag Rangoon).
Lastly, the sushi, the third and final strike. We were told the Philadelphia Roll and the Tuna Mango rolls were «VERY POPULAR»…not sure why. These were boring and tasteless. We had to have a side of spicy mayo just to finish them. If you want to get some good sushi in this area here are three suggestions: Wasabi Chi (Merle Hay Mall area) or Haiku (mentioned above in the Drake area).
As a side note the water was bad, the waitress was adequate (and that’s being nice) and the amount of dust on the ceiling fans and light fixtures was in one word… GROSS!

Solid.
That’s the best description.
I flew in from Chicago and needed a good meal. Unilocal to the rescue. The reviews were helpful.
I had the rainbow roll and a vegetable roll. Top quality! The waiter gave his opinions about what he liked and why. Helpful.
Like I say – Solid.