Mandarin Deli

Fantastic hole in the wall near a Dollar Tree. It’s a small family restaurant, as most Monterey Park restaurants are, which hand makes its noodles. It specializes in serving northern Chinese (wheat-​based and spicy) cuisine like this spicy, numbing beef noodle soup. My go to at the restaurant however, are the cold chicken noodles. They’re these handmade noodles that are obviously cold, sitting on a sauce of peanuts and chilies with chicken on the side and with cucumber on top. The noodles are incredibly chewy, and the sauce coats them very well. It isn’t too salty, and the chicken is soft and flavorful. The service here is okay. The lady understands English, but is preferred if you speak in Mandarin, with it being Monterey Park.

This is one of many beef noodle soup and dumpling restaurants in the San Gabriel valley that is worth a try! This small mom and pop restaurant serves your assortment of noodle dishes and dumpling all at an affordable price! You can expect to pay less than $ 20 for 3 plates, and its comfort food that will definitely hit the spot!
I have tried their beef noodle soup and minced beef dry noodle and all of them have tasted fantastic. The beef noodle soup is pretty similar to most places, and they also give decent amounts of beef and noodle in the soup. My personal favorite as of right now is the minced beef dry noodle. I have had it numerous times in the past before, but the surprising difference was the hand pulled noodles here. They were bouncy and you can just taste the quality with each bite! Even as I am writing this review, the only thing on my mind is that minced beef dry noodle and the hand pulled noodles!
The dumplings here are also very good, wrapped perfect and ready to be steamed or pan fried to your perfection. Some of my favorite choices are the chicken/​leek and fish/​leek, all which are great for any leek lovers out there. Personally, I enjoy having them pan fried as it gives the dumplings more flavor and a taste that you can really enjoy; but having them steamed once in awhile is good also! Some dumpling choices are better then others, so you will have to taste a few of them before you find your favorite. Their green onion pancake is fresh made as well, so order if you so desire!
The only cons is that it is a very very small restaurant and seating can get a little cramped when it hits peak hours. Parking is also extremely limited, as they share the small lot with various other businesses, but I have gotten lucky the couple times I been here. Service is quick, and the lady is very friendly when offering suggestions on what to choose to eat.

This place was delicious! I really like how they serve you green tea before you eat. We got the spicy garlic shrimp and it was very tasty, I’d recommend it. We also got the Kung Pao chicken but it was a bit on the salty side for me. The combination chow mein was good as well. I would definitely come back here when I’m in the mood for Chinese food.

Pretty good, cash only, limited English speakers but friendly. Parking sucks cause of the stupid idiot drivers. Gets crowded fast cause it’s tiny, better for take out. Call ahead or you’ll wait a while.

This is like mom and pops restaurant. I love almost everything of what they have. Love all their noodles especially Spicy Beef Noodle Soup.

This is a very mom and pop’s shop. The servers are really nice and didn’t kick us out when we rushed in to get dinner at 9PM. The noodles are really nice handmade chewy ones, and the dumplings are good in taste and portion size. Recommend the spicy beef noodle soup and mutton soup noodle.

So many Chinese restaurants in MPK… I’ll never get to try them all. This tiny restaurant is located near the Dollar Store/​Elite Restaurant. I am not exactly sure the type of Noodle Soup I ordered but it was pretty good and spicy but not amazing. Broth was flavorful and noodles were well cooked. We also got a side of spicy beef tendon which did not look like tendon at all. However, $ 13 was enough to feed my GF and I and it did hit the spot.
Conclusion: just another cheap and good Chinese restaurant.
Cash only!

This is where I get takeouts almost everyday. I tried almost all the items on their Manu and I have yet to find an item I don’t like. My personal favorites are the spicy beef noodle (no soup), short ribs noodle and shrimp fried noodle. If you like chewiness in your noodles go with the knife cut kind

Very authentic Taiwan Food. Came across this place with a friend. The place is very not noticeable when driving through crowds of other restaurants that were nearby. It’s inside a center.
Parking can be bad if you want to park close to the place. Parking is a bit small and tight.
Food:
Ma Pao Tofu– Original and authentic real ma pao tofu!!! This place actually put the Ma Pao in their dish. If you don’t know it’s the taste that makes your mouth faintly numb. Some people like the taste of it, I personally don’t really. Usually other places that hasMa Pao Tofu doesn’t have it in their dish because they’re cheap or they know most people don’t like the feeling. not sure. But this place does. It’s spicy enough and faintly numbing enough for my mouth to handle.
Kung Pao Chicken – It’s good. Has enough ingredients (chicken, peanuts, water chessnut. etc) for the dish. I’ve eaten this in other restaurants and the ingredients were missing or not enough on the dish.
They give you rice by the bowl. You can always ask for more rice once you’ve finished your rice in your bowl.
When they asked what we wanted to drink. I asked for tea.
Seating wise — it gets cramped and sometimes you have to share a table with random person. It gets a bit awkward especially when I went, there wasn’t a lot of people talking. It was mostly quiet with people eating. There’s limited… I mean very limited seating inside. It’s a small restaurant so it’s expected.

I stumbled upon this place by accident and have been here twice. My first visit to eat in and to take out. The food is great — it tastes good and is legit!!! Prices are extremely reasonable and the food quality is there. You can see it is kinda «homemade»…it’s authentic «comfort food». Based on the food alone, I would return. I recommend the onion pancake, any of the dumplings and sausage fried rice…
My only gripe is that since it is a small «mom and pop» place, communicating in English (as I don’t speak fluent Chinese) isn’t always the easiest. The first time I ate there, we received something we didn’t order so clearly there is a language issue even though I pointed to what I wanted on the menu. It turned out okay though, what we received was tasty enough (I didn’t bother to point out the error) and is something I probably wouldn’t have tried otherwise. When I stopped in for take out, I just made it a point to go over my order twice and it was perfect.
A couple of other things, parking is in the lot in front of the restaurant and can get packed! Cash only. Service is friendly and efficient. Helps if you can speak the preferred lingo — Chinese. You can get by on English, but pointing to the item in the menu will be in your best interest!!! With that said, THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE PLACE!!!

Wow. There aren’t many places I would drive 20 miles just to eat at, and this is definitely one of them.
As I’ve mentioned in my other reviews, I’m a noodle girl. And if noodles really do bring tidings for a long life, I’ll be slurping down noodles for a very very long time.
This place is your typical Chinese food joint. It does a spectacular job at replicating a hole in the wall restaurant in China. Small but enough, the restaurant can probably fit twenty people max. Service is as expected for a legit Chinese place in its briskness and efficiency. The only downside to this legitness is that the servers tend to speak mostly Chinese, but hey hunger transcends language barriers and some rudimentary English coupled with pointing at a menu should help anyone lacking in Chinese. I’d also like to counter this downside with the amazing cheapness of the dishes here. You probably won’t be able to find meals this cheap outside of the 626! I ordered a Ma la (spicy) beef noodle soup with dao xiao mian (knife cut noodles) for ~$ 8 tax included and received my dish fairly quickly.
The bowl was hot to the touch thanks to the aromatic layer of chili oil swirling at the top of my broth. A quick run through the soup with my chopsticks unveils pieces of crisp vegetables, tender beef and the main star of the show: strips of hunky noodle.
Ohhhh my.
I let myself savor a good spoonful of the broth. It was fragrant with Szechuan style spices and perfectly flavored. You’d think after a week of eating Szechuan food I’d be sick of the taste, but no! Mandarin Deli does a great job of flavoring the broth with the spices. Not too spicy and just salty enough (the worst is when a dish is just spice with no salt or flavor.).
Soon enough, I’ve scarfed down the bowl as quickly as possible. Careful if you eat fast, you might stain your clothes with the red oil! Most of the noodles in the bowl were delightfully chewy and well complemented by the broth. The meat was well cooked and the veggies were perfectly crisp. You know that they made sure every element of the bowl was perfect.
This is an establishment I will definitely visit again to try their other dishes, even if it means driving twenty miles in LA.

CASH ONLY
I really like their lesser known menu items. Love their snow cabbage fried rice and ma-​po tofu.

DISCLOSURE: If I was rating based on ALL their menu items I would only give this place 3 stars. However, I really enjoy the following items so I’m sticking to my 4.
The best items on their menu I would have to say are:
–stewed beef soup noodle
–thin onion pancake
–pan fried dumplings
Those items are musts when dining here. Many of the other items I have tried are bland and lacking in flavor. The beef soup noodle is supposed to be spicy, but I find that some days it’s not spicy at all. I love the beef chunks they use for this soup because the fat (if you don’t want to eat it) can be easily removed lol. Soup has a nice beef flavor and noodles are delicious. They add a lot of green onion and cilantro and it really enhances the soup. Delicious! The onion pancake is only good while hot… I usually dip it in a soy sauce & vinegar mix or soy sauce & sesame oil mix. I noticed sesame oil aren’t on the tables like at the other location so you’ll have to request it. Pan fried dumplings are good, but only fried on one side.
The staff are friendly, but not very attentive.

Chicken leg noodle. Really worthy.
6.50 include the huge piece of chicken leg and tasty soup and homemade noodle.
I love this tiny place. The host and staff are amazing and kind.
Please go to this place when u r so hungry.
Definitely gonna make you satisfied.

I come here whenever I’m feeling some cheap, filling, and yummy Taiwanese food. The owner of the store is super nice and sweet. I’ve noticed that there’s a lot of regulars that go and she memorizes their order and asks them how they’re doing. My friend goes on a regular and she memorized his order and gives him different vegetables and spices in his beef Noodle soup to surprise him.
–BEEF NOODLE SOUP: My friend says it’s one of the best that he’s had and that boy orders beef Noodle soup EVERYWHERE that it’s available. I like it too!
–EGG AND TOMATO DRY NOODLE (they have aq soup version too): very good! It has egg… and tomato… and noodle… Lol with this paste that makes it all come together. Very yummy!
–GREEN ONION PANCAKE: it’s pretty hard to mess up green onion pancake. For the price, they give a good amount and it’s crispy!
It’s a hole in the wall, so not too big of a place. I suggest don’t go during big rush hours if you don’t want to wait, but thew wait is worth it!

Mandarin Deli is your hole in the wall Chinese restaurant on the cheap and everybody in there is speaking Mandarin. Located next to the Liang Mama, I see how people come here instead of there because here the wait is shorter. Waiting is definitely a drag and this place can do quick service.
FOOD: We got the fried green beans (gan bian si ji dou), beef noodle soup, xiao long bao (XLB nom nom), and a fried pork rib noodle too. The green beans were great, and not as spicy as I am usually accustomed too, but pretty tasty. the XLB was a disappointment though. I am surprised since they do a take-​out on it (there’s a frozen takeout menu on the back wall, but it’s only in Chinese), so you would think they’re famous for it. Sadly, the XLB was dry on the inside, and I had to get the man’s attention to bring us the vinegar and ginger. I was a bit disappointed, but I guess there are places like Ding Tai Fung you can go to for your XLB fix. The beef noodle soup and the pork rib noodle soup were great too. You do get two choices of noodles: dao xiao (a type of noodle, thick, knife cut from the Shanxi region) and then the shou la (hand pulled noodle). I see most people on there get the shou la, but I personally do like dao xiao a lot since I do not know how to make that type of noodle and it is more unique to me. Again, you have to try both and see what your favorite is! Noodles cooked to perfection and the right amount of broth, pickled vegetables, and meat. Yummy.
Don’t come here if you are expecting some healthy Chinese food. Lots of oil, but oh so good. I really do miss Mandarin Deli already. Come for the noodles and leave a happy person!

This place is cash only, not a bad factor… just putting it out there. When I walked in, I had a bad feeling but I was taken out of surprise when I got the food. I ordered the minced beef noodle and let me just say, they have the best homemade noodles ! Perfectly cooked and ofc, chewy. I read a few reviews saying their service was bad… the lady owner was absolutely full of happiness so…

*CASH ONLY*
I’m starting to believe that if a place is cash only, that I have an obligation to my fellow Unilocalers to know. Especially since majority of us (present company included) mostly carry plastic.
Anyway, I found this little gem through Unilocal (thank you!)
We asked the owner/​server/​cashier what was recommended:
Noodles or rice? The shop is famous for noodles — we went with noodles. A combination noodle with seafood (fish and shrimp) and pork with an assortment of vegetables. Soup or Dry (soupless)? — soup. Spicy or non spicy? Spicy. Overall a solid dish. The noodles aren’t the knife carved noodles that the shop advertises in the neon lights, but it was mighty delicious. Chewy, complimenting the noodle dish.
Seasoned vegetables — we went with Morning Glory. But they also had a variety of seasonal vegetables. Simply seasoned with salt and garlic. nom nom nom.
Fish — Tilapia with ginger and a sweet soy sauce, similar to an adobo style. Very delicious, even without rice to compliment it.
Half order of Vegetable dumplings and half pork. We asked for it to be pan fried. A-​ok. Only mediocre dish of the entire night. I would be ok skipping this for another dish.
Overall solid. Tastes like a home cooked meal. Like what my bf said — it tastes like mom cooking, but it’s not mom’s cooking.
Only drawback, heavily dependent on MSG. Our mouths were so dry that evening.
Shares a lot with Dollar Tree and Elite Restaurant on Atlantic. We had to circle around a few times because the signs weren’t illuminated and the area where Mandarin Deli is can be dark.

«CASH ONLY… CASH ONLY… CASH ONLY!!!»
LOL I can’t emphasize this enough lol… I had to look for some change in the car last time, since I didn’t have enough cash! how embarrassing :(
Super duper yummy dry ma la noodles! TO DIE FOR! Their green onion pancakes are also pretty good. I haven’t tried too many of their other dishes. Their salt & pepper fried fish is pretty good! Also the tomato egg noodle is good too!
Definitely a good place to try :)
BRING CASH! lol
FYI.I read somewhere on Unilocal or their weekly newsletter things that there’s another location of this place in northridge or somthing far? Well we asked the owner and she said that other restaurant has no affiliation with hers in monterey park. Just a side note.

This place is great if you want some good hearty Chinese food, without spending a pretty penny. The small, warm and welcoming vibe makes you feel like you’re getting a home cooked meal.
The menu has a variety of selection, you can also order off them menu if the chef can make it. Most of the dishes are pretty solid, and they’re also super accommodating out adding less salt and MSG.
Plenty of parking in the private lot!
Cash only!