Mandarijn

staff is unfriendly and dishonest, i paid € 6 for water, which is the same price as my soup! will never go to this place again

In the U.S., Sichuan food is all the rage, and if the increasing diversity I’ve seen at Mandarijn over the two years I’ve been eating here is any indication, it’s catching on in Holland now as well. The kitchen here turns out excellent example of Sichuan favorites, including dry fried chicken, mapo tofu and cold pig’s ears in chili oil alongside more familiar fare like prawn crackers and spring rolls. Skip the stuff you’re used to and head for the Sichuan section of the menu. Don’t be afraid of the spice — Sichuan food is rich and flavorful, and the combination of chili pepper heat with the numbing properties of flower pepper (also called Sichuan peppercorn) is what makes it so unique.
The restaurant is easy to find, upstairs above a Chinese massage shop and souvenir stand, just off Dam Square. The staff speaks multiple languages, wifi is free, and there are lots of beer, wine, and cocktail options to calm down the burn should you find things too hot to handle. If you’ve never enjoyed Sichuan food, this is a fantastic place to discover it.

this is one of three, maybe, authentic sichuan restaurants in the city.
get the sliced pork with garlic sauce — mmm mmmm good.

How many times have we been here? I lost count. Just every time when two chinese expats here felt something Chinese. It is so good that it is better even than majority of the restaurants in China.
The thinly sliced pork with red chili oil on top of cucumber slices is my all time favourite, must have that ever time I eat here. We were seriously considering order more than one portion.
Fish is spicy sauce is great. One other time we ordered frog legs. They were large, but a bit undercooked in our opinion. We asked a waiter to have the chef cook them a bit more. But the waiter, a middle aged man, were patronizing to us. He insisted it is the right amount, and refused to bring it back for a little revise. Oh, come on, we know what we like to eat. It is not like we had never eat proper frog legs before! After we called an another girl for the same request, she did it gladly, and even brought us free prawn crackers while we wait. So our frustration restricted to that particular employee. And we kept our general great love for the restaurant.
Need some recommendations? 129 and 136. Choose the ones that have a red chinese phrase under them in the menu. The chinese 招牌必点菜 means, best and must have.

Good, accommodating service and exquisite Szechuan cuisine. Soups fresh, clear broth with home made pork wontons. Shrimp with jalapeños, cauliflower and hot peppers a unique dish. Yes, rice extra charge 3.50EUR, but delicious with several options. Suggest you go early, this place can get very busy, although we arrived early and attentive waiter.

Great experience. I live in Brussels and I can tell you that we don’t have one Chinese restaurant of this quality.

Very tasty and interesting food– we had the chicken sweetcorn soup, the wonton soup, vegetable noodles, and roasted pork-​and-​duck in bbq sauce between three people and it was the perfect quantity. The flavours were spot on and the food was very fresh!
The flavours were lovely, but I thought things were slightly overpriced. The first waiter we had was also incredibly rude, and I’m really not a fan of restaurants charging for tap water. As such, we ended up with an Tsingtsao beer (which was flavourless compared to others I’ve had, and certainly overpriced), a tea (the favourite drink of the table! very worth the price!), and a coffee. Later on, we ended up with some nicer waiters/​waitresses that randomly brought us one glass of tap water halfway through the meal. They were accommodating regarding allergies but refused to give us sesame oil on the side (it had to be removed from one dish due to one member of our party having a severe allergy, but we were hoping to have it on the side for the other two people).
⁴⁄₅ for the food; 3.5 for the affordability; ²⁄₅ for service.
Would probably return but it’s not at the top of my list.

We had the Ma Po Tofu (meaty and spicy); Boiled Spicy Fish (whole fish in spicy oil), and Sliced Pork with Garlic Sauce (This was the real star of the meal: the pork slices were light and not overly fatty. The garlic sauce was very flavorful without being overpowering). All dishes had spicy but balanced flavors. On a negative note, they were quite expensive and I didn’t like that the restaurant charged for white rice and tap water (a ploy to get people to buy their specialty drinks I’m sure).
Overall, this was a good stop when we were in the mood for authentic Chinese food in the heart of Amsterdam.

Great meal. Wonderful service! I had tofu with rice. Not oily. We also had spicy chicken. Warning. Portions are tremendous.

I am a vegetarian and have travelled enough in China to know how an authentic Sichuan food tastes like. They had awesome food. Top that with excellent service. Highly recommended.

Bön mais cher pour un restaurant asiatique (au moins 20euros par personne). En plein milieu du quartier touristique qui n’est pas très beau.

Was recommended by my two Chinese friends who live in Netherlands. Can’t be wrong then!
Food was fantastic. Service was average.

Very good food. Good service. Large spaced out tables make it good for big groups. They take reservation as well.

Crowded noisy and a joy to go to !
A great selection of Chinese food visited by locals including the local Asian community. We got good advice and service. We kind of shared a table with another four people but somehow it was all good as tasty dishes were in from of us and it appears all around us. I hardly saw a waiter taking a plate off of table with any food left on it .
Second floor location not much of a view nor ambience but a fun vibe of hungry people enjoying themselves
You have to call to make reservation but you really should make them !

viel zu sehr gehyped. war vom Geschmack her eher durchschnittlich und darüber hinaus haben sie auch das Essen ungleichmäßig gebracht, sodass meine Hauptspeise kalt war als die Nebenspeise ankam.

Delicious food, but a bit overpriced. Very clean and classy place with good customer service. You might require a reservation during the weekend as it’s very crowded.

We visited Mandarijn based on the primarily good grades on all rating sites. We were not dissappointed. We showed up 15 minutes early which made the female ‘maitre’ somewhat nervous but still she managed to give us a good table (at the window on the first floor). We got the menus right away and could also order our drinks. It took us longer to order our food (untill the time we were meant to arrive). Coincidence? We had ‘kroepoek’ and oysters with black soy as starters. As it took some time to get out of the kitchen we were quite hungry by then. It was good quality. The mains luckily didn’t take that long. We ordered 4 dishes for the 4 of us and shared (not able to eat everything). Chop suey, Char Chew, Chicken with peanuts (from Sechuan specialities menu), nasi and bami where great. Only the spare ribs weren’t top notch. Too much fat on them and not that tasty. Service was friendly. It’s somewhat loud as the tables are close to each other and there where primarily families or groups, from all corners of the world. The decoration is quite modern. We got to take home a bag of ‘mandarines’ for New Year after our dinner. Which was nice. Would recommend.

We went for the hotpot, but it became clear that we should reserve this 24 hours in advance. The alternative selection of dishes was brilliant. A must go for proper Chinese food.

Second time Chinese brought me here. It is authentic! I knew quite a few guide bring guests here. And it looks like a community.
Their Sichuan food is perfectly hot. I had the Mapo tofu which made me less homesick. And the sliced garlic spicy pork is a long time craving dish for my friend. The sliced fish with spicy sauce soup is a five star! The deep fried spicy chicken is also a must. All four hot dishes put my lips on fire!
Normally I don’t eat this rough, you know. But this is my hometown food! Next time I’m so tryin their hotpot.

Finding that Amsterdam is dead at 9:00am, aside from some cyclists going to work, we decided to go back to the hotel, get a nap, and then eat lunch. Not finding many places open (seems most sit down restaurants don’t open until 14.00 or 15.00u), we settled on Mandarijn — a Chinese Indonesian place.
We quickly ordered and settled into our pot of tea — I then took a look around to see mostly Chinese folks in the place. I guess it’s a regular staple so it must be decent. But overall, this place is a hole in the wall. The food is tasty, although nothing to rave about which is why it could only muster three stars. I did get the beef in black bean sauce — quite savory for mid-​day and was just glad that it didn’t have me sleeping by the middle of the afternoon.