28 February 2010

#90: Mandarin Express

Date Visited: 28 February 2010

Meal: Lunch

Diners: 3 - Me, Wendy, and Alicia

Experience: Today we were having our standard where-to-go-for-lunch-after-church discussion, and it occurred to me that I only had one more Chinese restaurant to visit in Leesburg, and I would have visited them all! So today we visited the final Chinese restaurant in Leesburg, which also happens to be the oldest. Mandarin Express has been in the same Plaza St. location in Leesburg since we moved here (1987). It's gone through many changes over the years, but is still going strong.

Mandarin Express offers a simple buffet for lunch, including Chicken & Broccoli, Beef & Broccoli, Pork in barbeque-style sauce, Shrimp, Chicken wings, Green Beans with Shrimp, fried Rice, Spring Rolls, Egg Drop soup, Hot & Sour soup, and assorted fruits and desserts. It was all good but not outstanding. The service was prompt and friendly enough, and the atmosphere/decor was, well, unpretentious and family/kid-friendly. No web site.

For Chinese fast food, my favorite is still Tai Pei Cafe. For Chinese sit-down, I recommend Jasmine or newly-reopened-after-the-fire China King.

Here's a summary of all the Chinese restaurants I've reviewed so far:

Asian-style restaurants that offer at least some Chinese dishes:

Location: 24-A Plaza St. NE, Leesburg VA 20176, 703-777-9898

Web site: none

Total bill: $22.50 + $5.00 tip = $27.50

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've lived in Loudoun County for forty years, almost my whole life, and I am certain that China King has been open since the 70's. Mandarin Express is not the oldest in Leesburg. That said, I love your blog! What a fun thing to do. Easier than cooking your way through Julia Child's cookbook, too. Keep it up and have fun eating.

J.A.W. said...

Anonymous:
Thanks for the update on China King, not Mandarin Express being the oldest Chinese restaurant in Leesburg. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure where I got that idea. As I've said in previous posts, we moved here in 1987, so I don't have the longer perspective that you do. Sorry I didn't do better research, I'll try to do better in the future. Thanks for you comments.

P.S. - There seem to be a lot of people with the name "Anonymous", so it would be great if you signed in to make your comments. :-)