Consistent But not Too Authentic
Consistent and good-quality meat used. Not authentic Chinese, but would be a good place to take someone who wants to venture into Chinese food or who likes Americanized Chinese food. Good ambience overall, though the restaurant needs renovation by now.
Recommended: walnut prawns
Food: 6
Service: 6
Ambiance: 6
Overall: 6

Best Chinese Restaurant south of San Francisco
This is my all-time favorite Chinese restaurant in the South Bay. The food lives up to its name; this is indeed gourmet Chinese food. In years past, I have eaten in some comparably good restaurants in San Francisco, but outside of SF, this is the best. I think they must use very fresh spices to attain that delicious mix of flavors. The size of the dinner portions is generally large and on par with the price which evens out to a good value. For a buck or 2 more than the common, everyday Chinese eatery, you can enjoy some wonderful flavors. For dinner, they put out white table cloths and cloth napkins. (Sometimes the napkins have an excess of lint, but that would be true for any restaurant using a linen service.) The quality and taste has remained consistently good as long as I've been eating there (about 15 years). The lunch specials are a good value and include a cup of soup. They seem to do a booming carry-out business around dinner time. If you're a gal, you might like the room decorations which include a wooden horse. I'm a guy so I don't care about no wooden quadruped. The Mandarin Gourmet is located about a half block north of Stevens Creek Blvd on De Anza Blvd. This is between Stevens Creek Blvd and I-280. They have a sister restaurant (with the same name) located in Palo Alto. The last time I ate in their Palo Alto location was 2 or 3 years ago, and at that time, the prices were slightly higher. But this is to be expected in the upscale Palo Alto area. Treat yourself one time and you'll discover a new favorite place to eat. Yumm!
Recommended: asparagus chicken, General Tsu's chicken
Food: 10
Service: 8
Ambiance: 6
Overall: 6

Boring
Good service, ok but boring, Americanized food. Not a single Asian customer (out of ~30 early Friday evening). Great Chinese food must be elsewhere in Cupertino.
Food: 4
Service: 8
Ambiance: 4
Overall: 4
- Sunnyvale

Best of Cupertino
Living in Cupertino, and with the large Asian community there are a lot of Chinese restaurants around town. But I have to say Mandarin Gourmet is the ONLY superb restaurant in this town. From the time you're seated the service, beautiful surroundings and great food make it one of the most enjoyable dining experiences.
Recommended: tangerine beef, salt and pepper fried scallops
Food: 10
Service: 10
Ambiance: 10
Overall: 10

Honey Walnut Prawns
Every dish at this establishment is out of this world.
Food: 10
Service: 10
Ambiance: 10
Overall: 10
- Honey Walnut Prawns

Best Chinese Food South of the 85th Parallel
If you are looking for a good Chinese restaurant to take a date or you want to impress him/her with a nice Chinese meal at home, Mandarine Gourmet is the place. They use choice ingredients like all white meat in the chicken dishes and very generously sized shrimp. The restaurant itself looks like your standard modern American restaurant, but don't let the looks fool you. Everything is delicious but I would note that the portions in the restaurant can sometimes be small. You get larger portions when you do takeout.
Recommended: sesame chicken
Food: 8
Service: 6
Ambiance: 6
Overall: 8