I write this post with a heavy heart and a full stomach.  I have been enjoying the food at Mandarin for the past 20 years and have rarely left feeling ripped off.  The food is usually fresh and tasty and the service is very good.  I admit I was a little disappointed when my local Mandarin on Woodbine Ave. stopped taking those instant pictures for birthdays and special occasions but I complained and directed to the local Walmart for Instamatic film (they said their supplier no longer carried it).

I was just at Mandarin last weekend and the $23.99 price tag was quite steep and I did tell the manager they should change over to grilled steak instead of the roast beef because it was very bland.  I also noticed the lunch menu was an affordable $11.99 and figured I should give the lunch menu a try since I have not been there during the daytime in a while.

I pulled in and noticed the sign had a couple of Christmas decorations on it and I thought that was a bit odd but I assumed Mandarin was just getting into the spirit.  When I got inside they had signs posted saying it was the holiday buffet and the price had jumped to $15.99?? Wow, over 40% increase and most places have holiday sales, not holiday gouges….

I asked the hostess what was different for the ‘holiday buffet’ that was priced so much higher and she said she did not know but to look around.  I did just that and did not notice anything special except lamb chops (which I don’t eat) - I was on my lunch break from work and did not really have time to start lunch elsewhere, plus it was minus 8 outside so I figured I would just cough-up (excuse my language) the extra cash.   I saw a manager just then and asked what was so special about the holiday buffet that warranted the extra change and he said,”you will see”, I told him I found the lamb chops and didn’t like them, was there anything else?  He gave me a very cryptic answer to the effect of: “If I did not come here all the time I would not notice”.

I ate and the food/service was pretty good, although the black forest cake was still frozen and chocolate dipped strawberries were replaced by chocolate dipped marshmallows.  On my way out I grabbed a few business cards for the managing partners of that location (Mandarin Box Grove) figuring I would send off an email complaint about the price grab but then lucky for me I saw one of the managing partners at the front, so I asked Jeff Cui why the price was so much higher for the holiday and I didn’t really notice anything different from normal.  He told me it was the equivalent of the weekend buffet and that is why it was more expensive.  When I asked him what was different other than the lamb chops he didn’t reply.  He just said that Mandarin has been raising prices for the holidays for the past twenty years. I then told him that it would be considerate to put a sign outside to notify people so they don’t park and come in out of the freezing cold to find that price has jumped 40% - he told me they put something on the sign to cover it but I told him if they were going to do that why not cover it with the new price or better yet post a new sign.  He asked me quite sarcastically whether I knew the price of a new sign.  I told him to give me a break and I was sure Mandarin could afford it.

In closing I want to say that I think raising your prices at the holiday season is a bit shady and I do understand going out to eat is a luxury I just think a 40% price increase without posting it outside is sneaky and it definitely made me leave with a bad taste in my mouth.