coupon for Old Mandarin Islamic

[tpc]

After reading the reviews of Old Mandarin Islamic on this board, I've been contemplating a trip there to sample their wares. Items on the agenda:

West Lake lamb dumpling $7
hot braised beef tendon $15
parsley bean curd $6
hot braised lamb rib $15
hot braised lamb leg $16
Mongolian lamb $9

The tally is $68 before tax and tip. I googled for a coupon, and found this:

http://www.your99coupon.com/images/Old-Mandarin-Islamic.jpg

Anyone read Chinese who can translate ? The base site:

http://www.your99coupon.com/

which seems to be affiliated with the 99 Ranch markets, says something about "free cake". From what I can gather, I guess if you spend $50, you get a free cake. Are they known for their cake ?

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Old Mandarin Islamic Restaurant
3132 Vicente St, San Francisco, CA 94116

[wanderlust21]

Yes, the red part says that if you spend more than $50 they give you an emperor's fried cake (or literally the fried cake the emperor eats). Could be the same one that Robert has tried.

The other part says that they are three time winners of the "Top 100 USA Restaurant", been in business thirteen years and that they have authentic Beijing lamb, noodles and stir fry. Hope that helps.

[vulber]

old mandarin islamic is excellent, but i wouldn't put too much faith into the top 100 restaurant rankings for chinese restaurants, it seems liek more of a popularity contest where rankings can be almost bought

[Robert Lauriston]

Who publishes that list, anyway? I've never heard of it.

[wanderlust21]

Just to clarify, it doesn't say winner but rather three times in the "class". The top 100 looks like one of those pay-to-get-listed industry directories. Its website does have a link to the Chinese menus for both OMI and Panda Country Kitchen which I didn't see elsewhere.

http://415-564-3481.chinesemenu.com/

[t.susannah.chen]

Wow, wanderlust, from the looks of it, seems like they do delivery. Does anyone know if this is really the case? Or is that some kind of scam to get your credit card? I'd be all for delivery, but looks slightly shady to me.

[shanghaikid]

a chinese magazine (chinese restaurant?) in fremont publishes that "list".

to get on the list, a restaurant pays a nominating fee nominating themselves to any one of their categories.

in gist, a review oonsisting of yelp and other public reviews, people hired/commisoned by the mag visiting the restaurant to rate it, and a few other factors are used to come up with the final score.

i would guess every applicant makes it onto the top 100 list somehow.

[Robert Lauriston]

I think they're best known for Peking-style hot pot. The fried sweet cake was one of the less interesting things I've had there.