Ivory Mandarin Bistro, Dunedin, Florida: Fusion of Chinese Cuisine "From Coast to Coast"

The Ivory Mandarin Bistro is located in a fairly large freestanding building, wedged between two nondescript strip shopping centers at the lower end of Dunedin, Florida. Jutting out merely a few feet from Dunedin's Main Street, its visibility has played a large part in the restaurant's success; other Chinese/Asian/fusion restaurants are located within minutes of the Ivory, yet are tucked away in that continuing line of strip shopping centers and open malls.

2006 was truly a banner year for the Ivory. It was named "The Best Chinese Restaurant" from 2004 through 2006 by Tampa Bay Magazine, "Best Chinese Food of 2006" by MSN Citysearch, the "City's Best 2006 and 2007 Chinese Food" by the AOL Cityguide, and among the "Top Five Asian Restaurants in the Tampa Bay Area" by a former food critic at the St. Petersburg Times newspaper. Most intriguing, perhaps, was its selection as one of the "Top 100 Chinese Restaurants in the U.S.A." for 2006 by the Chinese Restaurant News magazine. (Bear in mind that the "Tampa Bay area" casts a pretty wide net geographically, including Tampa, Tampa Bay, Clearwater, St. Petersburg, and all of the small, surrounding towns - such as Dunedin - within Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties. Being considered one of the top five Chinese restaurants within this radius is a pretty impressive feat.)

What a difference six years can make.

I've had lunch, dinner and carryout from the Ivory, and in all honesty, would not make a special trip for their food, service and surroundings. The restaurant itself is opened for regular dining guests in one large, overly lit, garishly decorated room, with both booths and tables. The waiting area at the entrance is small and cramped, with little in the way of seating. As you're led into the dining room, the first thing that you see are the trophies from the past glory days of the Ivory, fashioned into a small shrine to pre-dated notions of what constitutes good Chinese food. The booths are worn, the tables too closely placed together.

Another problem that I encountered was a distinct lack of easy communication with the owners and the wait staff. This is a true 'mom and pop' operation, and the restaurant has been around for well over a decade. Nonetheless, both the owners and the waitstaff have considerable difficulty conversing in English. On several occasions, the owner's wife stopped by the table in a futile gesture to check on our meals, but her command of English is so poor, hand gestures and smiles had to suffice. It is virtually impossible to either compliment or complain about one's meal. I take this inability or unwillingness to learn the basics of English as a sign that the folks at the Ivory just aren't really all that interested in developing a lasting or even fleeting relationship with their customers.

I was sorely disappointed on an early visit to find that one of my favorite dishes, egg fu young, was not on the menu. Not only was it not on the menu, I found after considerable time with both the owner and our waiter, the kitchen was not interested in making any special effort to prepare this or any requested Chinese item not specifically on the menu itself. I've had other restaurants - quite a few, actually - prepare this dish even though it wasn't on their regular list of offerings; not so at the Ivory. Don't go with the hopes that you'll be able to ask them to exclude MSG, scallions, peanuts, etc. from their dishes - particularly if you have an allergy to these or other ingredients. The Ivory just isn't capable - or is unwilling - to make these changes for individual requests.

The menu is divided amongst appetizers, an impressive amount of soups, over thirty Chef's Specials, poultry, vegetarian, and combo offerings. Also on tap are the usual suspects: fried rice, chow mein, lo mein, pan fried noodles, chow mei fun. Specials are served with steamed white rice (clumpy, gummy), and an additional dollar is charged to substitute brown for white rice.

Among the appetizers, you can't go wrong with a $1.00 egg roll or veggie roll, and their crab rangoon - six for $4.75 - is a nice dish to share as well. Egg drop and wonton soup are both reasonably priced at $1.50 and $1.75 respectively, and you can get a mix of both for $2.00 for a pint. Their specials include the "recommended" Orange Beef at $11.50, served with steamed broccoli but swimming in too sweet of a sauce, and the Sea Dragon would be a good choice for those who like Asian seafood: lobster tail meat, crab, shrimp and scallops with an array of vegetables in a creamy white sauce (again, a bit on the too-thin, tasteless side), and priced at $14.50. Other specials include Squid in Black Sea (quite good, actually), Land & Sea, Marco Polo, Sizzling Steak, Red Snapper Szechuan Style (one of my favorite fish, done nicely), Soft Shell Crab Szechuan Style, Flower Connection (shrimp, pork and chicken served over a "flower" (noodle) boat), and Peking Duck. The restaurant's "Best Selection", priced at $26.95, includes a melange of lobster tail meat, crab, scallop, beef and roast pork with vegetables in a brown sauce, and comes arranged with four fantail shrimp and four cheese crab rangoons, topped, for whatever reason, with a sauteed chicken breast. That's just the kind of restaurant the Ivory is: mysterious, somewhat overpriced, and often downright perplexing.

My own favorite dishes here include the fried rice selections, particularly the beef ($4.25 a pint) and chicken ($3.75 a pint). The shrimp fried rice was disproportionately more rice than shrimp. Their noodle dishes range from $7.75 to $10.25 and were okay but nothing outstanding, with the vermicelli noodles tasting as if they'd been purchased from the grocery store across the street. Dinner combos range from $8.00 to $11, and include a choice of 8 entrees, each served with an egg roll, your choice of soup, and your choice of rice (BBQ or steamed white). Their Super Combos, again drawn from their Specials menu, come with the same soup and rice options but include a spring roll rather than an egg roll, and are considerably higher in price. One of my elderly friends raves about the Orange Shrimp, served - as it has been since the dawn of Asian restaurants - of decently sized tail-on shrimp in a color-popping, overly sweet bright orange sauce. There is a Lunch Combo menu of 17 basic items - Sauteed Broccoli, Chow Mein, Snow Pea, Mixed Vegetable, Pepper Steak, Moo Goo Gai Pan, Cashew Nut - served from 11 AM to 3 PM and are priced at $5.25 for chicken, pork, vegetarian or tofu, and at $5.60 for beef or shrimp served in the above sauces. A choice of soup and rice are both offered with the lunch combo, which honestly in the Ivory's best bang for the buck. Desserts are non-existent, but portion sizes are hefty enough that in most cases, you'll be leaving for home with a doggie bag after your meal.

Would I recommend that you put the Ivory on the top of your "Must Go" restaurants? Frankly, no, but you can, if you choose wisely, enjoy a decent, very traditional old-fashioned "Chinese" meal, with enough left for lunch the following day.

The Ivory Mandarin Bistro is located at 2192 Main Street, Dunedin, Florida, west of Belcher Road on the north side of Main Street. Their telephone number is 727-734-3998, and they are open seven days a week from 11:00 A.M. to 9:30 P.M. Sunday through Thursday, and until 10:00 P.M. on Fridays and Saturdays. All major credit cards are accepted, and the staff will deliver to a limited area for a $15 minimum food purchase.