Chino Bandido, Chandler, Arizona Restaurant Details

Food:

I tried Chandler today and was a little underwhelmed. The dining room is certainly nice, airy and clean. Food prep here has a cafeteria-style appearance and the counter person didn't encourage sampling--which really impacted our satisfaction.

I combined Jade Chicken with Chili Relleno and Jerk Fried Rice and here are my impressions. The Jade Chicken is just common breaded-and-deep-fried Orange Chicken. I had it in my head that it was a healthier, more interesting stir-fry. It's my fault that I didn't read the description better. Good but boring....sorry but it was just unspecial.

Chili Relleno was a huge affair--more like a Gigantic Jalapeno popper that was filled with a Mexican cheese mixture that just ran out all over the plate when I tackled the work with the incapablly small-and-bendy little plastic knife. And the whole thing was deep-fried so strike two for healthy eating for me. But the crusty breading on the Relleno/popper was awesome--it was uniquely interesting and crunchy.

Jerk Fried Rice--meh...kind of bland.

My dining partner ordered Beef Machaca,Pork Carnitas, and refried beans.

Machaca was "good" and the flavor was good but the lack of tomatoes and onions was a little disapppointing but the flavor was "deelicious.

Now the Pork Carnitas were a different story. Big disapppointment. Bland. Didn't taste good. Almost everywhere else has better-tasting carnitas with better flavor and texture. They were much more like watery pulled pork. Sampling would have been a big help here. We could have made much better choices.

The refried beans were delicious! But she got, like a Pint of them for her medium-sized plate. We will take them home and make some crazy good nachos with them.

I summarize that the northern location is better overall. I have a suspicion that the owners have watered down their recipes for this Chandler location to be more appealing to the Gringos around here, But this Gringo likes his food more flavorful and more colorful.

Overall Grade: C

Food:

I came here on a saturday night and sadly I came at a really bad time, a really large group came right before I did...So i was left waiting for my food for at least 40 minutes! They however tried to make it up to me by giving me extra cookies..sadly I wasnt very interested in dessert...I expected the food to have been more fusion-y but I was not disappointed as they managed to combine elements of american chinese food and mexican food very well! The food was very well seasoned, I recall getting the emerald chicken which was a tad bit too salty but otherwise the meal was very satisfying...not including the wait time i endured.

Food:

It's really good! Like... I heard mixed reviews but when I actually tasted the food I was pleasantly surprised... It was fresh, well spiced, flavorful, tender, and yummy! The portions leave you wanting a little more which, really, is probably a good thing for anyone watching their calories. If I lived within walking distance and could afford not to home cook my lunches, I'd eat there every day.

Food:

Really unique place, I wasn't sure how Chinese and Mexican food would be mixed together but it was pretty amazing. The staff was somewhat helpful, we told them it was our first time when we first started ordering and they weren't much help at all, then after we ordered she said that she could have walked us through everything and gave us some samples... so that made me a little bitter. But aside from that you don't need much service, the tables are fairly well kept with a missed one here n' there but that just adds to the experience I'd say.

I would go back, it's tasty and the portions are good.

Food:

I have been coming to Chino Bandido for close to 10 years now, and to this day no other place quite matches the unique combination of flavors they have going on. This is one of those go-to places I take out-of-town guests to give them a taste of something truly unique. Getting a combo plate is a must: jerk fried rice with jade red chicken and black beans is my personal favorite but you really can't go wrong with any combination. Something about that mixture of Caribbean, Mexican and Asian spices just makes for the perfect meal. I'm giving this location 4 stars just because it's not quite the same as the original, but it's still hard to beat!