Mandarin Garden Restaurant

Mandarin Garden’s Pai and Paul Yang

We were introduced to Northfield by the then-Carleton professor and later U.S. Senator, Mr. Paul Wellstone. We started at 5th & Division for the first five years, when the lease ran out, we then moved to the current location on 4th St, and we have been here ever since.

What do you remember from the early years of Mandarin Garden? What were your worries/concerns? What were your goals/aspirations?

PAI & PAUL: We were so young then--Paul was in his early 30s and Pai in her late 20s. Everything was relatively new to us (even more so for me--Pai) that we only knew to work hard, and couldn’t afford to dream about anything else.

Does it feel like you have been running Mandarin Garden for 40 years?

PAUL: Feels more like 60 years for me.

PAI: I have the advantage of talking with customers out front, so time did not seem as long.

Thinking back on your 40 years, what are things that surprise you most?

PAUL: I am surprised that I stayed at one job for so long, and that I have met so many outstanding students from both Carleton and St Olaf.

PAI: I am surprised how much I have, truly, enjoyed living in Northfield, how Mandarin Garden is one of the few same-owner operations in town, and how our children benefited from Northfield’s education and are doing well.

Nowadays, people rarely work at the same company their entire lives. How have you two managed to keep the restaurant going for 4 decades?

PAI & PAUL: Times have changed. We were brought up in the old, traditional ways of doing things where one must be dedicated to one’s job and work hard at it.

Favorite Mandarin Garden menu item?

PAUL: To-fu dishes, and stir-fried bok choy.

PAI: Any dishes off the secret Chinese menu

Do you have anything you would like to say to your customers?

PAI & PAUL: Thank you all for your four decades of business support and friendship. We have really treasured our stay here in Northfield.