Sacramento-area Chinese restaurant is closing after 40 years: ‘I’m going to miss this place’

Jacqueline Pinedo
·2 min read
4

Customers thronged to a beloved Sacramento-area Chinese restaurant on Monday afternoon to say goodbye.

The Mandarin Restaurant will shut its doors at 4321 Arden Way in Arden Arcade on Tuesday after 40 years.

Over the decades, the eatery has become a second home for customers like Terry Ramdazzo, who sat at the bar Monday afternoon drinking a beer.

“I feel home when I walk in,” Ramdazzo said.

“I’m going to miss this place,” he added. “I’m just here for my last hurrah with beer.”

Michael Helmrich, owner of The Mandarin, prepares the establishment’s signature spicy garlic shrimp in wine sauce, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019. His parents opened the restaurant in 1981 and the dish’s recipe hasn’t changed since then.
Michael Helmrich, owner of The Mandarin, prepares the establishment’s signature spicy garlic shrimp in wine sauce, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019. His parents opened the restaurant in 1981 and the dish’s recipe hasn’t changed since then.

How did Arden Arcade Chinese restaurant get started?

Kay Lee and Steve Helmrich opened The Mandarin Restaurant in 1981, according to the restaurant’s website.

The restaurant was known for its expansive menu of Peking, Hunan and Szechuan cuisine, featuring a total of 161 gourmet dishes.

Its bestselling menu item was spicy garlic shrimp, The Sacramento Bee previously reported.

Their son, restaurant owner Michael Helmrich, told local television station Fox 40 that he decided to close the eatery for good after his mother died on Christmas Day. His father passed away 2021.

Helmrich kept busy in the kitchen on Monday as he prepared orders for The Mandarin Restaurant’s final day.

The restaurant had about 20 customers just after an hour it opened at 11:30 a.m., and more diners continued to trickle in as the day wore on.

The Mandarin Restaurant known for garlic shrimp, cocktails

Jan Bryant and Kathy Gray, who are neighbors, sat at The Mandarin Restaurant’s bar on Monday reminiscing about their memories of the business.

“Kathy and her husband used to come here for the mai tais and the food,” Bryant said, noting that Gray’s husband recently passed away. “We’re coming to celebrate with a mai tai for him before they close.”

Gray said she usually ordered spicy garlic shrimp when she visited the restaurant, while her late husband would order the orange chicken.

GoFundMe started to help Sacramento-area business

Micheal Helmrich’s eldest daughter, Emily Onipede, set up a GoFundMe fundraiser in support of her family on Saturday.

“I’m fundraising to help my parents pay off debt accrued” since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Onipede wrote in the GoFundMe post, adding that her family was forced to close The Mandarin Restaurant permanently “due to the rising prices in the economy and business slowing down tremendously.”

As of Monday afternoon, the restaurant had raised $1,015 toward a $20,000 goal.

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