Have you tried to Request Desktop Site? It work fine for me on my iPad and iPhone, so I don’t see a reason why it won’t work on iPad Mini. Granted, it is annoying that you can’t set Safari to always load the desktop version by default and you have to force the desktop mode every time you open a new tab, but it is better than nothing.

I haven’t used an Android tablet in a long time, but I think those load the mobile version as well.

And lastly, I’ve never had a problem with the mobile version — I actually prefer it on touch based devices.