Chengdu Taste - Providence

Great no frills authentic Sichuan Chinese food. Always consistent.

Chengdu Taste 495 Smith Street Providence RII needed noodles. On chilly October Fridays, noodles make perfect sense. Spicy noodles even more so. Chengdu Taste hadn’t even been on my radar but thanks to quirk of Google it was thrown onto my laptop screen. The promise of legit, spicy Sichuan cut short the search and it was off to Providence.No problem parking here, especially at 4:30 on a Friday. Chengdu has a lot and there’s a lot in the semi defunct strip next to it. Won’t be too much competition because most of the cars in Smith Hill will be trying to escape it at that time.The menu is pretty large. The first half is devoted to a very broad array of Sichuan dishes with little chile peppers next to almost every item The back part covers standard the Chinese and American Chinese dishes required to please less adventurous palates.I started with Spicy Sichuan Cold Noodles. Cold food on a cold day may sound counterintuitive, but I don’t get this dish enough; it’s a favorite and I figured the spice might trick my body into feeling warmer. It worked. With little beads of sweat forming on my brow, they were perfect just salty enough with a barely sweet soy based sauce. Plenty of chile heat and enough Sichuan pepper to put my mouth into a high voltage tingle.Next up Shredded Beef with Longhorn Peppers. One of the best versions of this one I’ve eaten as well. Unlike the last heavily sauced/overcooked one I had in Cambridge, Chengdu’s take stood out. The beef had a starchy sheen tender chewiness with tons of sliced peppers. The seeds had been removed but it was still spicy, with a crisp bright flavor.The Crystal Shrimp dumplings came last. Almost like a killer dessert, I was looking forward to these most. Often a dim sum offering, I wondered just for a second if it was kosher to get them for dinner. But, just like chili dogs, I can never turn these down. As it turns out, I probably should have steered clear. They were a little bland and extra fragile, collapsing in chopsticks and just as hard to keep on a fork. I made a note not to order Cantonese food at Sichuan restaurants. And vice versa. But it was a small glitch compared to the perfection of the first two plates.Service is on point, but don’t expect a ton of warmth. The folks on staff do the job right; they don’t rush you and they don’t keep you waiting either. Perfect balance. Perfectly happy not to be cuddled myself, and never a fan of the chit chatty /forced joy server style, it’s just the way I like things. Smiles may not be frequently on display, but when they are they are genuine sincere. It probably says more about RI’s diversity of Asian restaurants than search algorithms. Punch in “Best Lao Food in Providence” or “Cambodian Restaurants” and most of the results will be Thai places. Type “Best Thai” and the first 4 hits will actually be Thai…followed by 13 Chinese joints.Vegetarian options: Quite a lot of straight vegetarian vegan offerings.

Family style meal with a group of six (that comfortably fit in one giant booth). Everything was delicious, I barely remember half of what we ordered because it was so sensorily pleasureable I was drunk on the food before I even took a bite. Even a seemingly plain dish like boo Choy and mushrooms was prepared and plated with the quality of fine dining. Best food I’ve had in ages. Definitely going to be a date spot.

The food was overcooked and overpriced. The atmosphere was awkward and silent. Felt rushed and wait staff was strange.

The Fried Lamb with Cumin was spectacular.I am picky about how lamb is done and often don’t like it but it was excellent. Lot of Sichuan flavor. Really great meal with just white rice.We had crab Rangoon as an appetizer which paired well with the spicy from the lamb to balance it out.The Braised Beef Noodle Soup was good but no where near as good as the lamb. Very plain noodles.My date had Beef and OX Tripe in Chili Sauce. I didn’t try any because I am not a fan of tripe but he ate the whole thing so it must’ve been good.I already can’t wait to get the spicy lamb again. It seems like it was probably a really nice restaurant inside before COVID maybe. They seem to do more take out now. They have Hot Pot tables and stuff which are maybe popular still on the weekends. I would like to come back and try it; it seems to be reasonable pricing for it.