Little Szechuan Xiǎo Sì Chuān

10/24/21: 2/5, update on order before Thanksgiving: horrible. Totally understand their are rushing all the orders due to the holidays. The taste worth at most 2 stars when they are rushing. It even makes me questioning whether they have two chiefs that cooks in different ways. My suggestion would be to order on some non-busy days or non-rushing hours, you will have a much better version.09/26/21: 3/5, Spicy Szechuan dishes provided here. Their best dish used to be tomato eggs. To be honest, I believe they can earn a 5 star for the taste but the quality is just 3 stars for now. I will reserve the 3 stars until my next visit if their quality improves.They provided delivery on UberEATS with a free dish after you spend $30 as promotion. Now they also provide dine in option and it is not crowded.If you love spicy, I would recommend golden soup with beef and mushroom. If you are not a fan of spice, try the tomato eggs(best in nearby area). They also provide crispy rice which is not common among nearby Chinese restaurants.Now let's come to the quality of the food. If you are lucky, you will get a juicy tomato egg with soups at the bottom and you will love it. I was unlucky. Take a look at the one attached in the photo, the tomato is barely cooked and kept their original shape. Some of they are even cold when they come to the table. My friend loves the tomato egg as mush as me but he found a piece of eggshell. Besides, the chicken wings have such an authentic sauce that I must regret that the inside of the wings has no taste.I understand that they are busy with all the orders. But I do regret that they have the ability to provide good dishes maybe just with a few minutes more. Previous experience with Little Szechuan was good and I sincerely hope they can be better in the future.

However, you might want to deduct a star if you struggle with the menu a bit. Most of the diners here seem to be Chinese or their friends, so the dish translations can be somewhat limited. We found the hot pot enjoyable but a bit pricey and not our favorite option on the menu. The soup dumplings are amazing (just keep in mind that they take about 15 minutes to prepare, so order them first or you’ll end up getting them midway through your meal). There's also a stir-fried potato strips dish with hot peppers that is truly addictive; the potatoes are al dente, which might be unusual for Americans, but they're delicious. My favorites so far include the Vegetable Mu Shu (which actually comes with pork) and a pork strip dish with five-spice tofu that I can't seem to remember the name of. The sautéed string beans are excellent, and we paid a little extra to add shrimp. The portions might not be huge, and the ambiance isn't fancy, but the food looks, tastes, and feels fantastic. The owner has been present on a few occasions when we visited, and he was very kind. He took the time to explain the dishes and even showed us how to eat the soup dumplings without burning ourselves. Like many newer authentic Chinese restaurants, the portions can be a little smaller and some prices are slightly higher, plus they don’t serve rice with the meal—though you can order it separately. Since the pandemic, we’ve only done takeout, and that was great too. I can’t wait to visit in person again!

It's clear that this restaurant primarily caters to traditional Chinese cuisine, but if they want to attract a broader customer base, they should consider adjusting their flavors to better suit local tastes. If they do rectify the seasoning issue on the American menu, I would wholeheartedly make this my go-to for Chinese takeout. A heads-up: the American menu items do not come with rice, which must be ordered separately. I wasn’t aware of this and was quite disappointed when I got home, thinking it was included in the rather steep price.

Extremely authentic. It's the closest flavor to the genuine experience I've found outside of China.

We were craving Chinese food but didn’t want to travel far. I found this restaurant on Yelp, and although it is primarily a Szechuan eatery, they offer a variety of Chinese main dishes that I thought would appeal to my son. I ordered him the chicken with broccoli, which looked quite appetizing. However, he mentioned that he found the sauce a bit too sweet, so he thought it was just average. I opted for the shredded pork with dried bean curd, and I really enjoyed it – the portion was generous, and I could appreciate each element of the dish. We also tried the fried pork dumplings, which were not what I expected and could have benefited from a bit more frying. Overall, the portions were quite generous, and while I loved my dish, my son found his just okay. Plus, we got two cartons of rice for around $38, which is a great deal. I’d rate this place a solid 3 stars and I can see myself returning.