"The 'Spicy sichuan cold noodles with minced chicken' was great too."
(in 22 reviews)
"I loved them since their Little Sichuan days in San Mateo."
(in 19 reviews)
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Classic Sichuan
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
79 reviews for Classic Sichuan
Review Highlights
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Very good Chinese food. On our two visits, we've had the following 5 dishes:
-shrimp fried rice
-lemon chicken
-[a dish with chicken, mushrooms and snow peas in a dark sauce]
-mixed vegetables ()
-black mushrooms and tofu
I can actually recommend all 5 of them, which I feel is rare for a reasonably-priced Chinese restaurant. The service was good and fast both times. The only flub we encountered was that we ordered the 'curry cakes' as an appetizer, and they didn't come tell us that they were out of them until we'd waited 15 minutes. Fortunately our food came out immediately after that, so not having an appetizer was ok.
The bathroom was very clean, indeed.
SEMI-FAIL. The place is not bad, but not great either. The cold noodles were good, but not amazing. The honey walnut prawns were different. The broccoli and beef was a total fail, no taste to it. Overall, not a bad experience, but definitely in my fails.
This is good food! We had the spicy cold noodle with chicken, boiling beef, and dry cooked chicken.
Everything was really spicy, really tasty!
The cold noodle was full of flavor and the noodles had a really nice texture.
The boiled beef was the best dish. So flavorful and spicy! I would definitely like to have this dish again.
The chicken was okay. The chicken pieces were quite small, with small bones in it which made it harder to eat. The flavor was there though, along with all the chili peppers! There was definitely more peppers than chicken. Beware of the small sichuan peppers...they will numb you!!! and it will be painful!!!! but painfully good...ha
Will come back!
the cold noodles are good. fried intestines are better. the lunch plates are good and a great deal. don't forget to get the intestines!
Delicious authentic food, many many varieties of chinese dishes to a point where is overwhelming, but stomach wasn't feeling good the next day..so
Good food...bad stomach pain the next day, good food, the bad stomach pain next day...hmmmm
Dilemma in life eh?
I always come to Classic Sichuan for their spicy cold noodles with pork - so delicious and the perfect level of spiciness (just enough to make my tongue tingle)! On the weekends, they have homemade soy bean milk which I love because they know just how much to burn the soy bean! Their lunch specials are also very delicious with generous portions. It's funny because I always take my Chinese relatives visiting from out of town here right after I pick them up from SFO because the restaurants in Chinatown are ironically not too authentic!
Ate dinner with the family on Friday night. The Sichuanese wife says the food is authentic. We had a fish fillet spicy soup with bean sprouts and tons of dried peppers and pepper flours. XLNT.! beef in a spicy gravy, fall off the bone baby back ribs with diced pickled string beans. The white boy had mu shu pork. Four main courses with steamed rice came to $50 w/o tip .All dishes were A+. We have eaten here at least 15 times the past two years. The place has gone thru new owners at least once and chefs have changed but the current chef is great. Extensive menu of Chinese - Chinese food and regular more traditional Chinese menu(your broccoli beef) .. Parking in the past has been tough, but not on Friday. I think the economy has finally hit the some of the San Mateo restaurants as several restaurants we saw were low on patrons that night in prime time.
If you love spicy food, then you have to try this place out. I usually go here with a bunch of my friends and we order the same dishes everytime
- Ma Po Tofu
- Spicy Cold Noodles
- Cumin Lamb
- Suen Li Bai Ro (sorry don't know the english name, roughly something like Garlic White Meat)
These dishes are SPICY but they always hit the spot. The wild card here is probably the tofu, which has ranged from medium spicy to super spicy in the times I've eaten it. I don't really order anything else here so I can't comment too much, but their spicy food definately has a lot of flavor from different peppers and spices. Try it out if you like spicy foods and stay away if you don't!
Classic Sichuan Restaurant
Millbrae CA
This is a great place for a delicious dinner, locals will remember this place as Kwan's that was there forever but now has new owners and renovated interior with above average menu. Bottom line if you go here you wont be sorry, the food is extensive with over 140 items to chose from and bold colorful plates flying from the kitchen to the patrons tables every minute, as a person that frequents Asian food I got to say our dining experience was delightfully delicious with very friendly attentive service, This is a place that can fill up on a Saturday evening so get there before 7PM, food prices are not too bad plates range from $8.00 to $10.00 and appetizers start at $3.50. WARNING dishes can be spicy so make sure you let them know what kind of heat you like in the dish!
I love spicy food. So I had high expectations coming here since Sichuan food is known to be spicy.
This review is only for the two dishes that I ordered...I can't vouch that I'd give four stars to all their dishes. And trust me, they have a lot of dishes - their menu was a bit overwhelming.
We got the classic Sichuan spicy cold noodle with minced pork on top and the wonton in spicy oil soup. I usually don't like dry noodles as much as soup noodles, but I actually really enjoyed this dish! It had the minced pork, thinly sliced cucumbers, and hot oil sauce (all separated from the noodle but on one large plate). The waitress (who was the owner) mixed it all up for us at the table. We asked for "small spicy" when we ordered because we knew we'd get kicked in the ass if we didn't (& thankfully we did because it was just the right amount of spiciness for the both of us).
I was a bit wary of the wonton in spicy oil soup because I've only had wonton in spicy oil, without the soup. The owner insisted that it was really good so I caved and said okay. I'm glad I did because I really enjoyed it - broth and all! The wontons aren't the mini kind and they gave you quite a few in a large bowl. We had leftovers and we took it home and I cooked some noodles separately and then added it in with the leftovers - there was my dinner...yum!
Wow. I am disappointed. This used to be one of my favorite Chinese restaurants, but now I have serious doubts.
Reason #1 - The lady next to our table let out a loud scream. There was a dead fly, a large dead fly in her teacup that was clipped upside down. Surprise!
Reason #2 - Is it just me or did something happen to the cook or owner? We ordered the same dishes as we always do but this time it was super greasy. The Beijing Stir-Fry Pancake was soaked with grease. I felt like I was eating grease soup noodles. The owner usually sits at the front desk taking calls and prepping bills, but this time it was a completely different lady walking around and waiting on people.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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7/7/2007
I don't know why previous Yelpers complained about food being spicy at this restaurant. This is a… Read more »
Sichuan food is probably my favorite style of mainland Chinese food. Even though it's been a few years since I've been in the Chengdu province of China, the flavorful taste of Sichuan spices is still vividly ingrained in my tastebuds. The Classic Sichuan restaurant in Millbrae is a nice try, but not even close to the Sichuan food I remember from China. That said, however, it's probably the closest you'll get to the real thing in the Bay Area.
We ordered the ma po tofu, the zha jiang mian (noodles in black bean sauce), the spicy cold chicken, the spicy Sichuan noodles. The ma po tofu was good & spicy, but it was wayyy too oily. The zha jiang mian was decent, but a little too salty. I actually really liked the spicy cold chicken dish -- it was insanely spicy (which I love) and it went really well with steamed rice. The spicy Sichuan noodles w/ chicken didn't really have much substance -- the noodles to chicken ratio was horrible; there was like 5 pieces of chicken for a HUGE plate of noodles.
One thing I didn't like about this place is the dirtiness. I know these kind of restaurants in China are dirtier, but we're in America and when I'm in America, I don't want to see stains on my plates and murky ice water.
Parking is horrible, but I just ended up parking in the lot of the Vietnamese restaurant next door (even though it specifically states not to). No ticket, no tow, so no problem.
All in all, this place is recommendable if you love Chinese spice, because it will burn your mouth with a vengeance. I swear I could hear the faint sounds of my tastebuds screaming in hellish pain as I ate. And, sorry if this is too much information, but it comes out just as bad as it goes in. But for me, I love Sichuan spices, so I would definitely come back to get my spicy Chinese food fix. It's just unfortunate because after you've had the real thing in China, everything here is all below expectations.
I absolutely adore this place. Started going to this restaurant when it was located in San Mateo, called Little Sichuan. But something happened and the owner opened Classic Sichuan in Millbrae. I really like the cold noodle, Sichuan dry cooked shrimp, and this fish dish...and the name just slipped me. In Chinese it can be loosely translated to boiling fish or something.
On the down side, service can really suck sometimes. I think they have some kind of contract with a tour company, and the restaurant gets awfully busy/full when the tourists come. The restaurant actually TOOK away my table's bowls and tea pot because they didn't have enough. Once my table wanted water but we couldn't get any because the restaurant couldn't wash the cups fast enough. *sigh* It was such a bad experience, but the dishes, imo, make up for the occasional bad service.
Sadly, I attend school in Southern California, but this is the first restaurant I must to go to as soon as I get home.
While it was spicy, the food was too oily and bland to be enjoyable.
I ate there last night and am still paying for it today.
I typically enjoy spicy food, but I also enjoy being able to taste my spicy food.
Am I missing something? Everyone else on Yelp seems to love this place and I can't understand why.
Sichuan cuisine is delicious! Even though the spice and grease is acid reflux inducing, I find it worthwhile to indulge from time to time. My favorite dishes at Classic Sichuan are the hot and sour mung bean jello appetizer and the spicy boiled fish. I recommend ordering from the traditional section of the menu as that is where the Sichuan classics are concentrated (can be found towards the beginning of the dine-in menu). Bring some Tums, and enjoy!
Something happened to this place. I had heard they changed chefs which is unfortunate. One of my favorite dishes here, the sichuan dry cooked chicken is not the same, not even close to tasting as good as it used to. This place is still good, but I'm not dying to eat here like I used to.
I would give this restaurant 3.5 stars now.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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3/1/2008
I'm so glad this restaurant is close to my office. I try to eat here for lunch at least once a week… Read more »
This is place is a good family restaurant for us. When we can't decide where to go and we something different, we come here. The spicy dishes add a little something different to our ordinarily not so spicy Cantonese cuisine.
The most memorable dishes were the cold noodles, the sliced pieces of pressed tofu appetizer, and a stew pot dish of chestnuts and chicken meat in which they lit a fire in a clay container and put the dish on top to keep it hot on the table for a little bit longer. Though most of the food I've tasted is so far pretty good, I cannot see myself coming to this place often because of the oiliness of their dishes. I can only eat so much oil before my stomach screeches to a stop and halt my taste buds in asking for more.
Went to this place for one of my aunt's birthday. She said the food was supposed to be very good, but it was alright. I didn't think the taste was all that spectacular. They did serve a lot of very authentic foods, but it did not wow me. Also, the service was horrible. They took so long bringing us our food. I was just pretty disappointed since I was expecting fabulous food.
Simply my favorite Ma Po Tofu in the SF Bay Area.
I loved them since their Little Sichuan days in San Mateo.
If you're a fan of hot & spicy Chinese cuisine, this is definitely the place to go.
Key Words for today: Preferential Treatment.
The food was good but the service sucked more than a Black Hole.
1. A (Chinese Couple) who came in 15 minutes later after we ordered our food, got their food first.
2. I noticed they packed leftovers for the Chinese people in the restaurant. When I asked for our leftovers to be pack, all they did was throw down some to-go boxes on our table.
3. Some customers were able to sit in private areas of the restaurant.
(Maybe they are regulars, So Ill give them that)
Point is my Girlfriend and I felt like we were treated poorly and given bad service because we didn't speak Cantonese/Mandarin.
I would rather eat at Panda Express or Rickshaw before coming here.
Two Thumbs Down.
If you want fire, this place serves up a mighty 5-alarm fire in its Chinese spicy Sichuan dishes.
Mapo tofu (vegetarian, no meat) - 4 stars - for those who like this dish and like it SPICY, it's great here.
Green onion pancake - 4.5 stars - some of the best I've had. More doughy than other ones I've had but very flavorful and nicely chewy.
Green beans, chinese style - 4 stars - very tasty and green beans were frsh
Spicy beef noodle stew - 3 stars - was SPICY!! You can see the noodles and beef in the deep sea of chili red soup base. However, we've had better Chinese noodles elsewhere.
NOTE: I love spicy food and we only had MEDIUM SPICY ("Easy spicy" on the bill) and it was already enough to make me cry uncle (and I felt like I had a strenuous workout from all the sweat pouring from my head from the hot food!). They use those special Chinese chilis which have that numbing feel so make sure you like that before you go to this place.
Lunch specials are Mon-Sat and are a great deal around $6.25-7.00 altho on weekends you don't get a soup with it. You get a very decent portion of the main dish and rice served in a cool bamboo pot.
The restaurant itself is surprisingly nice inside, esp since I wasn't expecting much. Parking is misleading - looks like they have a nice-sized parking lot right next to it but it belongs only to the Vietnamese restaurant next store. But there should be enough street parking on El Camino and along the next side street.
Bottom line: Deliciously tasty spicy Chinese dishes in a very nice modern interior. I've tried both Little Sichuan in San Mateo and Sichuan Delight in Redwood City and like Classic Sichuan as the best of the three. But be FOREWARNED if you ask for your food VERY SPICY - medium spicy was already pretty wicked (for me at least). If you sweat when you eat really spicy foods (like I do), bring a roll of Bounty with you.
Other Asian folks may know the experience. Y'know when some Asian folks see other Asian folks they don't know, they just kinda stare -- kinda give them the stink eye? Well there was a guy at the restaurant giving me the look. Unfortunately, he was our waiter. Bastard.
Service from this guy was just bad from the start. The restaurant was pretty empty, but when we said we needed a few more minutes to order, he lets out a big sigh as if we are holding him up.
We ordered a couple of dishes so our table was kinda full. Well, instead of trying to make room when he brought our dishes, he just handed them to us. He never came back to check on us and I finally had to flag another waiter down to get our check and get take out boxes. Geez dude, you're our waiter, it'd be nice to actually wait on us.
Sigh. Most of the other folks that worked there seemed to be nice enough though. We just happened to get the guy who had a bug up his butt. The thing of it is, the food was actually quite good, but I don't think I'll be back except for maybe take out.
Classic Sichuan really sticks to the Sichuan roots, and by roots I mean hot, oily peppers. :)
I came to Classic Sichuan with my Uncle and family, along with a few friends for dinner on Christmas this past month and was treated to a classic, traditional Sichuan meal with all the fixens. The braised beef in hot oil and peppers was absolutely delicious and their signature cold noodles dish with a hot mustard sauce was fantastic! My family really knows how to eat, especially my brother and I, and we made sure to try as many entrees as possible.
Now for the sad part, deductions:
-1 for the annoyingly long wait before we were served our soup, and entrees to follow. I dont know if it was the fact that we were the youngest people in the restaurant, and therefore the loudest, or because they forgot about the order we placed...
-.5 stars for serving me the most bland, watery, and un appetizing hot and sour soup I have ever tasted in my life, and trust me, ive had hot and sour soup more times than any korean person has had kim chee along with a meal.
finally....
-.5 stars for not serving duck...Its Christmas!!!! Where is the full duck and fa ra ra ra rahhhhh ra ra ra rahhhhhh cheer?! I mean i got my Red Rider BB gun....now i want my duckkkk.
since the owner/chef./wait staffs changed this place has gone down~ way down~
I keep want to give them another try and yesterday was my last. We waited by the door for 5 mins to be seated while there were merely 1/3 full. No tea was served til we asked for it. Food still taste different than before and maybe even worse.
It used to be my fave. being a local Millbrae resident. We come here almost weekly for dinner or lunch. but suprise! one day it all changed. I asked around ownership had changed and the chef/cook/wait staff all left.
I want the old chef back!!
Excellent szechuan, with both spicy and non-spicy menu items. Bring on the ice water and sweat your way through the meal.
They've mastered Sichuan-style cooking. Most things are cooked in chilli oil so come here only if you're not scared of spicy food.
The owner is an old family friend. She's warm and hospitable and is open to providing recommendations if you're unfamiliar w/ the menu.
My favorite dish here is the Spicy Sichuan Cold Noodles. Don't let the fact that they are cold scare you away. This dish is packed with flavor, spice and everything nice...
Water on!
We had some water boiled beef, translated from Chinese, that made our brows sweat. But it burns soooooo goood!!! The combination of herbs and spices makes this so flavorful, not salty. When we were done with all the veg and the beef, I had to pack the sauce home and plan to eat for days with rice or noodles. Yeah, the sauce is that good where I doggie bag it. But be warned, if you can't finish a WHOLE pickled Jalapeno from a Taqueria, you can't handle this dish - especially if your initial is M.Y.
We also did Powdery pork, #18 that was pretty good. I usually don't eat pork, but this was bursting with flavor with a touch of paprika that gave it a strange twist. But some might not like it because it has a little Indian kick to it.
The beef noodles was better than the really famous one I had in Taiwan, located on the mountain side, near tofu street. Unfortunately I'm not much of fan of this because it's suppose to be a little bland. I know that this beef noodle is a favorite for the OGs or people back in the old country, but it's just not my cup of tea.
The water beef is definitely my favorite here. It's way better than Spices, Zone, Dumpling King, and many other places, not for the weak hearted tho.
stinky tofu
Decided to stop by tonight since it's in the old Kwong's location we were fond of before it went away. Immediately noticed that they had discovered the hidden potential in the decor of the place. It actually looks like a warm and welcoming family restaurant now. Also a bonus that it's open till midnight everyday! That's great news for me to pick up dinner after getting off work late. Too bad they don't have to-go friendly dishes though. You pretty much have to order full $8.95 entrees and splurge the extra $1 for steamed rice.
The food itself was noticeably more refined than your typical to-go joint, but it is a real family restaurant after all. Not much to rave about, but definitely not bad. It gets bonus points for simply being an open late mandarin alternative to the plethora of cantonese cuisine Millbrae is known for. Solid for what it is.
I rescind my compliments because after 12 hours of throwing up and shitting, I hate Classic Sichuan. I can't give it a 1 because no one else was infected, so TWO STARS.
Yes!
Thanks for the move.
Thanks for the great cold noodles and cold jello.
Thanks for the sexy, modern feel.
Thanks for dressing up.
But,
NO THANK YOU TO THROWING UP AFTER EATING. (Uh... what's up. -1 star)
No thank you to the two waiters who hated me.
No thank you to the julienne potatoes for they have no flavor.
And, no thank you to the price.
When the hell did things start getting so expensive?
I had a pleasant dinner here....from the looks of the restaurant, which was pretty busy on a Sunday night, I'd say this place is a hit when it comes to good spicy Sichuan food. I personally like it better than little Sichuan in San Mateo...but that's just me.
Owners are friendly people, too, which is rare in a Chinese restaurant. We got the water cooked beef (I anticipated better), the Beijing style pork (really, really good), the Shanghai bean noodles (salty, but good), veggies (too oily), and garlic steamed prawns (really, really good). Really pretty interior, classy. Bottom line, I'd come here again and I'm stoked that it's in Millbrae bc we need some diversity in the Chinese food here.
They have really made the best spicy food around! I am in love with spicy food and wish I could eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I love the Spicy Sichuan Cold Noodles and some kind of a fish soup dish? I don't know what it's called...
Simply Awesome!
Reading thru the other comments I think some of the negative opinions about service could be cultural. I'm not Chinese and never got the feeling that I was treated differently. I recently came back from China and this place reminded me very much of the restaurants in BeiJing (except for the lack of smoke!).
I accidentally saw this place and decided to see how Sichuan it really was (I love spicy food). I was so impressed I came back two days later :)
So far I have tried: dan dan mien (a delicious noodle dish), Hai Zhe Pi (Spicy Jelly Fish), Ma Pao Do Fu (Spicy tofu) and Ma La Niu Jin (Spicy Beef Tendon) All were excellent. The Ma Pao Do Fu was a bit oily, but Sichuan food tends to be. The portions are really big so plan to take a togo box.
This place is certainly one of favorites. It's definitely a welcomed perk for my current project.
The food was mediocre, and my stomach didn't feel so great after... They did have huge portions though!
I really want to like this place but the chow fun was so bad the other night i could not finish it.. Yuck Yuck.
The other dish were ok maybe i will go back in a week
Same staff from Little Sichuan in San Mateo and same crappy service. But damn, the food is GOOD! I've worked in San Mateo for over 5 years and I'm sure I've gone to this restaurant at least 3 times more than any other local restaurant. If you can handle spicy go for: Dry Cooked Chicken, Spicy Beef Soup and Spicy Cold Noddles.
One of my favorite Chinese restaurants on the peninsula but the service REALLY sucks.
This place is tasty, but the best part is the bill. Can't beat the value here, although the place seems kinda empty lately-- hope they survive. The service is bad though, and they double billed me.
Update: 8/2/09
I think the management and chef have changed. This restaurant takes bad service to another level. I don't expect much service in this type of Chinese restaurant but they are very good at ignoring you. When I asked for a spoon for the soup, the woman said I didn't need one!
The food here ROCKS...
My faves:
Sichuan Cold Noodles
Smoked Tofu Pork
Cold Three Strips with Sweet & Sour Sauce
Chinese Salty String Beans
Soft Tofu with Fish Fillet
Egg Plan a la Sichuan
One tip: when ordering, be wary of order dishes with similarly flavored sauce. For Chinese NY dinner, we ordered the Ma Po Tofu, Egg Plant a la Sichuan, and Fish . The sauces were nearly identicle!! (albeit delicious)
I took my dad here for Father's Day. Coincidentally he had just come back from a month in Sichuan province, but since all he ate there was hotpot, the food here would be something different. The owner or manager of this place has been in the restaurant business for years. Her last gig was Little Sichuan on Fourth Ave in San Mateo, this place's chief rival.
We were seated in a cramped nook nestled between two large dining rooms. To start, we were given two small plates gratis: boiled peanuts and a disappointing pickled salad. I ordered another cold, spicy pickled vegetable dish. My dad chose a big soupy bowl of fish and a house special, a plate of pork ribs.
The pickled vegetable dish on its own wasn't stellar, and also it didn't complement the other dishes well. The fish was adequate. The ribs, however, were excellent: very tender and attractively presented. I wish I had ordered a plate of greens or tofu to pair with this meat.
My dad, who fancies himself an epicure, was not impressed by this meal. He said he could make it much better himself. Then again, he says that for any restaurant. Classic Sichuan had the last laugh, though. I thought my dad could take heat, but throughout the meal he coughed and wiped his brow.
I'm giving three stars for this particular combination of food. Our neighboring tables ordered interesting dishes like clay pot and hot plate; these are worth trying on my next visit.
Some coworkers and I tried this place out yesterday for the first time. I have been to Little Sichuan in San Mateo, so I thought this place would be fairly similar.
What suprised me is that for nearly all the dishes we tried, Little Sichuan was waaaaaaaaaaay hotter. I found that interesting. For nearly all the dishes at Little Sichuan, I would say the spicy factor was about a 7.5 on a 1-10 scale. At Classic Sichaun, I'd say it was more like a 4. This is not necessarily good or bad, but spicy food lovers should make a note of this.
However, the dishes are all still really good. Like others have recommended, the spicy cold noodles are a winner. There are so many items on their menu, you could come here 20 times, ordering 4 different dishes each trip like my party did, and not repeat an item once. Sooo many things to try!
They have some funky things on the menu if you're adventurous. "Pickle frog," anyone???
