Great Szechwan
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 11:00 a.m.-9:30 p.m.
Fri-Sat 11:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m.
Sun 11:00 a.m.-9:30 p.m. - Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Private Lot
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Lunch
46 reviews
Richmond, CA
"This is by far my favorite hole-in-the-wall, perfect for hangovers noodle house. And although I never stray away from their #21, I've heard…" read more »
13 Reviews for Great Szechwan
Great spicy chinese food! They have authentic dishes, the spicy crab is magnificent, mmm. The knife cut noodles are pretty decent, of course not as good as the real authentic stuff in asia, but good enough. They also have decent chinese breakfast foods. Need to go back soon...
I concur with other yelpers- this is a very authentic Sichuan restaurant. The food can be very spicy. Having said that, I deducted one star because their Dan-Dan noodle wasn't that good. Nevertheless, this restaurant is conveniently located for freeway access and other types of shopping.
Note: I was unable to get any AT&T signals with my cell phone in this restaurant. My Sprint phone didn't have any problems.
Four stars. It is worth a visit.
6/12/08 - update
The beef noodle soup was wonderful but the twice cooked pork wasn't good at all. I would definitely eat their beef noodle soup again.
SPiCY..spicy...spicy...If you like spicy chinese food...this is the place. We always have the spicy chicken. I forgot the dish name but they are small pieces of chicken, marinated and deep fried with some type of unique salt and yummmmm...They also have all different type of spicy fish...yay..
For some reason it took me a long time to try this place. Maybe it's because I always get distracted by Pho Saigon, in the same mall. I LOVE spicy szechwan food (cuz I love noodles/bread/carbs) so the boyfriend and I decided to try Greag Szechwan.
Very pleasantly surprised. The restaurant that was here before never really had that many people eating there, so maybe by association I didnt expect much. But they had a very large selection on their menu, ranging from traditional Chinese dishes suited for the masses (ya kno, the kung paos and honey walnut prawns) to the more "i dare you to eat...." dishes. So you can find something for everyone, essentially.
My bf has a problem of "over-ordering"...possibly the result of him being raised in a restaurant. So i tend to cut things down when he starts to name dishes he wants to try, cuz it's just the two of us and trust me, spicy oiliness is NOT okay the next day.
So we tried:
- Special spicy house noodle soup (chao ma mien in Mandarin)- A family friend used to make this for my mom and I all the time, and I remember I'd totally eat a whole bowl by myself when I was 8 after swim meets. Total comfort food for me. It's a combination of seafood (shrimp, squid), veggies, and beef in a spicy broth with loads of chewy noodles.
- Spicy dumplings (hong you chao shou)- these are dumplings in their special house soy sauce, hot sauce, and sprinkled with sesame seeds, onions, and cilantro, a personal fav of mine
- sesame pancakes with beef (shao bin jia rou) - also off of their "house specialty" menu, this was more for my bf , the carnivore,and he loved it. Chewy pancake stuffed with thin slices of beef and special sauce.
This was a really good and filling meal for two people, it was definitely one of the better meals I've had lately. Good thing I passed up pho for once to try it.
I docked a star because the service was kind of lacking. Our ice waters never arrived, the check took a while to come, and we were left alone throughout the meal. Not that there's anything wrong with that, bc I hate having people peek over our shoulders when we eat...but c'mon, not giving us bowls to share the noodles in and taking forever with the check irks me, especially when the restaurant was at half capacity. The food didn't take long to arrive, though.
It was a positive experience and the service won't keep me from coming back. I'm glad I found this place for Szechwan comfort food.
Oh, and they have bags of dumplings, potstickers in a freezer by their door for sale to take home. I suspect they're a lot tastier than the ones they sell at 99 ranch market next door!
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The pain! The pain! The sweet numbing pain of deliciousness! Not only am I so full that it hurts, the spiciness smolders in my stomach and lingers on my tongue.
The Szechwan fish fillet elicits a feeling like no other. The mound of red chilies and peppercorns atop the fish fillets only hint at what is to come. It starts off with a nice, slightly crispy coat around a tender fillet. Sounds harmless enough. But take another bite.
Let it sit a little. Wait for it... wait for it....
Suddenly, this strange numbing feeling over powers your tongue, not just typical burning sensation from your hot sauces, but a tingling akin to that of when your foot falls asleep and has reached that pins and needles stage. Imagine sitting on your tongue for too long and then kicking it... a wave of pin pricks shoots through your tongue... except it doesn't go away... it lingers as your brain grapples with it. But it won't stop. No, it will not subside because you will go for another piece, and another until all that is left are the peppercorns and glistening red chilies sitting placidly on the tray, a small reminder of the extraordinary events that took place in your mouth as you hold your stomach and slip into a food coma.
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I KNOW Chinese cuisine -- I give this 5 stars because it is about as close to eating in Szechwan (Sichuan) as you can get in the Bay Area. If you like spicy, TRY IT!! You won't be sorry, I guarantee. (Brunch/selection of dimsun: Fri, Sat, Sun.)
We LOVE this place, not only does it have AUTHENTIC spicy food, it has a huge array of non spicy food as well. The food here is pretty darn close to those in China.
Don't get me wrong, they also serve the regular Americanized dishes, but a must have for anyone who eventures outside of sweet and sour is the sour cabbage and pork soup. Such huge pot of yummy glass noodles, meat and tasty cabbage.
We can't ever get away from the Yang Zhou Fried Rice. Shrimp, Chicken, Eggs... need I say more?!
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I'm always yearning for spicy food. Harbanero is enormously out of my league but jalapeno is my scale to spiciness. So, why haven't I been here after so many months? Skeptical especially this is a brand new restaurant and my affection to Spices II (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) and Little Potato (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) is incomparable. The phrase "Don't judge a book by its cover" is so true. I'm glad that I finally breakthrough my fear and give this place a chance.
Probably it's still new to the hood, this place looks fresh and extremely clean inside with a fountain right by the entrance. Kudos to the super nice and responsive staff. I'd say rice should be FREE but most Chinese restaurants nowadays no longer offer this benefit. It wasn't very busy but food was a tad slow or maybe we were too hungry and impatient.
The Spicy Boiled Fish Fillet with Flaming Chili Oil ($16.95) under house specialties was easy on my taste buds. At least it wasn't as numb as compare to the one we ordered at Little Potato. Those 30+ dried chilies and chili oil floating atop the broth was no biggie but added a great flavor along with the bean sprouts. We both fancy the broth very much. Hubby found that the fish fillets were too... odd? To me, it was acceptable except it would have been more enjoyable if the chef use a different kind of fish. If you're on a diet or hate greasy food, this is not a dish for you.
The Szechwan Braised Chicken with Taros ($8.95) was the rock star, packed with all sorts of spices like star anise, cardamom, sliced ginger, bay leaves and others that I didn't recognize. The chicken pieces were fork tender, moist and embodied with flavor. If one gets pleasure from drugs or alcohol, I just had food orgasm as if the chicken was dancing in my mouth. Whoa, that feeling was hella good. I wish the dish had more chicken than taros. Again, I was being greedy. Wink!!!
This other table ordered some sort of sizzling chicken. Our waiter was kind enough to tell us that it was the Cho Chowngqing Style Chili Chicken. Additionally, as a promotional strategy, we also received a $3 meal coupon for our next dining. You bet I'll make my second trip back here.
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This place has one of the better and more authentic chinese food around here. It's also one of the spiciest. If you love spicy food, you'll like this place. I recommend getting the boiled fish. It comes out just like the picture on the wall. The top is covered in red hot pepper. You can choose to have them filter out the pepper before they put on the table, or leave it in if you really feel brave. It'll just be extra spicy. The thing I like about this place is that they also have plenty of non spicy food to satisfy people like me who don't eat very spicy. Their chinese donut is a must have every time I go there. Only available on weekends. Their price is reasonable, food tastes good, services is pretty good too. Usually they give you a discount coupon for next time. Good business tactic.
The crushed garlic cucumbers here are great and even surpasses that of China Village's! They were cut a little too thin early on when the restaurant opened, but they've got the idea now. Once you're done with the cukes, KEEP THE SAUCE, THAT STUFF IS GOLD. Put it into over your rice or onto your other dishes, ESPECIALLY on the cold hand cut noodles if you order that. The Chinese bacon is also a great appetizer.
If you want super hot, get the tan tan noodles. This one was way too hot for my taste, the noodles did nothing for me, and my tongue felt it afterward. The pork intestines in hot pot with blood pudding was about as spicy as that, but the yummy pork intestines will eastily get you past the spice. The blood pudding just adds a different texture in your mouth.
Didn't care much for their soft tofu and fish dish. We also order what is literally called "a vegetable" (A Tsai), which is just stirfried...vegetable. I think it's "rau ca?i sa`o" in vietnamese
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This was my first time here at this place. We decided to go to this place based upon the long waits at all the other restaurants in the mall. Despite this being a Szechwan restaurant, I ended up not getting super spicy Szechwan food at all. We actually ended up getting the "Chinese Donuts" aka You Tiao, and the sweet soy milk, Dou Jiang. That was quite delicious. The You Tiao you get is HUGE! It comes out as a two foot stick and they serve it on a small 6 inch dish, which was quite comical to me. We also got the Soup Dumplings, aka Xiao Long Bao, but that was not particularly appetizing, so minus one star. Finally we get the "Green Onion Pancake", aka Chong You Bing. This was very good. Light yet crispy still and great taste.
The overall experience here is similar to any other Chinese restaurant where tables are practically right next to each other and the waiters are spread way too thin. But the food was of generous proportions and was tasty. Glad to know that the mall that Great Szechwan is located in generally has good food no matter where you decide to eat.
Edit(1/07/08): I dropped my rating for this place by one star because I guess they only have good food on weekends. I came here on a weekday and they didn't have a lot of dishes on the menu. If you don't have it everyday, just don't put it on the menu.
Oh hell yes. I've been yearning for a good Szechwan Szechuan Sezshuan Zechwauan restaurant in my hood and a new one just opened. The dishes are elegant, delicious and exotic. The decor is cute and more tasteful than normal bourgeoisie mall dining.
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Quality, flavor, variety, originality ... never a disappointment. Great Szechwan is very simply an outstanding restaurant with very fair prices. Yes, when the place is busy the service is slow and a bit disorganized. At first, this bothered me. But the food keeps bringing me back again and again.
The spicy food isn't just "hot" spicy, its a rich taste experience - complex flavors and interesting textures translate to lots of pleasure and a little delicious pain. And, its not all spicy, the mushu is the best we've had here or in China. Try to go weekdays to enjoy the very reasonable lunch specials buried in the back of the menu and, on weekends, Great Szechwan serves the most wonderful salty soy milk hot drink that is more a tangy soup. Order this with an enormous Chinese donut and you'll find yourself going back just to experience it again (this may not sound appetizing but, oh, it is truly wonderful). We have too many favorites to list them all but don't worry if you don't remember the recommendations. This is one place where you're going to be happy with whatever you order.
Highly, highly recommended!
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