Unstoppable for Sichuan style Chinese, everything was absolutely great my first time and every time after that.
Nhu T.
I no longer have to drive all the way to Irvine or San Gabriel to satisfy my cravings for Sichuan food. We got there pretty late, an hour before closing time. We got seated immediately and the waitress was nice and attentive. We got the Mutton Toothpick and Boiled Fish in Green and Rattan pepper. They were both cooked beautifully. I actually prefer the fish soup here compared to other Sichuan place because they have varieties of mushroom and bamboo shoot in it. The mutton toothpick was a bit oily but the explosive flavor made up for it. Great place for Sichuan food in town
Philip H.
I really like this place. I order it to go but it's even better when you eat in the restaurant. I always grab dan dan noodles, spicy wontons either the string beans or eggplant and one of the spicy chicken dishes. Would recommend to come here and give it a shot!
Danny Y.
hot and sour soup was bomb!!! very authentic and hidden gem in santa ana!!! will definitely go in and try their entire menu :) thank you!!!
Priscilla S.
This place is hidden at a plaza where I won't ever go. It feels like a family restaurant own. It's very homie inside. My girlfriend and I were craving a Chinese food and we found this place on yelp. We decided to try it and we think it was good. We got hot and sour soup for the big bowl only for $5.99. We also got the spicy beef braise soup and roast duck with brown sugar. I think everything was good besides the roast duck was kinda dry. I asked for a sauce on the side but they didn't have any The food that we ordered wasn't that spicy considering this is a Szechuan place. There are food that has the NUMB symbol. We didn't get any because we don't know if we can handle it Would come back to try other dishes!
Tam L.
I love this place! I'm so glad they opened one near this area. If you want Szechuan food that has proper numbing, then this is the place to go. Szechuan impression maybe more popular, but it's also more bland than this place. The two dishes I'd recommend getting is mapo tofu and gong pao chicken. Cumin lamb if you're into lamb and fish in chili oil if you can eat fish.
Kristy N.
This place is a hole in the wall restaurant but oh soooo good!! I had dinner here one night with some friends who introduced us to the place. We had about 6 dishes: Toothpick lamb, deep fried pork intestines, fish soup, 2 chili wonton, beef noodle soup and sautéed green beans. They are spicy but so good! My favorite is the toothpick lamb. The food came out fast too. I will definitely come back here!:)
Paul T.
Stopped in for lunch. Although it was about 11:30 am, the place was empty. I had the Dan Dan Noodles and Steamed Pork Buns. The noodles were too soft, mushy, and overcooked. The spicy ground pork sauce was ok, though I have tasted better, but that couldn't overcome the bad noodles. The Steamed Pork Buns were ok but not great. i could only eat two before I was full. I will say they give you a lot for the price. I took most of them home and it remains to be seen whether I actually eat them. I am still hoping to find a decent Chinese restaurant in my area. I don't want to drive to the San Gabriel Valley to get good Chinese food. Oh well, the search goes on.
Craig C.
Outstanding Sichuan. Best I've found in California, maybe the USA. And I used to live in NYC. Highlights: Dan Dan noodles Cumin beef noodles Toothpick lamb Shrimp fried rice Chiili wonton Hot sour soup The duck was a little dry. Everything else was off the hook. Can't wait to come back and try more
Tim X.
Hmm I was excited to try a new Sichuan place with positive reviews nearby in Orange County, but overall Ruiji disappointed. It's located in a pretty unassuming strip mall, and can be easy to miss. Looks more like a hole-in-the-wall at first glance, making it difficult to envision this place turning out high quality food. We ordered the water boiled fish fillet, dry pot, spicy beef noodle soup, and rice cake with dessert. The water boiled fish did not look like the photos--the sauce was watery and it lacked taste. The spicy beef noodle soup was bizarre--the noodles were quite good, but the beef to noodle ratio was probably 3:2. Never seen that happen before, and while I'm not usually one to complain about more protein, the beef was tough and chewy. The rice cake was a pretty poor attempt. The dry pot was the only dish that hit the mark, but going 1/4 on dishes ordered is a fairly dooming sign of a repeat trip. Tasty Zone by South Coast or Chongqi Mei Wei in Irvine are far more authentic.
This is one of the few places in the OC where you can get Sichuan cuisine. My family always strayed away from Sichuan cuisine since most them couldn't handle spiciness, but I was up for a challenge! Food was indeed spicy, but it wasn't the type of spiciness that you needed to chug a tremendous amount of water to wash it away. It was more of a subtle buildup. I recommend getting their tea because it washes away the spiciness quickly! Prices are reasonable and portions are fair! || L O C A T I O N / P A R K I N G || Yelpers weren't exaggerating when they mentioned that the location of the restaurant was quite odd. Google almost had us turn into a car dealership, but we realized it meant to navigate us to the plaza located right behind the dealership. -Cross Streets are Harbor Boulevard & Westminster Avenue. -Shares the same plaza as McDonalds & Harbor Pizza -Plenty amount of parking; hassle free! || S E R V I C E || A huge shout out to the young Chinese couple who helped us get the attention of our busy server/host who seemed to not have heard the doorbell chime as we walked in. He seemed quite apologetic and embarrassed but got us seated promptly. We came around 6:20ish on a Friday night and was surprised that there was only one party in the restaurant when we expected it to be a lot more crowded due to the good reviews on Yelp. Near 7PM was when everyone started coming in, so I guess we beat the rush! Despite the awkwardness of trying to get our server/host to seat us in the beginning, he did a pretty good job getting people's orders down and served in a short amount of time. He even refilled hot water for our tea even though we were done with our meal. I feel like at most Chinese places, the attentive service would have stopped once the food was served. || F O O D || Toothpick Lamb ($14.98) - HIGHLY RECOMMEND this dish. Don't be too frightened by the amount of chili peppers in front of the name on the menu. You won't regret it, and even if you do slightly regret it afterwards, it'll be worth it! I'm usually not a big fan of lamb, but the way it was prepared and seasoned took away the usual overpowering stench that I cannot stand from lamb. I can't imagine how tedious it was for the kitchen staff to skewer a piece of lamb on every toothpick. Flavor is rich and the spiciness is just right. It's a dish that goes well with or without rice! Spicy Deep Fried Pork Intestines ($11.98) - I know it sounds gross, but you may change your mind if you get it here! They fry the intestines to perfection so you don't even realize that you're chewing on it since the chewy texture isn't there anymore. The spicy seasonings go really well with it, and was soon gone within 10 minutes. Sichuan Duck glazed in brown sugar ($14.98) - If you're used to the roasted duck at chinese bbq joints, this is definitely on the healthier and dryer side. While the meat was soft at some parts, it wasn't as juicy as I would have liked it to be. The brown sugar flavor on the skin was quite subtle too. It was A-OK. Wontons in Chili Oil ($7.80) - This was delicious! Might be even better than Din Tai Fung, as it beats DTF out by the portions, taste and price. Wontons were meaty and paired well with the chili oil sauce. Spicy Mungbean Jelly ($5.95) - This is a cold dish that we were grateful to have ordered since it served as a palate cleanser when we had too much spicy food. Even though it was also drenched in chili oil, it had more of a citrusy flavor than a spicy flavor.
Angela H.
Ok, first of all, let me start off by saying what everyone else probably thinks of when they pull up to this restaurant. Is this the right place? This pretty well rated restaurant in this very very hole in the wall retail strip mall? I'll be honest, when we pulled up here for dinner, we almost wanted to turn around. There was no one else inside and it really looked like one of those Chinese takeout places that haven't had a remodel in forever. In any case, we were hungry and already there. Staff spoke in mandarin, so that was promising. We decided to get the boiled fish, mapo tofu, cold chicken appetizer, and spicy eggplant. After ordering, a couple walked in, assuring us of our choice for dinner that night. The food was surprisingly very delicious and tasted like legit Szechuan cuisine. My favorite was the spicy eggplant. Our group literally finished 3 of their giant bowls of rice. I actually can't really handle spicy but nothing was overly spicy to the point where I needed to dunk my head in cold milk. It was also very reasonably priced. TLDR: location is not the best but food makes up for it! I really enjoyed the spicy eggplant. very fair and reasonable prices, give it a try if you're around the area!
Diamond M.
My husband works in garden grove and this place opened around the corner. He brought me home some dumplings in chili oil and steam buns with pork. This is just my opinion but the dumplings had more flavor and depth than Din Tai Fung. I've had them 3 times this week. I love them, my kids and I fight over them haha. I would drive the hour to get there from where I live if I get a craving for them. This place is legit.
Xingyou Wang
The waiter is soooo nice. All the plates are authentic and delicious! My friend and I like it sooo much!
Unstoppable for Sichuan style Chinese, everything was absolutely great my first time and every time after that.
I no longer have to drive all the way to Irvine or San Gabriel to satisfy my cravings for Sichuan food. We got there pretty late, an hour before closing time. We got seated immediately and the waitress was nice and attentive. We got the Mutton Toothpick and Boiled Fish in Green and Rattan pepper. They were both cooked beautifully. I actually prefer the fish soup here compared to other Sichuan place because they have varieties of mushroom and bamboo shoot in it. The mutton toothpick was a bit oily but the explosive flavor made up for it. Great place for Sichuan food in town
I really like this place. I order it to go but it's even better when you eat in the restaurant. I always grab dan dan noodles, spicy wontons either the string beans or eggplant and one of the spicy chicken dishes. Would recommend to come here and give it a shot!
hot and sour soup was bomb!!! very authentic and hidden gem in santa ana!!! will definitely go in and try their entire menu :) thank you!!!
This place is hidden at a plaza where I won't ever go. It feels like a family restaurant own. It's very homie inside. My girlfriend and I were craving a Chinese food and we found this place on yelp. We decided to try it and we think it was good. We got hot and sour soup for the big bowl only for $5.99. We also got the spicy beef braise soup and roast duck with brown sugar. I think everything was good besides the roast duck was kinda dry. I asked for a sauce on the side but they didn't have any The food that we ordered wasn't that spicy considering this is a Szechuan place. There are food that has the NUMB symbol. We didn't get any because we don't know if we can handle it Would come back to try other dishes!
I love this place! I'm so glad they opened one near this area. If you want Szechuan food that has proper numbing, then this is the place to go. Szechuan impression maybe more popular, but it's also more bland than this place. The two dishes I'd recommend getting is mapo tofu and gong pao chicken. Cumin lamb if you're into lamb and fish in chili oil if you can eat fish.
This place is a hole in the wall restaurant but oh soooo good!! I had dinner here one night with some friends who introduced us to the place. We had about 6 dishes: Toothpick lamb, deep fried pork intestines, fish soup, 2 chili wonton, beef noodle soup and sautéed green beans. They are spicy but so good! My favorite is the toothpick lamb. The food came out fast too. I will definitely come back here!:)
Stopped in for lunch. Although it was about 11:30 am, the place was empty. I had the Dan Dan Noodles and Steamed Pork Buns. The noodles were too soft, mushy, and overcooked. The spicy ground pork sauce was ok, though I have tasted better, but that couldn't overcome the bad noodles. The Steamed Pork Buns were ok but not great. i could only eat two before I was full. I will say they give you a lot for the price. I took most of them home and it remains to be seen whether I actually eat them. I am still hoping to find a decent Chinese restaurant in my area. I don't want to drive to the San Gabriel Valley to get good Chinese food. Oh well, the search goes on.
Outstanding Sichuan. Best I've found in California, maybe the USA. And I used to live in NYC. Highlights: Dan Dan noodles Cumin beef noodles Toothpick lamb Shrimp fried rice Chiili wonton Hot sour soup The duck was a little dry. Everything else was off the hook. Can't wait to come back and try more
Hmm I was excited to try a new Sichuan place with positive reviews nearby in Orange County, but overall Ruiji disappointed. It's located in a pretty unassuming strip mall, and can be easy to miss. Looks more like a hole-in-the-wall at first glance, making it difficult to envision this place turning out high quality food. We ordered the water boiled fish fillet, dry pot, spicy beef noodle soup, and rice cake with dessert. The water boiled fish did not look like the photos--the sauce was watery and it lacked taste. The spicy beef noodle soup was bizarre--the noodles were quite good, but the beef to noodle ratio was probably 3:2. Never seen that happen before, and while I'm not usually one to complain about more protein, the beef was tough and chewy. The rice cake was a pretty poor attempt. The dry pot was the only dish that hit the mark, but going 1/4 on dishes ordered is a fairly dooming sign of a repeat trip. Tasty Zone by South Coast or Chongqi Mei Wei in Irvine are far more authentic.
Restaurantji Recommends
Food is authentic and staff is nice
This is one of the few places in the OC where you can get Sichuan cuisine. My family always strayed away from Sichuan cuisine since most them couldn't handle spiciness, but I was up for a challenge! Food was indeed spicy, but it wasn't the type of spiciness that you needed to chug a tremendous amount of water to wash it away. It was more of a subtle buildup. I recommend getting their tea because it washes away the spiciness quickly! Prices are reasonable and portions are fair! || L O C A T I O N / P A R K I N G || Yelpers weren't exaggerating when they mentioned that the location of the restaurant was quite odd. Google almost had us turn into a car dealership, but we realized it meant to navigate us to the plaza located right behind the dealership. -Cross Streets are Harbor Boulevard & Westminster Avenue. -Shares the same plaza as McDonalds & Harbor Pizza -Plenty amount of parking; hassle free! || S E R V I C E || A huge shout out to the young Chinese couple who helped us get the attention of our busy server/host who seemed to not have heard the doorbell chime as we walked in. He seemed quite apologetic and embarrassed but got us seated promptly. We came around 6:20ish on a Friday night and was surprised that there was only one party in the restaurant when we expected it to be a lot more crowded due to the good reviews on Yelp. Near 7PM was when everyone started coming in, so I guess we beat the rush! Despite the awkwardness of trying to get our server/host to seat us in the beginning, he did a pretty good job getting people's orders down and served in a short amount of time. He even refilled hot water for our tea even though we were done with our meal. I feel like at most Chinese places, the attentive service would have stopped once the food was served. || F O O D || Toothpick Lamb ($14.98) - HIGHLY RECOMMEND this dish. Don't be too frightened by the amount of chili peppers in front of the name on the menu. You won't regret it, and even if you do slightly regret it afterwards, it'll be worth it! I'm usually not a big fan of lamb, but the way it was prepared and seasoned took away the usual overpowering stench that I cannot stand from lamb. I can't imagine how tedious it was for the kitchen staff to skewer a piece of lamb on every toothpick. Flavor is rich and the spiciness is just right. It's a dish that goes well with or without rice! Spicy Deep Fried Pork Intestines ($11.98) - I know it sounds gross, but you may change your mind if you get it here! They fry the intestines to perfection so you don't even realize that you're chewing on it since the chewy texture isn't there anymore. The spicy seasonings go really well with it, and was soon gone within 10 minutes. Sichuan Duck glazed in brown sugar ($14.98) - If you're used to the roasted duck at chinese bbq joints, this is definitely on the healthier and dryer side. While the meat was soft at some parts, it wasn't as juicy as I would have liked it to be. The brown sugar flavor on the skin was quite subtle too. It was A-OK. Wontons in Chili Oil ($7.80) - This was delicious! Might be even better than Din Tai Fung, as it beats DTF out by the portions, taste and price. Wontons were meaty and paired well with the chili oil sauce. Spicy Mungbean Jelly ($5.95) - This is a cold dish that we were grateful to have ordered since it served as a palate cleanser when we had too much spicy food. Even though it was also drenched in chili oil, it had more of a citrusy flavor than a spicy flavor.
Ok, first of all, let me start off by saying what everyone else probably thinks of when they pull up to this restaurant. Is this the right place? This pretty well rated restaurant in this very very hole in the wall retail strip mall? I'll be honest, when we pulled up here for dinner, we almost wanted to turn around. There was no one else inside and it really looked like one of those Chinese takeout places that haven't had a remodel in forever. In any case, we were hungry and already there. Staff spoke in mandarin, so that was promising. We decided to get the boiled fish, mapo tofu, cold chicken appetizer, and spicy eggplant. After ordering, a couple walked in, assuring us of our choice for dinner that night. The food was surprisingly very delicious and tasted like legit Szechuan cuisine. My favorite was the spicy eggplant. Our group literally finished 3 of their giant bowls of rice. I actually can't really handle spicy but nothing was overly spicy to the point where I needed to dunk my head in cold milk. It was also very reasonably priced. TLDR: location is not the best but food makes up for it! I really enjoyed the spicy eggplant. very fair and reasonable prices, give it a try if you're around the area!
My husband works in garden grove and this place opened around the corner. He brought me home some dumplings in chili oil and steam buns with pork. This is just my opinion but the dumplings had more flavor and depth than Din Tai Fung. I've had them 3 times this week. I love them, my kids and I fight over them haha. I would drive the hour to get there from where I live if I get a craving for them. This place is legit.
The waiter is soooo nice. All the plates are authentic and delicious! My friend and I like it sooo much!