If I could avoid coming to the restaurants in Santa Monica for dine in, I would. The parking lots are never free, and you would barely get restaurants who provide complimentary parking. Nevertheless, the quality of food in Sichuan Impression are definitely worth coming back to (I have been here twice) every once in a while. Anyhow, the restaurant is cozy, spacious, clean and well lit. The customer service is also great! Food is served pretty quickly.The food:Home-style Fried Rice ? (10/10): Find yourself a girlfriend that is not crazy about fried rice so that you get to enjoy it all by yourself ⚠️. Because this dish is one of the most delicious Chinese fried rice I have ever tasted! First of all, the aroma was great! The salt level was on point! The rice texture was perfect and the minced beef's ? flavor was rich!Toothpick Mutton ? (10/10): Cooking quality lamb meat is not easy. However, Sichuan Impression has definitely perfected this skill and as a result, this dish was mouth-wateringly good! The meat was juicy, mildly chewy and didn't have that typical weird lamb meat's smell. Moreover, those toothpicks definitely made it more convenient to eat.Stir-Fried Cauliflower (6/10): I had expectations for this, and sadly I have got to admit that this was the most disappointing dish of the day and my girlfriend agreed! I wanted to like this dish. It did smell good, but the taste (kind of plain tasting) didn't match the aroma.Hot pot Starch Noodles/ Impressive cold noodles ? (9/10): This was surprisingly delicious given the appearance of the dish. It didn't have anything else other than the glass noodles. The spice on the noodles was acceptable and the noodles were mildly chewy! Definitely a good appetizer!'Big Mouth' Ginger Frog of Zigong ? (9/10): This was also tasty! The only problem that I had was that the frogs didn't have a lot of meat on them but still cost us $30. Delicious but not worth the price!Stir-fried Spicy Pork Intestines ? (9/10): Ok, hear me out! I know the thought of eating intestines is weird! I felt the same way, but they are delicious nonetheless! This dish was great, and the flavor was spot on! I just wished that they were a little less crispy so the intestines would have a little bit of juice in them. Nevertheless, I think it depends on your preference! If you love juicy intestines, this might not be worth ordering. But if you like the crispy ones, then this is perfect!Overall, just like other people have mentioned, I really enjoyed dining here because the food is great apart from the pricing, some of the dishes' pricing are ridiculous.P.S., I had forgotten the name of the noodle dish we ordered. It's best to ask the server if you would like to try them!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Impressive Cold Noodles, Boiled Fish Fillets in Chili Sauce 水煮鱼片
Nadia Moreno
Wontons were undercooked. Kung pao was too sweet. Stir-fried chili chicken was pretty good. Pricey but good portions.
Food: 2
Tazzzie333
We came here for the first time. Loved the ambiance. The space is spacious with a nice street view. The food was delicious. We ordered the beef soup with rice noodles and the mongolian beef and we shared it. I loved the mongolian beef. Ill definitely get that again. The soup was also very good but it had too much noodles for me and not enough veggies or broth. But it had good flavor. Ill definitely come back. The service was excellent l. They were quick and very attentive and most importantly they were really friendly which I love. There is a parking but its limited. Enjoy!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Nick P
My buddy took me here because he said it was the most authentic Chinese food since he had been back from working for several months in Beijing. We order like 6 or 7 entrees. We did a variety of types of dishes from soups to stir fry type dishes. Varying levels of sichuan pepper which is an amazing mouth and throat numbing experience that changes the flavor profiles. The rabbit was very good. One of my sleeper favorites was the pork large intestine stew. The bamboo shoots and dumplings were also highlights.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Lilac Park (Lollipop)
Super fast and delicious. If you are Asian particularly used to Korean food, food here might be on the salty side. I still enjoyed it
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Beef, Soup, School Yard Ice Jelly 冰粉
Eric Chen
Amazing cuisine!!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: wonton in chili oil 红油抄手, Taiwanese Lettuce a-Choy a菜
Wen-Chia Parker
Really wanted to like this place, but the food wasn’t as good as I hoped, the mamas hand made noodle soup and veggies, green beans and Achai are good but we sent back the mapoa tofu and the fish soup because they tasted bad with a soapy flavor as if the pots were not rinsed properly, our last plate of green beans took forever to come, it’s as if they forgot to bring us that plate, and we were missing a bowl of rice, too, we asked multiple times but we just didn’t bother at the end, the restaurant was very busy and lots of people were waiting so think they were just not so organized and maybe they rushed their cleaning, :-(
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 2
Eric
The worst service i have ever
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Somei Yang
Some of the meals are delicious, but some are too salty. I like the white pork with garlic paste the most, and the steamed pork ribs with rice flour. The twice-cooked pork is very salty, and the pickled fish is also very salty and tastes ordinary. The last snack, brown sugar glutinous rice cake, is delicious.
I've been wanting to try this restaurant for about 4 years, although the menu does seem a little odd. And it's pricey, but a friend of mine took me out here. The dumplings were very good. But the dish I ordered was small morsels of chicken on a plate that was almost completely populated by Peppers that were so hot, it made my tongue go numb. And I like spicy food, and I like Szechuan food. My friend and I were enjoying some conversation after we ate, and the server came over and told us they have a bunch of reservations so we had to leave. There were lots of tables available in the restaurant and what he did was completely inappropriate. Needless to say, I'm never coming back here. There's another Chinese restaurant across the street called Moon house that has a much better menu and is much more inviting.
Sam S
Not intimidated by some heat and numbing? Willing to explore the depths of Chinese cuisine properly? Come and try Sichuan impression and get a real taste of the far east. This isn't an americanized fanfare, this is the real deal Holyfield. The menu is abundant with things to try and will leave you coming back for more. I used to not like the ordering system but once you familiarize yourself with the QR code menu, you'll be getting food faster than you can blink an eye. Did I mention they have a full beer and wine menu for the drinkers? Come in hungry and leave happy.Parking: Sometimes the valet leaves early and you won't have to pay
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Impressive Dumplings, Boiled Fish w Rattan Pepper
Christopher Halbur
Man, this place is just stellar. If you’re looking for a reliable spicy Chinese dinner spot, this is it. Service is pretty no-frills.Recs: stir-fried chili chicken, lamb skewer, mapo tofu
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Su L.
My husband and I came here for dinner on a Friday night. Ordinarily we wouldn't have come here but we came on the recommendation of a friend who doesn't frequently eat Asian food. In hindsight this was a bad decision. The restaurant is located on the second level of a strip mall. When we drove into the car park and parked, my husband asked a man in uniform if we'd be fine parking in that spot for the restaurant. The man happened to be the valet for Sichuan Impression and told him, in a surly manner, that we had to use valet parking. While you're supposed to valet your car for Sichuan Impression, there are other spots available in the car park for the other food places and it would be difficult to monitor where people are specifically eating. The valet situation at Sichuan Impression is free for the first 45 minutes, so my husband went out before the 45 minute mark to repark the car in a different spot, much to the chagrin of the valet.The staff in the restaurant were generally nicer, but some of them just dropped the dishes at our table without saying anything. The ambiance here is fine but not very pleasant. They were playing loud top 40s music while we were here which I didn't like. We shared a couple of dishes including the fried rice, wontons in chilli oil, kung pao chicken, and stir-fried lamb with cumin. Everything we had was pretty mediocre. I thought the wontons were the worst of all, there was something about them that made me think they had been made from a packet. My husband was really upset with the quality of food and never wants to come back. I wouldn't recommend the food based on this experience.
If I could avoid coming to the restaurants in Santa Monica for dine in, I would. The parking lots are never free, and you would barely get restaurants who provide complimentary parking. Nevertheless, the quality of food in Sichuan Impression are definitely worth coming back to (I have been here twice) every once in a while. Anyhow, the restaurant is cozy, spacious, clean and well lit. The customer service is also great! Food is served pretty quickly.The food:Home-style Fried Rice ? (10/10): Find yourself a girlfriend that is not crazy about fried rice so that you get to enjoy it all by yourself ⚠️. Because this dish is one of the most delicious Chinese fried rice I have ever tasted! First of all, the aroma was great! The salt level was on point! The rice texture was perfect and the minced beef's ? flavor was rich!Toothpick Mutton ? (10/10): Cooking quality lamb meat is not easy. However, Sichuan Impression has definitely perfected this skill and as a result, this dish was mouth-wateringly good! The meat was juicy, mildly chewy and didn't have that typical weird lamb meat's smell. Moreover, those toothpicks definitely made it more convenient to eat.Stir-Fried Cauliflower (6/10): I had expectations for this, and sadly I have got to admit that this was the most disappointing dish of the day and my girlfriend agreed! I wanted to like this dish. It did smell good, but the taste (kind of plain tasting) didn't match the aroma.Hot pot Starch Noodles/ Impressive cold noodles ? (9/10): This was surprisingly delicious given the appearance of the dish. It didn't have anything else other than the glass noodles. The spice on the noodles was acceptable and the noodles were mildly chewy! Definitely a good appetizer!'Big Mouth' Ginger Frog of Zigong ? (9/10): This was also tasty! The only problem that I had was that the frogs didn't have a lot of meat on them but still cost us $30. Delicious but not worth the price!Stir-fried Spicy Pork Intestines ? (9/10): Ok, hear me out! I know the thought of eating intestines is weird! I felt the same way, but they are delicious nonetheless! This dish was great, and the flavor was spot on! I just wished that they were a little less crispy so the intestines would have a little bit of juice in them. Nevertheless, I think it depends on your preference! If you love juicy intestines, this might not be worth ordering. But if you like the crispy ones, then this is perfect!Overall, just like other people have mentioned, I really enjoyed dining here because the food is great apart from the pricing, some of the dishes' pricing are ridiculous.P.S., I had forgotten the name of the noodle dish we ordered. It's best to ask the server if you would like to try them!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Impressive Cold Noodles, Boiled Fish Fillets in Chili Sauce 水煮鱼片
Wontons were undercooked. Kung pao was too sweet. Stir-fried chili chicken was pretty good. Pricey but good portions.
Food: 2
We came here for the first time. Loved the ambiance. The space is spacious with a nice street view. The food was delicious. We ordered the beef soup with rice noodles and the mongolian beef and we shared it. I loved the mongolian beef. Ill definitely get that again. The soup was also very good but it had too much noodles for me and not enough veggies or broth. But it had good flavor. Ill definitely come back. The service was excellent l. They were quick and very attentive and most importantly they were really friendly which I love. There is a parking but its limited. Enjoy!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
My buddy took me here because he said it was the most authentic Chinese food since he had been back from working for several months in Beijing. We order like 6 or 7 entrees. We did a variety of types of dishes from soups to stir fry type dishes. Varying levels of sichuan pepper which is an amazing mouth and throat numbing experience that changes the flavor profiles. The rabbit was very good. One of my sleeper favorites was the pork large intestine stew. The bamboo shoots and dumplings were also highlights.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Super fast and delicious. If you are Asian particularly used to Korean food, food here might be on the salty side. I still enjoyed it
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Beef, Soup, School Yard Ice Jelly 冰粉
Amazing cuisine!!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: wonton in chili oil 红油抄手, Taiwanese Lettuce a-Choy a菜
Really wanted to like this place, but the food wasn’t as good as I hoped, the mamas hand made noodle soup and veggies, green beans and Achai are good but we sent back the mapoa tofu and the fish soup because they tasted bad with a soapy flavor as if the pots were not rinsed properly, our last plate of green beans took forever to come, it’s as if they forgot to bring us that plate, and we were missing a bowl of rice, too, we asked multiple times but we just didn’t bother at the end, the restaurant was very busy and lots of people were waiting so think they were just not so organized and maybe they rushed their cleaning, :-(
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 2
The worst service i have ever
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Some of the meals are delicious, but some are too salty. I like the white pork with garlic paste the most, and the steamed pork ribs with rice flour. The twice-cooked pork is very salty, and the pickled fish is also very salty and tastes ordinary. The last snack, brown sugar glutinous rice cake, is delicious.
The worst service i have ever
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Restaurantji Recommends
Amazing food for people who’s craving for authentic Chinese cuisine. Would love to order and visit again and again.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Impressive Cold Noodles, Taiwanese Lettuce a-Choy a菜, Tomato Oxtail Soup
I've been wanting to try this restaurant for about 4 years, although the menu does seem a little odd. And it's pricey, but a friend of mine took me out here. The dumplings were very good. But the dish I ordered was small morsels of chicken on a plate that was almost completely populated by Peppers that were so hot, it made my tongue go numb. And I like spicy food, and I like Szechuan food. My friend and I were enjoying some conversation after we ate, and the server came over and told us they have a bunch of reservations so we had to leave. There were lots of tables available in the restaurant and what he did was completely inappropriate. Needless to say, I'm never coming back here. There's another Chinese restaurant across the street called Moon house that has a much better menu and is much more inviting.
Not intimidated by some heat and numbing? Willing to explore the depths of Chinese cuisine properly? Come and try Sichuan impression and get a real taste of the far east. This isn't an americanized fanfare, this is the real deal Holyfield. The menu is abundant with things to try and will leave you coming back for more. I used to not like the ordering system but once you familiarize yourself with the QR code menu, you'll be getting food faster than you can blink an eye. Did I mention they have a full beer and wine menu for the drinkers? Come in hungry and leave happy.Parking: Sometimes the valet leaves early and you won't have to pay
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Impressive Dumplings, Boiled Fish w Rattan Pepper
Man, this place is just stellar. If you’re looking for a reliable spicy Chinese dinner spot, this is it. Service is pretty no-frills.Recs: stir-fried chili chicken, lamb skewer, mapo tofu
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
My husband and I came here for dinner on a Friday night. Ordinarily we wouldn't have come here but we came on the recommendation of a friend who doesn't frequently eat Asian food. In hindsight this was a bad decision. The restaurant is located on the second level of a strip mall. When we drove into the car park and parked, my husband asked a man in uniform if we'd be fine parking in that spot for the restaurant. The man happened to be the valet for Sichuan Impression and told him, in a surly manner, that we had to use valet parking. While you're supposed to valet your car for Sichuan Impression, there are other spots available in the car park for the other food places and it would be difficult to monitor where people are specifically eating. The valet situation at Sichuan Impression is free for the first 45 minutes, so my husband went out before the 45 minute mark to repark the car in a different spot, much to the chagrin of the valet.The staff in the restaurant were generally nicer, but some of them just dropped the dishes at our table without saying anything. The ambiance here is fine but not very pleasant. They were playing loud top 40s music while we were here which I didn't like. We shared a couple of dishes including the fried rice, wontons in chilli oil, kung pao chicken, and stir-fried lamb with cumin. Everything we had was pretty mediocre. I thought the wontons were the worst of all, there was something about them that made me think they had been made from a packet. My husband was really upset with the quality of food and never wants to come back. I wouldn't recommend the food based on this experience.