Szechuan Restaurants near Pasadena, CA

“My very pregnant wife had a very very specific craving. Salted egg shrimp. This place filled that craving and then some. Not only was the shrimp outstanding but this may be the best Kung pao chicken I've had at a restaurant. Excited to try more of their menu.“

“the food was awesome would eat here again“

“Very good food. Clean and fast service.“

“The best spicy Chinese Food in OC/LA area hands down! They have been Michelin recommended for a reason. Their food has lots of depth of umami flavors with a good amount of spice with a refined touch. Their none spicy broths are especially good too. My faves are their dry pots, toothpick lambs, Qiao Jiao Beef. We also like their spicy ribs and boiled fish in chilli sauce, and Mao cai. Service is great too!“

“This place has great Sichuan food! It has so many varieties of food to try and are all very good! We got the chongqing cold noodles that were very flavorful and numby! The favorite was the mapotofu that had very soft silky tofu with minced pork and a sauce you can smother rice with. We also got the local flavor lamb that had tons of veggies along with the soft tender lamb meat. The sweet and sour pork was crispy and delicious and the sliced potatoes with vinegar was very refreshing and had a nice soft crunch to it.

The staff were very nice and attentive and the place is very very popular and busy. The atmosphere is just like any mom n pop Chinese restaurant.

I've been here in the past and have enjoyed other dishes like the twice cooked pork, various dumplings, wonton in chili oil, dan dan noodles, cumin lamb/mutton & sliced beef & ox offal! The portions are always huge and sharable and great value!“

“If you do not like spicy food, this is not the place for you. If you do, you will be treated to a wonderfully delicious meal. Plenty of street parking, attentive service and accommodating groups 6-8 easily. Ordering is done through your phone. Make sure to order rice as it does not come with the dishes. My favorite is the green beans, best I ever had and I am a meat lover. The chef specialty fried chicken is amazing. The beef and noodles. If you get the happy chicken or toothpick lamb it is heavily cumin flavor so just make sure you like it. I love after 15 mins of eating the water taste like sprite! Such a wonderful time. Would always come back here“

“Walked in craving something with real heat and got exactly that. The roasted fish came out deeply savory, then the numb spice kept building in a steady way. I also tried the beef soup, gentle at first, then it lingered. Cozy, satisfying meal.“

“This restaurant has all the qualities of an exquisite Szechuan cuisine. The typically fragrance of the famous dishes will inspire you surrounded by the authentic Chengdu ambiance is a highly recommendation.“

“Authentic, delicious flavors. Good portion size. If you want the spice. They have it and delivery it amazingly. Service was fast, and incredible. A heads up, it is a smaller establishment and it will get filled up quickly during dinner. There is parking in the front, though it is limited.“

“This place serves Sichuan style Chinese cuisine. Highly recommended. They operate more on food to go but has a small space for 14 diners. Paying in cash expedites service by a lot.

I ordered their Kung Pao Chicken and Fish in Black Bean Sauce. It was served fresh and hot, with steamed rice. Kung Pao Chicken was meaty and really has a good balance of flavors and spiciness. The Fish in Black Bean Sauce was soft, flaky, saucy and not too salty to taste.

Food was served at almost in an instant, around 5 mins from ordering. The serving is very generous, good for 2-3 people for 1 order (see photo), depending on your appetite. For the food price ranged around $10+, it is a steal. Customer service is nice and the lady is very quick on her feet.

Plenty of parking outside. No restrooms though. Come here with an empty stomach and bladder.

I would return here next time to try their Hot Pot, Spicy Chicken Nuggets and Mapo Tofu. 🌶🍛“

“We waited around 30 minutes for a table on a Sunday around 7pm. I would say overall that this food tasted very authentic and reminded me of what I had in China. However, it didn't suit my Americanized taste buds.

The pickled fish fillet dish had a strong white pepper flavor and the fish had skin on it. I prefer boneless skinless fillets, and while this fish was pretty tender, it wasn't amongst the varieties of fish fillet that I prefer. My husband really really loved the soup in this dish. I liked that you could choose two add-ons -- we got the bean curd which really absorbed the soup well, and the vermicelli noodles, which I prefer a bit thicker in this type of soup.

We also got the sizzling shrimp with vermicelli. I liked the garlic flavor and the shrimp was mostly tender. The noodles were a bit soft and oily, but otherwise this was my favorite dish.

The truffle fried rice was pretty good but oily. I liked the stir fried greens with garlic.

Overall I felt that the food was a bit heavy and the fish fillet was not quite my style. But again, it really reminded me of the food I had in China, so it seems very authentic!“

“Food is delicious! If you like spicy can try it. If not, you can order one for non-spicy. Many different choices!“

“I googled "best Chinese in LA" and then this popped up as the #1 place. So we drove - and had a very good meal. However, if you expect the classic Chinese dishes, you will be disappointed. This is Shezuan, "a different animal". So no rice, no sweet-and-sour-this-and-that. So be prepared for very spicy Szechuan food. Noodles. No rice. Try the dumplings, they were delicious. We ordered mild (1 out of 5 spice degrees) and we were burning inside (we had two separate orders of dumplings - but spice grade 1. There is no consistency, so be careful). So if spicy is what you are "in" for, you'll love it. The ambiance is sort of authentic ;-) - the sign on how to use the toilet (outside the restaurant in the alley) says more than words. But then, it was $100 all-in for the four of us only. My advice: I could barely understand the service language. Better check the menu before you go. As we were first-timers, I wanted to share three starters and three mains among the four of us and leave it up to the waitress to make us explore - she did not understand. I asked if they served beer. The answer was "noodles or dumplings". :-)“

“Food was delicious, and service was great and friendly. Ordered scallion pancake, short ribs and soup dumplings it was plenty of food.“

“The front desk experience has been consistently frustrating.
The young lady there appears inattentive and unsure of the process. Even after joining the Yelp waitlist ahead of time, we're left standing without explanation for 5-10 minutes each visit until another staff member takes over and seats us.
The lack of coordination at the entrance gives the impression that no one is actually managing the line properly.
Fortunately, the rest of the staff are warm and professional, and the hot pot options are solid.“

“The stir-fried river snails (超螺狮) here are hands down the best I’ve ever had—no contest. If you enjoy this dish, you absolutely have to try it. It’s incredibly flavorful and genuinely addictive.“

“I’m dinning in with a group of friends and we are making a lot of special requests but the host is very patient and is taking very good care of us. We finish all the food and order more to go. The spicy bowl is amazing! And we finished the spicy bowl and order another one to go!!! Loving this place and would come back again!“

“The food is very authentic. My favorite is the century egg dish! All other dishes are delicious, though I wish they could be 20% less salty.

The manager lady showed lots of hospitality. We went with my 10-month old, and her son was there doing homework. He came over and lent us a toy to play while we eat.

Keep it up. Definitely coming back a lot!“

“me gustó la sopa y los apps“

“I was in town visiting a number of friends nearby. One of them mentioned this place.
I could tell that I was a bit of a fish out of water here, but having grown up in Japan I was used to that. There were a number of menu items I never even saw before such as one with an unfortunate name. Which really turned out to be an excellent salad that had some heat but was actually enjoyably mild.
I was kind of surprised by the Xiao long Bao because they had done something a bit differently than the other places around here.
That's not a bad thing btw, it turned out to be most excellent and went well with the Salad we shall not name.
The staff was also rather nice too. Though the Server was concerned for me being able to handle the food. He outright suggested I wouldn't like the Salad, but I decided that I should at least give it a shot. I expect he thought some girl who looked like she stumbled in from Nowhere Ohio wasn't ready for proper Sichuan food.
I really enjoyed the atmosphere there. But I feel I may have underdressed. Next time I go back I'll try something even more interesting. And I'll wear a fine dress.“

“Years ago my mom randomly came to this store after a gig in the area, and she was shocked by how good it was.

We happened to be in the area again, and my mom INSISTED on coming here. We ordered number 1 and some cucumbers. Clean, rich flavors. We got mild, and while there’s a kick it isn’t overwhelming. Numbing spice though!

Cucumbers were fresh, salty and rich on the outside and crisp.

Unassuming interior, delicious meal.“

“The guy at the front desk was very nice. I ran out of change and looked for it in many stores but couldn't find it. He even gave me change even if I didn't buy anything. His attitude was also very good. I will definitely try it next time!“

“It’s so nice to see that we have spicy marinated sorts of things available in San Diego now! I’m very impressed by their flavor, it makes me feel like back to China’s night food market. I especially recommend the duck intestines, crawfish, and the bamboo shoots. The sea snail is pretty good as well. They can adjust the spicy level, so you can ask for more spicy if you can handle it. Their location is very nice, it’s inside the new 99 ranch on Balboa Ave. The staff there is friendly and let you try some samples if you are not sure which one to get.“

“Authentic spicy food with some unique dishes, especially the hotpot duck. The spicy level is a little beyond my level but still taste good. The downside/limitation is the sodium level was a little too high even I asked for a low salty level, probably they thought the low salty level might impact the overall flavor. Wait time is a little long but pretty similar with my expectation based on the information from social media channels.“

“We came here because our friends from China thought this is one of the best places for lamb dishes, in particular the lamb scorpion stew/soup (it is basically a pot of lamb’s spine with tofu and veggies and the reason it is called a scorpion is because the spine itself resembles a scorpion). It was a long drive for us just for a dinner in hole in the wall place. While dinning here, I began to enjoy myself very much as the waitress, the patrons and the basic set up truly reminded me of tiny mom and pop places in the alleys of any city in China. In China, people eat lambs during the winter months as lamb is the best way to keep you warm from inside. So, dining here in a cold night, it was pretty special considering that we were 10,000 miles away from Beijing. So, even it was a hole in the wall, I gave a 5-star on the atmosphere because this place looked its right out of an old Chinese movie. As far as the food goes, we had a scorpion pot and a lamb meat pot, both were pretty good, but on a salty side for me (which was actually quite normal for this type of dishes). The lamb meat pot was more tender with tendons and some fat. The scorpion (spine) has a lot of bones (obviously) and the meat was bit more tougher. Most people seemed to enjoy the scorpion more than the meat itself, but I prefer the meat with no bones. We also had the lamb skewers and they were very good and meaty unlike those one you get from a street fair. Finally, we had ordered “mild” for spiciness and it was pretty tame, though some prior reviewers thought “mild” was extremely spicy. I guess the level of spiciness is really very subjective. If you would like to experience a true authentic Chinese street food, then this is a good place to try.

Vegetarian options: This place does make some decent stir-friend veggie dishes, but people come here for the lamb.

Parking: Because of seating in the parking lot, spaces can be hard to find.

Kid-friendliness: Probably not that friendly with tight spaces, loud people and very hot pots cooking on the table.

Wheelchair accessibility: No, it is very tight in here.“