taste of sichuan beaverton

not bad but not great. i was hopeful with some positive word-of-mouth endorsements and the proportion of asian guests in the waiting area. i'd get occasional whiffs of a really fishy smell and notice the cluttered spaces, which didn't enhance the experience. the service wasn't horrible as some reviews indicate but it was far from good. an example is they didn't ask if we wanted to order drinks. the taste of our orders was ok and the portions were fairly generous. the spicy dish, kung paochicken(sichuan style) even had some heat. i wouldn't go out of my way for this place but it's better than many other places.

alpo might be better..... being that i travel extensively as an it infrastructure consultant, i have opportunity to sample the local fare in many cities across the usa. tonight, i decided to give taste of sichuan on cornell rd a go.

let's start with the appetizer..

handmade potstickers - i could make these while camping for christ's sake! the meat filling tastes as if it were made from hotdogs. save yourself a few dollars and just get some oscar mayer dogs from the market and some buns....same flavor.

the entrees -

1) sweet and sour pork - soggy sad pieces of flavorless meat hiding in a forest of green peppers and water chestnuts. breading made from either wet cardboard or the leftover potsticker wrappers. don't waste you time with this one....it's a lost cause.

2) mongolian beef - slimy but the flavor was ok...not great, just...ok.

3) general'schicken- wtf is this?! it's supposed to be a spicy yet slightly sweet sauce. this was no generalchickenthat i know. this was sugar chicken. the general was so sweet he may even give you cavities. just dismiss him before your wallet gets lighter.

overall -
a poor excuse for chinese food. a complete waste of my time and $50. at least my dog likes it.

so good. i moved from ca 6 yrs. ago and had yet to find decent chinese food. this place takes the cake-by far. service-ok. food great. we ordered the dry cooked string beans (very good) orange beef (not bad but the weakest dish on the table) and kung paochicken(very good) the servings were very generous. even the fortune cookies were good--when was the last time you had a fortune cookie that wasn't stale and tasteless?!? thumbs up!!!

authentic ma la flavor - in beaverton?. yes! when my hot-and-sour soup--a prequel to my lunch entree and included in the price--arrived, i was very pleased to detect the distinctive sichuan flavor ma la (literally, "hot-numb" [spicy from crushed red chile peppers, numbing from formerly-illegal sichuan peppercorns]) throughout. delicious, and absolutely szechwan in nature. my entree was chow mein (i chose hand-shaved for my noodles,chickenas the protein) and it was delicious. very subtle, not salty or hot in the least--but intricately seasoned, full of crisp-tender julienned vegetables. the hand-shaved noodles--thick, rough, angular, variable in size--were authentic too; i had missed these since i left seattle.

everything about the visit was spot on. i arrived for a late lunch, just shy of 2:00 pm. service for me was excellent; my server spoke english well and absolutely everything about my order--including a carefully-described beverage--was accurate and timely. of course, service probably has more to do with the actual person waiting on you; i heard some peeved yet polite white people in a nearby booth asking their server (a different person) for -their- soup, now that they were well into their entree. the cavernous place was spotlessly clean, and though not terribly full at my odd visiting hour, one can see that it is built to accommodate tremendous crowds. when i visited the men's restroom, i found it spacious, beautifully appointed, and impeccably clean.

about that mild chow mein: my server assured me that next time, i can order it with extra spice, chiles, ma la oil--whatever i want. no one can beat that! this place is wonderful, and well worth the schlep out to the far reaches of beaverton.

this was our first time there and i thought it was pretty good. i started off with a cup of the egg flower soup which was a little on the sweet side because they put sweet corn in it. but it's probably their recipe. next came the pot stickers! they were delicious! they came with a hot chili sauce that was very flavorful . for a main course, i ordered the crispy hot chilichickenwhich was pretty good except it was a bit on the sweet side for my tastes. my wife ordered the spicy prawns with black mushrooms and snow peas. that was really good! overall, it was a pretty good experience. one note: the restaurant was packed and probably over 95 percent of the patrons were asian which is a very good sign that this place is good! we will be back and try something else. also the waitresses were cute.

ok noodles... stay away from the stir fry.. i was very curious about this establishments always seeing the parking lot full. i decided to take the family and give it a try. the staff quickly greeted us and we got a seat quickly. we ordered the 3 dishes. the handmade potstickers to start (at least i was hoping), beef chow mein, crispychickenwith hot garlic sauce, and the chon qing hot chicken. the food literally came out within 5 minutes of placing our order. not just the potstickers but the main dishes as well. in any case we began to eat. the chong qingchickenseemed to have a little to much numbing powder and it it was bearable at best. the crispychickenwasn't crispy at all. the potstickers were cooked fried on one side only, usually you would brown both sides to get a little crimping of the both sides. the highlight of the meal was the handmade noodles in the chow mein. the noodles were perfect in texture and thickness. the downside to the chow mein was the amount of oil they used. my family has been in the chinese restaurant business for a good 25 years of my life and was the head chef for 5 of those years, but there is no need to cover the noodles in oil. a teaspoon of vegetable oil to cover the wok is all you should need. i think there was at least several tablespoons. i will return but will try there noodle soups and stay clear of the stir fry.

don't bother...... tried lunch there.....how can a chinese restaurant screw up fried rice...? they did! bland, soggy fried rice with no meat, 2 peas and a couple of cubed carrots...that was it.
tried the sichuanchickenwith hot garlic sauce........way to much garlic even for this garlic lover......!
not good!

not so good. i went to taste of sichuan this afternoon because they had a $6.99 lunch special on a sidewalk sign. this is the old marie calendars location on cornell rd. i was seated promptly and given a menu.

i told my waiter i wanted the lunch special and he asked if i wanted beef,chickenor pork, and hot and sour for soup. i told him beef. he also asked if i wanted steamed or fried rice, i requested fried.

the soup came and it was sour but not hot (spicy), and it was a lot different than other hot & sour soups. it was just ok. my beef came, and it was smothered with sautéed brown onions, and green onions in a gravy with not much beef. it did not taste so great. the fried rice was completely flavorless. what was unusual for chinese was a pile of shredded lettuce between my fried rice and the beef and onions. very out of place and bizarre.

i waited a long time for my check so i went up to the cashier
and she charged me $7.99. i had to explain the lunch special issue. next i gave her my amex card. she repeatedly tried to run it and then realized they don't take amex. i paid with another card and she did give me $1.00 back in cash.

i can't recommend this place at all. this is my first negative review of an eatery, and i have written many. i hope they improve.