taste of sichuan beaverton

went there forlunchin a group of 8 and ordered fromlunchmenu. the quantity of food served and taste were ok, nothing spectacular. service was good.

great food, sketchy service. having gone to taste of sichuan several times in the months since it opened, i can honestly say that while they have delicious food, their sense of service leaves something to be desired.

the good:
their food is fantastic. noodles, rice, chicken, pork, beef, pork buns, frog, jellyfish, i've had it all and loved it all. i don't know how authentic it is, but it strikes me as closer to the mark than pf changs, panda express, and the like. moreover there seems to be a large following of local chinese residents so i'm inclined to believe their dishes are authentic. so delicious and authentic chinese cuisine = awesome.

the bad:
if you go any time other than lunch, you will likely find yourself waiting, and by waiting i mean waiting a long time at every stage of the encounter. you will sit in line to be seated. you will wait to be approached about your drink order. you will wait to actually order. at this point, you will have waited at least half an hour. sometimes you will have to actually approach the servers yourself and ask if you can place your order.

then your food will come in stages, so that you feel inclined to either sit and wait for your friend's/family's food to arrive, or wait for the rice to come with your meat dish or you end up finishing an entire segment of your meal before the remainder arrives.

then you'll find yourself waiting again while your server is busy doing everything but bringing you your bill, more drinks, or to-go boxes.

and if they mess up your take-out order they won't give you a refund. to their credit, they'll give you a free entre that you did order, but you may ultimately still find yourself out several dollars more than expected. this involves a somewhat dubious system of giving your name and keeping your bill (which doesn't list what you purchased) and so i was inclined to just take the extra food immediately and save it rather than risk not getting it later.

in sum:
i really want to love this place. my first experience here was great. the second was worse. the third established a pattern.lunchis a great time to go, prices are cheap, portions are large, and the food is excellent (if only a limited version of the menu). but dinner and take-out are dubious. i'd hoped that the early service problems were due to new establishment growing pains, but its been a long while now and nothing has improved; if anything its gotten worse. this place could be fantastic with some streamlining of the service systems. as it stands, it is only "ok" and that's merely on the strength of its food.

authentic ma la flavor - in beaverton?. yes! when my hot-and-sour soup--a prequel to mylunchentree 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, chicken as 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.

don't bother...... triedlunchthere.....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 sichuan chicken with hot garlic sauce........way to much garlic even for this garlic lover......!
not good!

tried 2lunchspecials, tasted just ok. waited and waited, they arrived ten minutes apart. will give one more chance, hoping it's just startup factors.

second time in, still awful service. the same blonde server with no answers. none of the staff cares if you get your food and there is a good chance you wont. stay clear if you wantlunchor dinner under two hours. welcome to castro de castro.


-----28 oct, 2011-----

worst service in my life. actuallt never got our food. awful, then they blamed on intel and groupon. dont go!!

don't go for the service. food is good, but the service needs work. i went during busylunchhour - there seems to be enough people working, but very disorganized.

i ordered mongolian beef - something that is relatively quick to make. while the rest of my party of 4 got their food, mine didn't come out until the check came - an hour after i ordered.

with this failure of service, one would expect them to apologize and take my meal off the bill, but they did neither. they tried to serve me an hour after i ordered, so i had to tell them it was too late to dine in and now needed it to go. i also told them to take the meal off the bill - which they did without apology.

get your food to go. if you like it enough, then try dining in to see what kind of service you get... or don't get.

pretty good. i was a little hesitant to try taste of sichuan because of a previous review i read. but, food was good, service was good, and pricing was good.

i ordered thelunchspecial and had the garlic pork with a coke. thelunchspecial came with sweet and sour soup, your choice of rice (fried or steamed), and meat.

the waiters seemed a little inexperienced, but very responsive once you asked for something. the place was very busy when i showed up for lunch, so i thought the service was very good based on the workload the waiters were dealing with.

not so good. i went to taste of sichuan this afternoon because they had a $6.99lunchspecial 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 thelunchspecial and he asked if i wanted beef, chicken or 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 thelunchspecial 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.