Szechuan House

I had a friend from Szechuan over, he wanted to introduce his home town spicy foods to us so we looked up for Szechuan places and we ended up coming here. As my friend said it was pretty the same what you will get in china which you won’t find it easy in the town. They usually westernized the food. Personally feel in love with our dish. We ordered #1 deep boiled fish and #43. I was so excited to eat that I forgot to take any pictures.
My mom always says she doesn’t like Chinese food but she liked it as well. The only thing for me was to much oil but it’s the style of the food so it’s all good. We were only not Asian people in the restaurant and I think we were lucky to have a Chinese guy with us because it was hard to communicate in English with them.
Washroom wasn’t clean actually but I rate the food. Place is just fine nothing fancy or super clean. But everything is just fine. If you need something you have to call them don’t wait for eye contact or them checking on you, just call them and they will help you out with extra tea or rice or anything else.
I will definitely go back to try other dishes. Maybe not as oily this time.
If you looking for a real Chinese experience, here is the place

I came here in high hopes as this place is a stone’s throw away. I left hungry, embarrassed and with a stomach ache.
Everything about this place feels subpar, in a charming, authentic way. One only has to look at the white dollar-​store shower curtains that double as tablecloths or the smeared wall mirrors.
We seated ourselves and were promptly given tea in a large pot. Drinking the tea I noticed it was suspiciously water flavoured. Hasn’t had enough time to steep, right? 20 minutes later, the water-​flavoured tea was STILL water-​flavoured and cold. I assumed the guys didn’t put enough tea I the pot, but it was half full of tea leaves… Which makes me think they just keep pouring hot water in between customers.
We ordered a beef and a noodle dish. The noodles were okay, reminiscent of a foodcourt meal. The beef was disgusting. It was wayy over salted and made my stomach churn. Eating a few bites with my gf we stopped. We waited till the end of the meal to tell the staff as no one checked in on us and there was no one to call over.
At the end of the meal, we walked up to pay at the cashier. The large Chinese gentleman at the till, whom i presume is the owner, looked disheveled and sported a thick Chinese accent that he used to berate us after we told him the food was inedible. He ACTUALLY yelled at us for a part. He then proceeded to give us a lecture about how if we don’t like a dish we don’t eat it, we give it back. I even offered to pay for the whole bill but he just interrupted me and continued yelling.
To his credit he took off a few bucks off our bill, all the while scoffing and muttering in Chinese I don’t speak, but I’m guessing he wasn’t complimentary.
(no he didn’t take off the $ 16 that dish cost).
I left a little shaken, and a lot hungry.

I have to admit I am pretty biased on this restaurant because this is the first place where I actually had authentic Szechuan food. For many years this place has been my go-​to place for spice, and It’s where I bring my friends to when I feel like introducing to Szechuan (a good bunch of them got addicted afterwards). This place got me into learning to cook Szechuan food. With all this said, you would expect I have some special emotional attachment with this place.
Nonetheless I haven’t been to this place for almost 2 years due to personal reasons, and after knowing their Cambie location closed I suspect their food quality went down. If that’s the case it would be sad, since they make the best saliva chicken I know.
Over the weekend I was able to pass by this place and got a saliva chicken to go. Price went up a little but so did the portion. And you know what? It’s still the best dam* saliva chicken you can get!

Got kung pao chicken, cumin lamb, and some kind of chow mein. I think it was Shanghai chow mein because it looked like pork (I think we ordered chicken chow mein, but didn’t care to complain).
I think it was too much chili for me (the kung pao chicken was rated several chilis).
The kung pao was full of that mala — the numb mouth feeling. The chow mein was great. The cumin lamb begged for something else to eat it with (a nice doughy bun would be great).

this place left me wanting more. the hot sauce was a little too peppery tasting. their szechuan stir fry had a little too much hint of ginger in it. no steam pork buns (sew long bao) :(

I’ve never lived in China but love the food. Not a fan of hot and spicy but they had dishes rated by chilly peppers that weren’t too hot for me. The food we had was awesome. Portions were big for me. Prices were reasonable. I’ll definitely go back again.

One of the biggest tricks of enjoying good food in Vancouver (and any other city in general) is to always keep your eyes peeled for the non-​obvious places. Nobody ever thinks of coming to this particular intersection for food (before today, I’ve only stopped here for the traffic light). But this place has some of the best Szechuan food I’ve ever had in this town.
Parking is available on the street. Since nobody knows it exists, there are plenty of spots.
So, let’s go through the checklist.
Hole in the wall — check.
Cheap plastic vinyl paneling inside — check.
Staff all have thick (mainland) Chinese accents — check.
Customers also have thick (mainland) Chinese accents — check. 4 for 4!
The interior, to be honest, is shockingly clean. The menus don’t even have food stains for crying out loud. How is this even possible?
Staff were generally quite attentive, though it didn’t seem like the waitress spoke any English. I could be wrong though.
Food items are rated in terms of chili peppers. Hopefully you like spicy food, because that’s what Szechuan is famous for. That, and hot girls with slim legs since the population always has to keep climbing the mountainous terrain in the province.
Szechuan-​style boiled beef — now THIS is what I’m talking about. Chunks of beef and vegetables in a pool of scorching hot chili oil. Oh baby. Tasted just like when I had it in China (but possibly cleaner).
Szechuan hot and sour soup — to be honest, this was mediocre. We ordered this to see how it was different from Hong Kong style, and it just seemed like a more bland version.
Stir fry tofu and pork — another mediocre dish.
Maybe we just didn’t know what to order for the latter 2 dishes, but I’m going to be dreaming about that 1^st boiled beef dish for weeks. That dish also comes in a fish variety (conveniently Item #1 on the menu). I will be back to try that out. My friend told me it is just as epic.

As some others have said, this is the real deal. Vancouver has a reputation for great Chinese, but a lot of the top rated places are simply not very authentic. Not to say they aren’t good food, but they aren’t what you would get in China. Szechuan house is what you would get in China. They do have some items that are more westernized, but most of the core dishes are very like what I’ve had in China.
Let’s start with the kung po chicken (as they title it). Now, if you’ve had the westernized version of this you’ll think it is a bland light brown chicken and peanut dish with celery. But this is _​way_​better. First, it is full of the papery red peppers so common in szechuan food. Second, it has a phenomenal tangy sauce on it. Third, it has loads of szechuan peppercorns that give it a really interesting spiciness and make your lips and tongue go a little numb. This is the best kung pao I’ve had in North America; better than my previous favorite at Szechuan Gourmet in Billerica, MA.
We also had the Chef’s Special Shredded Pork with Hot and Sour Sauce (under the Pork section on the menu). This absolutely had the right flavor, matching a lot of the taste of similar dishes I’ve had in Beijing. There were some differences on this one though, as it had jullienned wood ear mushrooms and bamboo shoots. I don’t have enough experience in China to know if this is a normal alternative presentation of this dish; it definitely didn’t hurt it though.
We had some hot and sour soup and it was excellent as well. Perhaps a smidgen over thickened but the flavor was right on; a hint of vinegar and strong white pepper. Lots of woodear and egg.
In terms of cleaniness it was fine; nothing sketchy about it, but certainly not a fine French restaurant. Service was nice, but Chinese; e.g. not great by western standards but perfectly polite in context.
I cannot wait to get back to town and give this one another shot. The green beans on the menu sounded right on so that is next.

5 of us checked this out tonight. The shredded pork in hot and sour sauce and the house special eggplant was a hit. Parking was a challenge and the hot and sour soup was a bit of a miss. All and all we’d go back

At last! Passable Sichuan (or Szechuan for you Wade-​Giles mis-​pronouncers: it’s «‘se-​chwaan») food in Vancouver. I lived in Chengdu, Sichuan for a while so I acquired a taste for spicy Sichuan food.
The food at this restaurant would be unremarkable were you in Chengdu, but in Vancouver it’s something of an oddity. Most of the Sichuan places in this city are pretty bland having toned down the spices for the western and non-​Sichuan Chinese palettes.
Additionally many of the Sichuan places in Vancouver will leave out the ‘ma’ in the mala: the Sichuan peppercorns that give you that unique and addictive mouth numbing experience. I’m pleased that this restaurant serves up plenty of ma.
Of note here is the la zi ji — a chicken on the bone dish which has an appropriate amount of peppers. The boiled beed was pretty decent as well though perhaps a little sweeter that I’d prefer. Also of note was the mapo doufu; an immensely popular Sichuan spicy tofu dish. Pictures are attached.
While the spice here is still a bit tame compared to what you can get in China certainly don’t take people here that can’t take the heat.
I’d give this place a 2.5 star in Chengdu, +1.5 star for being in Vancouver. Still looking for more options in Vancouver…