Szechwan Chinese Restaurant

The best chinese food in orinda. I am the regular customer of this resturant, I love their pot stickers and fried rice! Their most dishes are delicious and friendly services! Love this place!

Best restaurant in Orinda!
We have had take-​outs often from Szechwan — the food has been very good. We actually ate in the first time last night.
Having the food fresh from the kitchen was soooo good.
I’d recommend this restaurant!

We have a lot of friends that travel from Lafayette and Walnut Creek to come visit this place. It’s really fun and calm and never too crowded. We even get takeout from here sometimes because the ingredients are so fresh. I especially like things with broccoli and all the traditional Chinese dishes like Kong pow chicken

This is an always will be my go to Chinese restaurant. I have two, I will not lie. The service is great and the menu is awesome. A must try the «salt and pepper fish» it is delicious. Also your meal isn’t complete with out the «BBQ pork fried rice», amazing. Definitely a hidden gem in Orinda.

Have tried this place a few times and its quite good. Everything I’ve tried has been fresh and tasty. They have very good customer service, very easy to go pick up orders.

I am not a fan. Had a not-​so-​good first time experience. Sizzling rice soup was so bland it tasted like water instead of broth. Dark meat chicken in soup was chewy and gross, always have had white meat in this soup elsewhere. Lemon chicken tasted strange, the chicken was fried nicely and had a good sauce, but the chicken itself had a funny taste and odor. We sent it back and they acted like we pulled-​out a gun and started firing. They were literally enraged and made a scene, speaking loudly in Chinese and it really was embarrassing for us. We just wanted to order something else instead and they were very annoyed with us. What happened to the customer always being right? We would have appreciated a little kindness and concern for our comfort and they failed to do so.
To end this wonderful experience, they double charged us on our bill, and it was so much fun trying to straighten this out after the previous disaster.
Will not be returning.

There is no other place to go if you are truly interested in having not just a good Chinese meal, you will have done yourself a huge delight that you have found the only Chinese restaurant you’ll compare to all others. This amazing hidden treasure in the city of Orinda sets the bar for the complete experience. Szechwan has been in the same location since I moved to Orinda in 1985(know I have dated myself), owned by the same wonderful family, and I have been waited on by the same people. I have moved around quite a bit and have eaten a lot of different Chinese food and there is comparison. Take my warning of this place, because once you have Szcehwan Chinese, you will not completely enjoy Chinese food anywhere else again.
I now live in Petaluma, Ca. My family has dispersed from the area over the years… Washington, Oakland, Fresno… and it has been the place where my family always meets to enjoy each other. And it is always worth the drive. This Chinese family is always ready to serve not only your food, but any need you desire. You will be well taken care of… Thank you for making your restaurant a home away from home. Although everything I have ever eaten is awesome I have my favorites.
My recommended dishes:
Hot and Sour Soup
Kung Pao Chicken
Szechwan Prawns
Mongolian Beef
Do yourself the favor and Go! You won’t regret it

Best Chinese in Orinda… don’t even bother with Yan’s it’s not as good. Family run and they take their time to make it RIGHT. Salt and Pepper fish isn’t on the menu but it’s been up as a special for months. it is SO darn good! Mu Shu’s are always tasty and fresh. veggies crisp and not overcooked. Kid’s love their Sweet and Sour and Tomato Beef Chow Mein. I’m a Big fan of the Szechwan Beef! This is truly the only choice for Chinese food in Orinda.

Always love coming here. Local family that puts good food on the table. There is certainly better Chinese in the Bay Area, however, Szechwan has been consistently good. Keep up the great work.

I have eaten in here at least 50 times. It is very good. It is not the cutting edge astonishing and amazing very latest stellar place in the bay area. They have a vast cadre of loyal customers and they have been here for years.

In this case, the 5 stars are not for over-​the-​top outstanding dishes but rather for reliably good dishes and efficient service over many years. We have enjoyed dining in and take out from this neighborhood landmark for two decades — busy nights, large parties, last-​minute takeout, etc., and the staff and kitchen consistently deliver a quality meal. That’s worth celebrating in the up-​and-​down world of Bay Area restaurants. Highly recommended.

Best fried rice around! Service is great. Food is amazing. My family has been going here for years! The stars it’s been given don’t do it justice. Definitely deserves five! When my mom visits since she doesn’t live here anymore we order her three extra deluxe fried rices and she takes them home. It’s that good!

My favorite Chinese food place, family favorite as well :) I recommend trying this place out.

This is the only review you have to read for this place at this time and it summarizes all reviews quite well. 3.5 stars does not do this place justice. This is one of those places that the Unilocal audience has failed miserably.
Every Unilocal «Elite» has given this place 4 stars. One Elite gave the place 2 reviews, one a 4 star and one being a 3 star because of one supposed poor dish on one occasion and he even stated «this place has never disappointed before.» Anyways, that guy’s reviews are pretty idiotic to me and somewhat illogical at first glance. If I was in charge I may have revoked his status. An «Elite» from Singapore gave the place a rave review and 4 stars.
This is a long time family run business that genuinely cares about the quality of the food it puts out. Despite the judgement of the service, I have always experienced kindness and attentiveness throughout the years I have frequented this place. I love Chinese food of all types and have eaten at restaurants internationally. The place itself is always immaculately clean and the food tastes super fresh and flavorful consistently. I like the Hot and Sour Soup, Singapore Noodles, Mu Shu, Mongolian Beef, Szechwan items, Curry items, Kung Pao items, just to name a few basics.
If you are on a budget, the lunch special is awesome. The prices are reasonable overall anyways. This place is by far one of the best if not the best Chinese restaurant in the vicinity. Good luck finding something better in the Lamorinda area.
If you care to read the stupidity prominent throughout the vast majority of low star reviews then be my guest. I just read every one and it was sad. I lost some faith in Unilocal.I suggest you avoid wasting time and trust the judgement of someone who knows what’s up.
I have spoken too much, and am now exhausted with this effort, but have served the Unilocal community well in saving our graces. If you give a low star rating take your ass to Panda Express, PF Changs or some shit. One love.

Never have had a bad meal here — simply the best food and service. Moo shu is the best

I had to up these guys’ star rating. After a recent take out order they had accidentally given me the wrong order. When I called them to let them know they were very apologetic, told me that they would fix it, and gave me the correct order without any fuss.
They sincerely wanted to make things right. I ended up keeping the other order which was just as delicious as everything I’ve eaten there so far.

Very good. Food is fresh. White chicken which was a nice surprise. Great vegetable fried rice. Friendly service.

I really don’t know how to rate this place. The staff is very personable, the atmosphere is great, and my dad loves this restaurant, but in my opinion most of there food is bland and not spicy. This is why my dad loves this place. I usually have to add soy sauce, vinegar, and chili sauce to the dishes served here.
The only exception to this is their amazing got and sour soup. Very unique and spicy. This is my favorite hot and sour soup ever. When I go here for lunch I order just the medium soup. The flavor is the same as the hot and sour the give you sometimes as part of the lunch special, but they add shrimp and chicken. As bland as the rest of the menu is, it is amazing that this soup is so fantastic.

Went to lunch ordered Fried Rice and Schewan Shrimp. Waiter brought food and we mentioned we ordered fried rice, he said NO YOU DIDNT. Ummmm we both ordered the same thing and we both knew we ordered fried rice. He refused to fix order and just walked off. We asked to speak with a manager she came to table, same waiter came when we were explaining what happened and he says we didn’t order fried rice. Look we normally NEVER complain, but geez don’t tell us we didn’t order what we know we did. It was a simple request, simple fix we weren’t asking for anything free just get our order right… Epic Fail. Left without eating.. Over rice? Unbelievable. Manager said maybe he’s having a bad day!!! WHAT… HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE… will never go there or even recommend here. FAIL.

We went here with our two kids and were psyched with the outcome. The dining area is neat and clean. The service was great, even though the waiter seemed confused about why we would purposely take shrimp out of a dish (we’re vegetarians). The egg rolls were great! Not stringy, not too greasy, not too crunchy. Perfect. We got veggie mushu pancakes and they were also perfect — with more vegetables in the mixture than we’re used to — most restaurants around the Bay Area stick with mostly cabbage and carrots but this mixture had mushrooms and brocooli too. The chow mein fun noodles were delicious. None of this food is overly greasy.
We are happy to have found this place.