Szechuan Restaurant

GOOD FEELING: Sometimes, the old place like Szechuan Restaurant is good for the soul. I went there at 2ish pm while their were cleaning up the buffet. Sweet Judy and the husband were so nice, let me eat the last of it for $ 5. I don’t care what you all think of my reviews (all were from my experiences and not anybody else), especially this review, it felt so good just being there, being taken care of by good people!
FUNNY FEELING: There were girls dancing naked next door @ The BoomBoom Room while I was eating! hahahaha

I love this place. It’s consistent, tasty, simple, and fast. I mostly get take out, and it’s always done in about 15 minutes from the time I call. I’ve eaten at the lunch buffet too, for over 25 years, and it’s always really good. It really is a SW Portland staple, and I’m so glad it’s still around after all these years. Also, a very nice and professional couple who run it. If you want authentic, old Portland fare, this is it.

Absolutely love this place and have been coming here for years, Usually get the Kung Pao, Potstickers and BBQ Pork. Also highly recommend Judy’s Mai Tai’s! Judy and her husband work the restaurant themselves and are some of the nicest people you will ever meet.

I want it on record, in case I get sick later.
You figure, if a place has buffet from 11:30 to 2, that right around one you can miss the lunch rush but still get pretty fresh stuff. if you go any later, there may not be fast turnover and the dishes might not be as good. This was what I figured, anyway. I try and plan a head a bit on this sort of stuff.
There were no other customers, and I’m pretty sure nobody had come in before me. There were plenty of dishes on the steam table, but they were barely a third full and were untouched. In fact, as I took my seat, the waitress had to turn the lights on over the buffet. That’s some kind of sign, to be sure…
They had only made three little egg rolls, which I happily took all of. The noodles were seriously indistinguishable from that canned Chun King shit from childhood (at least for those of us whose parents couldn’t really cook). The battered meats, like sweet & sour something and brown & soggy something, were terrifying and weird. The dishes with chopped veggies were okay — you know, the kung pao general tzo stuff — and all the veggies were quite fresh. But it’s sad when the most flavorful dish is the fried green beans with onion. The soup was okay, the tea was okay, but these are hard items to fuck up.
I am guessing that they own the building, and that renting space to the tacky titty bar downstairs keeps them in the black. But I still feel bad, because the two folks working were very nice, and it’s a really cute restaurant right in my neighborhood. But this buffet has me taking a second look at that David’s place up the way. It’s not like I’m spoiled, or have high falutin’ tastes; I eat Safeway deli chinese food at least once a week.
I’ll give them one more try on the take-​out, just because I want to like them.

We had take out, so I can’t comment on the atmosphere, but the food was very tasty and the people were super friendly and accommodating. It is typical «American Chinese», but for what it was, it was good.

I feel bad writing this because the lady at the counter was so sweet. I ordered take out, and sure the atmosphere is a bit off, but then some of the most incredible places I’ve ever eaten were outwardly disheveled.
the point of this review is to warn people about eating this food. the beef was so dry it crumbled in my mouth and had a distinct burnt rubber flavor– inedible. The chicken was soggy, oily and gamey. The noodles were bland and tasteless (although the best dish I had overall).
I’m sorry to say that I wont be back.

As others have said, it’s an Americanized Chinese place. But even when comparing on that scale, the food that I had here was way below average. Their eggplant with Szechuan sauce was sour. And their twice cooked pork came with this thick oil-​like sauce that just made it look disgusting. The meat was also way overcooked. I was, needless to say, extremely disappointed.

This is a hole-​in-​the-​wall fantastic food find that serves lunch buffet and dinner. My favorites are Sizzling Rice Soup and Szechuan Beef. I’m spoiled. There is no other place that I’ve been that makes their Szechuan Beef so crunchy and tasty like they do here.
The sentiment is the same with the sizzling rice soup. Whatever they do to create this soup is like none other. It is really, really good. Having eaten here about a dozen times in the last ten years, nothing has changed. They keep on producing great food with awesome service.
I haven’t ventured downstairs into the Boom Boom Room; the fact that there is a strip club downstairs adds to the magic of the place, I think. You wouldn’t even know it if you weren’t paying attention. Now, this property is old, old, old. It needs paint and a change of décor. But it’s clean inside and in all these years, maybe they just don’t need a change.

I don’t know what people are smokin with the bad reviews of this place! I LOVE Szechuan! I grew up a few blocks away and have been a patron of this establishment for the past 25 years. The funny thing is the décor hasn’t changed since I was a toddler. I remember picking at the cork walls when I was about two feet tall. LOL. I love coming back in. It feels like I’m in a time warp. But even though nothings changed in 30 years, the inside is always meticulously clean and well maintained.
The staff is great and always friendly. It’s always this one chinese lady that remembers my family since we’ve been going for so long. Lovely lady.
Oh but the food! It’s the only Chinese food in town I’ll eat. The meat is ALWAYS well cut and high quality. I have never gotten a ‘weird’ piece of meat there EVER. Vegetables always fresh and the sauce always right! Not too thick and not to thin. The fried rice is THE best. It’s not that greasy thick brown fried rice you get everywhere else. It’s light and white. No where else have I seen friend rice that isn’t fried brown like here. My favorites is the Tomato Beef, Snow White Chicken and Mongolian Beef.
I think a lot of the bad rap this place has gotten is because of the BoomBoom room that moved in about 10 years ago. I think it really tarred its image and people can’t look past that. But do! It doesn’t have an effect on the food, just peoples perception of the food. Don’t listen to the bad reviews trust me! You won’t regret it. :)

Fellow Unilocaler Duncan summed it up succinctly and expertly on this one: The restaurant and the adjoining Boom-​Boom Room are each somehow degraded by their relationship, and the thin wall separating the two is no where near enough. This is a place where the scum is in the air and you are aware of it as you get out of your car, before you even come through the door. Definitely NOT an example of keeping the «fun» in «dysfunctional». Anyone who has ever been in a particularly toxic relationship will probably understand right away: how you always seem to manage to bring out the worst in one another…
I only ever had their take-​out, and you will readily perceive a force-​field around this establishment, repelling anyone and, apparently, anything of quality. The bored-​looking staff were by no means surprised we wouldn’t be staying to dine-​in.
Oh yeah: the food itself of course was ca-​ca. This place actually deserves special recognition, as it is the only place that I know of, here in Portland, that you could make a strong case as being even worse than Lung Fung. For many years I didn’t know that was possible. I never intentionally involved myself in the active pursuit of finding this mythical Worst of category!!! Super Buffet on N. Lombard (and just a few blocks away from Lung Fung) offers some surprisingly strong competition out of the starting blocks, but lacks the gambling lounge o’ the Fung, and the appeal of the hootchie mommas in the Boom-​Boom Room, and so I can’t even imagine will be around long enough to be considered serious competition. Too bad, ‘cos they seem like nice folks, they just seem slow to pick up on social cues… like all the unfinished plates, and that none of us buffet-​bustin’ Yankee large folk seems to go for second or thirds… One wonders if ANY of the folks involved w/​this caliber of eatery (not just Chinese American, but all kinds) tunes into Unilocal or Urban Spoon, etc, for a few laughs at least, if not some constructive critiicism…

Most of you probably will think that Olivia T. is losing her mind. How could she give five stars to an American Chinese restaurant with average 1 – 2 stars from other Unilocalers?
Well, I’ve been avoiding this place like a plague even tho I live about 10 minutes walking distance from it. The place look like a shady place from the outside. All that curtains on the windows, prevent you to see inside. I always thought this place conjoined to Boom Boom Room. Don’t get me wrong, I like strip clubs, but I don’t know if I want to see bewbies while I indulge on Moo goo gai pan.
Anyway, fast forward, on a cold Friday night. we were starving. None of us wanted to cook and delivery is hella expensive. We decided to try out the Szechuan restaurant next to Boom Boom Room. I braved myself and told myself that everything is going to be alright and just expect the worst.
We walked into the restaurant. Don’t expect décor around the entrance area. The nice lady right away asked us if we wanted to order take outs. I guess that’s what people do. We told her we wanted to dine in. She guided us to their huge dining room. This place looked wayyyy better inside than outside. They have dragons on their walls and they have giant booths.
We were there at 7 pm on Friday night and the dining room was empty. RED FLAG RED FLAG. We sat at one of the giant booths. The lady brought us our menus. She turned on the radio and the heater. She brought us our tea and iced water. Superb service so far. We looked through the menu and decided on BBQ Pork for appetizer, Szechuan Beef, Eggplant with Tofu with Szechuan sauce for entrees.
We chatted and I told Jesse how I felt like we were in one episodes of mafias/​yakuzas movies. I was waiting for someone to storm in with weapons and robbed us. Well, that didn’t happen of course. I know that BBQ Pork at American Chinese restaurants are pre made and all they do just reheat it.
However, their BBQ Pork is pretty good for what it is. It’s better than other BBQ pork from other non authentic restaurants.
Not too long afterwards, we got our entrees. All dishes were steaming hot. The Szechuan beef was excellent. The meat was fresh, the vegetables were fresh, and the taste was delicious. The big surprise was the Eggplant with tofu, all veggies in it were fresh. Yes, I was surprised considering how this place most likely not busy and on Friday night their veggies were fresh. I love this dish so much, I wished I got more to take home.
The service was excellent. Even though there were only us in the dining room, the lady didn’t neglect us. She was constantly refilled our water glasses. She gave us nice friendly smiles and at the end we gave her a pretty big tip.
This restaurant was definitely a surprise of this year for me. Never in million years, I thought I’m going to write a 5 stars review of this place. I’m glad we tried it out and now perhaps we will be regulars there.

It Is What It Is
Hardly anyone is more critical of Chinese restaurants than I, having lived in China for 8 years, I seldom find anything in the US that resembles «real» Chinese food, not even in large city Chinatowns.
That being said, «Americanized» Chinese food is what it is, and that’s the case with Szechuan on Barbur.
We were there at 630P on a Thursday nite and the only dine-​in customers in a pretty large room, tho a couple of people came in to pick up take out orders
The menu is fairly typical of American Chinese restaurants, and there is no particular emphasis on «Szechuan» cuisine. For $ 12.95 per person, for the «family meal», you get soup, appetizers, and each have a choice of entrée. This price is less that most of the regular entrees on their menu, and of course entrees include a hefty bowl of steamed rice and tea. (You get charged for tea in china, everywhere, like a built-​in tip).
So it’s a good value, tasty enough, served hot, by relatively pleasant people. There is hardly any point in other reviews saying «it’s horrible» because it’s not.
Like my headline says, «it is what it is».

Best Szechuan Beef in town!
I have been coming to The Szechuan Restaurant for over 15 years. This is just excellent food. It’s a «Mom and Pop» type of place. I love the szechuan beef, garlic chicken, chef’s special chow main, chef’s special fried rice, green pepper beef, chicken with snow peas, sweet and sour chicken… ect. It’s all good. Really! Some people say the atmosphere isn’t very inviting (low ceilings, dim lighting, older building, not busy, next door to strip club) but I find I can always count on the consistent great cooking, available and friendly staff (never too far away and always checking at the appropriate intervals), always open during hours listed, provide you with steaming hot food, which is reasonable in price (esp. for the generous servings they provide) and are very fast. So maybe it isn’t a first date place because the atmosphere isn’t classy; however, if you’re like me, I am sure you hope your sweetheart can appreciate the best Chinese type of food in the area. If they can’t appreciate it because of the atmosphere just remember that you can always pick up take out.

Eating in seemed fine, but definitely not a date place… go there with the guys after visiting the place next door. Service was good, prices were ok, portions were large.
Take out, the one time I got it, was small and a poor value.

Food is poorly prepared, and the service was awful at best. Portions are a poor value. We paid our tab without leaving a tip. I will not be back.

This Chinese restaurant is housed in the same building as a strip club — the Boom Boom room. If that isn’t a health code violation right there, I don’t know what is! A previous paramour had an affinity for Chinese takeout, so we decided to stop one wintry evening as it was on the way home. And, hey, why not go catch a little T & A around the back while we waited for our food to cook? I must say that the 15 minutes spent at the rack was way more tasty than the food we were given. Slimy and clumpy orange chicken that made my teeth stick together. Wontons that were completely empty inside. Limp and soggy egg rolls… huh, in retrospect maybe there is a reason these two establishments are attached.

Lunch Buffet… with ODD JOB!
If your a James Bond fan you have to check out this place. The décor of this restaurant is more impressive than the food! A great throwback to the days where guns blazed in Chinese resturants and tables flew at lunch every other day! YOU WILL FEEL LIKE YOUR IN A MOVIE!