Szechuan House
| Address: | 320 E Burlington St, Iowa City, IA 52240, USA |
| Phone: | +1 319-338-6788 |
| Site: | szechuanhouseia.com |
| Rating: | 3.6 |
| Working: | 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10:30PM 11AM–10:30PM 11AM–10PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 9
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Kevin Chase
I have had two experiences now with this restaurant. The first time, the food was very good, but the service VERY poor! I was told I was only allowed to have a certain amount of soy sauce, which our entire table was VERY shocked by. Today, I placed a delivery order. I was VERY specific in what I wanted, especially in terms of the sauces/condiments or any modifications to my order. I remember very clearly what I ordered for sauces, cause I thought it was strange a chinese restaurant didnt have sweet and sour sauce, only duck sauce. My order had many mistakes in it, and NO soy sauce packets what-so-ever. Which I asked for extra. The chicken was also very mushy, darkmeat, and very unappetizing. I called to let them know they had made some mistakes, and all she did was make it seem like it was my fault. I asked for no vegetables in my Lo Mein, and it was filled with onions. She replied, "oh, you dont want onions". I said, correct, that is a vegetable, and I asked for plain lo mein noodles. She clearly had no issues with my being dissatisfied. Very disappointing.
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Benjamin Young
I would say that this place serves the best authentic Chinese food in town. There are several other options around the area for Asian food--- but Szechuan House keeps it real with great spices and seasonings used. At the same time, they have the back pages of the menu dedicated to more "American friendly" taste (Think Orange Chicken, Beef and Broccoli etc). That said, the service is hit or miss. The first two times I ate here, we had a lady who was friendly and helpful with suggestions. However the last few months, Ive had the worst inattentive people in the restaurant industry be around--- They were slow, ununderstandable, and in some cases just rude. My last visit we waited for the bill for 15 minutes; both waiters were sitting across the room at the bar texting on their phones. This place has the opportunity to be a shining gold star on Iowa Citys map for cuisine--- but they have to completely retrain their staff and establish etiquette rules. Recommended for people who want the best Asian food around, but are in a particularly patient mood for bad service.
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Tommy Lee
Food is decent, however half of the experience is ruined by the horrible customer service. 1st waiter that took our drink doesnt even make any effort to be social and eyes glazed over us. 2nd waiter that took our food told friends of mine that they are not ordering enough and implicitly making them order more than what they want cause they feel bad for not ordering enough. Also when we noted that one of the drink is incorrect, she got into negative argument that the drink we ordered doesnt come in the type we requested. If so why not tell us that in the first place. This is 1st waiters mistake sure, but she couldve been way more polite about it, instead of being obnoxious about it or perhaps even offer to take the drink back. Third waiter is good, he is courteous and polite, if we had him for the entire service, it probably wouldve been a much better experience.
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Emily Schoerning
We suspect the lamb we ordered from here was actually beef, and the spicy sauce on the dumplings appeared to made with sand. Seriously a gritty, greasy, flavorless concoction. The bathroom has a terrifying aroma. They said we could not have hot tea because they had no hot water, and said they did not have many of the items that were listed on the menu. We wanted to like this place but the food just wasnt very good. A couple of dishes we ordered bore no resemblance to anything wed anticipated. Weve eaten a fair amount of authentic szechuan food at places throughout the country... we still arent sure if the kitchen made a series of mistakes or what. Also, their chopsticks are those horrible slippery washable plastic kind. I hate those things. Sadly, Iowa Citys really good Chinese place has not yet arrived.
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Frances Siddique
If you like actual Chinese food, and not American Chinese food, you will find all your favorites here. Its the kind of place where you can find everything you like and are familiar with, but still try something new without breaking the bank. If you are unfamiliar with food as its prepared in China, its a user friendly kind of place to explore new dishes and tastes. Ask foe the picture menu, as some foods might be hard to picture according to the description, if youre not already familiar with it. There are all sorts of good things on the menu, but we prefer spicy dishes. Everything weve had here has been good. We like the lamb with cumin, and the Tai Xi chicken. I think its worth a try if you are looking for Chinese and want something different than the usual Iowa fare.
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Ben Smasher
I dont know a lot about proper szechuan chinese food but I am of the opinion that the negative reviews here are pretty undeserved. The food here is excellent, often employing chili, sichuan peppers and peppercorns in heaps, which can easily throw the uninitiated off for sure. The menu is extensive if not exhaustive. Service here can be bit frustrating for those who dont speak chinese but it appears that most of the clientele here do. For the novice: a bit of patience and careful ordering here will reward you with a great experience, different from elsewhere in Iowa city. It should be noted though that this place offers the absolute worst bubble tea I have ever had.
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Chad
Fried rice was expensive and bland, had chicken and vegetable fried rice. Spicy and crunchy shrimp was spicy but disgustingly non-crunchy... The only thing that made my 12 almost medium sized, almost breaded, and almost crunchy shrimp spicy. Was the ridiculous amount of peppers and green onion the shrimp were hid in... This shrimp dish is 17$. 12 almost medium sized shrimp, kinda breaded, not crunchy, spice comes from a entire bowl of nothing but hot disgusting peppers and scallions... Never again. If youre close enough to Coralville do yourself a favor and get Hunan. Meat dumplings were the only thing that was satisfactory...
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Ullas Vishwakarma
One of the worst experience. All items we ordered were good. But in one item, the chicken was rotten and smelling badly. We asked to replace it, the guy who took the order was damn rude, came and did not even looked or checked the dish and simply said " No its good. I know its good!". He did not bothered. With absolutely no courtesy said " Whatever it is you have to pay for it!". Anyways we said we will pay but asked to take away that chicken order which he threw to garbage. My friend was already hungry so we order something else. Deserved NO TIPS for him. Never again!!
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j carter
The service is so slow...I hear that the owners steal the tips from the employees...maybe that is why they have no motivation to work faster. Seriously, I went in with a group and we waited for ten minutes until I walked over and got a waiter. Then they brought food after 30 minutes and gave me no fork or chopsticks. My water glass never did get refilled... I thought I maybe went on a bad night...so I went back a few weeks later. Same thing. Slow service and I had to ask for a menu and a drink. WILL NEVER AGAIN VISIT THIS FILTHY PLACE.
