Best of Szechuan

Too Bad I like the place but I guess there can be only one.

Came here for hot pot.
I asked for the yin yang pot. It came with beef, pork, lamb, chicken, fish, fish balls, tripe, napa cabbage, bok choy, potatoes, fungi, tofu, sprouts, dipping sauce, and two different broths — one mild, the other spicy.
The meat was very tough, super chewy. And they gave us a bucket load of food. It could’ve fed 4 people.
What disappointed me the most was that, we weren’t given a menu and they charged us for a large hot pot for two people. If I knew there was a smaller size (I found out after reading one of the Unilocal posts), we would’ve chosen that. But maybe the yin yang pot only comes in a large size… and I don’t think they’ll be happy if we ordered for one person and shared the large hot pot.
Anyways the service was good and I’ll be back to try their smaller sized hot pot.

I came w/​friends during lunch 2 times recently. Notice the place was quiet. Yes, there is reason for that — Would you serve rusty lettuce on the plate to your customers? Yes, they do, they don’t even need to hide it like put some fresh ones on top to cover the rusty ones. They just put the whole pile of visually you can see — turned brown lettuce as part of your lunch plate! And we were asked steam rice or fried rice — we said Fried Rice. The wait came out with our lunch plates; said «Today we don’t have fried rice». Don’t you think is at least a courteous to let the customer know about that before in advance? Well, I won’t go back, as well as my friends.
BTW, parking is not handicapped friendly.

Been looking for a good Chinese place for a while and I think I may have found it. Went here on early in the evening, and we were just about the only people in this huge place. about the time we were done, the place started getting busier and they were almost all of Chinese descent. I’m thinking that that generally means we got a good place. My dish was spicy, in that good way. We also had the sesame chicken, which was good, but a bit different than expected flavorwise. It seemed a bit sweet.
The one thing that struck me as weird, was when we got to go boxes, they were Styrofoam containers, instead of the usual to go boxes. Anyway, for a first visit, it was ok and worth a second try for us.

For those of you that are familiar with this place being a all you can eat chinese buffet and for those of you whom have gone back to give the new place a chance. You’ve got to admit, it’s ten times better!
I had the string bean chicken, my hubby had the mongolian beef and both were super fresh and delicious! I’ve been to several chinese restaurants in Beaverton for the past 8 years and this is my new favorite place to go.
It was empty but thinking it’s b/​c everyone associates this place with the nasty buffet that used to be here.
The service is fast and I can be in and out in 30 – 45 min! :) I gave it 4 starts only b/​c the service wasn’t very friendly but they are very attentive.

Ugghhh. Very difficult to land on a decisive number of stars for this rating. Like Oregon’s weather, I’ve found the food and service @ BoS decidedly schizophrenic, w/​wild swings on either end of the continuum, in the all-​important categories of taste, quality, and timeliness.
Concerning their strengths, Best of Szechuan has a rather large and robust menu, featuring items not frequently found @ other Chinese/​American eateries— like rabbit, frog, fish morsels and intestines, lamb, flash fried flounder, salt/​pepper oysters (and prawns, and scallops…)… you get the idea. As another Yeep for this place pointed out, the menu is similar in volume and breadth to the nearby «Taste of Sichuan», which had already earned my highest ratings before I discovered this place (BoS). Are these two restaurants owned/​ran by the same folks???
Reiterating the weaknesses of BoS, the main problem is one of inconsistency. Every place can have an off night every now and again, yet based on my visits here it’s split right down the middle: sometimes really good, sometimes not so good, and with super slow service, to top it off. This place has the potential to be as lovely as Taste of Sichuan, I believe, only I’m not too sure I care to keep giving them more and more Mulligans until I find their sweet spot…

Why is this place always so empty yet Taste of Sichuan is always so busy? This Szechuan restaurant is cleaner, the staff are much better and friendlier, and the prices are a bit lower! This is my new go-​to for my Chinese food cravings! I love the lamb, and the hand shaved noodles are greasy deliciousness! Bok choy done to perfection as well.
I think maybe people think it’s still that nasty Chinese buffet that it used to be. The signage isn’t great, and it being tucked out of the way, you’d have to know it’s back there to find it.

I have been to this place 2 times for lunch and have tried their lunch specials both times. I like the Chongqing Hot chicken and the Chopper Pepper Hot Chicken. The Chongqing chicken is deep fired dish but tasted good. Chopped pepper chicken had a good amount of spice to it and was well done. The Veg. fried rice that came along with it was pretty nice as well. The lunch special also comes with a soup for which i picked the Egg flower soup.
My friend tried the Szechuan chicken in hot garlic sauce which was a big disappointment as he specifically ordered it extra spicy but they made it with a sweet sauce. :(
I like this place compared to «Taste of Sichuan» as its not very crowded and service is prompt here.

If you like «Taste of Sichuan» you will probably like this food.
Portions are generous and the wait staff is very attentive.
I don’t care for the quality of the food. No matter what you get it all tastes the same — and there is a lot of it.
I tried the green onion pancakes since another reviewer raved. Bland and chewy — don’t know what the fuss was about. This is the first and last time I plan on going there — I wouldn’t even be interested if someone else was paying.

The beef broccoli and moo goo gai pan were very good. The classic fried rice had wonderful flavor. Try this place. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Best of Szechuan?
Um well based on today’s experience I’m guessing not.
I called in takeout at 2pm. I had an hour between meetings.
I’ve been having a craving for cold sesame noodles that has lasted all week. I looked at New Seasons, Whole Foods, and have been searching menus on Unilocal,with no success. So when I spotted «cold Szechuan noodles» on BoS’ s menu I thought I’d give it a try.
I ordered bbq pork for good measure. In case the noodles weren’t good.
Because BBQ pork is hard to mess up right?
Um.
Wrong.
Worst BBQ pork ever. Dry and tough and HOT and textured like particle board in a ketchupy BBQ sauce. Wet and drippy. I really think they poured the sauce on to cover up the bad meat. It was gross.
Not the lean tender shellacked with char sui sauce yummy meat I’d expect. I’ve been eating that stuff since I got teeth.
Not even close. Ugh.
The noodles?
Perfectly cooked wheat noodles with green onions and crushed peanuts but with a slimy orange sauce that was overly spicy and seemed to be curry mixed with Siracha. Ugh. I rinsed them off in a colander at home and added soy sauce and sesame seeds. (I know). Ridiculous.
This was not successful. One point for the lady being nice in person and on the phone. One for the little bag with fortune cookie, fork, mustard and napkin that came with the food.
I doubt I’d return.
I like Good Taste on TV Highway or the deli at Uwajimaya for bbq pork. I will stick with that and make my own damn noodles. Bummer.

I was excited to try Best of Sichuan out after hearing about it from a friend. The owner used to be the head chef of Taste of Sichuan, this is also the reason why the menu is extremely similar to Taste of Sichuan’s. This restaurant has an 80s/​90s feel, but it’s very big and open. After reading the menu, we decided to try their all-​you-​can-​eat hot pot.
We ordered the Cheng Du Dan Dan Noodle as an appetizer, I was surprised that it wasn’t authentic. Authentic Dan Dan noodles are spicy, a little sour, usually contain preserved vegetable, a good amount of minced pork, and usually use thin noodles. The Dan Dan Noodle we ordered was not soupy nor spicy and it used too much peanut sauce; the noodles were thick and wasn’t smooth.
The hot pot was good, the server checked on us frequently and kept the food coming. I think the hot pot was better than Hot Pot City’s, even though you don’t have as many ingredients to choose from, it feels better to have hot pot in a bigger restaurant.
I was very pleased with the service considering authentic Chinese restaurants don’t usually have good service. I want to go back and try their dishes next time; I would choose Best of Sichuan over taste of Sichuan and Spicy World for the good service and openness of the restaurant.

Just came from there (eating leftovers now) and liked the place a lot. It’s no the best food ever, but it’s hot and fresh and very good. Huge portions, and an even better deal thanks to a groupon, I’m looking forward to the next time we’re in portland so I can come back… and eat alot!
Huge portions, did I mention that? Huge portions of fresh hot food… I did feel that the general chicken was a little bland, but I thought the Moo Shoo Beef and beef and broccoli were very nice, LOVED the pork fried rice and the free teapot of green tea.
I’ll be back, people!

We ordered 2 items:
Chong Qing Hot Chicken: Pretty good (tried multiple times)… better than the one we had in ‘Taste of Szechuan’.
Fiery Pot of Fish Morsels on a Bed Of Cabbage: Spicy but Decent taste. Lots of oil.
Chopper Pepper Hot Chicken: Good.
Green Onion Scallions roti: Pretty good.
Huge quantities… each dish could serve 2 people.
Service was not great. We were left by ourselves until we could signal the server for water/​bill. There weren’t many people and they started mopping and cleaning the floor about an hour before their closing time. I generally don’t like when the cleaning happens while we are dining.
Good interiors and huge place.

I was very excited to try this place out because it was opened by the old head chef of Taste of Sichuan just down the road. Yet, I found myself disappointed by all the dishes, we ordered, except for the stir-​fried pea tips/​shoots. We had some typical starter dishes including a spicy bean jelly dish, whose English name I don’t know. My parents also ordered a crab dish and a fish because it was near the Chinese New Year. All the flavors were dulled down and not bright and powerful like I am accustomed to for Szechuan food. It wasn’t spicy or salty enough. My mouth should be on fire after eating this stuff, and regardless I should think it’s too good for me to stop.
Talking to the owner’s wife, she said that they could adjust the flavors the next time we come and that they purposely dulled the flavors for an American market. So perhaps the next visit will be better?

The dishes are very similar to the Taste of Sichuan on NW Cornell. The difference is the service and space.
Tried the spicy hotpot for the first time ever last night. They have two prices when it comes to the hotpot. If you order a small hot pot the charge would be $ 14.00 per person. If you order a large hot pot the charge would be $ 17.00 per person. I honestly think those prices are a bit expensive. I rather go else where for hotpot. There is quite a selection of meat/​veggies and noodles to select from for the hotpot.
The hotpot is a bowl of spicy red broth with tons of red chilies. I didn’t think it was spicy at all. It looks like it but that’s about it. We also tried the salted & pepper squid which was lacking of flavor.
This review is getting 4 stars only for the service. Our waiter was attentive, friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. I would definitely return to try other dishes.

Well, not the «BEST» of Szechuan but I would consider this place a work in progress. Paying homage to «Taste of Szechuan» up the road, the menu is strikingly similar and preparations are nearly identical. The kitchen is apparently still getting things sorted as the green onion pancakes came at the same time as one of the entrees. The other was delayed by several minutes leaving me to believe it was forgotten.
The food:
Hot and sour soup was light, flavorful and a little shy on mushrooms. Oddly, they used canned, sliced mushrooms in addition to black mushrooms. The flavor and heat/​sour balance was spot on while the volume of ingredients (the chunky stuff) could be a bit more. Thankfully they did not overuse starch or egg. Well done.
Green onion pancake appetizer. Nicely crisped and beautiful presentation. The garlic, chili sesame sauce was quite good without being too spicy. This is a good starter for anyone with mild to low spice tolerance.
Chong Qin chicken. Be prepared for the heat. Traditionally this is heaped with numbing szechuan peppercorn (prickly ash) and then liberally sprinkled with peppers and sauteed string beans. The chicken is spice crusted and fried. This was quite good but their competition up the street executes a little better offering a bit of sauce to tie the elements together. As the chicken is deep fried, i wouldn’t recommend making a habit of eating this dish. The pepper count is so high that even i had to leave nearly a dozen behind but i did eat my fill.
Entrees come with steamed or fried rice and a lightly dressed bit of salad. The rice is «different» but not in a bad way. It’s a short grain with a nice woody aroma.
Tea is loose leaf, which i love. A nice hint of smokey floral.
The service, despite screw up on my dish, ROCKS! Water service was great, frequent visits back to the table for updates on meal were greatly appreciated. I will be back.
Bonus: they offer lunch specials even on the weekend. How cool is that?

We dropped by around 1:45 on a Saturday afternoon, the parking lot was pretty full which is a good sign. We walked in and were the only white folks there, also a good sign in my experience. It is housed in the old Treasure Island Buffet building.
The Hot and Sour Soup was good, in my top 5 or so, good consistency (I hate it when the soup is ultra thick and gummy), excellent balance of flavor, I liked very much!
I have never eaten Green Onion Pancakes before so we tried them, super crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, they come with a nice dipping sauce. Loved them and can’t wait to try them again.
I ordered Kung Pao Shrimp and hubby ordered Chong Qing Hot Chicken. My Kung Pao Shrimp was OK, the sauce was sweeter than I would have liked, the shrimp were a bit overcooked. There was a bunch of Bell Peppers which did not belong. Also a ton of Mushrooms which I have encountered in this dish before. It was OK, I hate to say it but the version of it that I adore is right up the street at Taste Of Sichuan.
Hubs Chong Qing Hot Chicken, was OK, not very spicy and I could not taste much of the Szechuan Peppercorn which it is famous for. This same dish at Taste of Sichuan is outstanding in comparison.
One thing that I personally did not like is their rice, it appears they are using a non traditional short grain rice. I much prefer the normal long grain rice usually associated with most Asian foods.
Bottom line, these folks are an exact copycat of Taste of Sichuan a newer restaurant about a mile away (so exact that they also have a Wild Side menu). The problem is that their food is not nearly as good.
One thing I can say is that for being open a relatively short period of time, they really have their shit together. It took Taste of Sichuan about 9 months to really learn to run the restaurant smoothly, Best of Szechuan only a few weeks. Also they have a lunch menu 7 days a week which makes it considerably cheaper to try them.
**The exception to this was that hubbys meal came out about 10 minutes after mine, the Waiter however was well aware of this and kept checking on the status and getting back to us. No big deal hub was munching on his Green Onion Pancake.

New Chinese restaurant that falls into the Szechuan style cooking instead of the regular Dim Sum, American style foods.
Tried this place with the wifey the other night and really enjoyed it. We had the seafood shaven noodles, not spicy, a Chicken with green beans and a ton of red peppers on it… I think it was Chong Chiu Chicken or something like that, pig ears with chilli oil and green onion pancake.
The noodles are not the regular noodles that you see, instead it was a big glop of noodles in all shapes and sizes. I think cut them a tiny bit smaller would make it more… noodle like? But either way the dish was good.
The chong chiu chicken has green beans and mountains of chicken and dried hot peppers. The dish wasn’t über spicy, which is fine, but it does have a little kick to it. The green beans were fresh and the chicken was pretty good. I recommend this dish as well.
If you don’t like pig ears, than you’ll probably not order this at all. However I like it, and it was nice and, big. The ears are sliced thin so it’s not like your given an entire ear and you have to eat it… it’s thinly sliced for your needs. Very spicy… like burn your taste buds off spicy.
Lots of potential for this place. Their lunch prices are really cheap and looks pretty good. Also with them being so close to appartment buildings I can see their to go business doing well if they continue the consistancy of the food.
I’ll be back again.

Was this the «best» Szechuan place ever? Nah, it’s just OK.
Came here for dinner after my mom heard about this new restaurant opening up in Beaverton. I’m not a big Szechuan fan — can’t handle spicy foods — so this wouldn’t be my #1 pick regardless. But as reluctant as I was, their non-​spicy dishes weren’t too bad.
WE ORDERED:
— #19: Pickled Cabbage w/​Strips of Pork Stomach (I recommend)
— #S11: Sliced Cucumbers in a Garlic Sesame Sauce (good garlic flavor but too crunchy)
— #S15: Five Spice Bean Curd w/​Toasted Peanuts (I recommend; yes, it’s spicy)
— #108: Hand Shaven Seafood Chow Mein (it was okay even though it was a «popular» dish)
YAY:
— pretty large portions with good prices (even the «appetizers» had similar serving sizes as their entrees)
— interior is roomy, well-​lit with high ceilings
— manager/​owner stopped by our table to ask how everything was.
— servers were pretty attentive in refilling our tea
NAY:
— no one was at the front desk when we walked in, so we had to wave someone down in the main dining room area (it wasn’t even busy)
— the exterior was pretty dim; hardly any lights which can easily mistaken this place as being closed
— as you’re walking out, the doors are incredibly heavy and hard to push…
— my mom got her fortune cookie minus the fortune :(