Absolutely loved the authentic Sichuan food! The Oil boiled fish made me feel like I was back in Chongqing!!!
Great food, huge portions, and good service!
Authentic and tasty Chinese food! This restaurant is my new shrine now and I will for sure be a loyal visitor for a while till I find a replacement.
Good food! Service definitely needs some work.
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Szechuan Bistro is one of the many restaurants in Chinatown's Richland Center food court. I got the Dry Pot Aged Pork with Cauliflower, which came with a bowl of rice. The portion size was pretty good, though it was a bit pricey at ~$17. I was a little disappointed that the bowl was mostly cauliflower and barely had any pork, but nonetheless both the cauliflower and pork were quite delicious, flavorful, and spicy.
The menu was diverse and expansive, and there were a lot of classic, traditional Szechuan dishes on there that looked good. Although there are a lot of other good Szechuan places in Chinatown, they're all pretty formal sit-down spots unless you do takeout, so Szechuan Bistro would be a good choice if you're alone or with a small group and/or just looking for a casual counter-service spot. The food court can get crowded at times, but I've always been able to find a spot to sit every time that I've come.
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Price (relative to peers): 4.2/5
Food: 4.4/5
Ambience (food court): 4/5
Service: N/A
Overall Value: 4.3/5
UPDATE: Upping to 5 stars for food quality and service… Went again and tried their House Special Brains & Tofu and it was really good!! It’s a unique dish that I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere else; the brains texture was interesting— really soft and melts in your mouth. The flavors of Szechuan spice and chili oil were strong. The owners who work here are very sweet too.
Ordered takeout from this place. One thing to consider is this place is just one of the many food stalls in a plaza so the seating is public and limited. And depends on what you order, it can take up to 1 hour to get your food.
With that being said, the food I ordered were quite good: fish with pickled veggies (酸菜鱼) and spicy beef slices (夫妻肺片). Both qualify and quantify were top notch. The fish were well cooked and tender while the beef slices were chewy and well seasoned.
Price was also very descent so I would highly recommend this place.
Wife and I stumbled upon this little place located in a basement and fell in love with it! We weren't hungry at all when we went to in this basement to check out what's new, and were lured to it by the fragrance of cooking Szechuan peppercorn permeated from their kitchen. We ordered the stir-fried fatty beef with chili peppers (jalapenos) and it was very authentic Szechuan cooking and tasted awesome! The smell of Szechuan peppercorn and fresh chili peppers was intoxicating and they delivered just the right amount of spiciness and numbness to the lips and tong for someone who’s used to spicy food (I use Sriracha sauce like ketchup.) Best of all, the flavor of the sauce and numbness from peppercorn linger in the mouth that made us want to have more. Portion of the dish was large enough for 2 people and with leftover for a second meal.
This little gem is our new found favorite in Chinatown and we can’t wait to return to try more items from their menu.
I got the kung pao chicken, scallion pancakes. Highly recommended - sauce was delicious!! Chicken was uniformly cut, and tender. Sauce again was really good - that makes the dish. Prepared quickly and perfectly. Nice and spicy. This is where the Asians go for a great quick meal in Chinatown.
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This is the one of the BEST Szechuan food in Chinatown I have tried so far!! They just opened a month ago, and I have had their food four times already, three times dine-in and one time delivery. Last Saturday, I tried their peppercorn fish fillet, 藤椒活鱼. This is one of the most awesome fish dishes I ever tried!! I bet this restaurant would be popular even if it were located in China. I dreamed of the fish for an entire week. I tried to come over Wednesday night, but I heard they would be closed on Wednesdays. On Thursday, I didn’t have time to pick the bones out of the peppercorn fish fillet, so I ordered the Sichuan spicy boiled beef(Shui zhu niu水煮牛) delivered to me. I highly recommend this dish too. I needed to wrap up fast Friday night, so I ordered the house special kung pao chicken, 宫保鸡丁. It’s hard to describe how great it was. I nearly cried because of being homesick. I came back again quickly for my dream peppercorn fish and recommended my boyfriend the kung pao chicken. He liked it very much too. For someone who doesn’t know, peppercorn fish is a little spicy, Sichuan spicy boiled fish is spicy, and kung pao chicken is sweet. Plus: it’s a very fair price to have their food, especially considering how amazing their food quality is. The owner said their cook was trained in one of the most traditional and popular Szechuan restaurant in Beijing, e mei jiu jia, 峨眉酒家 for over ten years. I didn’t believe so until I tried these recipes. People from Beijing would definitely feel the hometown flavor. I deeply believe everyone will like their food.
Delicious dan dan noodles from the texture to the flavor + well seasoned beef tendon and maw cold dish made me wish I had a bowl of rice. Definitely a hidden gem!
Szechuan Bistro is basically the replacement of Szechwan JMC before they unofficially closed down. It’s the same Chef and the same menu. This is good because Szechuan JMC was (imho) one of the best Chinese restaurants in Chicago. It’s basically the exact same menu and exactly as good as I remember it. There are so many good dishes here it’s quite difficult to count. But I think their Dan Dan noodles, kung pao chicken, and sour pickle fish are all popular and quite good. Highly highly recommended.
Great Sichuan style food, authentic! We ordered too much
One dish for one person, grilled fish can feed the whole family!!
Really yummy and authentic Sichuan food conveniently located right next to Elite Boba in the basement food court of Chinatown. Almost everything on the menu is delicious and blazing hot!! They used to be located somewhere else in Chinatown and relocated to this location- check it out!!!
Great food! We had the Kung Pao Chicken and it tasted wonderfully spicy and authentically.
This is the best Szechuan/Sichuan restaurant in the city, the execution on every dish is unparalleled. I've been eating this chef's food since they worked at Szechuan JMC (now closed) and I'm so glad they now have their own place. I continue to find amazing new dishes to add to my rotating roster after 8 years of eating their food. Sometimes as I scarf down the food I look at the curtain that separates the kitchen from front of house and just wonder, who is this guy, where did he train, how did he learn to cook at this level?
Really delicious! House Special Chicken is very spicy and flavorful. The lady at the counter is very kind and friendly too!
Amazing even for delivery - the best Chinese food I've had in Chicago. The care taken in choosing good ingredients and crafting good recipes is palpable, hope they keep it up!
This place is run by the former chef of Szechwan JMC, and the food is just as good.
太棒了！ 每一个菜都是老板精心烹饪 ！希望老板一直保持下去
Best Szechuanese food in Chicago! No joking!绝对是芝加哥最好的川菜了，巴适的板！
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