Cuisine type: Szechwan (Chinese)
Atmosphere: austere, family style seating
Meal: dinner
Overall score: 3.5
Nina
Ben got home very excited that he found a great online deal for this restaurant with rave reviews. To make things even better, it was a Szechwan restaurant, and given how much he likes spicy food, that in itself was a compelling reason to try it out.
The prices were very low, which wasn’t entirely surprising given the level of competition among Chinese restaurants in this part of Milpitas. Feeling at ease, we ordered an appetizer and two entrees to fully enjoy the offerings - we got a rabbit cashew appetizer to share, and I ordered a chicken mushroom entree (mild spiciness, I didn’t want to risk it too much). Of course, like with every other traditional Chinese restaurant, hot green tea was a given - however, we were not offered water and looking around the restaurant no one else had a single water glass on their table either.
The raised expectations and high level of anticipation for this food made the disappointment that much more bitter once we were served the food. The appetizer was flavorful, though not as spicy as advertised, but it was very hard to eat since it consisted of little more than cashews, scallions and rabbit bones - it almost looked like they put a whole animal through a wood chipper and fried it that way. My entree came before I even had a chance to get a good taste of the appetizer, so our table quickly got a little crammed. My chicken pieces were lost in a sea of long celery pieces, and again not even close to the level of spiciness I was hoping for.
But I’m not done! I could have probably overlooked some of these issues - I’m used to having way too many crunchy vegetables in my Chinese dinners (so I usually just eat a part of those and all the meat to find the right balance for me), and I might even be ok with chewing through bones to get to small pieces of rabbit meat. The main problem which could not be overlooked was the insane, no, *inhumane* level of salt in these dishes. If it were only the appetizer, or only my entree, I would have dismissed it as a slip or a blotched batch of sauce. But all three plates on our table were impossibly salty. It quickly saturated our taste buds and drowned all other flavors of the food. We asked the waiter if they usually make their food extremely salty, and he said no, they never do. At this point we were too disappointed to even try anymore, we let them take away most of the food and didn’t ask for to-go boxes either. I guess the sane thing to do would have been to order a new set of dishes to replace the unedible ones, but at that point, having all three in that state, we were unsure asking for a new plate would fix anything and too hungry to wait for another round - instead we just headed home and snacked on things we already had in our fridge (cheese and crackers has never tasted so good).
We will likely go back to this place (not before our year of unique restaurant visits is over, of course) to see if this was an isolated incident or common practice.
Food 1
Drinks 4
Atmosphere 5
Service 5
Value 1
Ben
We stopped in with a groupon to check out. In a predominantly Chinese plaza in Milpitas, it has a very pleasant and inviting feel and the area is interesting to walk around. The service was a little scarce, but prompt upon ordering. We started with an appetizer order, rabbit cashew. I found the appetizer to be pretty unpleasant (basically a rabbit chopped up whole with the bones, making there a lot of irregular shards and difficult to pick through, and served cold with celery andn uts) to being something I just wasn't used to. For the entree, I asked for a suggestion and ordered a spicy beef, which was served on a hot platter above a candle to stay warm. The presentation was appealing, and was served with a warm and flavorful green tea. The beef was fried and stewed in a sauce which looked appetizing and spicy, a good-looking platter of Chinese food - not too breaded and not overly greasy. Upon tasting it, it was the most bizarre experience I can remember at a restaurant. The food was the single saltiest thing I have ever been served in my life. This is not just my dish, but also Nina's and the appetizer as well. I couldn't shake the thought that the dishes were meticulously prepared, and then a full cup of salt was poured over and shaken through each dish (and I am not one averse to fried, salty foods). I tried to taste through it to see the flavor, but it was difficult to see past. The only explanation I could think of was that this was simply a mistake (the chef used soy sauce instead of vinegar? A cup measure instead of a teaspoon?). The whole experience was simply bizarre. We weren't able to work through more than 10% of any of the dishes (each bite tasted like gelified seawater), and just discarded the food and walked out extremely disappointed as I had high expectations from some decent reviews. I am curious to try it again just out of sheer disbelief from the food I was served.
Food 0
Drinks 7
Atmosphere 6
Service 5
Value 7
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