Mountain House

Some family friends had been raving about this restaurant and given my love for Chinese food I finally decided to give it a shot on a cold New York afternoon.It's definitely busy, so try making a reservation or be ready to be put on the waitlist and wait for a bit before getting seated. We had a 20-25 minute wait for 2 of us which was honestly not too bad. Our server was the sweetest! His English wasn't the best but he was still very kind and helpful! They serve a pot of hot jasmine tea with the meal - which is great touch especially for the weather and to balance the heat from the Sichuan peppers. My boyfriend got the La-zi Chicken which he said was cooked perfectly. It was crispy, juicy, and full of dried chilies which added some heat to it. We also shared the Mapo Tofu which was very soft and flavorful! It tasted incredibly authentic. It was on the oiler side but worth it given how authentic it tasted. The Eggplant and Long Beans caught us by surprise especially given that we aren't both big eggplant fans! The eggplant was perfectly cooked, not sweet, had a spicy kick and it paired so well with the crispy green beans. The vegetarian greens fried rice was also very, very good! The veggies were more like dried green herbs and the flavor was super unique and I could easily eat this on it's own. They also serve pickled cabbage as a side on the table which I really loved! It was spicy, tangy, crunch and had this cooling spice that was very yummy! Leftovers were packed by them in this insulated to go bag which was such a thoughtful gesture! Only thing to note is that the vegetarian options are limited and they don't have a lot of customizations available but the vegetarian options they do have all looked. sounded pretty good!

If you're looking for authentic Sichuan cuisine that doesn't hold back on mala and spice, this is the spot! Can be very very very spicy to many. We ordered the Swing Pork Belly, Fish in Chili Oil, and La Zi Chicken, and each dish brought something unique to the table.Swing Pork Belly - This dish stood out the most! The pork belly was tender, and the sauce was the perfect balance of spicy and sweet. The cucumber on the side added a refreshing crunch, wish there was more.La Zi Chicken - Super flavorful with tons of numbing peppercorns. The chicken itself was crispy and well-seasoned, though we did find ourselves digging through the peppers for the pieces. Some pieces were also dry. Definitely a popular dish!Fish in Chili Oil - Despite looking intimidatingly spicy, the heat wasn't as intense as expected, but it was packed with deep mala flavor. The fish was delicate and soaked up the broth nicely. Was very spicy for us. Had to drink a few cups of water and sweat a bit lol.The ambiance is great, with a clean and modern interior. Service was fast and attentive, even with how busy they were. Prices are reasonable for the quality, though portions lean a bit larger.

Ambiance (5/5): The interior is beautifully decorated. It was nice and bright, low volume that you could hear each other. The decorations felt immersive and welcoming.Service (5/5): You can tell it's great service when the wait staff all have walkie talkies! We were seated for our reservation time immediately but right beside the entrance. We asked the hostess if we could move away from the cold draft and she said all the tables were accounted for. However, she offered 1 hand warmer for each of us!! Wow, never had that offered before.Cocktails took more time to arrive than our mains and were super strong!Food: Be warned that the Sichuan food here is extremely spicy, even the mild option! While I was okay, my other guests found it way too spicy for their palate.Swing Pork Belly (3/5): The cold slices were unmarinated and required the dipping sauce for flavor. This was a nice picturesque dish but nothing to write home about. For those that can't handle spice, this was the only dish that wasn't spicy that we ordered.Beef slices in hot and sour soup (3/5): This was a unique flavor that I was not expecting. The soup was sour but also reminded me of traditional Chinese medicine or something that my parents made for me when I was sick. Although the beef was tender, I found it a bit too sour for my taste.Mapo Tofu (5/5): The tofu had a nice film of chili oil and the minced beef gave the dish some more flavor. It went lovely when mixed with white rice.Pepper Chicken (4/5): The cubed chicken pieces were all tender. The mild flavor of the hot peppers caused a numbing effect. I thought it tasted great!

Mountain House is considered one of the best Szechuan spots in the city, even as they have grown to multiple locations throughout the city. Location of this new spot is near the theatres, which I love as it adds a solid spot for a pre show meal in an area devoid of many good options. This was my first time so we tried alot of the classics. Swing Pork Belly was my favorite and definitely not just a social media food. Loved it. The La Zi chicken was fine, but pieces of chicken were super tiny. The Mama black fish "soup" was delicious and the most intense szechuan flavor I've ever tasted. Recommend getting some rice to go with this. Also, definitely get the jasmine tea pudding for dessert. Our waiter convinced us to try and loved the intense tea flavor, a great way to end.

I had an okay dinner at Mountain House. The menu had a lot of variety to choose from, which is great. We ended up getting chicken dim sum, beef noodles, shrimp, and fried chicken. The food was disappointing - it wasn't bad, but nothing special. The beef noodles were the best thing we ordered. The shrimp was yummy, however the fact that we had to peel it ourselves made the experience more tedious than enjoyable.The restaurant itself is very beautiful, and the staff are friendly. Overall, it was a fine experience, but it wasn't anything mind blowing and I wouldn't return again.

I've always wanted to try the East Village Mountain House, so was excited to try the Midtown one. Our group got the below dishes:Swing Pork Belly La-Zi ChickenMapo TofuFried Rice with Special VegetablePea Shoots Out of the dishes, my favorite was the Swing Pork Belly and Pea Shoots. The Swing Pork Belly combined with the cucumber and sauce was a combo that I didn't expect to like so much. The Lazi Chicken was also good, though they put so much pepper corn that I felt like I had to fish for chicken bits even after we had asked for less spice. Overall, food was quite solid and would definitely try some of the other things on the menu. Ambience was nice; it's tucked away on Restaurant Row with decent seating options on the two floors with nice aesthetics. Prices are also not too bad, especially if you split with a group. (Though I would recommend ordering a healthy amount of dishes since the portions aren't particularly big) Would definitely come back in the future to try other dishes!

Elegant Szechuan place on restaurant row. Everything was beautiful - from the menu to the insulated to go back. Came here to celebrate a birthday and had a great time. The service was prompt and food came out quick - only nit is it took 5 minutes longer than normal to get the bill after they cleared our table.

I really appreciated this place! I came here with two dear friends in between some Broadway shows. We really enjoyed our meal!Our server was awesome and made some great, unique, and honest recommendations. We ordered a ton of different dishes, taking our server up on his recommendations. While I personally wasn't in love with every dish on the table, it was extremely evident that the food is very high quality. This place has a reputation to uphold, after all! The flavors were very different than your typical cheap American-Chinese food, in the best way. The ambiance is very moody! I loved our table, and how there was some separation between us and others in the restaurant. Overall awesome experience, would love to be back!

I can't vouch for the pork personally, but my friend loved it. Starting from the free tea and delicious spicy cabbage, I knew it'd be a great meal. The waiter was so attentive to my dietary restrictions and made sure I knew what was in each dish. The restaurant was huge but also it didn't feel like you were packed in like sardines. I'm still thinking about all the food. Next time I would skip on the rice and taro.

Really authentic szechuan cuisine-- they definitely don't shy away from using the mala spices!! - Swing pork belly: 10/10 (I loved the sauce that it comes with! Perfectly spicy and sweet. The cucumber also adds a nice fresh touch.)- La zi chicken: 10/10 (fantastic chicken with a really big dose of mala and spice. It was super yummy and pretty spicy)- Fish in chili oil: 9/10 (it wasn't as spicy as it looks, but definitely mala heavy. It was good, but I've had better.)- Fried rice with szechuan special greens: 100/10 (one of the best fried rices I've had in a long while! So glad we got this instead of plain white rice)Service was great-- fast and friendly. Ambiance was really nice too-- very calm and chill so great to come for a date, with friends, or with family. I'll definitely be back to try out their other dishes once I'm craving a dose of mala!