The Best Szechuan in Oakland

Fiery Shanghai

★★★★☆ 3.8 (689) • $$

"Been wanting to try this place for a long time. Wifey and I met up a friend who started working in Pleasanton for a Tuesday night dinner. Got distracted and forgot to take photos of the food haha. noOb mistake. We ended up ordering the boiled fish with bean sprouts in hot chili oil, Shanghai-style deep-fried noodles, and cumin beef.The boiled fish was really good but lacked the numbing spiciness I was expecting.The Shanghai-style deep-fried noodles were okay. Think deep-fried chow mein noodles but with the texture of funnel cake topped with corn starchy toppings that made the noodles soggy. Meh.Lastly was the cumin beef. I liked this dish the most. Strongly seasoned beef with onions and peppers.Despite being a slow Tuesday with only two other tables, service was another miss. I had to ask for rice several times.But what really upset me was that I had to ask for ice water at least 5 times. I mean, when you name a restaurant Fiery Shanghai, the customers would liked to have some water to cool down the "fire".Speaking of fires, maybe the workers were trained by the City of Los Angeles because they acted like there was no water. I literally had to walk to the register and ask for ice water. At the end of the day the food was okay. Fiery Shanghai. Not as "hot" as I thought.* What's with the strange ass interior decoration that makes each table look like a bed frame?When I was paying, I had this hilarious interaction.Worker: Where you from?Me: Livermore Worker: Where you born?Me: Glendale. Oh... I'm Korean lol. Bye."

XLB Kitchen

★★★★☆ 3.9 (731) • $$

"Obsessed with the dan dan noodles. Admittedly, I haven't had many types of dan dan noodles, but have had enough sichuan flavored food to be obsessed with this place. Also tried the chili oil wontons which were equally delicious, but if I'm going to be honest, I'd choose the noodles over the wontons. Noodles had a great balance of creaminess, a slight numbing spice, and peanut-y taste. PARKING: There is a decent sized shared parking lot on this plaza. Came on a weekday so can't say how busy it is during the weekend, but seemed fine for lunch. There is a fairly large covered patio for comfortable seating. SERVICE: Staff was friendly and helpful. Nothing spectacular, but overall a good experience. Will be coming back!"

Lulu's Kitchen

★★★★☆ 3.8 (388) • $$

"Authentic Chinese food. Portions are larger than other restaurants. Service is great. We have been coming here for years when we lived in Dublin. We always come here when we travel back from Idaho. Soups, fish dishes, 辣子雞, 外婆豆腐, 豆角茄子 are a few of our favorites. I highly recommend."

Uncle Wong's Restaurant

★★★☆☆ 3.1 (204) • $

"In the days before nearly every type of cuisine suddenly was a finger tap away, there was an essential need to have the phone number for a good Chinese takeout place willing to do deliveries. Remember those days? ...Bueller? Oh yeah, I'm on Yelp. Well, for better or worse, Uncle Wong reminds me of that type of place even though I've never set foot in the place.I was just in the mood for Chinese one stormy night and found the kind of menu I used to see printed on pink paper with a drawing of bamboo on the cover. Remember those? Oh never mind. I ordered the $13.95 Eggplant Chicken (photo: https://bit.ly/3BguDK9). It was a hearty portion with white onion added and quite lacquered with the unmistakable brown sauce.By contrast, the $10.95 Black Mushroom with Chinese Tenders was also a hearty portion and similarly lacquered but not with brown sauce (photo: https://bit.ly/3uwcbte). Just a lot of bok choy. That was it. It wasn't extraordinary, but I'd be lying if I didn't say it hit the spot. It also appears to meet the impulsive need for standard grade takeout Chinese food I have every now and then.FOOD - 3 stars...big servings that meet expectations AMBIANCE - n/a...gee, how should I know?SERVICE - 4 stars...it was quick and neatly packaged TOTAL - 3 stars...sometimes middling is goodRELATED - Exploring El Cerrito? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: http://bit.ly/2VyCP18"

Shancheng Lameizi Hot Pot

★★★☆☆ 3.2 (128) • $$$

"The place is beautiful, it reminds of ancient China days. I love it!! The service is spot on, they are super attentive, friendly, and easy going.We ordered more, but we started eating I forgot to take more photos. We also got Kobe, prawns, and combination mushrooms. I like Seapot too. It's definitely different, this is not all you can eat. Seapot is modern looking. You don't get some of the exotic stuff that you would find at Seapot. For examples brain, pork blood, I believe I saw pigs ears, and chicken feet too. I don't eat those particular parts of animals. If you're someone that enjoys that, this spot is for you. This is our second time there. I will definitely come back, that's how much I enjoyed it. The food was fresh and impeccable."

Yunnan Style Rice Noodle

★★★★☆ 4.2 (152) • $$

"Ever since our favorite Chinese restaurant shut down, we've trying out local alternatives to find a new, regular replacement. Despite constantly driving past Yunnan Style Rice Noodle every time we drive down San Pablo, we never tried this place out until recently.We ordered to-go through Grubhub, and the order was ready and waiting for us timely when I arrived. Although I didn't dine in, the inside was very spacious with a lot of available tables to sit at. Ordered a Sliced Beef Fried Flat Noodle in Premier Soy Sauce and a Braised Eggplant with Grounded Pork. Both dishes came with a generous portion size, and were reasonably priced. The Braised Eggplant had a pleasantly surprising large amount of pork, rather than mostly eggplant as I would have guessed would be the case. The flat noodles, while good, weren't clumped together and could have been better prepared so they did not stick together in large globs. There is limited street parking directly in front of the restaurant, but plenty of street parking if you turn into the residential areas."

Chili Garden

★★★★☆ 3.5 (450) • $$

"I am honestly shocked by how authentic their Sichuan and Chongqing dishes are. I had the intestines dry pot and asked them to add potatoes inside and they did. I also had one of the bullfrog dishes. The dishes were all so flavorful and they use a generous amount of fresh peppercorn which gives it a strong spicy and numbing flavor. A lot of restaurants who claim to have authentic Sichuan cuisine don't know how to achieve this strong numbing flavor, but this restaurant does it perfectly. The customer service is excellent, owner is really friendly and checks on customers making sure everything is ok."

ChongQing Xiao Mian

★★★☆☆ 3.1 (147) • $$

"I was craving Szechuan and just spicy food in general and was looking for a spot since my go to is closed on Tuesday... but I might have found a new go to!I got the fried rice, spicy pork intestines, pickled long bean with ground pork, and the dumplings Dumplings were pretty basic but good. Fried rice wasn't too oily or salty and paired really well with my two entrees.Spicy pork intestines is one of my favorites and this place was able to hit the spot! Just enough numbing spice to make it addicting but it didn't over power the other flavors.Pickled long beans w/ ground pork was just the right about of sour and spicy so it just made my whole meal complete!"

Tasty Szechuan Restaurant

★★★★☆ 3.5 (64) • $

"This place is cosmetically unappealing, but I love the fried ribs. That's the only thing I've tried."

Old Street Chengpan Malatang

★★★★★ 4.6 (114) • $$

"We have been Malatang fans ever since we used to frequent Bow1 in Newark (RIP). Had been meaning to check out old street for some time and finally made it out during lunch today! Both our bowls were $20 and it was a lot of food! It is a solid spot, but I was not blown away. Pros - large portion- quality of meat (thin beef!)- good spice on the spicier options- sauce bar- easy to customize - friendly serviceCons- no photos on app for ordering and some items are named super similar- flavor of broth could be stronger - soup was not piping hot, but rice cakes and a few other items were overcooked"

New Ocean Chinese Restaurant

★★★☆☆ 3.4 (144) • $$

"Order food delivery, took about 30min and everything tasted delicious! Recommend the honey walnut prawns, chicken fried rice, mongolian beef, orange chicken and crab Rangoon puffs. I also ordered a side of white rice. Everything was reasonably priced! I love that everything tasted fresh and how its supposed to taste. Nothing was greasy and it was all flavoful. I haven't been to the restaurant itself yet but plan to do so. Shout out to my friend Juanita who told me about this hidden gem and local biz."

Customize MaLaTang

★★★★☆ 3.8 (72) • $$

"Gem of a spot. Good food, fun atmosphere, very friendly and self-aware server boys.Tong your own ingredients and it's $14.99/lb for three customizabowl (haha see what I did) options:- Malatang (spicy beef bone soup)- Malabang (sweet and spicy peanut sauce)- Dry potI'd recommend the malabang and dry pot for more flavors over just the spicy pain in your mouth.Do order other things off the menu, especially the cumin chicken! You're basically sucking on bones for this dish but the flavors make you appreciate what a beautiful world it is.A bit pricey. Would come back if I find a sugar-mala-daddy."

Hunan Restaurant

★★★★☆ 4.3 (539) • $$

"I stopped by this restaurant for the first time tonight. I had such a wonderful experience. The staff are friendly and nice. And the food is DELICIOUS. We ordered egg flower soup, hot and sour soup, Mongolian beef, and beef chow mein. Every dish tasted amazing. You can tell that ever fish is made to order. And that they use good quality ingredients. I think I found my new favorite restaurant! I'll definitely be telling my friends about this place! If I could give this review extra stars, I would! Great service, great staff, great food, and great prices!"

慕碳客烧烤Mutanke BBQ|Sweet Garden

★★★★☆ 3.8 (101) • $$

"I used to come here years ago (before Covid) and they were like a buffet Asian food and "nicer than Safeway" sushi takeout but they seem to have changed their set up completely since then. It's ambience is now a sit down bbq/hot pot spot with sushi but sushi stops at 5pm which I didn't realize because they close at 10:30pm.They were kind enough to still make my rolls since it was slow. The rolls are much pricey-ier than I think they should be but inflation messing everyone up I guess. I got three rolls and spent $50 bucks and I just was not expecting that lol.***Ok so I posted this while waiting for my food LOL and that could have been awkward but they saw my review and gave me a complimentary order of noodles which was really sweet. Please the sushi is as good as I remember it. They make the Green Dragon the best than any other green dragon I've had so my 4 stars still stand. I would come again if I ever wanted the green dragon for just me as opposed to multiple rolls to share."

Tasty Szechuan

★★★★★ 4.6 (281) • $$

"Food was served out fast once I called in to order for pickup. Small sized restaurant. Delicious Szechuan food. Eggplant in garlic sauce was yummy with their rice. Shredded pork in garlic sauce went well with everything.Fish filet in hot chili oil warmed up my body in the winter season. One can't go wrong with ordering any of their delightful entrees!"

Sichuan Fusion

★★★★☆ 4.1 (573) • $$

"Pretty awesome szichuan flavor in Northern California....Both cold and hot dishes ..Don't miss out !.(2025)"

Chengdu Style Restaurant

★★★★☆ 3.6 (431) • $$

"Very authentic Sichuan spicy food. My parents got the take out from here in Berkeley and brought me all the way to Central Valley."

Chuan Yu

★★★★☆ 4.1 (85) • $$

"Last review... of 2022... Chuan Yu! This is the place to go in Oakland Chinatown if you're eating late and indecisive between Chinese / Szechuan or sushi. You can get the best of both worlds!I always get the Spicy Dry Pot as a main. You choose a base flavor (garlic or three levels of spicy), a protein base (e.g., beef, chicken, pork belly), and four additional toppings that include a wide variety of veggies, noodles, or extra protein. I love the flexibility of options and that you can double or triple-stack proteins. Both garlic and spicy flavors are solid. If dining in, they'll bring the dish out over a burner, which keeps the food hot and full of aroma.Another staple is the Shanghai Pan Fried Soup Dumpling, which I have yet to come across elsewhere in Chinatown. I also enjoyed their Chongqing Fish Filet in Chili Oil and Beef Brisket with Bamboo Shoot. Big portions, very well seasoned / spiced, and not too salty. Three entrees should be enough to comfortably feed a party of four. Last food-related note is that the space is a dual restaurant: Chuan Yu is paired with Sakura Bistro, which gives you the amazing ability to order sushi as well.What I also love about Chuan Yu is that it provides a later-night Chinese dine-in option. It's also great for groups as there is always plenty of available seating. Servers are nice and attentive, and food comes out quickly. Anddd that's a wrap! I'll see you in 2023 - both Yelpers and Chuan Yu!"

Sichuan Style Restaurant

★★★★☆ 4.2 (473) • $$

"Food from the Sichuan Provence is my favorite of all Chinese and I found the dishes here to be outstanding. They kindly accommodated my request for no MSG as I swell up like a Rose Bowl parade balloon and my joints hurt like hell when I eat it. This is a problem for a person who practically lives for Asian cuisine. Their facade is fantastic. Inside was clean and comfortable. I was seated in the windows at a two top as I was alone and it was perfect. I had tea, dry fried green beans and 1000 pepper chicken. Their Chinese peppercorn was the best I've ever had. I loved everything. I can't wait to return to try more dishes. The lychee fried rice sounds intriguing and I'm sure the beef with cumin is mouth watering."

Little Sichuan Restaurant

★★★☆☆ 3.1 (270) • $$

"So I honestly don't know why this place is not rated way higher, because it's probably my favorite Chinese restaurant in the whole Bay, especially if you like frog legs. Every single person that I've taken here too has loved it, so I certainly don't think it's just me. The service can be hit or miss admittedly, but if it's the old lady serving then she never misses a beat.I've probably been to this place over 50 times within the past few years, with the most recent being last week. So along with writing more reviews of places I go this year, I feel like this one needs to be done justice.The local kinda sucks; it's a bit off the main highway and a little hard to find. It's never really packed, and during my first visit it seemed a little sus. They're one of the few restaurants to offer frog legs (specifically the dry pot spicy frog), so I tried that out first. It did not disappoint. This place has hands down the best frog legs and hot and sour soup in the Bay. My most recent trip we had the veggies, the frog legs, and hot/sour soup again, but I've also had the beef tendon, kung pao chicken, hot/sour fish, and others here too. Every single item we've ordered here has tasted authentic and great. The prices are quite reasonable too, especially for how good it is. Their lunch special is one of the best deals in the area.The food and value is so good here I can forgive the ambiance and sometimes inconsistent service and still give it 5 stars."

China Village

★★★★☆ 3.5 (985) • $$

"I recently tried China Village with a buddy. He said it was on one of the Michelin guides so I figured I'd give it a go!We ordered several dishes including the green beans, beef in chili oil, Dan Dan noodles in sesame, and pork shank. The green beans were excellent. Soft and well seasoned with the perfect kick. The pork shank in sauce was also awesome with a generous portion and tasty sauce. IMO the star of the show was the beef in chili oil. There was a super large portion that also contained some cabbage and veg. I will say say that the Dan Dan noodles were pretty underwhelming so that takes them down a notch, but otherwise the food was excellent.The vibe inside was solid. Clearly a family joint that draws in a lot of locals. The servers were nice and offered some recommendations for us. I will definitely come back for more of that beef and green beans!"

Dou Noodle

★★★★★ 5 (5)

"What a beautiful brunch we had! I've ordered from owners Mingmin and Jaden many times in the past but usually take out since they do not have an actual brick and mortar. Every time was delicious. Today for the first time we had our meal at a physical pop up at Izakaya Ginji in San Mateo. The service was great and the dishes were wonderful. We started with a traditional wood-ear cucumber salad and thousand year old egg over shishito peppers followed with mid-course grilled skewers with beef, lamb and pork paired with traditional Szechuan spices was the perfect seasoning by owner of Ginji, Saye. The noodles were on point with the perfect texture and perfect amount of spices. I have made a personal request that they do a monthly pop-up at Shinmai Oakland. This is one of those meals that when you crave it, nothing else will do. Kudos to the women owned pop up. Congrats on food well done Mingmin and Jaden! Bon appetite"