Little Chengdu

Good bye, Yummy Szechuan. Hello Little ChengDu. We found out that the chef/owner used to run The Little Sichuan on San Mateo. Happy dance!!!!!This is our place for spicy food now. Must order: Crispy Spicy Beef. The beef was jerky like. Then tons of crispy peppers and peanuts. Cannot describe that first bite with a scoop of steam "white lie". I dare you, order it extra spicy! We had Boiled Fish, Sichuan Eggplants, Spicy Chicken Wings. All of them were really good and addicting!

Unpleasant dining room and stressfully clunky service, but the food is solid. Beef tendon is great and the mapo tofu is the best I've had. If you want to splurge with a big group the whole fish in chilis is unforgettable.

Went back to "Little Chengdu," which used to be "Little Sichuan" in San Mateo. Happy they're open again after the pandemic. The new place is smaller but feels cozy. Had a nice surprise when my partner debated a third dish; I remembered their big portions, so I said no. The Cold Noodle was still big enough for both of us!My favorite, the Sichuan Spicy Cold Noodle, was as good as always. Big portion, tasty sauce--satisfying.Tried Tea Smoked Duck for the first time, and it was better than expected. Tastes like smoked turkey with a hint of tea. Smelled a bit smoky, but the flavor was excellent, not too bitter. Just a heads up, parking around the area might be a bit difficult.

Probably 2.5-3. I hate giving a non-chain restaurant a less than stellar review but I left fairly unimpressed. For $38 I got sesame beef and string beans. I expected large portions at that price but they were barely more than enough for one person. The beef was overly sauced with little flavor, and the string beans were flat and lifeless. I expected a lot more flavor from a Szechuan restaurant. If you want some taste head north a mile to Yummy Szechuan.

My go-to Sichuan restaurant in the area. We always order the kidney with pickled ginger and spicy cold beef&beef tripe. We've tried their grilled whole fish, twice cooked pork, mapo tofu, etcThe only con is that parking is extremely hard to find

Pros: no wait time, genuine flavors, has non spicy optionsCons: lack of service, inconsistent cook on itemsWe came here on a Saturday night and were immediately sat down. To order we scanned the QR code at the table. Surprisingly for a Chinese restaurant, there weren't a ton of options. Although I would consider this a good thing because then you know they focus on fewer dishes (for me it's a red flag when a menu is multiple pages long). Food came out quickly but the rice didn't come until the end so we just awkwardly picked at the dishes. Flavors were authentic so no complaints there. However we ordered an organ dish (kidney) that was suspiciously super tender until we realized it was undercooked. Also we ordered a whole fish but it was strangely expensive; it's not like they use a fancy fish so it was $40 worth of aesthetics I guess. I don't know if I'd give them another try. Kinda pricey for what we got.

Service was excellent, friendly, accommodating and attentive! Food was good and different. We ordered the tomato beef chow mein, the tea smoked duck and the mu shu shrimp. All good! I was so excited to try their food that I forgot to take photos of the duck and mu shu shrimp. Would have been nice to have more shrimp. Came with 4 pancakes. Many of the dishes were spicy. We found a handful of dishes that weren't spicy. Enjoyed the dining experience!

Walked in as a group of 4 on a Monday night around 6:30pm, restaurant was full and had a waitlist going. It took about 15 minutes for a table to become availible. Menu is availible through a QR code but you still order with the servers. Food: Spicy Sichuan Cold Noodles - pretty good, large helping of noodles topped with a cucumbers, ground pork and a spicy soy based dressing, this was pretty spicy but a nice way to start the mealSichuan Spicy Crispy Beef - delicious, beef slices were fried with a lot of chili peppers and peanuts, this was spicy but not over bearing, texture of the meat was similar to a juicy beef jerky which made for a really interesting eating experience, definitely worth ordering Tea Smoked Duck - pretty good, this dish did take a while to come out compared to the other dishes but when it arrive it was super hot and skin was crispy, nice smoky salty flavor, duck was juicy and tender, very tastyDry-Cooked String beans - well seasoned and flavorful, green beans were a tad bit soft and overcooked from our perspective but still a nice vegetable dish to round out the meal Service fine, restaurant was slammed so it took a few minutes to place our order. Restaurant seemed a little bit short staffed but majority of the food once ordered placed came out quick with the exception of the duck which took a bit longer. Overall good Sichuan style chinese restaurant, dishes were a generous portion and flavors were great. Definitely get the crispy beef and the tea smoked duck these were unique and delicious. Also there might be a bit of a wait but tables turn quickly.

Legit Szechuan food. Solid choices and execution. All the classics, 5 stars. middling ambiance as one would desire for a solid establishment of this genre.

Can always tell a good Sichuan place by its hot and sour soup. Great little place with my kind of spicyness!