Szechuan Place

This place is so good that we come here far too often. We suspect that they lace their Spicey Dicey Chicken with some sort of addictive spice. Seriously, as connoisseurs of Szechuan, this is THE BEST Szechuan restaurant we have EVER been to. Szechuan Place is family owned. Rui, the owner, is extremely conscientious, warm and welcoming.
The place is small and well lit. The food is reasonably priced. It’s perfect for couples, families and friends — probably not a candlelit romantic night about. Everything we’ve eaten had been amazing. Definitely recommend the Spicey Dicey Chicken, the Dry Hotpot Beef and the Chicken Chow Mein. But honestly we haven’t tried much else because we’re one hundred percent addicted.
If you want an authentic Szechuan experience, this is surely the best in LA, probably in all of California.

Ordered delivery which took 1 ½ hours. Ordered fried rice, Lo mein, wor wonton soup, and general Tao chicken. The chicken was good but that’s about it. The wontons in the soul tasted funny and were over cooked. The lo mein had no taste at all. Fried rice was bland also. Panda Express would’ve been better Chinese food than ordering from this place. I was disappointed.

Everything about this restaurant is horrible. There’s no seating, the customer service is non-​existent and the food lacks flavor.

Worse place. I ordered food for a party at home
And they did not deliver for 2 ½ hours. I called them 10 Times and they never picked the phone.
Avoid this restaurant
Poor service

I gave this place a glowing review based on my first experience, but after going back a couple of times I’ve noticed the food quality is all over the board. It seems like it’s a family run business and sadly not every member of the family can cook very well.

If you’re looking for a way to spice up your palate, this is the place! Been to a lot of Sichuan places in the LA area and this is one of my favorites! The restaurant has a homey feel and you can tell the owners really love making delicious food. I’ve been here twice and everything I’ve ordered has been great.
I recommend checking out the specials. I had the hot pot ($ 3 for additional veggies which is a great deal) and the pepper chicken both from the specials. Both were very spicy and delicious! If you’re worried about things being too spicy, make sure to request that they limit the spiciness.

THE best Szechuan food I’ve ever eaten. Period. Heady, magical stuff here, folks. BUT the key to enter the kingdom of gastronomic nirvana is order off the Chinese menu. Ask for THAT menu when you are seated. The menu with the pictures of food on it is the standard Amercanized menu. You want the menu that has a chili pepper next to all the selections.
My friend Nghia took me here on a Sunday night. They were packed and running around like dervishes. Always a good sign of good food. We were seated and got the Chinese menu. We ordered the hot oil pig ears and the cold spicy cucumber appetizers to start. Those cucumbers are now one of my all time favorite foods. I CRAVE them. Cool, spicy, swimming in chili oil and so packed with flavor that I shall never look at a cucumber the same again. The pig ears were also insanely tasty. Also in chili oil and other spices, they were a chewy, crunchy 5 spice laden treasure.
We got the stir fried spicy intestines. Wow! Soooo crunchy and full of porky goodness. I crave these now too! Not something I ever tried before. Nghia ordered them and I tried one out of curiosity. I was hooked on the first bite. No barnyard or gamy flavor. Just porky, garlicky goodness.
I got the spicy lamb ribs. Another winner. They are kind of like salt and pepper pork, but using lamb ribs instead of pork chops. They have a lot of cumin flavor, so if you aren’t a fan of cumin, avoid these.
The hometown style pork was sooo good too. It’s salted pork belly stir fried with cabbage. The sweetness of the cabbage perfectly offset the saltiness of the pork. It’s like bacon without the smoke flavor.
We also got the garlic fresh veggies, which were good, but didn’t reach the dizzying heights of the other dishes.
The waitstaff were so friendly and attentive, even though the restaurant was in full rush mode. All in all, an epic dining experience I shall treasure forever. Or until next weekend when we come back and make a new one! I just HAVE to try the spicy oil fish!

The food tastes great but the deliver times can be a bit slow. If you’re in a hurry, this probably isn’t your best option but if you have time to spare, then go for it. :)

This is a GREAT example of why I love, Love, LOVE!!! these tiny, little mom-​and-​pop restaurants. Like a hidden treasure, it’s tucked away in the corner of a strip-​mall in Agoura Hills and if you don’t know where to look, you could very easily miss it! I went there on a Sunday night and I had the Szechuan Pork. OMG WAS IT GOOOOOOD and now that I think about it, it was probably, the BEST I EVER ATE! Honest to God! The service was fast, very friendly and seeing how the place has only 7 tables, the atmosphere is very cozy.

WOW WOW WOW. Looked up on Unilocal for chinese food that delivers.
Boy, do they deliver ! This was the most delicious food.
I ordered mu shu chicken. It had a slight kick to it. The spices were out of this world.
It was so delicious that I didn’t even try the chicken chow mein.
My 2 dogs and 2 cats were all scratching at the door. When I put the 2 dishes in my refrigerator, all 4 of them stared at the door and when I went back in 10 minutes, all four were still there. This place is a hidden treasure. The women who delivered the food was charming.

Pretty good food and they can make it spicy to order. Woman and I left FULL with lunch for both of us at only $ 45 including a good tip.
Well definitely be back.

Delicious things come in small packages!
When you approach this unassuming little corner stop, you are prepared for at best a passable dining experience… But Szechuan Place is ready and waiting to blow these expectations away. What it lacks in size it more than makes up for in flavor.
I dined with my two mini critics, and collectively we sampled the Kung Pao Beef, Honey Shrimp, and Orange Chicken. The flavors were delightfully rich and powerful. The fired rice and soup were not overly exciting, but the entrees more than bridge the gap.
The restaurant holds only 5 tables, but I imagine they do a brisk takeout business. Again, I believe in rating restaurants based on the expectation. This establishment will never win a Michelin Star, but for a corner Szechuan stop, this one buries the needle on casual awesomeness.

Located in the corner of a strip mall, you would never think that an authentic Szechuan restaurant would be located where it is. The Szechuan Place just IS, and thank goodness for this. The chefs here are from China. I knew this from hearing them speak when I walked in. I chose this restaurant on the way back from a long trip along the 101, having come hundreds of miles from CA-​1.
It’s just too bad this restaurant is so far from downtown Los Angeles. It’s nice to have a restaurant outside of the San Gabriel Valley that serves up such superbly spicy Chinese food. From what we tasted, you probably can’t go wrong with anything from the Chinese menu.

This review is long overdue. I highly admire these little «hole in the wall» quite literally as well. They exist and thrive in their own ecosystem. They don’t advertise much. They cater to their set of loyal clientele and more importantly the quality and flavor of their food is top notch. This is exactly one such place. Located in a quiet corner very next to CVS pharmacy on Kannan road. Seats up to about 15 people. When you walk by the place is so nondescript that you are most likely to miss it. Now about the cuisine: they specialize in. Schezwan Chinese. This is not for the faint hearted. The food is spicy. No doubt about that, but what it also does is opens up a variety of flavor profiles that will leave you wanting for more. Be it the spicy chicken appetizer on a bed of pepper corns and red roasted red chillies or the entrees the beef noodle, spicy beef skewer, the kind of flavor profile they are able to extract is legendary.
They have two separate menus one for the mere mortals: the regular menu. The other for the brave hearted– the Chinese menu. You will only see red chillies next to each dish to tell you the spice levels. I would urge the brave hearts to specifically ask for the Chinese menu. You can thank me later…
Overall a great little restaurant, I would recommend take out. You can look at both their menus online.
This is truly Szechwan. Truly fantastic. You have to try it to believe it.

From Five Stars to One Star! This restaurant has quickly taken a nose-​dive in terms of service. Dani — if you still own this place, I’d love to talk with you to discuss the problems that I’ve experience over the last three visits. My guess is that this restaurant has been sold to someone else. It’s clear that the new management doesn’t get customer service.
I’ve avoided writing a bad review of this restaurant for my last three visits. This past visit pushed me over. The two gentlemen who worked the front of this restaurant were super rude, unmotivated, and arrogant. I called the restaurant to place a to-​go order. The kid who answered my call asked me to hold for 5+ minutes (while I listened to him chat with his friend in the background). I put my order in and he said it would be ready in 20 minutes. I arrived at the restaurant within 10 minutes and notified them that I was ready to pick up the food when it was ready.
I literally waited 45 minutes for my food. The kicker was that the food actually sat on the counter for 10+ minutes while the the two boys working the front of the restaurant helped other tables, chatted with each other, and peeling green beans. I stood up to walk out of the restaurant in frustration. I then saw that my food was ready. I paid for it and left.
Nonwithstanding, the food is perhaps the best Szechuan food place that I know in Southern California. But, it isn’t worth having to put up with the ignorance and unprofessionalism of the wait staff. Rude, Rude, Rude.
Food Grade: A
Service Grade: F
Worth the Money Grade: F
Overall Impressino Grade: F

Ambiance: small and family style restaurant
Service: very pushy and impatient, slow with serving water and food
Food: in general just ok
Hot & Sour Soup — ** very sour, heavy tasted
Spicy Beef Shank — *** sweet and spicy, average taste
Hometown style pork — *** salty and oily, yet tasty
Spicy diced chicken — **** chewy and flavorful, recommend
Sour cabbage fish — ** tasted so so
Price: decent prices, expect $ 20~$ 25 each ppl

Awful service — awful food– food doesn’t even taste like chicken
I can’t believe it has 4 ½ stars

Lucky #12. A very small place with 5 tables, you don’t want to be unlucky #13 to have to stand outside and wait. Absolutely plain inside, 4 white walls. Nada. Zilch. The food better be all worth it.
1. Stir-​fried Chicken with Garlic ($ 9.50) — very generous portion, way too oily. When I brought it to the servers attention, she said it was chili oil. Whatever, still, way to oily and threw away the leftovers. (1.5 stars)
2. Curry Chicken ($ 9.50) — very generous portion, decent chicken with terrible powdered curry. Threw away the leftovers. (1.5 stars)
3. Shrimp and Vegetables ($ 11.95) — best of the night, thank God. Delicious, medium-​sized fresh shrimp with mixed veggies. (4.0 stars)
The service was very nice and efficient, but I would not go back for the food. Experience was far under from where it should be.

We ordered a take out, 3 dishes & fried rice. We’re told it’s going to be 20 – 30 mins. Came over after 40 mins, sounded like the order didn’t even make it to the kitchen yet. The place was packed but super small, about 6 tables total! There should be no reason it takes so long to make a to-​go order! Got it at 55 minutes from time of ordering…
Nonetheless, the owner or the manager was very friendly and apologetic.
Now, the food was good, not great. I enjoy spicy food, so the heat was great! The Mapo Tofu was great, very spicy and flavorful! The dry hot pot beef wasn’t really dry as expected, but still good. The honey walnut prawns came with cashews since they ran out of walnuts. One thing I hate when Chinese restaurants do, substitute the expensive things you pay for with cheap stuff.
Overall, a good authentic spot, will definitely try something else on the menu when I’m in the area again.

Hooray for authentic Sichuan food in the Valley … except one major oops … the food wasn’t spicy … even though my wife ordered (in Mandarin) and I repeated (in English) for our dishes to be the «spiciest» level possible. The guy at the counter understood us, but decided, on his own, we couldn’t handle the spice level and had the kitchen cut our spice level in half (by adding water?).
The results were two dishes with only light spice and one that had medium. It simply wasn’t what we ordered … or wanted. Nope, not what I wanted at all.
Americanizing or changing our order totally defeated the whole purpose of our drive to Agoura Hills to eat at Szechuan Place.
The manager apologized and scolded the guy, but didn’t offer to go back and prepare our food the way it was ordered. Instead, she brought a jar of regular spice to our table and I was told to add that to make the dishes spicy. This was like ordering a steak «rare» and being given a well-​done piece of beef with a bottle of A1 to make it better.
Spicy Oil Fish ($ 13.95) — This is the famous dish which led us to Szechuan Place because most places in the U.S. don’t use the «Spicy Oil» to make a bowl of Szechuan Spicy Fish. The fish was fine … the spice level wasn’t. (3 stars)
Spicy Lamb Ribs ($ 13.95) — Oh man, I love lamb ribs … these weren’t super tender and, of course, not spicy; however, I’d get it again. (3 stars)
Spicy Diced Chicken ($ 11.95) — Small bits of dry chicken were lathered with red peppers for an easy dish to eat. Easy, but not very spicy or tasty. (2 stars)
As we left, the manager/​owner walked us out and promised that «next time» the food would be right. She also recommended we go to their partner spot in Newbury Park. My only thought was that I appreciate her sincerity, but «Didn’t I just pay $ 40 for food that I didn’t order or like … and the best you can say is better luck next time?»
Next time? Not sure …