New Szechuan Express

Moved here from NYC, so, am «picky» about pizza, and Chinese Food, lol. Haven’t been to the restaurant but delivery is always quick, and the food is pretty good. A little pricey, but, not enough to turn me off.
Love the Lo Mein, chicken /​beef stick appetizers, chicken fried rice, iced tea, and soups. Just wish bag didn’t always have like 15 soy sauce packets and 1 duck sauce (but if you remember to ask, they add a few more). Also convenient that they take most cards over the phone so you don’t have to have cash on hand.

Order from here a lot and yet to be disappointed. Last order was Crab Rangoon and walnut shrimp and it was delicious! Boyfriend got General Tsao’s and he loved it! Cheap food, fast delivery, and overall big portions, good food.

Not the least expensive Chinese food restaurant (delivery and pickup) place around, but still very reasonably priced and the servings are very generous. That alone would get the place 3, maybe 4 stars, but the reason for the 5 is the service. Their menu has got some decent variety, but they will fully customize your order. I regularly order dishes with tofu that are listed with either chicken and beef, and even those listed as spicy they make completely mild per request. I’ve particularly enjoyed their Singapore Style Rice Noodle (with a curry sauce) and Orange Tofu (not listed), while my fiancée really like the Sesame Chicken. They also regularly throw in a free order of veggie spring rolls with orders (over $ 15) when I forget to mention the deal listed in their menu. This place won’t beat out the nicest expensive places in terms of quality, but the food is still really good and it’s definitely tops for the value. We’ve ordered from them 4 – 5 times now.

Second time in a row this place «lost order»!!! After waiting for 1hr 20mins I called, received SHOCKINGLY BAD SERVICE, then was left on hold for 10 mins. Ridiculous.
If the Incompetence of the staff is a reflection on their food then I’m better off. If you want to play delivery lottery and wait more than an hour to receive NOTHING then order away! Good luck

Great value for the quantity and quality of food. We ordered delivery of General’s chicken, pad thai and appetizers. It arrived In about 30 minutes piping hot and delicious. We will order again. Recommend that you order directly from the restaurant by phone. Online, it seems they offer abbreviated versions of their menu at varying prices through services like grubhub.

The delivery guy could not get into our condo building because he typed the door code in wrong and got angry at me. Then he practically threw the bag of food at me and stormed off without saying a word. I definitely will not be ordering from them again.
Regarding the food, it’s okay, but there are plenty of other options in the area that are better.

I don’t understand the 4 star ratings. Food was not good — the dumplings weren’t tender, the chicken with cashews was slimy. Spring rolls contained shrimp (wasn’t on the menu that way). The only thing decent was the beef with broccoli.
Portions were huge, but that just meant more to throw away, because they won’t be eaten as leftovers.

I ordered today from New Szechuan Express based upon the reviews here. Boy you guys had it totally wrong this time!
Here’s my honest take of it
General Tso Chicken – Not a lot of the Tso sauce. The chicken was not dry but it definitely needed more tso sauce. The broccoli tasted like it came from a bag. Definitely not super fresh.
Hot and Sour soup was not good either. It was super thick and murky. Lots of mushrooms, little meat.
chicken wings were tasty but then again, you cannot really mess up fried chicken wings. You get six healthy sized wings. By the fourth wing, it was so greasy, I just couldn’t bear to eat the last two.
Egg rolls– thick and crispy. Pretty good egg rolls.
Overall the chicken wings and egg roll was the best of the meal. Would not buy general tso chicken nor hot and sour soup from them.
Other bits of information
*delivery time was average
*delivery person was friendly
*NO Silverware or napkins in bag… not so good.
Hopefully I’ll finally find a good Chinese restaurant in this area but for now, I am still without.
Sad Fork!

i have tried other chinese delivery places in the area and this is the best. the pricing is reasonable and the delivery people are friendly.

We’ve lived in West End Alexandria for 8 years, and this is the place I call for Chinese American take-​out. I’ve tried a number of the many other restaurants within the 3 – 4 mile delivery radius and always return to New Szechuan Express. The food has consistently satisfied my Chinese take-​out cravings. They have always arrived before the 30 minutes they tell me it will take. And the delivery people are always cheerful! Driving around delivering Chinese-​Am food all night – and with a smile!
It is the typical Chinese take-​out that you crave – deep-​fried chunks of meat with thick, fragrant sauces, starchy noodles slicked with oil… nothing healthy or «authentic» about it – it’s the real deal Chinese American comfort food you love. It does, however, have wok hei – the smoky, high-​heat «breath of the wok» that is so hard to reproduce at home! You can really taste it in the lo mein. Pork is my favorite.
Yummy food, consistent service (with a smile), quick delivery – this is what you want on those nights you «need» a tub General Tso’s…
p. s.–nothing particularly «szechuan» about this place, though – foods marked «spicy» aren’t really spicy at all. We ask for «extra spicy» for more of a kick.

yummmmmmmmmmm!!! great general tsos chicken and fried rice!!!

Great takeout food from a whole in the wall type restaurant. Staff was very friendly and the price is very affordable! Being from out of town, we were happily surprised at the food quality/​taste and the price. Fed 6 people for $ 60. No restaurant seating, take out only.

NSE gets an awesome in my book.
This is one of your local dives that serves up good food, its definitely a carry out /​delivery place .
So I have ordered from this place Hummm about 3 times already I’m the past month time frame.
Things I have ordered :
General Tso Chicken — come on this is one of the staples you need to order from any Chinese place, if they messed it up then the rest is gonna be garbage too, but luckily for me NSE got it down on point, big chunks of chicken, sauce is just right, enough tang and enough spice = awesome
Spicy tangy Shrimp and scallops big scallops and big shrimp full of flavor and sauce is on point good tang good spice and veggie, I usually don’t water chestnut, but they did it right and I like it
Shrimp Lo mein good flavor huge shrimp some veggie and not overly greasy like other places, it was pretty damn good
Singapore noodles yes the little strands of goodness with a lot of flavor and not overly done with curry flavor, lots of shrimp in it and flavor is just right .
Let’s see what else did I have hummmmmm…
Oh yes sorry got side tracked was heating up leftovers from NSE… Ok back to what I ordered …
Human shrimp is very good some tang and lots of heat but not to the point where your eyes are tearing up or nose starts to run or grabbing a bottle of water after each bite or breaking out in a sweat, lol this is done just right enough hit and lots of flavor and shrimp and veggie, this is awesome
Hot and sour soup = awesome !!! Good heat good tang good veggie good flavor good tofu nuff said
So some of the free stuff I got for ordering :
Veggie egg rolls on point and good and not greasy like other places where you big in and squirt you now have a mouth full of grease lol this place did it where you don’t have that plus its filled with lots of veggie and wrapper is yummm yummm (free with orders of $ 15, just mention you have the coupon when ordering)
Chicken fried rice noom nommm again not overly greasy and lots of chicken and full of flavor, I never had to add anything but maybe some Spicy Cock sauce aka Siracha lol (this is free with any order over $ 20 and mention the coupon and you get it)
And if you order is $ 30 request for the free general Tso chicken.
So on to service
Quick and easy ordering, they speak English well and are very polite and friendly
Delivery = these folks are a bunch of lightening fast Ninjas lol you order and next thing you know before you hang up you hear a knock on your door lol… well not that fast but pretty damn fast
So if your in the Alexandria /​Landmark/​Van dorn area then this place is good for Chinese food to go delivery is a 5 miles radius from 5715 Edsall Rd so if your in the radius go for it
BTW if you are wondering why I didnt give this place 5 stars is because they dont have one of my favorites which is the salt and pepper Shrimp or squid which are must haves at a Chinese joint, plus I rarely give 5 stars unless its completely awesome/​winning yes I am a hard ass lol

A buddy of mine who was visiting from Texas wanted some late night Chinese, so immediately recommended a local Chinese restaurant that was, in my opinion, the best Chinese food I had ever eating. Unfortunately, when I called to place an order they were already closed. I went to Unilocal for some help (cheesy, I know) and I called several locations that were on the list but all of them were closed. Our last attempt was the New Szechuan Express (NSE). Sadly they were closed too but would make an exception and cook one final order as they were waiting for the roof workers to fix an issue. In the back of my mind, I knew that the NSE rankings were just average but at this point beggars can’t be choosers. So we immediately placed our order! As we hurried in from a fun night in DC, we made it in to Alexandria a bit faster than the 10 minutes they needed to prepare the meal. The lady welcomed us and gave a genuine hello and apologized profusely for the wait. Seriously, I thought, we were on their time and were just appreciative of their courtesy to make an exception and cook for us. Before I go any further, let me make one point clear, I am originally from Texas and I can tell you what Mexican food and BBQ is legit but when it come to Chinese food, my history stems from mall Chinese food and PF Changs. Until this point, I believed I knew what great Chinese food was based off of another Chinese restaurant around the corner. When I sat down to eat my beef and broccoli, which I had expected to be just okay, I was blown away by how great the food was. Not only was it flavorful, but the food was cooked to perfection. My broccoli was not too hard and not too mushy and the sauce was amazingly portioned to my liking. My friend ordered a lemon chicken w/​fried rice meal and I will agree that it is not difficult to fry chicken strips, but it is difficult to find a good sauce that has a nice tangy lemon flavor to accompany the dish. I am a big fan of writing for the common folk and not for the food connoisseur so you may or may not agree with me. My recommendation is for you to step out of your comfort zone and give them a shot. In the event that you do not like the food, it is not like you paid an arm and a leg for it. Lastly, I went back today and ordered the General Tso and it was great! NSE is two for two in my book. I can’t wait until you try it, you will like it. I have left my email, for credibility, to my post (no, I don’t work for them, I’m not a poser), but I ask if you don’t have anything nice to say about my review (remember, I am an average Joe and not a professional), please don’t email me as it is my work email. If you have other recommendations for food, i.e. Italian, Mexican, BBQ, shoot me an email and let me know so that I may try.
Jon

Nothing to be excited about… reasonably priced and fairly tasty… pretty average for a Chinese takeout spot
There is no dining room… strictly take out

Nothing great. Just ok. Cheap.
1. Spring rolls — crispy, but the kind you get at bj’s…
2. Lo mein — greasy (i.e. as expected), but little meat.
Overall, Ho King and this place are about the same quality. With Ho King maybe a little better. Overall, haven’t found any decent chinese in landmark area, that is why I gave it 3 stars, in comp. with other options in the area.

I owe Szechuan Express an update. The first review I did wasn’t really worthy of the experiences I’ve had ordering food from here. I’m pretty disappointed in myself because I’ve spent more time complaining about a place than I have singing the praises of this establishment which I wish to dub, «The Best Chinese Delivery in 22 311».
Last week I was home alone. R was off on the other side of the planet attending a friend’s wedding that I unfortunately could not accompany him on. It usually takes quite a bit of arm twisting to get R to agree to have Chinese food for dinner (he hates fish and has had too many experiences where pork fried rice tasted fishy) so usually the only times I get Chinese food are when he’s away. It’s a major event for me. I spend loads of time Googling dishes that I haven’t tried to find something new to taste. I usually end up ordering enough food to feed a family reunion. But sometimes I just want something simple, that I know I like. That’s what I did this time around.
It had been a while since I had ordered Pepper Steak, so I went with that. Szechuan Express hadn’t failed to impress with the other run of the mill Chinese food dishes we had ordered before so I was feeling good about this choice. I never, ever, order Chinese food without an appetizer. 99.9% of the time I get crab Rangoon’s as my appetizer, but the first time R and I ordered from Szechuan Express I didn’t. I must not have been feeling well or something! For those who don’t know I’ve been on a mission to find the best crab Rangoon’s in the 22 311 zip code and so far things weren’t going well. It was time for Szechuan Express to be tested.
My order arrived very quickly. The delivery driver was a really nice guy! All smiles and «thanks!». People like that really make me happy. I tucked into my grub, which was still nice and hot. I tried a few bites of the Pepper Steak. It was good! It tasted just as it should– which was exactly what I wanted. I guess the only bad thing I could say is that I wish it had a bit more meat in it, but I wouldn’t say they skimped on it. Now on to the important part, the crab Rangoon’s: Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner. Szechuan Express makes the best crab Rangoon’s I have ever had!
Now I feel better, I’ve given Szechuan Express the review they deserve.