Shao Mountain

This is THE place to go for Sichuan food or spicy chinese food in general. The interior isn’t that great but that’s irrelevent. I’ve been to Chengdu and Hunan and the only place in Fremont that has food that can compare is Shao Mountain. The long line on the weekends should be proof enough of the quality of the food here.

The employee is so disrespectful and rude. We came on a Sat morning at around 1:45 pm and when we walked in, the waiter told us that they r close even though it says 2:30 on the window and 3 pm on Unilocal.I have no idea why he refuse to serve us when theres 45 mins remaining left. I used to come here a lot and never been treated like this before. The employee had very disappointed me.

The paper menu is so messed up, they don’t even have appetizer anymore. The taste of food is getting worse compare the first time I came here. I will never come here again.

We wanted to order take outs. The customer representative has been very rude saying this is not an option, and that the boss said they don’t do take-​outs. However, there has been a previous representative who said take outs were OK. Then the guy just said he doesn’t care and we must have not talked to this restaurant, treating us like we were stupid. I would have given 0 stars if I would!!!

I think they changed owners. Terrible service they were so rude. There city only gave them a provisional pass-​so I wonder what’s wrong. A tall young kid with a pony tail was so rude, if I knew his name I would post that too. Food is inconsistent. We had up to 12 people at a time
that use to go, not any more. Instead go to Spices 1616 Washington Blvd. They have a lot of the same dishes, but make them better. Never again!!!
A.Vargas

We’ve been eating here and getting take out for the office for years. All of a sudden NO TAKE OUT? Are you kidding me? It’s extra $ for the restaurant without taking up valuable seats. I just don’t get it.
TRY SPICES FREMONT– Food is better anyway, this is just closer to the office.

It closes at 2pm instead of 3pm, with no notice at all. More than 5 groups of people came at 1:50 and had to go to other places.
No to-​go option, although there is a huge barcode with a number for delivery.
Rude waiters, sitting at a table saying something like we are closed, no to-​go, get out of here.
Will never come back.

They are supposed to close tonight at 9pm but they turned us away because the manager is not in the house and the chef «doesn’t want to cook anymore» at 7:40pm. Are you serious!!! Unbelievable! I wonder how often they turned customers away like this without the owner knowing this.

3.5 stars
This spot is busy busy busy on Saturdays! Luckily, they move fast and we didn’t wait longer than 15 minutes.
I tried:
–Sauteed spicy lotus root: good crunchy texture and just the right amount of spice
–Chilli oil noodles: yummy and the noodles had good texture
–Green bean appetizer: good to have a non-​spicy contrast to the other dishes
–Pork and firm baked tofu: the tofu offsets the spicy dishes; very welcomed
–Spicy fish and noodles: this dish was a disappointment. The peppers overwhelmed the dish. It wasn’t even super spicy… it was just a sharp pepper taste. Also, I expected the whole dish to be fish but the second half was all noodles. The noodles weren’t super appetizing because the pepper was too overwhelming (more overwhelming than on the fish) and the texture was weird.
The prices were pretty reasonable here and the service quick and good.
This was a nice meal. The fish, my usual main dish in Szechuan-​ese meals, was a disappointment but I liked the noodles and lotus root.

Really enjoyed the eggplant with green beans!
The pickled beans with ground pork are also good.
Service was a little slow, but ok.

Food used to be great here when they still had their old menu. But the past couple times I came here the menu was different! There weren’t as many selections as before. Hope they bring the old menu back!

Food is great but service? Not so much, we arrived at 830 and was told the restaurant closed by 9:30 but we still can eat, by 9pm they already starting sweeping/​mobbing floor while we r still eating! The waitress is pretty rude too. Not recommend.

We usually go for lunch with 6 – 8 people from work almost every week.
We went for lunch today and found It is very discouraged and disappointed that almost every single dish is very salted, all dishes still look very spicy but not spicy any more, portion of all dishes got shrink and cost of each dishes increased $ 2.
Hunan style boiled fish fillet was $ 13.99 and now is $ 15.99
Fish filet dual flavor was $ 15.99 and raise to $ 17.99
Hot sour chicken was $ 10.99 and increase to $ 11.99
Sautéed lotus $ 11.99 and is $ 13.99 now.
The waiter and waitress denying they changed chef even though they open up a new one in other locations in Fremont.
The old flavor of spiciness is no longer there.
This for sure would be our last lunch at Shao Mountain.

Came back here again after a while. The duo chili fish is unbelievably oily now :(Not too spicy anymore and no other flavor other than salty, oily and the fish isn’t even that fresh. Everything still tastes ok to good, but nothing special. Beers are $ 3.5 each, which is kinda pricey.

Great food! Not as spicy as I thought. I can handle it! I was there around 6:10pm Friday night. No waiting for us. But the tables were full within ten minutes after we sit down. They served the dishes efficiently. We saw people waited outside even its 8ish at night. Good food worth waiting. Not a bad idea to get bubble tea while waiting from the tea shop next door.

Came here for lunch w/​coworker. Their lunch specials are a nice cheap price (~$ 8), but the taste is better than many other Chinese places in the area. My favorite two things are the green beans and eggplant (they go so well together, pan seared, and well spiced) and the fried spareribs. Those spare ribs. Whoo weee, that flavor tho! There was also a dish with chicken and some celery which was also good but wouldn’t recommend getting again in light of the other yummy (er) dishes available on their menu.
Down’s:
Service is meh (to be expected w/​authentic Chinese places)
Menus look like they’ve been run through the washer 2 too many times

If you’re looking for spicy Szechwan food. this is the place for you. Four stars for the food. the ambience is about three stars. The only downside is that the restaurant doesn’t have a seating area. so when it’s busy (which is always) there are people standing around while you eat and the door keeps opening and closing so it’s cold.
The food is pretty good. I think the tables are a little dirty. the wait service has trouble keeping up with the overturn. I would recommend the lotus roots because it’s delicious (btw, it’s an Asian thing so if you’ve never had it before. you may not like it). I also recommend the fish as it’s delicious as well.
Be prepared to sit very very close to others… the tables are spaced close together.

I like my food spicy and hot just how I like my men.
Kidding. On the serious note, if you like salty and spicy food like me, you will surely like this spot as well.
For me, their food isn’t that spicy. It has a good kick, but not overwhelming.
For those who can’t take the heat, I would say to get the famous fish dish.
Yes. The food is is oily and spicy. The customer service isn’t great. But I enjoy my visits there but I can see why some people are not a fan.
Weekday lunch time: packed and packed parking lot. They always try to squeeze everyone in so basically no privacy either.

This place is DELICIOUS. Everything is so so tasty if you’re a fan of spicy Asian food. We drive all the way from Cupertino sometimes just to eat here. I think there’s another Shao Mountain closer to us in San Jose, but I heard that one doesn’t taste very good. This one is apparently the original Shao Mountain. The only annoying things are that there is usually a wait and service is never the best because duh, it’s a Chinese restaurant.
Here are my favorite things to order:
–Dual spicy fish fillets
–Spicy cauliflower (omg fave veggies ever)
–Sliced beef tripe chili
–Chinese scrambled eggs
Not sure if these are the actual names of any of these dishes because my parents usually order in Chinese for us :).

Maybe because I’ve been tainted with the poor Chinese food in Socal, so when I tried Shao Mountain, I was thoroughly please with my experience here! I came here on a Sunday night around 6:30 PM with a party of 3! It was the night of «The Game» (CONGRATS WARRIORS!) so business was kind of slow.
We ordered:
-(appetizer) sliced beef and tripe with roasted chili vinaigrette $ 6.99// great appetizer! I love that they give you a good amount of beef and tripe! Sauce was not too spicy and not too oily. Perfect!
–grilled cooked pig intestine $ 12.99// most people are fearfully of eating organs but I LOVE THEM. It’s plated on one of those mini hotpots with a flame on the bottom, and it’s topped with a bunch of dried chili. Not too bad! It gets crispier as it heats up but it tastes meh cold.
–sautéed lotus root with chili in wood tub $ 11.99// I love lotus roots in general and it seems like everyone who came here got this item! It was definitely delicious and I kept going back for more! Lotus was crispy and not too soft, and the flavor was yummy! Super good with rice!
–Chinese yam with pork ribs soup $ 11.99// I’m a huge soup person and this place did this soup justice! Not too salty or MSG flavor and had a good portion of ribs and yams! It’s a nice size for 4 – 6 people.
–SIchuan boiled fish/​/​VERY classic dish at any Sichuan restaurant! It’s always hard to perfect this because you have to get the spicy chili oil sauce and the amount of fish perfect. If the oil is too hot, it will have a burnt taste on the fish. If it’s under boiled, it’ll just be a pool of oil on top. I personally like that it’s not super oily like other places, but the fish was undercooked a bit too much for my liking. Still delicious with rice though!
–Tofu skin wrapped in pork (?)/​/​I actually have no recollection what this dish is called, but it’s basically the fresh tofu skin layered like lasagna. It’s stuffed with ground pork, eggs and bits of chai. It’s steamed and then coated in flour and fried. It’s yummy! The batter on the outside isn’t savory – it’s actually sweet, to counter the inside. I ate this whole plate myself!
Pros:
–Great service! Waiter made small talk with us and gave us recommendations!
–Nice ambiance! Everyone was enjoying their food so it made me super excited to try our dishes!
–Good flavors! I love Sichuan food and Shao did a great job delivering it to those who enjoy spicy food!
–Awesome portion sizes! I was dying by the time I finished because each portion was so much larger than what we expected! Great prices too to go with the portion size!
Cons:
–After a while, the sauces all start tasting the same… but that’s not the fault of Shao– it really depends on what dishes you order! We really wanted spicy, so all our dishes were spicy and «ma» (麻) .
–Slow service. We just wanted extra bowls, but since we sat in the furthest corner, we were never helped. And if we were helped, we got doubles of everything!
Tips/​Observations:
–Make sure you put yourself on the waiting list when you go in! It asks for your phone number but in reality they never call you… they just look around for your party.
–Parking lot is huge here, but during rush hour, finding a parking space in front of this place will be difficult since there are competing restaurants around here. (Sno-​crave right next door?! Holy…)
This place is definitely great for families and friends. A lot of people come here in groups, and I can see that everyone is enjoying their dishes. I would recommend this place to anyone in this area who wants some nice Chinese food!