Grand Sichuan

This review is based upon my infrequent visits over the past 3 years, probably 6 in total. My most recent visits were last month, December of 2013. When I visit Grand Sichuan or and Sichuan restaurant, I usually get the Chongqing chicken and cumin lamb. I also try the hotpot when it’s cold outside.
The first thing that you’ll notice about Grand Sichuan is that it’s located in Murray Hill. The vibe in the neighborhood is nice and quiet and is transferred into this restaurant. There is no music playing in the background, so it’s okay for quiet conversation. The dining room is huge, well-​lit, but not too bright and can accommodate large groups, including many tables for couples. Service is utilitarian and the food comes to your table fairly quickly.
If you’re a fan of Chongqing chicken and cumin lamb, I find that the Chongqing chicken here ranks in the top 2 of my favorites in terms of flavor and portion size. Although portions are not overwhelmingly large, the Chongqing chicken delivers numbing and spicy flavors in chicken bits that are dark meat, cubed larger than what you would get at other restaurants. The flavor is a little sweeter too. As for the cumin lamb, it’s was just okay, not as strong in cumin or heat than other places.
About the hot pot, the pot sits on a convection burner, so there’s no fear of burning yourself on a flame. You have a choice of spicy and non-​spicy broths. Broths are a single charge, sauces you pay separately for, and for each veggie or meat selection it’s charged separately. It’s basically a la carte for everything. I’ve found for two people, you’ll need to pay about $ 40 to fully satisfy your hunger. The meat and veggie selections are brought to you in small plates, so if you think of this as a dim sum meal, you can see how things add up as you add plates of food.
I would recommend Grand Sichuan mainly for their slightly lower cost, especially some of their chicken or pork dishes. They do an excellent Chongqing chicken which I highly recommend. Most dishes here are $ 2 to $ 3 less than their counterparts on the 39^th Street Sichuan Row, so if you want a meal a tad nicer on your wallet you should eat here.

This is REAL Sichuan! Yes it comes oily but you’re not supposed to eat that part or pour it in spoonfuls over your rice I learned. What you’re supposed to do is pick pieces of meat and vegetable out of it and you will get the most flavorful and tender pieces of spicy food! You can really taste the spices and flavors of Sichuan in their dishes, really authentic!
Plus they have my favorite vegetable, silk melon in Chinese, loofah in English (sounds stupid in translation but tastes awesome in real life)
They also have xiao long bao soup dumplings so I think this place gets my vote for sure! And also another favorite is sautéed tomato with egg! Why does my date know me so well, he knows what I’m looking at in the menu? Haha
Totally coming back, real spicy flavors, I never liked lamb until I came here.

For the lunch menu:
If you order anything with chicken in it, you can be guaranteed that you’ll receive bits of fish that have been battered and deep fried (poorly). This includes the General Tso’s CHICKEN.
Stay away.

We went to Grand Sichuan for a group event and they were easily able to accommodate 10 of us and were flexible with our sporadic ordering choices.
We started out with a few beers and when we were ready to get our Chinese fixing, we ordered family style to make use of the Lazy Susan.
The food came out quickly and was plentiful, but I wasn’t overly impressed.
Grand Sichuan was a good place for a group gathering since we could actually hear each other and they were able to seat us in the back away from the crowds. We were easily the last ones to leave, but were not being pressured by the wait staff.
Come for the space, don’t expect anything extraordinary food wise and you’ll be a happy customer.

Don’t bother with the other entrees. Best hot pot in the city! The chicken broth is the most flavorful I’ve had at any hot pot joint. I always get my hot pot with beef, spinach, baby bokchoy, and cellophane noodles with garlic sauce, peanut sauce and spicy sauce on the side. The Pork Soup Dumplings and Wontons in Hot Oil are good crowd-​pleasing appetizers.
Complimentary orange slices + fortune cookies at the end.

Went here last night. 7÷25÷13 at about 9pm. It was unusually empty and they asked me if I had a reservation, which baffled me since there were about 7 ppl in the restaurant.
Sat at one of those round tables and hello! was greeted by a giant roach. We were a large group and immediately made it out of there. Never again will i order or visit this establishment.

Yummy. We tried to get typical Sichuan dishes and the Dried Spicy Bean Curd is one of the best dishes here. Also ordered other dishes such as the Egg and Bitter Melon which was the best I’ve had in this city. Eggplant with Garlic Sauce is a no-​no and my friend had the Fried Sichuan Shrimp which was also another no-​no.

Scallion pancake was tasteless.
Pork soup dumpling was just ok.

Updating my previous reviews. Thius place has reallly fallen off. Much better places. Just had a terrible soft shell crab dish, and two other recent experiences were not good.

Holy mouth on fire Batman!
I had never had Sichuan food before this place and when I am in the mood to get my sinuses clear and flush out my system even more than Indian food this is where I go.
I definitely reccomend the wontons in hot oil. That sauce is worth it’s weight in gold!
The various tofu dishes are great as well. I would not try the diced green beans. They chop them up beyond taste bud recognition.

When I want authentic Chinese food, I usually head to Chinatown. But for this part of town, Grand Sichuan is a decent spot.
I was museum-​hopping with an old friend who found this place on his fancy phone app… what would I do without friends who have fancy phone apps?! We saw the $ 7.50 lunch specials posted outside and started drooling.
Lunch came with a nice big pot of tea, soup or soda, and choice of white or brown rice. It is February in NYC. Needless to say, we chose the soup and I ordered something «spicy».
My friend had the sesame chicken and egg drop soup, and I got the lamb with ginger and hot and sour soup. Service was fast, if not too friendly.
Though not what I would call spicy, my lamb was lean, tender, flavorful, and mixed with large ginger pieces and a nice balance of vegetables. Brown rice was perfectly cooked, no tough bits. Even my friend’s chicken came with a nice helping of steamed broccoli. The soups were tasty though I felt mine was watered down a bit.
I wouldn’t mind returning here to try the roast duck and some tofu dishes.

*1.5 stars *
Yikes. What is going on here? Have my standards for Chinese food skyrocketed or is this place just terrible?
It was freezing cold outside and I was starving after a late night at work. I stopped in for takeout. I ordered xiao long bao (pork soup dumplings) and mapo tofu with brown rice. My order came out to be just shy of $ 20. Service was language-​challenged and lukewarm.
Got home and the dumplings were atrocious. The filling is typically pork and ginger and maybe some napa cabbage. In this case, the pork was the worst texture I’ve ever tried, and there was a very strong flavor like anise. I wasn’t sure what to make of that — I’ve never had these flavors or textures in XLB before. Gross. Also, the dumplings were very doughy and thick. Just not right at all.
The tofu was sitting in a pool of oil. I tried it with the cold, dry brown rice that I paid extra for. Flavorwise, it was decent. However, there was a lot of shredded ginger and white pepper seed shells in the food that kept needing to get picked out while eating. This stuff gets stuck in the back of your throat! I liked the spices but would have preferred the essence and not the shards.
Disappointing. To the point where I’m not sure I’ll even bother eating the leftovers.

Pretty typical Chinese restaurant, where the food is the focus and nothing else seems to matter much.
You walk into the restaurant, and the first thing you see is two unhappy-​looking, dirt-​covered delivery guys wearing their orange vests with their bikes at the entrance. I don’t like to nit-​pick these things, but come on, that really shouldn’t be the first thing you see in a fine-​er chinese restaurant
The food is your usual Sichuan restaurant. Some dishes much better than average, others, I wouldn’t order again.
The only two dishes worth coming back for: Sichuan fish (trout, I believe), which is served in the usual basin of spicy oil. And the stir-​fry chicken (which they claim to be daily fresh chicken. I can’t really tell when the food is cooked in such spicy oil)
Overall, meh. nothing really wowed me, and the uninviting décor and delivery guys greeting the door just didn’t help.
Food: C+
Atmosphere: D
Service: B–

My coworkers and I consistently come here for lunch. We always order:
** The sautéed string beans (tasty)
** The rice cakes with veggies (a big hit)
** Noodles (thick ones with shrimp, as well as an order of the thin ones)
** The tofu in spicy oily sauce (which is indeed both spicy and oily)
Overall, this is not a great place if you’re a vegetarian. Or if you’re health conscious (think lots and lots of oil). But it is a delicious way to break up the sub/​pizza/​Indian buffet lunch routine.

[EDIT/​Moved to the other Unilocal posting for the same restaurant]
There’s a lot of grand sichuans in the city. I’m not 100% sure if these restaurants are related, or the district just isnt the most original at naming, but I’ve found the food to be pretty consistent. I stick to the dishes that I like, and they are pretty tasty every time. I’ve been fortunate enough to be given the lowdown on the right things to order by a sichuanese friend, and I’ve never been disappointed since:
I’ve been here a few times now (and I order delivery all the time). My favorite dishes are:
–fish filet in spicy peppery sauce: every element of this dish works. the fish is unbelievably tender, and the sauce is spicy and flavorful yet still light. Its served with some sort of napa cabbage that adds some crispy texture, and really soaks up the spicy sauce
–mapo tofu: this is my go-​to hangover cure. Soft tofu with spicy ground pork makes for a great saturday (3PM) breakfast
–sauteed pea shoot. something this healthy shouldnt taste this good. Its simple, but a great accoutrement to some of the spicier fare on offer
–twice cooked pork. A little on the dry side, but very tasty nonetheless
I’ve also had generally good experiences with the service/​wait staff (probably doesnt hurt to have my friend shmoozing with them in sichuanese), and love the orange wedges that they give you with your check. Great touch, and a perfect remedy for the burn your mouth is invariably feeling at that point in the meal

This place, definitely a 2 star.
Due to the proximity, I went to this place several times, and tried different chicken dishes (like General Tso, etc). They were all bland and weren’t tasty. and then, their service wasn’t great either. I always got somehow intimidated whenever I ordered food because they were fast and cold. Fortunately no encounter happened, but I personally thought I was close to feeling really angry a couple of times.
Subpar food plus intimidating service. Oh btw dishes are not cheap for a chinese take out restaurant either. I think twin star’s good enough.

We order take out from here often and haven’t had any issues. Like your standard Chinese restaurant, I am sure they use MSG as the food is quite savory and tasty. The only problem is, I am usually pretty nauseous after consuming their food. Now, I maintain a pretty healthy diet so maybe that’s why; my body doesn’t understand how to break down this processed food. But after a long night of drinking, this Chinese is pretty good.
CAUTION: Do not order from the one further uptown. My entire house (4 people) got food poisoning. This location however has posed no threat, and we have ordered multiple times. Food is OK… point is, it hits the «I am craving Chinese food» spot. Delivery takes a while.

The fatter twin brother/​Avatar version of me (no relations, just another bald Asian dude with more chins and a belly), absolutely LOVES this place. His taste of food is just like his women: questionable. He craves it like crack at least once a month and couldn’t stop raving and ranting all freaking day at work. So my boy organized a big gathering of his co-​workers and friends to attend this dinner. It was quite the mix of personalities and characters, almost like an Asian Sorority/​White & Asian Fraternity 3-​way mixer. The white boys however were a lot more tamed than us slant eye dudes with built-​in widescreen vision.
To start off my alcoholic clone brought 2 bottles of whiskey since it was BYOB. We were definitely in for a rowdy good time. We ordered a mess of things but the only dishes that were memorable were the tea smoked duck, Mapo Tofu, Dan Dan Noodles, Spicy Beef Tendons and a pork belly with cabbage dish. Everything else was bland, tasteless and greasy as a teenager’s face. The soup dumplings were absolutely horrendous, do not order that on all accounts. Many complained about their customer service which I could kind of see but we were lucky to have it good. If you want good service come with a party of over ten and have at least five foreigners in that party. The bill came and it amounted to $ 25/​person which was pretty cheap considering they charged us a corkage fee for the two bottles.
Most of us were having too good of a time to care so we just ate, especially the tubby reflection of myself as he brashly bashed everything under the sun. Amongst the crowd with bleeding ears were Angie I. and Christine C. (not sure why I shout them out as they’re horrible Unilocalers anyways =P).

I came here for a brunch with a group that made a reservation. That was a good thing because 17 people ended up showing. They put us at two tables — one large one good for 12 and one that seated the rest of the 17. The waiter seemed to be a bit out of it because he skipped the small table entirely on the first go around. Or maybe’ it’s because one diner still had his menu in his hand– not sure. Anyway the waiter came back within 5 minutes and took our order. I ordered a Tsingtao beer which came immediately along with more tea since we had finished the first pot already.
I ordered the beef with ginger. The waiter asked if we wanted white or brown rice. Now I am glad they have the option and he actually asked us but I took the white rice. The beef with ginger was spicy deliciousness. Surprisingly I was able to eat most of my meal with the chopsticks, having to use the fork only for the last two bites. The waiter cleared up my empty dishes almost immediately. Within 5 minutes the rest of our small table had finished and the dishes were cleared and we were given our fortune cookies and oranges.
About the bill: The waiter was kind enough to give the small table separate checks because we asked. Not many restaurants will accommodate that request with large parties.

For the area that is Curry Hill, you won’t find much better Chinese food. Sad to say, it may be the best option most folks crazy for Chinese cuisine might have for this area without traveling to Chinatown. But being that I’ve eaten at several other Grand Sichuan locations before, this one would have to fall somewhere toward the bottom of the Sichuan ladder.
Service is about as good as the food, which isn’t that great. The actual place is itself screams dingy from the outside and a little cramped on the inside. Group friendly dining isn’t as easy here as it is in the other locations.
Food tastes a bit salty and the spices aren’t really as intense as the food prepared at other locations. The Soup Dumplings were a tad on the stale side and the broth from the pocket of the dumpling wasn’t hot enough. Dan Dan noodles were uninspiring as was the San Bei Ji (Three Cup Chicken), Kou Shui Ji (Mouthwatering Chicken?).
Prices won’t run one for much but it may be considered expensive for those of us who dine out at places like this often. I like the fact they also have delivery available via Seamless Web. But unless I feel like Chinese, I’ll stick with the vast Indian options in the area instead.