Grand Sichuan International

Average hot pot. They aren’t that nice and water down their sauces. I must find another place for hot pot OR open my own restaurant!

Business closed!
I went to this restaurant many time before shut down it, But everything just so so!

Just so nobody else encounters the sadness I had to by going there with an empty stomach and high hopes, Grand Sichuan is CLOSED
((update: I’ve just been messaged by somebody who says it is just CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS. Dear sweet spicy noodly heavens I hope this is true.))
It looks like they are building a hotel there. :(But I mat be wrong! A Carrie K. just messaged me saying that the restaurant was re-​opening. I’m not in NYC so I’ve yet to go see for myself, but I am wishing on a star that she is right and I was wrong in my assessment.
This place is (was?) my favorite restaurant ever. I first stumbled in there ragged tired coming off the Chinatown bus moving from DC to NYC, and fell in love. I made it a habit to bring friends from out of town there. Since moving away from NYC, I can’t lie, I’ve made a few road trips divert their course to hit NYC just so I could have some of that spicy broth. YUM

I’ve been here a handful of times. A few times for hot pot, and a couple times recently because I needed a break from the Cantonese spots that I usually visit.
Hot pot: The spicy soup base is definitely very spicy. Ingredients are not the freshest /​best quality. This place can get a bit pricier than other hot pot places in the area. This’ also the first time I’ve ever had to pay for sauces before, don’t know what’s up with that.
Lunch Special: The lunch special came out to $ 5.60 (after tax??). This’ $ 1-​$ 1.50 more than I pay at my usual places. There was a relatively small portion of rice, and I was still hungry after finishing the meal. They also didn’t include any soup, which a lot of places I usually goto include.
Ma Po Tofu: Ma Po Tofu at Cantonese places isn’t spicy enough for me, I had a craving for something spicier that night. Got the Ma Po Tofu here, almost $ 11 bucks with rice, again a few bucks more than I’m used to paying. The tofu didn’t have the minced pork in it that I’m used to having, but it wasn’t bad, and was spicy enough.
The service here isn’t as bad as some other people make it out to be. I found most of the people here to be relatively courteous, and spoke pretty good English. Grand Sichuan’s open until 11pm, so that gives it a notch over a lot of other places that are only open until 9 or so. The place is located at a busy section of Chinatown, so I’m sure that accounts for the traffic /​higher prices /​better English.

If you have eaten hot pot before, you will get little bit shock to see this place’s hot pot.
I choose the double tastes hot pot. I was surprised when I see the white side of soup. Only tomato (!) and scallion were inside. And taste just MSG. Sad. So many people (maybe they eat hot pot first time in their life here.) recommend this place. I don’t know why. There are more good hot pot restaurants in manhattan…

Please do not confuse «hole in the wall» with «delicious foodie find».
Usually I’ll put up with bad service if the food is mind-​blowing or fast, but the hot pot here is neither. It’s standard, hot pot fare; the spicy sichuan soup is the same to be had at any other place making similar offerings; and it takes them over 15 minutes to bring you soy sauce in a bottle (and sa cha sauce, which, by the way, you simply scoop out of a jar or can). Oh, and they CHARGE you for said soy sauce that comes out in a bottle. At least put up some sort of pretense and serve it in a bowl so that I can at least trick myself into thinking that it took THAT LONG because some Asian grandma is in the back, tirelessly making the soy sauce with love and from scratch by hand.
I think Deanna L. put it best — what Chinese restaurant is going to put the «service charge» (for a party of 4?) on the bill ahead of time, unless they know that their service is THAT bad?
So if you’re looking for hot pot to warm your belly on a cold blustery night, I say move on, my friend, move on.

So everything I will be saying here is a comparison to Mister Hotpot.
Ever since I had hotpot last at Mister Hotpot, I was craving for it every single day. Even though I wanted to go back there, my friend insisted on trying out a different one in the city. So he picked, and I didn’t really look at the Unilocal reviews before I went.
The décor is definitely typical of any traditional Chinese restaurants (which I really don’t mind as long as the food is good). Pretty empty on a Tuesday night at 6:30pm.
Here goes the comparisons:
1. They definitely have waaaay less variety on their menu. But they do have the essentials so I guess that’s okay.
2. The non-​spicy side of their split pot is just BOILING WATER. Not a soup base/​broth. I was quite disappointed about that.
3. They charge for each one of their sauces!!! Mister Hotpot has the sauces complimentary. Especially for me, I’m a fiend for the sauces in hotpot. The garlic, the sacha sauce, sesame sauce, etc. And I think it’s freakin $ 1.95 for each one!!! This is probably the worst thing about the restaurant.
4. The spicy side is not bad. I did enjoy the spiciness of it (although it is still not as spicy as the ones in LA). This is about the same as Mister Hotpot.
5. The intestines are also pretty good. The portions of the ingredients are decent. I was pretty full off of maybe 2 meats, 2 vegetables, and 2 miscellaneous items. (This is between 2 people)
I’m sure you can tell that, if I ever want hotpot again, I will probably return to Mister Hotpot.

So we set out with a list of places we were told were holes in the wall, we meandered through neighbourhoods that have there own je né sait quoi and were unable to locate the ones we had on our list. So after an interesting 40 minutes of hard terrain, we came upon this little hole in the wall and decided we would try it.
In the last 40 frustrating minutes we had been looking, as we crossed paths with a lot of people who did not make us feel welcomed, one man spit his (what I can only hope were sunflower seeds, and nailed me in the eye), then we looked into what was obviously not the places we were told to try and were getting the feeling that this was getting us even further into unfamiliar territory.
We followed the numbers for the second place which was supposed to be 68 b Forsyth and came upon 29, then headed around a bend, which was essentially a cement up ramp of some kind, passed what look like a fish monger where lots of people stood in line to purchase, (under the Manhattan bridge, Literally!!!), and ended up at number 88.
By now we were decided not to backtrack, sometimes you just learn to cut your losses and move on. So we did and low and behold we came to 125 Canal.
We peeked in very cautiously, and saw two seats in the window, we decided to go for it, figuring it was safe to proceed, the lady at the cash (who was not mean in any way, but let’s say not too welcoming), handed us menus and said you can sit in window, order hot pot our regular menu.
Well hot pot it was for starters, we read the menu, and knowing not at all what to order, opted follow the suggested guidelines and order the «half and half» (see menu for instructions), and asked the waiter what he thought. He said pick 2 meats, two veggies and order more later so we did.
Squid, Beef, Snow pea greens (not sure if they are on the menu but I know this veggie from other Chinese places I like so I asked and he said yes), then as we looked over other possible ones on the menu, he kept repeated «mushrooms». At first we weren’t sure but we finally relented (cause we were getting the look), and said OK mushrooms.
Here is my take, I liked the spicy broth better and made delicious soup bowls with mostly beef, mushrooms and greens. I would skip the other broth, as it was meh. The broths are rather salty, but it worked out and we did enjoy the flavors.
.
My hubbies take was, this is frustrating, he is not very adept with chopsticks so fishing out the ingredients he put in was a challenge, he may have starved or over cooked everything if left to his own devices. I also likes the squid but it’s not my favourite thing so I cooked it and he ate it.
About ¾ of the way through our various ingredients, he decided he had to order the spicy Sichuan chicken with broccoli and rice, it arrived before we finished, and he dug in like a man lost at sea who sees solid land!
Conclusion we would go back, I would probably order just a beef and greens dish and he would get the chicken dish. We would try other things but forgo the effort of the hotpot, (unless we find a pro to walk us through), and we would order the prepared dished we saw the table next to us order. Also we would want the window table which offers a spectacular view of the bridge.
Sidebar: I went to the bathroom, and it was very clean as was the whole basement, maybe they read the past Unilocal

I am a spicy food fanatic! What is better on a cold day than a spicy hot pot meal… (clue… the answer is nothing!)
I think certain items can be on the pricey side which is way i took away a star. I mean really $ 7 for like 8 fishballs? Meh…
What i do like is that they have a wide array of sauces you can choose from… you have to pay for each sauce so choose wisely. My favorite sauces is the spicy sauce and the garlic sauce. You can’t go wrong with either.
I also love to get the sliced potatoes and throw them into the spicy side because they absorb all that yummy flavoring from the broth.
FYI: Service Charge is included in your bill… so make sure to check your bill before tipping!

Pros: authentic hot pot, fast service, no nonsense
Cons: crowded, dirty bathrooms, expensive
Now which one of those just doesn’t belong in a hot pot restaurant in the center of Chinatown? Grand Sichuan International offers you the authentic Sichuan hot pot experience at above authentic prices. They’ve got all the hot pot fixings you desire — beef, pork, lamb, tripe, fish balls, tofu skin, watercress, rice noodles, and dozens more with the dipping sauces to go along.
With a total of 7 people at the table, we somehow managed to rack up a bill over $ 230 which came out to about $ 40pp after tax and tip. Given that hot pot is essentially a pot of delicious boiling chicken broth and plates of frozen meats and processed fish, it’s pretty absurd to shell out that kind of cash for one meal. A good friend tipped me off on a $ 20 AYCE hot pot place around the corner that I’ll be hitting up the next time my chilled winter bones need some Sichuan warming.

The hot pot is truly fantastic. The spicy broth is great and if your not a spicy person it may be too much. But don’t fret you can split the pot. Half spicy half chicken broth. This way you can have some of both and I would even suggest mixing the two in your bowl. find your own level of spicy goodness.
Pick you favorite ingredients and enjoy. Try the dumplings, lamb, bak choi.
As for the service I personally don’t give a shit. You need some napkins get up and grab some. Call for the waiter don’t wait around.

Great sichuan hot pot! I love the grand sichuans all over the city, esp the one in chelsea and murry hill but this one has hot pot and i’m so in love with it! The metal pot it divided in half with a chicken broth and a spicy broth. You just order veggies, meats and noodles a la cart and cook yourself a delicious meal. I can’t wait to go back!

After a full day of Cantonese and Mandarin classes for my mind was full of intellect, yet my stomach was ready for good food in the company of good friends/​classmates/​instructors. Daa2 bin1 lou4 for a party of six on a bitter cold winter’s evening warms the heart to dispel agita and grief.
The dumplings were somewhat minimal, but their vegetables and noodles were plentiful and very tasty. Oddly, water is served in small styrofoam cups rather than actual china. Against the wall above the hostess desk is a intriguing clock that displays more than the time, date, year, as it displays in Chinese temperature in Fahrenheit, day of the week, and date/​month in Chinese Lunar calendar. The pot is embedded with the typical split for spicy and non-​spicy and one cylinder butane gas bottle. N.B. The index heat for spicy is hell spawn hot! This restaurant does not have milk to offer to dispel the extreme heat index of hell spawn hot. Formerly romanized as Szechuan, this Chinese region’s cuisine pungency and spiciness is prominently at this restaurant. Coming from a Cantonese background, I do NOT like spicy foods thus at this meal I have been pulling all foods from the non-​spicy side of the pot. I dare not touch the spicy side of the pot as my mouth and body would not be able to digest such a high index heat, thus no comment as to the taste and/​or flavor.
With all the ingredients distributed to our table, party of six, it was certainly like squeezing an adult size elephant into a sedan car for the lack thereof space. Thus, I rate Grand Sichuan International four stars for elbow-​to-​elbow seating for tight space and somewhat steep in price nearly $ 100.00 for our party of six (includes gratuity and the sales tax – blame it on Messrs. Cuomo, Bloomdumb and Uncle Sam the Grandfather of all taxes)!

Since this is by the Manhattan bridge and on Canal St. I still cannot believe I did not see a single Asian person when I first walked in customer wise workers were Chinese. Afterwards I did see a couple but mainly tourist.
What I liked:
— Ma La Hotpot broth was excellent!
— Ingredients were very fresh!
What I did not like:
— Butane gas stove was really dirty. Okay dirty I can stand but it was kind of gross.
— I had to individually order the items, it’s not unlimited and they don’t have some sort of combination.
— Very tourist price.
— Charged me $ 2 for sauce?! What! I been to countless of hotpot/​shabu shabu places and I get to mix my own sauce for free.
I checked out this place because of the convenient location, I rather go to Flushing for Sichuan food/​hotpot, you get the real deal over the there. This place can’t compare. But if you are close by the area and unwilling to travel to Queens, this place might do fine for you. I did glance over their regular menu they do have very inexpensive non-​hotpot food. No décor to this place except a mini chandelier in the front.

It was hot day and we didn’t want to have Hot Pot. To me personally, hot pot is best to have in winter. Any case, we have never been to this Grand Sichuan. It was off hours but we still see local eating. We got our table and looked around. All of the table had hot pot.
My friend ordered Wonton Soup ($ 3.95 for one) in a small cup. I expected GS wonton soup to be different from other restaurants around but it was the same but the price… was outside Chinatown price. It had few wontons in a soup only. I tasted one but it was nothing special.
Another friend ordered Minced Chiken & Corn Soup for two ($ 6.95) and it was lacking flavor and salt and thickness of corn starch was unpleasant in my tongue.
Dan Dan Noodle ($ 4.95) kicked me with a deep spicy flavor and I enjoyed the sauce but the noodle was over cooked like a can spaghetti noodle. Not that soft but close. I like Dan Dan at GS Chelsea better.
One of my friends seemed to like Wonton kind of thing that he ordered Fried Dumplings (6/​$ 4.95). It was nothing special and so as the sweet sauce came with. I much prefer Super Taste on 26 Eldridge St. Just few blocks over for 10 dumplings for $ 3 on a disposable plate. The skin is thinner and meat is juicy and tasty.
Eggplant with Brown Sauce ($ 8.95) was good but I had better. Sweetness that I like was tamed on this dish.
Braised Beef & Potatoes ($ 10.950 was not for me. The Chinese Five spice was too strong for how I like but one of my friend (China origin) born and raised in Trinidad really enjoyed this dish.
Diced Chicken & Potatoes with Kung Bao Sauce ($ 9.95) was okay. Diced chicken with bone were kind of hard to eat but the sauce was good.
All together came to $ 64 with 3 white rices (rice is separate order) and 4 soft drinks. If I come back, I stick to Hot Pot.

I’m sorry to offend anyone but… this is the WORST place to HOT POT! I cannot believe that they charge you extra $$$ for the sauce! I would only come here to eat everything else. If you haven’t had HOT POT before, you might be fooled by this place. But for those who know how HOT POT really is, you’re better off going elsewhere. Honestly, I’d rather go to *Little Lamb* located in Flushing, NY, which has the BEST HOT POT than to an overpriced restaurant just for HOT POT!
Moreover, the tables are rather cramped and not to mention, RUDE service. I thought it’s always Customers FIRST!
NOTE: Little Lamb has very good soup base for HOT POT. They also have a large selection of sauce for FREE!
Little Lamb Family Restaurant
36 – 35 Main St
Flushing, NY 11 354
(718) 358‑6667
Sorry for RANTing!

I would say this is the best hot pot place inside Manhattan. Their hot pot is pretty damn spicy but that is the way it should be. Each pot is about $ 20 and split by the number of people you have. Each ingredients you add costs extra. I have never spend more than $ 25 here though.
They tend to have a long wait on the weekends and cold days so even if you make a reservation, sometimes you have to wait either way.
In terms of décor, this place has nothing to take note of. It is plain and simple Canal St restaurant with quick service.
If you have extra time, I would recommend go to Shanghai Tide or U Du Café in Flushing for higher quality food and lower price (both all-​you-​can-​eat).

A great and must visit hot pot in Chinatown. I’ve been here on three occasions and the spicy broth is still a bit too spicy for me but I love it. Make sure you get there before 8pm because it gets packed and you’ll end up waiting outside (in the cold if it’s winter).
The hot pot is offered in three broths:
1) chicken 2) spicy 3) chicken & spicy.
I recommend #3. You get the best of both worlds.
Each meat dish ranges around $ 7.50 and they give you a decent stack of meat (see uploaded photo). Since I usually end up going with guys, we only order the meat dishes and since we have the asian metabolism, an $ 80 tab doesn’t fill us up.
The tea isn’t as good as Jing Fong or Great NY Noodle Town. I agree with Jess L. The water cups are small, you will ask the server to refill it many many times. I wouldn’t bother ordering the condiments because they are extra and the broth does a great job flavoring the food.

As i look through the negative reviews here, i am struck with just how clueless some people are when it comes to food in China-​town.
A) if it looks clean and pretty — then it’s a tourist’s spot and you pay for the décor and NOT the food
B) if you’re looking for presentation (seriously who needs garnish on their raw meat?) then this is not the place — i’m sorry if they don’t make pretty flowers out of the shaved meat — go to Vegas if you want that crap
C) you order the specialty of the house — (again why would you go to a steak house and expect good tofu?)
D)Are people really grousing over being charged for sauce? i mean really? do you understand basic business practices? If you are paying nothing then you are getting nothing. The «sauces» you get free in most Chinese places are brown salt water and watered down apricot jam with vinegar — if that’s what you want — then go to Uncle Ling Lings and point to the picture on the wall…
The sauces here are AMAZING (i suggest the fermented tofu, the Spicy Soy, the hot oil and well most of them) Also DO try the pickled cabage, the duck tongue, the squid, beef, and the tofu skin! NIIIIICE!

I keep getting dragged here not realizing what it is and then seeing the place and groaning. I have yet to have anything here that I really like and a really un-​fresh poorly made fish that made me sick. (I didnt want to order the fish cause theyre not known for seafood, but my friend insisted). The other dishes I’ve had are standard or below average.
They are best known for decent (cause so few people have it in manhattan) but incredibly overpriced hotpot (Canned enoki? Extra charges for typically free sauces?) so I’d much rather get the super cheap shabu shabu at Quickly even though its not as authentic they have unlimited condiments, toppings (scallion/​cilantro), and eggs. Given you cook everything yourself and the key is fresh ingredients — which are cheap and plentiful in chinatown! — this place is very meh