Chengdu Style Restaurant

It might be accidental but the foods here gave us a serious food poisoning, and they were not as good as expected.

Came for dinner with 3 other friends and was honestly pretty disappointed. I’ve been told the only thing «worth getting» is the spicy fish drenched in oil, but I’ve seen pictures of it and wasn’t feeling like I wanted to eat oil for dinner. We got the scallion pancakes, Kung Pao chicken, broccoli with chicken, and Ma Po tofu. My overall response to the food was… not worth. They gave us VERY little broccoli and chicken, the scallion pancakes were thin and flimsy, and while the Kung Pao chicken was pretty tasty, it was (like the rest of the dishes) not worth the price we paid. Portions are stingy; would not recommend for dinner. I’ve heard lunch offers way better prices.
Maybe it’s because I’m Chinese and I have higher expectations? But the place is just seriously too pricy for the quantity and quality of food. I could make the same stuff for like ¼ of the price.
Other general complaints was that they charge extra for rice, which you can’t NOT order because their food is either too spicy or too salty or both without rice, and that they didn’t care to show the Warriors game on their flat screen during the finals game. Nice ambience though.

Interesting food!
Feels very authentic, flavors unusual but good — Sichuan is where Chengdu is situated geographically. It’s like you’re eating in a small village somewhere in China.
Located in the well-​known Berkeley YWCA building, upstairs where Le Cheval had a branch for a while, I went in once for lunch and it was filled with Asian students chowing down. Must be the real thing I thought.
Went back with wife for an early dinner, got the same impression. Ordered the toothpick lamb, deep fried little morsels coated in cumin and tossed with red hot peppers — it was OK and very interesting! Next dish, cold thin noodles tossed with garlic and other ingredients — think it might be the Sichuan Cold Noodles on the menu — was great, slightly sweet and hot. Ma-​Po Tofu was also fantastic, all the dishes had flavors and a «look» of deep flavors, peppers, all unusual and unique, it was like having our eyes wide open for the first time seeing things we’d never seen before.
Ordered a standard Won Ton soup, it was in a very thin broth with small neat won tons, a nice balance to the deep spice and strong flavors of the other dishes.
The environment was cool, it was upstairs in a room like Chairman Mao might have sat in. Weird colors, trim, two outdoor seating areas — felt like a 3^rd world country or something. Felt like I was back in old Delhi!
A lot of fun, a real adventure.

Came by for an afternoon lunch and we were seated immediately. I’d say that food was alright (I ordered the Kung Pao Chicken lunch special and my friend ordered tofu). Portions were recently sized and didn’t feel super saturated in oil. Nothing to rave home about, but I was pretty full at the end of the meal.
However, I probably wouldn’t come back because the service was very slow:
— Upon sitting down, both our table and the one next to us had to flag the server down in order to order.
— Other tables ordered, ate and paid when we were still trying to flag our server down
— We asked for a to-​go box and a check multiple times before it was given to us

Food was excellent! 7 days Chinese restaurant at Regents Street, Cambridge UK was the best Chinese food I had tasted, in the world! UNTIL, I visited Chengdu Style in Berkeley which is an eatery in another world altogether. We ordered Kung Pao chicken, girdle cooked beef, fish in hot chilli oil… and hot and sour soup. Soup was out of this world!
Highly recommended!

My go-​to Chinese food joint in Berkeley. This place has legit authentic Asian food and some of the best spicy food around. It is almost always packed with customers, most of whom are Chinese international students or local Chinese people. The prices are definitely a bit on the pricey side, but the food is well worth it — both in terms of the portion and the flavors. If you want a cheaper selection, I recommend going for the lunch options, which comes with soup, rice, and an entrée. There are lots of seats inside and service is quite fast. If you pay with cash, you will get a sweet dessert soup at the end of your meal.
Recommendations:
Sauteed Sliced Pig’s Kidney — One of my favorites. Slightly spicy, very flavorful. Kidney is cooked just right. The Chinese mushroom (mu er) adds a different texture.
Wonton in Hot Chili Oil — Numbing spicy sauce mixed with tinges of sweetness. The wonton tastes fresh and serves as a great side dish.
Chengdu Style Beef Soup Noodle — Refreshing, light, spicy beef noodle soup. Very very generous amount of noodles. The soup will make your tongue a bit numb, but it’s very satisfying.
Double Cooked Pork — Goes great with steamed rice. Spicy and flavorful. The pork is thinly-​sliced and chewy. Lots of scallions, which adds more flavor and a crunchy texture.
Stir Fried Pea Sprouts — My favorite vegetable dish here. The pea sprouts have a unique, addicting flavor, though it is one of the more expensive veggie dishes here. It balances out the spicy dishes.
Scrambled Egg with Tomato — Sweet and reminds me of my grandma’s cooking. Pairs nicely with rice. There are lots of large, sliced tomatoes.
Whole Steamed Fish — So delicious! Reminds me of Asia. The fish is extremely tender and fresh. It costs $ 30+ but is a great dish to share with the whole family. The sauce from the fish is the perfect rice seasoning.
Spicy Crab (Chef Special) — Very spicy but very addictingly flavorful. You gotta get down and dirty to get the crab meat, so be prepared to get your hands oily.
Definitely try this place out. You won’t be disappointed!

This is one of those places I don’t go to expecting awesome Chinese food. I go here for the snack type of dishes like Dan Dan mian, chengdu dumplings, or the watercress vegetable dish.
I’ve tried their fried fish in a hot pot which wasn’t bad considering I don’t like fish. The fish wasn’t heavily fried and still had a nice crunch. It wasn’t too fishy which was a plus.
My favourite dishes are the aforementioned Dan Dan mian, the chengdu dumplings, and the watercress vegetable dish.
Dan Dan mian are noodles seasoned with Sichuan pepper which makes your tongue go numb. Unfortunately they don’t put enough but I enjoy eating this dish. It’s seasoned with Sichuan pepper, sesame oil, salt, pepper, etc. It’s a bit oily but a guilty pleasure nonetheless.
The Chengdu dumplings are soft steamed dumplings filled with meat and the chili garlic sauce is to die for. That sauce is so good! I don’t know what’s in it, but I’d eat it by the buckets if I had dumplings to dip it with. Again, it’s oily but a great sauce still.
Finally, the watercress dish is a green vegetable sautéed in oil and garlic. It reminds me of Vietnamese green leafy type of dishes that I love to eat when it’s in season. It’s a light and healthy dish if you want to go that route and it’s served with white rice.
Service here is too slow. I prefer to get takeout which takes me ten minutes instead of waiting 30 minutes in the restaurant waiting to get my order at the table. Just my two cents.

Amazing afterburner food, big portions, next to UC … I’ll be back! The toothpick lamb was amazing … and quite spicy

(note: the only reason why I give 4 stars is because of the low ambience for the high price .
This place serves delicious food similar to Szechuan food. Spicyyyy !!!
All their sauces are house made Sven their dumplings are handmade and not prepackaged .
A must try: their homemade sausage !!!
Service is poor and rude, but that’s typical for a Chinese run restaurant (no offense lol, still appreciate their culture)
My Chinese boss and his Chinese wife took me there and they really liked it !!
So did I !!

I definitely feel like this place has some of the more interesting Chinese food in Berkeley. I am also a sucker for Szechuan food because I love spicy food.
While the menu seems expensive, there are great lunch options that make the food here very affordable.
Just an important note for those who like to venture out into more exotic dishes, the intestine, while delicious, is pretty fatty and is definitely a dish that needs to be shared between three or more people.
Although the servers sound rude, they’re genuinely nice people who try to be as accommodating as possible.

Great food near Uc Berkeley. You have to try this if you are around!
Price is okay. Food portion is not bad.
If you like spicy, go ahead and try this. Really popular in this area. :)

Ever want to try a place that doubles as a solid Chinese restaurant AND an upgrade over China express? Chengdu is your best option.
I’ve had Chengdu a couple years ago for lunch and though I don’t remember it much, I do recall having a great experience. This location is pacific, you can bring a large party, and the staff members are nice.
That said, I came back again and was surprised to see that they have a lunch special take out section where, like Panda Express or any of those take out chains, you can pick and choose several items.
The beauty of this option is that the special is cheap AND they give you a lot. I got two items with eggplant and spicy chicken with hot and sour soup and it totaled about $ 6.5.
Overall, the food was solid and the whole concept for a food bar within a restaurant is unique. Although I wasn’t blown away by the lunch, I was happy with extra change in my pocket.
Overall, good place that I’d recommend. I’ll come back on the weekend to revisit their full menu.
Eat well and prosper,

This place has some great authentic Chinese food, which is rare to find at Berkeley. The venue here is pretty large and has a lot of seating. The staff is very nice as well. Be aware of their cash or card policy. I believe it’s cheaper if you use cash or they’ll give you some sort of free dessert if you use cash.
The food here can sometimes be a hit or miss, so I usually stick with my regular menu items that I will order over and over. This is my go-​to place for Shredded Pork with Dried Bean Curd — it’s so good! They also have great kung pao chicken, mapo tofu, and spicy boiled fish filet. The XLB here are pretty average, but they are decent as well. I wasn’t impressed with the green beans here though.

The spicy dried fish is really good! Spacious restaurant with a variety of choices for people like me who crave for spicy food!
They also have lunch special and daily special for dinner too!

Best sichuan style restaurant in Berkeley. Recommend:
— toothpick lamb
— Pumpkin pie
— the free dessert you will get if pay by cash

We came here as part of a food crawl, so I can’t really give an extensive view of the restaurant other than it’s homey décor and some limited insight on dishes. Some were meh, some were amazing, and those latter ones are worth bumping up the review to 4.
The let down was the xiao long bao («steamed bum»). I think it was properly made, but the soup was okay and the meat wasn’t that good. We had extra pieces but no one looked forward to the second =(
I’m a fan of the cold beef tendon in chili oil. It didn’t taste hot at all, but the tendon had the right consistency, giving back the right amount of bite. Definitely a textural thing worth the change of pace from other dishes.
The standout for us was the toothpick lamb. Are the toothpicks necessary? I don’t know. But the chunks of lamb meat and fat were crispy and well seasoned, from some sort of 5 spice to heat level to salt, all while on a nice stick per chunk. At 16.95 it’s a little pricey, but it’s soooooo worth it.
Hopefully I can come back and give a more detailed picture. But that toothpick lamb will definitely be staying on our order every time.

Best AUTHENTIC chinese food around campus! Great China is really great but it’s much more americanized. When I’m feeling some authentic chinese food, I ALWAYS come here.
My favorites are there boiled sliced fish or beef in hot sauce. It’s not too spicy yet has all the flavor elements a traditional boiled dish in hot sauce should have! I also love all their sauteed veggies. It’s a little oily but I just tell them less oil and they’re always willing to accomodate!
They have awesome lunch specials too where it’s like panda express. Everything’s cooked and you just order from the «bar» area.
The prices are very cheap as well. For lunch I believe around $ 6 you can get 2 items with an entrée and 3 items is $ 1 more. For dinner, the prices are also very reasonable as well.
If you’re looking for some authentic chinese food, Chengdu style is the place to go!

Authentic, affordable Chengdu style food with a huge variety of lunch, dinner, and small plate options.
Pros:
–Affordable and located close to campus
–Delivery is free for orders over $ 20, and it’s pretty easy to go over $ 20
–The Chengdu style dumplings are a classic! Pork and cabbage dumplings served with a chili oil concoction with what I think was garlic and spices. The chili oil was divine!
Cons:
–Very, very oily and loaded with MSG. I once ordered a plate of egg, shrimp, and scallion stir fry and my chopsticks were coated with a very thick layer of grease when I was done
–Pumpkin cake dessert was basically a mound of extremely fried dough with a tiny, tiny bit of red bean paste. Granted, most pumpkin-​flavored things don’t possess a strong pumpkin taste… but this cake was evidently not made with any pumpkin at all

Best Sichuan food in Berkeley. They have a huge selection of food, both «standard» Chinese food and Sichuan specialties (like griddle cooked dishes and pig intestines).
They have reasonable portions, albeit a little bit pricy, but you’ll definitely be satisfied. Make sure to check in on Unilocal to get 5% off!

Want authentic Chinese food? Hell yea. This is the place to go. I love the flavor here. Its so. LEGIT. The spices are perfect. They make the dishes looking AMAZING. My boyfriend and I came here for lunch and they had great food! I love the kungpao chicken! It’s a must get every time! The toothpick lamb is another thing to get! Just make sure you take it off the tooth pick or something and not stab yourself… Though I’m not sure why anyone would not take it off… But sure…
Anyways the soups are good, and the eggplant is very flavorful!!! Try this place out during lunch hours for a good combination. But i gota say I was disappointed in their orange chicken. it wasn’t that flavorful ironically. But kungpao chicken YES YES!