Szechuan Garden

Why can’t any restaurants in this location ever succeed? This is probably the worst incarnation of a Chinese restaurant I’ve ever been to. I ordered takeout on Christmas Day, some Singapore noodles. The gentleman taking my order did not believe me that I was interested in eating Singapore noodles. He thought I would prefer some pork lo mein. But Singapore noodles are my go to item when trying a new Chinese restaurant. I should’ve taken it as a sign. Although they were prepared quickly and generally tasted OK, instead of the usual pieces of barbecue pork with the tasty red edges, there were pieces of canned SPAM! I was shocked. And this restaurant claims to be some sort of fine dining Chinese food, as well as serving authentic dishes. While SPAM is considered a tasty treat in some parts of the world, I find it unconscionable to find it in Chinese food. Don’t even bother coming here!

It is the most authentic Chinese food in town, which says a lot consisting there are so many good Chinese restaurant in Bloomington now! We always go there with a large group and everything is good! We even had the Peking duck and it is really nice! We notice that they are kinda just start and are short of staffs. They gave us 10% last time when they forgot one of the order. I’d say it is understandable and as far as you remind them, it should be fine.

The food is overpriced compare to other good Chinese restaurant in town. Both waiter and chef are careless as they forgot our special request and added onion into the dishes. Furthermore, if you pay it with credit card, you will be asked to go to their cashier bar to select how much tip to pay.

I like this place. It’s got a nice interior, and when I went there for lunch the service was fast, the food was good, and the lunch specials were quite reasonably priced.

With a box of tissues on every table, you know they mean business. Don’t come unless you’re looking to nab a taste of some of Sichuan cuisines’ 20 flavors.
Great service, clean atmosphere, fresh ingredients and economical — take some extra time communicating with your server, as they likely aren’t native english speakers.

Finally a proper Chinese restaurant in Bloomington. I love the San Jose strip mall-​esque types like Best Taste and Lucky Express, but we were missing the type of standalone restaurants you’d get in SoCal and parts of the rest of the Bay. I realized that people in Indiana, even Chinese-​Americans, have a really skewed perception of Chinese food, which is probably not through fault of their own but the lack of diversity around here.
This wasn’t too far off from the Sichuan food I’ve had in China, and while I don’t know a ton about the Sichuan region, they did cook everything like they do in Chinese restaurants back home. Outside of dirt cheap home-​style cooking, Bloomington doesn’t have very much in terms of Asian food, so to see a restaurant do things properly is a very welcome change.
Once again, I’m far from being an authority on Sichuanese food, but the quality of the meats and fish were fantastic. You can tell Sichuan food is going to be decent when they include tissues on the tables though.
I enjoyed the food, and I appreciate the restaurant. Hope they’re here to stay.

This little place popped out of nowhere overnight. I love this place. The food was absolutely superb. I will say that I’m not a huge fan of chunks of lemongrass in my food… but it just proves they make the sauce to order. I’m sure every dish has its own recipe for its sauce. And there were more options than most chinese places.
Also, finally bloomington has a more nicer dining experience for chinese. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a fool for chinese. The only time I turn it down is when I want to go somewhere more fancy. Well, fear no more. I now have a spot. Chinese for every meal!
Lastly, get the hot tea. They put jasmine in it. This is such a nice touch.

I think this is the best Sichuan restaurant I have been to in US. They use an actual whole fish with the head, fins, and bones for the dish, not just the kind of soft fish slices used in many Chinese restaurants in US. This comes closest to the way food is cooked in China, and the taste is amazing.

Across the street from Scotty’s Brewhouse lies one of the ‘nicer’ Chinese restaurants in Bloomington. The interior is modern and clean and the atmosphere is very tranquil (as they play no music). The experience was poor because of the waitstaff and their inability to communicate in English.
My surreal experience was as follows:
My friends and I are seated and I ask for three waters. We notice the lack of napkins and the Kleenex tissue box on our table.
The waiter came back with two waters and gives my ‘bigger’ friend a diet coke. Confused, my friend told the waiter that he wanted a water and not a diet coke. The waiter then came back with a water and a diet coke, both without ice.
The restaurant had two other tables and we waited a good 15 minutes to place our order because our waiter was too busy talking to what seemed to be his friends. Following the waiter’s recommendations, we ordered their hot dumplings appetizer and spicy pork.
The spicy pork and steamed rice came out first. The spicy pork revealed itself to be a gelatinous ham hock with bok choi. The waiter asks if we would like a fork and knife and then mimics the sound of a knife being sharpened (Ka-​ching). He comes back with a fork and a butter knife and begins to cut into the dish. Bewildered, I asked him to stop and that told him that we could handle serving ourselves. The pork came off the bone easily with chopsticks and was moist, soft and decadent. If you are not a fan of fatty pork, I would not recommend this dish.
The appetizer came out 20 minutes after the entrée, you can tell the dumplings were handmade and were spicy and savory. The dumplings were good but not amazing enough to salvage the weird night of bad service and language barriers. If you are going to venture inside Szechuan Garden, bring a Chinese friend and a good sense of humor.

The food is good and fresh. The taste is pretty good! Lots of menu options. I think the downside to this is that they still don’t take cards. Cash ONLY! Service was a little slow, but then again service is always slow in Bloomington. I would come back again!

In a word, this restaurant is amazing. My husband said it was the best Chinese food he has ever had. The courteous staff answered our questions and ensured my meal was gluten free to accommodate an allergy. Everything was fresh, flavorful and pretty spectacular. I tend to avoid Americanized Chinese food and the ocean of greasy, goopy sauce that always drowns the dish. Our dishes were well presented and delicious. Sichuan Garden is a goop free zone!

So glad this place is finally opened! We ordered sliced pork in garlic spicy sauce and beef with bamboo shoots– both are decent dishes and I’d say typical szechuan cuisine comparable to gourmet garden, lotus garden, best taste, Red restaurants in town. They do seem to have a lot more variety in the menu and we will be back to try other dishes!
The portion is smaller and the price is a tad higher on several dishes.
P/​S– pay cash and get 10% discount; credit card machine not working yet.