Red Pepper

We were looking forward to trying this place since it was touted as one of the few places in the triangle where you could get authentic Szechuan cuisine. We went there as a family of 6. If you’re looking for ambiance, this is not it. It is basically a Chinese takeout set up with a few small tables off to one side. We ordered several dishes to share. Pork with cucumbers, eggplant in Szechuan sauce sauce, stir fried ground pork & noodles, ma po tofu, rabbit in hot spicy sauce, beef & tripe in chili oil (requested mild on this one), salt & pepper smelts.
The beef & tripe appetizer was excellent… great texture & super garlicky although on the salty side. The smelts were deliciously crisp & well seasoned… but again a bit salty. The sautéed park with cucumbers was excellent with still crunchy cucumbers & infused with wok essence. The eggplant was cooked very well with the ma la taste that’s associated with Szechuan cuisine but the eggplant pieces needed to be cut smaller & cooked a bit more. They were huge & underdone. Ma po tofu, rabbit in spicy sauce & the noodles were all incendiary & well seasoned except the salt part. Everything was on the salty side. Note, the rabbit was cut into very small pieces… would’ve been better if it was in bigger chunks so we didn’t have to pick through so much bone to get to the meat. For the food alone, I would give this 4 stars.
Why 3 stars? The service was awful. I get that this is a small place & family run but they were inconsistent in getting things to us. They forgot our eggplant until long after everything else came out. Heard the exclamation in the kitchen in Mandarin that they forgot & to hurry to get the dish out. The other reason for the lower rating was that they charged a whopping 20% gratuity for our party of 6. WHAT THE HECK??? I expect that at a place like Angus Barn or other higher end restaurants but at what amounts to a small hole in the wall Chinese take-​out!!! …& for poor service??? NOPE! Won’t be dining in there again. Take out maybe but dining in NO.

Not impressed. Not bad, but nothing outstanding. Menu looks authentic — except for the lunch/​dinner plate section which is Americanized Chinese food. I ordered Pork Strips with Smoked Tofu. Cost $ 10.95 plus 8% sales tax, so almost $ 12.00. Skimpy portion for that price. Small rice container was not even packed full. Did not smell very appetizing while driving home with the order, but tasted a lot better when I added more soy sauce to it. Prefer Happy China in Durham to this place.

Wow! I am surprised that this restaurant got so few reviews. My friend and I came here for hot pot. We were nervous and almost left because we didn’t see anyone eating hot pot in the restaurant. Thank goodness we stayed. The hot pot was delicious. I especially loved the spicy soup. Make sure to include the glass noodles, sliced beef, beef meatballs, sliced pork, and mushrooms! It was so enjoyable. We stayed for two hours and ate through quite a bit. Hot pot is pricey but worthwhile. Bring lots of friends to offset the costs. I would say 4 – 5 people would be good for hot pot. There was just my friend and I, but we got to take home leftovers. Hot pot is wonderful, but especially so in the winter. We came in the summer, but it was still perfect!

Ordered take out. Service was friendly and prompt. The Hot and Sour soup was too sour and very watery – not the velvety starchiness one expects. And it contained whole (unsliced) mushrooms. Kung pao chicken was bland. No heat and the sauce was really watery. Lots of green peppers and celery and peanuts. Adequate amount of chicken. The pork fried rice was okay. Though rather bland as well. I doubt I shall return.

Arrived at Red Pepper (excited by the solid reviews from folks who seem to know their Sichuan hot pot) to find little touches like a water bottle for each table, pretty clay pots and bowls for the soups and hot pots, and bamboo steamer baskets for the condiments.
So that charming first impression, coupled with what looked like a pretty impressive menu (especially for Chapel Hill), allowed me to get the ol’ hopes cranked up. But then, first bite, and… cue sad violins. The chicken in my dish was quite dry and chewy — no velvety softness from meat correctly prepared and cooked. Oddly, half of the chicken was cool and the other half hot (did they just add it to the sauce, precooked?). And I was less than bowled over by the dish itself, which had little depth of flavor. Maybe I ordered the wrong thing — but my soup was no better.
The service was lovely and I really appreciate the small touches, but all I tasted was disappointment (wah-​wah).

I usually don’t write reviews, I just eat. But this time I am willing to spend some time and say that this place was terrible. They really shouldn’t call themselves a restaurant if all they have are some tables with no servers. We had a group of 7 people and we weren’t served by anyone for half an hour. One of our guys had to repeatedly go to the front desk and ask for water and place the order. The water came after 45min. After an hour of waiting there was still no food. The lady boss came to our table, no apology, no service, but lecturing on us that we had to wait because other people were ahead of us. THERE WERE A TOTAL OF 6 TABLES AND THEY WERE ALL EATING! HOW MANY PEOPLE COULD POSSIBLY BE AHEAD OF US?! We decided to leave and she didn’t even have the mind to say the food was already being cooked or almost ready. Terrible service, never coming here again. If you like the food maybe you could call a delivery, but never dine-​in at this place.

I was looking for real Chinese restaurant around Durham and chapel hill. It was good! I’ll come back again!

Sichuan food for Sichuan food lovers. This is the place.
Really happy to see this here. I ordered the Sichuan spicy cold noodle, which is the best I’ve ever had — more vinegary than sesame and very spicy. Excellent. I’ll be back for it many times.
The red pepper chicken is delicious — I think it’s the same dish I’ve seen called tri-​pepper chicken elsewhere — VERY spicy and filled with Sichuan peppercorns and potatoes.
Look forward to visiting many times.

I never, ever write reviews unless a place really hits or misses their mark. That said, I use General Tso’s chicken as my benchmark for Chinese restaurants.
King Wok (Timberline) 2.5÷5
Panda King (Wake Forest) 1.5÷5
Pearl (Raleigh) ³⁄₅
Jade Palace (Carrboro) ³⁄₅
Red Pepper 4.5÷5
35 café (Chapel Hill) 3.5÷5
This place killed it. Favorful dark meat, light breaded/​coated, crunchy, sweet, spicy, good portion size, perfectly cooked, no bits of fat or grisle, nice presentation, all around great dish of General Tso’s.
The restaurant is where 35 café, not «35» (previously in Cary and a long time ago Chapel Hill) used to be, by the DMV in the Whole foods plaza. The space is small, they do have outside seating, but no waitstaff. Some of the more authentic items seemed pricey, but after today I am more inclined to try some of them. I’ll be back if not tomorrow some time this week.

Very tasty and authentic Chinese food. Reminds of amazing food we ate in China. Excellent twice cooked pork and sichuan dishes. Lo mein was also delicious. Piping hot and generous portions. Our new favorite Chinese restaurant in the area. We’ll be going back.

It is the worst Chinese restaurant I have ever tasted！！！！！The hotpot is so bad not what the picture shows. The man who served us wasn’t willing to refill the hotpot soap but to tell us just turning down the fire. The price is also too expensive for such a small plate. For the sliced beef and sliced lamb, they are definitely not what the picture shows!!! when we ordered each of them, he just put two in one plate and they were merely just half of what the picture shows!!!

I found this place when I stopped by DMV and I’m so glad we tried it. Their Chinese menu is authentic.
Try the red pepper spicy chicken, the dumplings (we take them home frozen and uncooked and cook them for our kids for breakfast), the chicken curry (not too spicy for kids), and the ma po tofu. I love the cold Sichuan spicy noodles but they are quite spicy.
The hot pot is pretty good but it takes too long to prepare so it’s best to order ahead or forget about it. It is a bit pricey but might be worth it if you have a large group. They had a lot of carry out orders they seemed to fill in front of us which made our wait long. Since they are new I hope they’ll figure this out.
The staff is incredibly friendly and makes us feel like a part of the family. I hope it stays in Chapel Hill for a long time to come!