Little Pepper

I first came to little pepper for the first time a few years ago, it’s in a part of Queens that i’d usually rarely be in unless I had a reason to be, one important thing to note is that this place is cash only so keep that in mind. I’ve been here to dine in and the waiters are very nice, it is spacious inside with plenty of seating, the food great here it’s spicy but it’s very flavorful, one of the best things here are the dumplings they come in this hot gravy like sauce, majority of the dishes are ordered and served family style, the last find I was here I ordered takeout and got the orange chicken lunch special, it was great and doesn’t leave you with that salty thirsty feeling that most general tso type of chicken tends to leave you with, it was flavored perfectly, I highly recommend this place but it loses a star for not accepting credit cards

Little Pepper is so good but such a pain to get to! You should absolutely go if you have access to a car but if not you might have to get a little creative. Unless you live in College Point. What are the rents like there?
As it is well known, there isn’t a ton of English spoken here but it’s not that big a deal. No one has gotten my order wrong so whatever.
I’ve been here twice now and eaten a fair number of dishes, but the menu is massive so I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface.
Among appetizers: The cold beef tendon is excellent, very tender with great spice and a solid tingle. Dan dan noodles are middle of the road– not the best not the worst. The spicy cold noodle, however, is DYNAMITE. It’s surprising because it’s just a cloud of cold noodles in a vinaigrette, but the vinaigrette is so intensely flavorful that you won’t be able to stop eating. Dumplings in hot sauce are also great– skins are nice and light, filling is flavorful, and the spicy sauce has (similar to the spicy cold noodle) an enormous flavor.
Veggies are also a standout. On our first night we had pea leaves, which are lightly sauced, but the intense green of the leaves stands on its own, and is a pleasing contrast to more powerfully flavored things you might also have on your table. We also had the dried stir-​fried string beans and these are a straight hit– sauce is great and the beans have great snap.
I, like most humans, read Pete Wells’ review of this place. He had a lot of praise for the mapo tofu but I was not as into it. He seemed to feel it was ‘nuanced’ but I guess I just like big huge flavors in my mapo so I found this a little weak. Not bad just not revelatory.
Meat game is strong at Little Pepper. The cumin lamb and the chongqing chicken are both powerfully flavored and meaty. The portions are huge so if you order them make sure you want spicy lunch the next day.
Like a lot of Chinese restaurants, the beer is nice and cheap. Notably, Heineken is the same price as Tsingtao, which is kinda nice.
Little Pepper is a little bit of a trip, but it’s worth making. I definitely recommend going with as large a group of friends as possible– the menu is enormous and you’ll want to try a lot of stuff. Also, friend with a car is pretty key.

As an unrepentant, slightly masochistic Szechuan fiend, Little Pepper was the deep-​Queens mecca that I’d been searching for to satisfy my sick hot-​tingly-​numb peppercorn fixation. After my first time here, I wanted to come back almost immediately, and so far, most of what I’ve tried has been excellent. Shamefully, Little Pepper didn’t really come on my radar until I read Pete Wells’ glowing writeup in the NYT, and when I had access to a car, I decided to make a pilgrimage here.
Little Pepper is a step up from your neighborhood takeout joint, and it’s exactly the kind of spot that I would’ve come to as a child with a giant crowd of my extended family (if they liked Szechuan, that is – but the décor is classic Chinese family restaurant). The service is polite, if at times slightly brusque, but I was here for the food, and frankly, I’m not going to Szechuan restaurant for white-​glove service. Little Pepper, as Wells says, packs the heat!
One thing I would say: you’re not going to get the full flavor journey if you don’t eat meat here. Lots of dishes rely on meat as a flavoring ingredient even if it’s not the star of the plate; if you’re looking for a place to go with vegan friends, it would be unfair to take them here.
Little Pepper’s food is vibrant, complex, fragrant, and most importantly, delicious. They manage to nail the spice profile of each dish almost every time, and there’s a wide variety of different flavor compositions in the menu. There’s plenty of the familiar tingly-​hot má là that we know from Szechuan food, along with the cumin-​inflected Mongolian influence of the north, in addition to some treacly Chinese American mainstays like orange/​General Tso’s chicken. I’d recommend sticking to their specialties here, namely, the several-​chili-​pepper-​heat-​rating hot stuff.
Things I’ve ordered and liked:
–Scallion Fried Rice ($ 5.50): why the heck is it so green? how does it taste like pure, unadulterated scallion juice? what makes it taste even better the next day? I have many questions about this, but like the joker, it’s a green thing that is very intriguing and covered in mysteries. It’s delicious, just order it.
–Lamb with Scallion ($ 14.95): «Wow,» you might be thinking, «what a boring name!» While that observation is true, YOU ARE WRONG about it being boring, because this has two layers of excitement. One, it comes in a foil packet that you unfold to release a steamy hit of cumin-​y lamb-​y goodness right into your face tubes, and two, it’s just so good. It’s a fairly dry fry with a floral, cumin, spicy flavor that is practically addictive.
–Sichuan Style/​Chong Qing Chicken ($ 11.95): this is something I like at pretty much every Szechuan place, and Little Pepper’s version has wonderfully textured chicken, an almost choke-​inducing number of chilis, and an amazing taste. It’s HOT though, so be forewarned. Those peppers ain’t a joke.
–Thin Sliced Beef Tendon with Chili Sauce ($ 7.95): my shameful confession is that normally I despise tendon and find it akin to ripping through rubber bands with my incisors. However, Little Pepper’s tendon is REALLY GOOD — tender, flavorful, interesting, and with just the right amount of chew. The chili sauce doesn’t hurt, either.
–Dumplings in Hot Sauce ($ 4.95): another awful secret of mine? I’m normally kinda «meh» on dumplings, but these were excellent. The skin wasn’t too chewy and bland (my usual dumpling complaint) and the sauce/​filling were spot-​on delicious.
–Shredded pork with noodles: this had an amazing, complex flavor profile and ended up being one of the most popular dishes at our table. Everyone will like it.
–Pickled cucumbers: I order these at every Szechuan restaurant, and you know what? They’re hard to screw up, and a necessary antidote to your mouth fire.
Things I’ve eaten that were good:
–Dan Dan Noodles with Pork ($ 5.95): I’ve had a lot of dan dan. Little Pepper’s is not the most amazing version of the dish I’ve had, but worth ordering if you’re in the mood for it since it’s a reliably executed dish.
–Dried Sauteed String Beans ($ 7.95): I love the char flavor and never say no to a string bean; if you don’t like things that taste vegetal, don’t get this
Things I’ve eaten there were ehhhh:
–Mapo Tofu ($ 7.95): probably my most controversial opinion in here. Frankly, it needed more savory/​umami flavor. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of umami, but it needed some oomph to add dimension to the silkiness of the tofu, the heat of the chili oil, and the mild beefiness of the meat. It’s a very good mapo tofu, but not the best I’ve ever had.
–Spicy Cold Noodle ($ 5.95): the cold sesame noodle dish that you’ll find in a lot of Szechuan restaurants; Little Pepper’s tasted pretty bland. Skip.
PHEW. All this is to say: Little Pepper has my eternal fealty and I’ll keep on coming back for that addictive mouth burn. Your tongue will ache, your face will sweat, and the next morning may be rough, but it’s totally worth it for the crazy flavor journey!

The dumplings and cold noodles were particularly tasty at a recent visit. The staff makes up for their lack of English facility with courteousness and effort. Nearly all the food was pleasantly spicy so prepare your palate. And $ 3 Coronas to wash it down? How can you go wrong… Cash only.

Great food, great service and great price! Though it take 15 minutes bus from Flushing, but totally worth it!!! Will come back again!!!

Stopped by last Sunday for dinner after 6p. Shortly after we got there the restaurant filled up. One of the best Szechuan restaurants I’ve been to and will be back. We tried multiple dishes, around 9 so we has plenty of leftovers to take home. Bonus for us since there are not to many Szechuan restaurant in our hood. Get the scallion fried rice, pureed scallion juice infused fried rice, mapo tofu, greenbeans, cold tofu, braised lamb with cumin. Well priced and generous portions. Will be back!!!

I would prefer to give 4.5 stars but that’s not possible. Everything we ordered was tasty! Dried sautéed green beans, general tso chicken, Dan Dan noodles all had great taste. Nothing was overly spicy either just a little peppery! I’d go back!

I went here because I was in the area and wanted Szechuan. The fact that I had recently read the NYT review helped too. Overall, the food was extremely good. Small portions but cheap prices. I loved the ma po tofu and the Dan Dan noodles. They really were quite excellent. The dry pepper chicken was not very good though. It was almost inedible. Not quite sure why every other table had it too! The soups were fine but nothing special. The scallion fried rice was extremely delicious. I’m giving it 3 stars mostly because the service was absolutely atrocious. I am usually quite generous with service. I care about quality of food more and will put up with a lot, especially at Asian food joints where service is often terrible. But this place really takes the cake. Firstly, it took them a long time to clean a table for us to sit down. Then it took like 20 minutes to order. And then we waited 90 minutes to get any food and each dish came out one at a time like 20 minutes apart, all in random order. Even though asking for soup several times, this came out last. Getting water refills however was the biggest challenge. We’d have to ask at least 2 – 3 people for more water each time. The service was so bad that it ruined the experience of the good food. I won’t be back here unless it’s for take out. Don’t go here, it’s not worth the hassle. It wasn’t even that busy and there were a ton of people working that day!

The food is very flavorful. Very satisfying spicy dishes, and the fried rice balances out the spice from all other spicy dishes. I ordered the chinese herbal tea in the can to go with our meal. My favorite dish is the double cooked pork, it has a lot of fat but chewy, like BBQed.

Love love love… there hot oil sauce is so fragrant.
Food is definitely very good. I don’t have to drive to flushing for real chinese food. Plus there is definitely plenty of parking.
Ordered the dumplings with hot oil (a must try) great, fish filet soup with pickled greens (wished it was spicy), spicy clear noodles with sour pickle veggies, and beef tendons (a must try).
Need to try there spicy fish, Dan Dan noodles, and the list goes one, and there spicy beef stew.
Need to come back to try there many other dishes.

Truly great szechuan!
Came here upon the recommendation of a friend who saw the NYT review. What a great experience.
Little Pepper is located in College Point. Now I went to grade school in College Point and never in a million years would I think that a restaurant like this would be here. It was a fantastic surprise.
The restaurant is fairly small comprising of just one medium sized room. There are a healthy number of tables for parties of all sizes (eg: four people, eight people, two people, etc). Table tops are glass, and for good reason; things can get messy – in the best way!
We enjoyed a number of dishes: thin sliced beef tendon, dan dan noodles, shredded pork in garlic sauce, and lamb (heavy on the cumin). Of all the dishes, the shredded pork in garlic sauce was by far my favorite. Everything was unbelievably flavorful, but this was out of this world. Everyone in the party had different favorites so in short, they are all winners.
For drinks, you can enjoy wine or beer. The beer is incredibly reasonable. We’re talking $ 2.50 for a Bud and $ 3.50 for something better. You’ll want a couple as things can get hot. And while we’re talking about hot, this food can get hot not, but it was not not on this occasion. Our guess is that the kitchen toned it down for us, but I’m not complaining. The food was well seasoned and spicy to enjoy, not so hot that it couldn’t be consumed.
I can safely say that i’ll be going out of my way to return to Little Pepper to enjoy more of what their menu has to offer.
Stop reading and go!

Great Food with just the right amount of heat in every dish.
The prices are very, very reasonable.
I wish there was one in Nassau County.
Lamb, Tofu, Scallion Fried Rice, Scallion Pancake, Dumplings, Chicken, DanDan Noodle, Fish, Eggplant, Duck all Fantastic…

Ate here tonight with two friends. Two of us were veg and the third was non-​veg.
We ordered numerous items and all of them tasted great.
App: scallion pancake, which was delicious and the sauce was amaze. Veg.
Dumpling in Hot Sauce– scrumptious. Perfect amount of spice and the dumplings were light and delicate. Not veg.
Dried Sautéed String Beans– a perfect combo of salty and spicy. Veg.
Fried Potato with Hot Sauce– French fries with an interesting smoky, spicy flavor. Veg.
Dan Dan Noodles– fresh noodles. Broth was perfect amount of spice.
Sidenote: the house wine was bad. Real bad. But the TsingTao is cold.

Came here after an afternoon at SpaCastle with my two kids. We ordered the spicy beef tendon, dan dan noodles, mapo tofu, and dumplings in hot chili oil. The food was delicious and the kids were happy. We all love a little spice.
I will say that the tofu was flavored well and cooked nicely. The beef tendon was good and we couldn’t stop picking at it. The dan dan noodles and dumplings were spicy, but not as spicy as expected. In fact, there was a little sweetness behind the spice. We didn’t mind it, but if you were expecting traditional scheczuan spice, you would be dissapointed.
The place was clean and the service was quick and friendly.

Wowza.
Order rice at the beginning. All the dishes pair so well with rice.
Recs:
Dan Dan noodles — tasty, tender noodles and deliciously spicy.
Scallion fried rice — so surprisingly simple and so good. Rice just tastes like scallions and oil
Cumin lamb — Really, good and incredibly spicy.
Chongqing Chicken
Fish with ground pork
It’s worth a trip out to College Point. Probably the best Szechuan food we’ve had in NYC.

Cash only!
This is one of my favorite szechuan restaurants in the city. I honestly haven’t been able to find a good authentic Chinese restaurant since I moved to NY from Chicago… until now! Came here with a group of 5 and loved the food. Would recommend the cumin lamb, ChongQing chicken, Dan Dan noodles, Fish with ground pork, and sautéed string beans with pickled mustard greens.
Only thing is it is a pretty far off the beaten path (East of laguardia airport) so would recommend taking an über or lyft from Flushing. Hailing a car on the way back was much more difficult. Also not sure if this was because they just had a health inspection a couple of weeks ago but it was one of the cleanest Chinese restaurants I’ve ever been to.

I had dinner here tonight because I was nearby and turned help on. I found little pepper, there use to be a location on Roosevelt Ave in flushing and I thought I’d give it a try. I forget the names of the things I got but, it was garlic pork, hot and spicy beef pot, pork and rice crispy, Kung Pao chicken.
The pork and garlic is s authentic schechuan dish and is usually pork belly thinly slicked with spicy sauce. Served cold, if anything warm. This dish came and the pork belly was perfectly sliced, warm and delicious. However it was a little too sweet for my liking. Schechuan food is sully almost never sweet… That’s more of a Cantonese and American thing.
The kung Pao chicken was WAYY too sweet. This dish was starchy and good except for the sugar part. I would probably never order this again, or if I do if advise the chef in regards to the sweetness of the dish.
The beef was good. It wasn’t mouth watering good as the places in flushing but this was the best out of all the dishes. The spiciest is just right with the right amount of spices (numbing spice) and it’s exactly how I’d make it. Delicious.
Then came the pork with rice crackers. This is super Americanized because authentic Chinese food usually do not put chunks of carrot and snow pea and mushrooms in their dish. This was off and it was starchy, however the starchy sauce became watery very fast. Making the dish not so good after. I also asked for the (awfully delicious) rice crackers to be on the side because I didn’t want it to be soggy when eating. Which, is the best idea ever.
Overall, if I’m in the area again I would come here again, but I would ask the chef not to put any sugar in my dishes. I would also try other things in the restaurant if the chance ever comes up again.

Let me start the review by saying that this is one of my favorite Sichuan restaurants. It is a bit out of the way and not easy to get to if you don’t have a car. The restaurant is in College Point, which is another 10 – 15 minute drive from downtown Flushing. It has a small store front in a nondescript block, but trust me, the food in there is kind of amazing, and well priced. After a few visits, I’ve finally decided to write a review about the place. The dishes I’ve described below are the ones I’ve tried at the most recent visit as they are still fresh on my mind. See below for details.
Cumin Lamb — my favorite dish here. I love how tender and flavorful the meat is, and the lamb is cooked to perfection. I always order this dish whenever we come here. It could be a bit «game-​y» for those who have not tried lamb before, but it is definitely worth a try as you may discover your new favorite protein.
Whole Fish in Bean Sauce — second favorite dish. I hate cooking fish at home, so I always try to order them when I go to a restaurant. I particularly love whole fish prepared in a kick-​ass sauce. Little Pepper’s sauce is sweet and sour, with a trace amount of spiciness. I love the fact that the fish is reasonably priced here (I think it is around $ 20 here) and the price is actually listed on the menu. Most Chinese places usually list the whole fish price as «mp» and try to elevate the price to astronomical amounts when you order it.
Dried Sauteed String Bean — another great dish. I can never replicate string beans as the way they make it here. It is such a simple dish, but I love how the string beans are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and perfectly seasoned.
Dan Dan Noodles — this is the guy’s favorite dish. I think it is a tad to spicy for my taste, but I do appreciate how well the noodles are cooked, and that it is not too greasy as this dish tends to become in other Chinese restaurants
Szechuan Picked Vegetable — it is like Chinese kimchi, but more sour than spicy. It is a good complement to the spicy dishes, and sort of like a palate cleanser between dishes.
Thin Sliced Beef Tendon with chili sauce — my least favorite dish. I thought it was too spicy and the tendons were too mushy.
There are a couple of other dishes that I’ve tried in the past and really enjoyed, including the beef with peppers and shredded potatoes. It is a pretty authentic Sichuan restaurant, and as a result, some of the dishes could get quite spicy. If you are not a big fan of spicy food, tell them to tone down the spiciness in advance. I found them to be particular good about requests. I always think that I can handle more spice than I am actually capable of, which is a false bravado that I need to address :) Anyway, if you have a chance to stop by, you will thank me for it!

Actually it would be 3.5 stars but as the ½ star doesn’t exist I had to choose for 3 this time.
I liked very much the fact that the place is clean and there are all this nice modern paintings on the wall.
The service is nice enough, but their english is not the best so I suggest that you go there with your clear ideas of what you want to eat, without many questions to ask…
We ordered 5 dishes for the two of us. We finished everything as usual. Perfect timing because the street parking allows max 1hour so we didn’t have to go out and add extra time/​money…
It was not busy, today, sunny Saturday of the Memorial Day long weekend, around 12.30 pm
Overall our meal was Ok+, even though everything was very salty and with that spicy canola oil taste. All dishes were spicy, but not impossible to eat. And not too hot, which today for me was ok, but in general I would prefer all dishes coming out «smoking».
— Salt/​pepper shrimps: no head, not much flavor, crunchy and a bit greasy. I have had these similar shrimps in many chinese restaurants in Italy, nothing special. Most probably frozen stuff.
— Dan Dan Noodles: salty, but I liked the consistency and the flavor
— Spicy fried long beans: nice but extremely salty
— Wontons in Chili oil: an interesting mix of sweet and spicy taste, nice enough but not too juicy and so difficult to catch with those plastic chopsticks! I wanted to ask for a fork…
— Cumin Lamb: very simple, very Cumin flavored, not well balanced
Clearly we couldn’t see a twist on this meal, everything was nice but had some mistakes to our taste
Total $ 53 = tip
Bathroom is clean

Sweet, spicy, salty, and did I mention SPICY?
I want to eat it all. It’s rare that in NYC I will go back to a restaurant repeatedly, but Little Pepper makes the cut. And this restaurant is deep in Queens, not necessarily the most friendly public transportation wise area if you are coming from other boroughs or Western Queens. It’s worth the trek. I carpool. I’d even stick out my thumb for this one.
I’ve watched Little Pepper grow and change over the years. What was once divey, is now a really nice Sichuan restaurant complete with newly revamped menus (laminated and all). The portions have shrunk but it is the quality that matters. On a good day, with a good chef, you’d be eating in tears and sweats. The spice and taste is that good, that hot, and that satisfying. You’ll eat till you are stuffed to the brim if you’re anything like me and let gluttony get the best of you.
This place is a million times better than Han Dynasty. If you’re clueless as to what to order, bring your Mandarin speaking friends or just follow this cheat cheat:
Dan dan noodles (2 orders)
Sliced Pork Belly with chili garlic sauce
Prawns with chili pepper
Sliced fish with bean curd
Mapo Tofu
Braised Fish in spicy soup base
Sichuan style double cooked pork
Shredded Pork w/​bamboo shoots
Minced Pork with clear noodle
Dried Sauteed String Beans
Lotus Root with dried pepper sichuan style
Spicy cold noodle
Dumpling in hot sauce
Yes, I ate all of this. I am a champion. They even have dessert. I wouldn’t advise on ordering it though because they seemed annoyed when we did. But if you really really love rice dumplings then I suppose you can force them to boil some out of the freezer.
Stick to the entrees and bring your appetite. It’s no fun to come here with people who don’t eat.