Gu’s Bistro

It’s been several years since my last review update for Gu’s Bistro. Since that time, I’ve returned to the restaurant multiple times and have tried a variety of dishes which I hadn’t yet covered in any of my previous reviews. So, it’s time for another updated review. Also since my last update, the team behind Gu’s Bistro opened up Gu’s Dumplings at Krog Street Market, which serves Chef Gu’s now famous Chengdu cold noodles along with other noodle dishes and, of course, dumplings.
Gu’s Bistro has established itself as one of Atlanta’s best Szechuan restaurants, which is Chinese cuisine that is typically flavorful and spicy. Gu’s definitely stands up to the best of them, which include Tasty China, Masterpiece, and Café Q Sichuan Restaurant. For local lovers of Szechuan food, there can be quite the debate as to which restaurant serves the best Szechuan dishes.
First of all, they’re all good. However, one differentiating factor I’ve noticed between Gu’s and the Tasty China restaurants is Gu’s food is not as salty nor intense. It’s comparatively milder and more «subdued» (if I can even use that word to describe Gu’s food, which already packs a punch). It’s a matter of personal preference. If you aren’t a fan of copious amounts of roasted red chili peppers and mouth-​numbing peppercorns in your Szechuan dish, come to Gu’s. Also, of the Atlanta area Szechuan restaurants, Gu’s seems to have been the most steady and consistent over the years.
The aforementioned Chengdu cold noodles still remains my favorite dish. I’m not sure what the secret is, but the chili oil/​vinegar sauce makes the yellow noodles addicting. It’s a must-​order dish. Another popular Szechuan cold noodle dish is the dandan noodles. Compared to the Chengdu noodles, the dandan noodles uses the same noodles, but is flavored differently. It’s not as «tasty,» but still very good. Dandan noodles are also cooked with chili oil and have ground beef and scallions added on top. If Chengdu noodles happens to be too much for you, try dandan noodles.
Other appetizer style dishes worth getting are the husband and wife lung slices. The menu actually doesn’t say «lung slices,» but that is what the dish is traditionally called when translated from Chinese. The dish also does not actually contain lung slices. Instead, it’s chili oil marinated slices of beef, beef tendon, and beef tripe (stomach). A little chewy (it’s supposed to be) and delicious. The Zhong-​style pork dumplings are great too. Slippery, savory, and oily, six large dumplings come to an order. Gu’s apps are about $ 7 – 8 per order.
Of the entrees, the spicy dried eggplant is my favorite (surprise — it’s my favorite at other Szechuan restaurants as well). Gu’s version comes with plenty of scallion and chopped red chili peppers. This is a crispy and mouthwatering dish. A «game changer» as my friend Marty J. likes to put it. A similarly prepared dish is the Chong Qing spicy chicken. It consists of small fried chicken morsels tossed with a bevy of chopped red chilis. I like the addition of garlic in this dish.
If you’re looking for a good vegetable dish, try the Kung Pao lotus root. It consists of a plateful of sliced lotus root that has been stir-​fried with roasted chili peppers (notice a theme here?), peanuts, ginger, and scallions.
Other dishes which are A-​OK include the cumin lamb, spicy boiled beef, crispy fish filets, and tea-​smoked duck. The cumin lamb is one of the relatively simpler dishes with sliced lamb cooked with cumin that is both distinct in its flavor and pleasantly pungent in its aroma. The spicy boiled beef is served in a large bowl in a stew-​like format with cabbage, celery, garlic, cilantro, chili peppers, and plenty of chili oil.
Portion size on the crispy fish filets dish is generous. You get plenty of battered and fried fish filets with peanuts, onions, and peppers on a large plate. It’s kind of like Szechuan «fish & chips» without the chips. Finally, the tea-​smoked duck is one of Gu’s most popular entrees. Smoked using a difficult recipe, the duck is served either half or whole, bone-​in, with a sesame sauce. It’s meaty and pretty good. For most entrees at dinnertime, expect to spend about $ 14 – 17 each.
Service is fine. The restaurant has become more and more popular over the years. I would call and make reservations if I was dining on a Friday or Saturday night. Yvonne Gu, daughter of Chef Gu, and her husband Zahed manage the restaurant. They are polite, nice, and make an effort to ensure customers are satisfied.
Gu’s Bistro is located on Buford Highway outside the perimeter on the same side of the road as Buford Highway Farmers Market. It’s tucked away in the shopping center behind Chick-​fil-​A.
To read more of my thoughts on Gu’s, including their special multicourse dim sum service, please refer to my previous reviews below.

This location is now CLOSED. Womp womp. Loved this place (especially the Zhong style dumplings and Chengdu noodles as everyone has already mentioned)!
Chef/​owner Yiquan Gu hopes to find a new location and says that they plan to reopen the Bistro in the future.
Here’s the official announcement…
«We have permanently closed our Buford Highway location, so in the mean time, please visit our Gu’s Dumplings location (
, @gusdumplings,
) at Krog Street Market in Inman Park, set to open in the middle of March. We are looking for a new location for Gu’s Bistro to continue to provide the BEST Chinese experience in Atlanta! Feel free to check the website for updates, and be sure to follow us on Twitter (@gusbistro) and Facebook (
). Of course, you can always email us at
. This is not the end, it is the beginning of something even better! Thanks for your continued support!»

Was sad when Peter Cheng’s Tasty China II closed as I hadn’t had such authentic Sichuan cuisine since living in China years ago. My wife’s friend at work suggested we drive to Buford Hwy and try Gu’s.
We made the drive this evening and boy am I glad we did. The food was fantastic! Zhong style dumplings were just the right amount of chewy and spicy and a touch of sweet. Fried crawfish were excellent, chongqing chicken was great and the dry fried eggplant was delicious, though only ALMOST as good as Peter Cheng’s… Even the egg drop and hot and sour soups were a cut above.
The place is comfortable and clean, and staff is pleasant. We got there early– shortly after opening at 5:00– and our party of 4 was seated right away. But the place was packed and people were turning away because of the long by the time we left a little after 6, and this was a Sunday night so go early or expect a wait. Well worth it though!

We were driving back from NC and starving. Of course, we used the Unilocal app to help us decide where to eat and were definitely impressed with all the reviews that had been written about Gu’s. It was pretty packed for lunch, but still seemed manageable for the 3 servers on staff.
We were seated immediately and the food around us looked and smelled good — it’s too bad that it took 20 minutes to actually get served any food (even though we ordered the dumplings as soon as we sat down).
I agree with everyone’s comments that the Zhong Dumplings were really good, a huge portion for $ 8, and loved the sweet and spicy sauce — that sauce was so addictive that we wound up putting on everything.
We wanted to try a few dishes and maybe we just didn’t choose the right ones (even though it was marked as the «specialty» of the house).
— Pork & Smoked Tofu — it was ok, but wow so salty
— Spicy Dried Eggplant — breaded and salty — it was like the french fry equivalent of Eggplant (as I looked around — a lot of folks got this plate, seemed to be sitting there — not eaten — much like ours
— Spicy Crispy Beef — it was spicy, but nothing crazy and again too salty
Maybe the chef today was on a salt kick. Just very disappointing and not only have I had much better on Buford Hwy, but this is no where close in comparison to how good the food is actually in China (I read a review from someone that really compared it to the different areas in China and I really hope they have actually even been there).

Very AUTHENTIC Szechuan restaurant in a whole sale shopping center (with McDonalds) just north of Buford Farmers Market.
My Chinese friends (they r from China doing ex-​pat work) love everything here. Me — I like about half of the orders… others are TOO authentic.
I like fried egg plant — it’s delightfully crisp and soft at the same time. Not at all salty. Fried green beans are good too.
Other dishes I’ve tried Ma Pao Tofu, pork belly stir fry, vege dishes, noodles etc… all are a little different than American Chinese… they have «nam» or real Szechuan pepper that make your tongue NUMB. I’m all for trying new things and my friends love all these dishes… me — not so much.
Wait staff here all speak Chinese and are a little impatient if you are not ready. The restaurant is a little dark but pleasant enough. Set your expectation — this is authentic and is good food — just don’t expect American Szechuan food — not even SanFran style.

Gu’s Bistro is located in the old Burlington Warehouse shopping center on 5750 Buford Hwy NE just North of I285 in Doraville, just South of the intersection at McElroy Rd — if you hit Winter’s Chapel you’ve gone too far. There’s a Chickfila anchoring the shopping center on the Southern end (with a new Krispy Kreme) and a McDonald’s on the Northern end — best bet is to pull in on the Chickfila side and park as the restaurant is in the Southern elbow of this long «L» shaped shopping center.
Prior to the last 5 years or so the most authentic Szechuan cuisine would be found at Little Szechuan — one of my favorites for over 15 years. Alas, Chef Kong suffered the fate of many restauranteurs as his multi-​layered, very saucy food fell into disfavor forcing him to move closer to Atlanta and eventually selling to an investor who has now completely changed the menu and style of cooking. Hopefully the new management and chef will redefine that venerable establishment and bring it back from the brink. But I digress — even as Little Szechuan maintained the highest level of authenticity for close to 20 years, it was still more of a «schwag» Chinese restaurant, adapting Americanized Chinese food for the masses. With the continuing influx of Asian immigrants, the bounty of authentic ethnic food, especially on Buford Hwy, provides opportunities to sample flavors and styles of cooking only hinted at when visiting most Americanized Chinese restaurants. You’re basically getting the washed-​down, over-​and-​under spiced version of Chinese, and in particular Szechuan cooking, when visiting the like of Golden Panda or similar Chinese restaurants. It’s with the advent of places like Man Chun Hong and Peter Chang’s that you begin to get the real, intense and peppery flavors of genuine Szechuan cuisine. Gu’s falls into this latter category and does it extremely well.
I’ve had occasion to sample many of the dishes at Gu’s on several occasions. The service and presentation are impeccable and the flavors consistent along with large portions. I especially like that Gu’s offers more than the traditional Asian beer selection with some local craft-​in-​bottles available. The menu has many color photos to help you decide — if you’re not used to the more authentic Szechuan dishes — you’ll find more wok sauté and frying to the point of being dry — the spices in general provide an additional layer of flavor to the components (mostly chicken and pork with some beef and seafood), heavier on the garlic and herbal-​side. There’s also the liberal use of cilantro and spring onion and a few lamb dishes. You’ll also find the use of the famous «flower pepper» — which provides a distinctly metallic flavor to food that leads to a numbing that can be distressing if you aren’t prepared for it. It’s an unusual effect that provides contrast and really expands the multi-​layered sensations encountered when eating this style of food.
Some of my favorites:
Zhong Style Dumplings — these are steamed and more like the mandu my mom would serve — in a spicy chili sauce with sesame oil — quite delicious
Dry Fried Eggplant — lightly breaded and deep fried, these little morsels will keep you filling your plate.
Chili Szechuan Chicken — my favorite and something we always tend to order — sauteed «dry» chicken with tons of cut dried red pepper and garlic cloves. This will get your motor running…
Stir-​fried Sno-​pea leaves with garlic — think of this is your veggie side-​dish as most of the dishes are more about the meats and spices.
Crispy Fish with Peanuts and Red Chili — loved this fish dish, and it has a few surprises…
Do yourself a favor when eating here and try the dishes that look good in the photos and don’t rely on the traditional Chinese dishes. You’ll be glad you did.
(longer version published on my food blog)

Few Szechuan restaurants lie within reasonable driving range from Atlanta for a weekday meal. Gu’s Bistro lies a little bit farther up Buford than some other Asian restaurants I frequent, but can easily be reached in 20 minutes without traffic. Its «proximity» and almost legit Szechuan food has led it to be a restaurant my friends and I turn to when we’re craving some lip-​tingling, numbing, spicy Chinese food.
I pretty much eat everything and anything, thus, I usually let the rest of my party to order the food. Over the past couple of years, I’ve tried many, many dishes at Gu’s. Here are some of our go-to’s:
Ma Po Tofu: Silken tofu cubed and cooked with ground pork, chiles, and peppercorns to create a savory and spicy gravy. Could be spicier in my opinion, but still yummy.
Eggplant with Garlic Sauce: Chinese eggplant cooked down in a garlicky, a little spicy, and sweet sauce. A comforting and tasty dish. This could also be a little spicier.
Spicy Boiled Beef: Generous portions of sliced beef and Napa cabbage in a huge bowl of a thick, spicy broth/​sauce. I found it a little too sweet and not spicy enough.
Ma La Beef with Tofu: Think spicy boiled beef with large chunks of silken tofu. I like this a little more than the spicy boiled beef, although I’m not too sure why. Mebbe I’m just a tofu freak.
Spicy Dried Eggplant: Love this. It’s a little bit salty, but there’s something magical about fried eggplant, garlic, chiles, salt, pepper, and a little peppercorn. It’s like Asian eggplant fries.
As for bad dishes I’ve experienced, the only really BAD one I’ve ever had was the Spicy Whole Fish in Hot Pot. The flavors were fine, but what was bad was the amount of scales left on the fish. Literally, every bite we took had at least 1 scale in it. Just, no. No. Bones are fine. Scales are NOT. When we had told the manager about it, there were no apologies or anything. She simply asked, «Ok, well would you like something else.»
This leads me to the service here. The servers are fluent in both English and Chinese, so don’t be afraid they won’t understand you. You’ll probably have to request for more rice or water, as they don’t usually pro-​actively ask you. Service is extremely slow, too. On a weekend dinner, expect to be here for 2 hours total.
I do recommend giving Gu’s a try. They have tasty, spicy dishes and I have yet to have a dish, excluding the scaley fish, that I disliked. The dishes contain less red chili and peppercorns than the ones you would find in the Szechuan region in China, but there’s definitely enough to give you its signature tingling, spicy taste.

After hearing so much buzz about Gu’s Bistro, I finally got a chance to try them out. On a Friday night, this place was full and it’s not just small groups, most of these were big parties. Kudos to the staff for handling multiple big parties at once. Getting a group to go is probably the best way to enjoy the menu. It was just me and my boyfriend so we had to be slightly attentive about how much we ordered:
Zhong Style Dumplings: Quite easily my favorite dish of the evening. The sauce almost tastes similar to the what was served with the Dan Dan noodles, but I felt like there was an additional «oomph» to the sauce which made it tastier. Love the subtle spicy burn after eating this.
Dan Dan Noodles: We thought this was ok as it paled in comparison to the dumplings. There seemed to be a little too much water so it wasn’t that spicy, but that’s because my boyfriend and I can handle really spicy food. I think I’m more likely to try out the Chengdu Noodles next time. This is definitely a generous portion.
Fish Hot Pot: This was recommended to us by the waiter since I said that we were looking for spicy fare. I think the fish was tilapia filets, but it is definitely in a spicy sauce along with some other vegetables. Eating this hot pot will certainly empty your rice bowl.
Spicy Chicken (on the menu it’s La Zi Ji — spicy seed chicken): This was another common dish suggested by our waiter. It looks scary spicy because of the dried red chilis but it wasn’t too bad. I like how the chunks of chicken are diced so small because it makes this dish last longer haha. This is another dish that’s good that will make your rice bowl disappear.
I think we covered most of the signature dishes people have raved about at Gu’s and they are tasty. I think the only item I might get again would be the Zhong Style Dumplings, but there seems to be so many other good dishes to try. Having grown up in Atlanta and going to Chinese restaurants with my family, Gu’s Bistro felt different from other restaurants. The restaurant seems cleaner, more uniquely decorated, and the menu items seem so carefully selected so it’s not like your typical Americanized-​Chinese restaurant. I joked with my boyfriend that Gu’s Bistro feels like a second generation of Chinese restaurants.
I would definitely come back if I’m craving something spicy or more authentic Chinese eats.

I am late to the party on this one. Let me just join the masses in saying this place is fantastic. Go now.

This was my first experience actually going to Gu’s, though I’d had takeout from there before. I was very much looking forward to the spicy clean flavors and those cold noodles.
We arrived around 7:20 on a Friday night and were told that there would be a 30 minute wait. There was a lot of table turnover at the time, so they were going through the list of patrons pretty quickly. They did have the «upstairs» tables set for a one large and one medium sized party, while most of the regular tables were set for 4 people.
We got our table in about 20 minutes, and quickly put in our order, starting with Zhong style dumplings and Chengdu cold noodles. Those arrived pretty quickly, but the next round of dishes took longer. At first, the 3 of us attempted restraint with the dumplings and noodles, knowing we had a lot more food coming, but as the time went on, we ate more and more of it, eventually cleaning the plates.
For the second round of food we had the Chongqing chicken, the spicy boiled beef, the shrimp with broccoli and cilantro, and the stir fried seasonal vegetables — pea shoots, I believe — without the garlic. Everything was great, spicy enough to be spicy and sinus-​clearing, but not enough to make us cry or prompt us to chug our waters. It’s hard to say what was a favorite, because each was great in its own way. The sauce the effect on the cabbage that was part of the boiled beef dish was flavorful and comforting. The Chongqing chicken was simple and spicy. the broccoli and cilantro added a nice complement of texture and herbaciousness to all the red peppers. The simple vegetables provided some relief from the pepper as well. They brought us white rice, but I didn’t eat much, except to use some as a conduit for the spicy boiled beef sauce. My dining companions were stuffed, so I got to take the leftovers.
I look forward to returning to try the crispy fish with peanuts!

I had been wanting to try Gu’s for quite some time and I really stoked to find that it was just around the corner from an event venue we would be at for the evening. Much like some of the best restaurants on BuHi, this is found among other shops, salons, stores, and others in a shopping plaza. You walk in to a collection of cozy tables, booths, and a nice communal table in the back. Everything moves pretty quickly and before we knew it our server was taking our order. Here’s what I had the chance to try –
Dan Dan Noodles — Super plain, spicy, and heavy. I LOVE Dan Dan Noodles. The flavors aren’t too crazy, but the chili oil is so wonderfully spicy. It isn’t the same type of spice from a pepper, though. It has more of a «warming» spice that will surprise you after a few bites of noodles. The beef on top isn’t always my favorite, so I pushed most of it off and just went for the noodles.
Dumplings — These things slide right out of your chopsticks or off of your spoon as soon as you pick em up! I think its part of the fun when eating them. The flavors are wonderful and that famous chili oil makes another appearance in this dish. I loved the few that I got to have.
Lotus Root Salad — Fresh and super crunchy. About the same amount of crunch as a water chestnut. I dig lotus root and this was pretty awesome.
Spicy Fried Egglplant — Pretty Awesome. I’ve had this at a few other places and it is always a pleasing dish. The amount of heat is nice and the portion is huge. Definitely a favorite.
The service was friendly and the menu is huge. I’m looking forward to checking out other items on the menu and also their new location coming to Krog St Market in the near future!

A lot of my friends raved about Gu’s so, I figure it’s time to stop by… and I’m glad I did.
NOTE: I am not an expert on Chinese food. I’m beginning to try out more of it on Buford Hwy.
Parking — since Gu’s is in a mall strip — there is a lot of parking. You can’t not get a spot. Gu’s mall strip is also behind CFA — keep an eye out!
Their Zhong Style dumplings are very good. I couldn’t stop eating them. It’s a great appetizer to start off with. There were so many dumplings, I got half full from them haha. Their sauce & texture of the dumplings were what made it so good. I only really eat Korean dumplings (I know, but they’re my mom’s! Can’t beat mom’s cooking)
Chengdu Cold Noodles — Interesting enough, I liked them, but not too crazy. I’m not a huge fan of cold noodles, so don’t take my opinion too seriously on these. I had to add some chili sauce to them. The spices on the noodles were good. IF these noodles were hot, with no doubt, I’d eat them by myself haha. But my bf did say he wouldn’t mind getting the cold noodles again. So if you’re a fan of cold noodles, get these!
Mapo Tofu — I think I had a bad batch. Tasted off to me. Mapo Tofu is my favorite dish (whenever I do eat Chinese food). It was really watery.
Every Szechuan (sp?) plate we had for chicken was AMAZING. The one that had chili & given in an aluminum foil plate & the one where it was given in silver plate and holder. My bf and I ate those immediately. Whew. SO GOOD! Definitely coming back for those!
Service: our food came out super fast. They were even crowded too! I literally waited 10 mins for the 1^st plate, 5 mins later the 2^nd one came out, then 5 mins later again the 3^rd plate came out. I am thoroughly pleased. Our server was excellent too. So I’d give Gu’s a 4.5 due to that.
Will be coming back! :) Can’t wait to try other dishes.

I finally came around to trying out this place tonight. I went with a girlfriend around 6:30 and they weren’t too busy so we were seated right away. We tried the Zhong style dumplings, spicy crispy beef and eggplants with garlic.
I found the food to be ok. The dumplings were good and the sauce was good but they definitely weren’t the best dumplings ever. The spicy crispy beef was not spicy at all and the flavor of the whole dish was a little bland. The eggplants in garlic was your standard eggplants in garlic kind of dish. Food was good but not spectacular. Maybe my expectations were too high after reading the reviews for this place. I would come back here again but wouldn’t go out of my way to do so.

Came here yesterday since my sister and brother-​in-​law were raving about this restaurant.
We ordered the twice cooked pork belly, chengdu cold noodles and Kung pao lotus roots. I loved everything!
Twice cooked pork belly– thin slices of pork belly sautéed with veggies. It was saltier than I liked, but I think pork belly is usually salty like that. I still loved it though! Reminded me of pork belly from Korean BBQ. $ 14
Chengdu cold noodles– Basically it’s lo mein noodles tossed in a chili oil. I loved this dish! It was probably my favorite dish. It’s an appetizer, but it can easily be ordered as an entrée for one person. $ 8
Kung pao lotus roots– If you are a fan of water chestnuts and the texture of water chestnuts, then you will definitely enjoy this dish. It’s crispy, crunchy and has a lot of the Kung pao flavor soaked into the lotus root. $ 13
Service was great! They checked on us often, cleared our plates, and the food came out very fast.
Can’t wait to come back and try different things!