Sichuan Spring

Best Sichuan food in America! I am from Sichuan so trust me lol! The owner and chief are all from Sichuan, always hand out there when I am in rutgers! Miss it so much after I move to Boston!

I come here very often with my family and it’s a great place to get solid Sichuan cuisine. Some of my favorite dishes are: dan dan noodles, mapo tofu, tu dou si (shredded potatoes), xiang gan rou si (bean curd with scallions and pork), shui zhu niu (beef cooked in hot oil), wontons in chili oil, and three pepper chicken. They are all delicious and I can never get tired of ordering the same rotation of food when we come here! The pickled vegetables they serve as an appetizer is also delicious. I could ask for refills but I know that I could get full from just eating that.
Service is adequate. Prices are fair. The owner is always there and he’s a nice gentleman.
This one’s a keeper!

Really good, authentic (read spicy hot) food. Been going there for years, always good, always consistent.

Order one dish take out. No credit card accept below 20 dollars. First time heard.
Paid in cash. The manage short me one dollar. Seriously.
The rice is way soft.
The take out dish quantity is a lot short than dinner in.
Too salty and many strange spice.
The serive is so bad. I will not come back.
And by the way, there are parking space, but hard to in and out.

We ordered out, everything was good but super oily, and overall mediocre. My overall experience was that of nothing too special or memorable, but it wasn’t bad… We ordered their famous spicy fried chicken chunks which was different, I got the scallions and beef which was meh. I don’t expect to come back here.

As a Cantonese Chinese girl, I rarely eat Chinese food out, and even if I do, I usually go for those typical Americanized Chinese take-​out restaurants with my friends or Cantonese dim sum restaurants. Coming to Sichuan Spring was a new experience for me, and I think the experience was okay — mediocre. Nothing too special or memorable, but it wasn’t bad. I can see myself revisiting someday. Two of my friends brought me here, and we ordered their famous spicy fried chicken chunks, a beef noodle soup, and this traditional spicy Sichuan dish with internal organs. I wish I knew the names of the dishes, but I didn’t get a chance to look at the menu… and my friends already ordered for all of us.
My favorite was the spicy fried chicken because it was meaty, tasty, spicy, and crispy all at once! Like a party in my mouth! After a while, my mouth could spit out fire! The beef noodle soup was okay. It had a very strong beef scent/​flavor, and it wasn’t spicy, which didn’t help to cover that strong beefy smell.
The soup and scallion pancakes are free to take, so feel free to grab some before your order comes though I think these are self serve. Also, the owner prefers you to pay with cash, and last time, we got a 10% off or tax deduction off of our check.

The hot and sour soup was weird.
The scallion pancake was dry and when I asked for dumpling sauce, 10 minutes later they brought out duck sauce (I’m not Asian, so apparently …)
Had a real spicy fish dish that was feh
Had hot peppers and beef that was good.
Not worth going back, where is Han Dynasty when I need it?

This place is close to home and family run. They are very friendly and accommodating, and there is plenty of room on the table to enjoy your dishes. The restaurant is as clean as a whistle.
I had never heard of creaky rice, but it is rectangular, flat bricks of rice that when covered by the food and gravy become softened and delicious. I recommend you try this. We also enjoyed the minced chicken with pickled bean sprouts. That, when mixed with rice, is a nice dish — very tasty with many unique flavors and a nice, less moist complement to the other dish. We started with the scallion pancakes which were delicious and not greasy.
Prices are reasonable because you get a lot. We took home enough for a couple of meals of leftovers.
So, as you can see, I recommend this place. It is one of the jewels of the area — I encourage you to discover it next time you want to try some unique Chinese dishes!

I really enjoyed the food here. I had the twice cooked pork and it was very good.

I grew up in Sichuan. This place is simply the most authentic Sichuanese restaurant that I know. Unfortunately, I live in Philadelphia which is 1 and half hour’s drive from this place. But I always make a detour here whenever I travel from Philly to New York (and on my way back). I have tried almost every dish here. Love them all. However, haven’t had a chance to try the hot pot, will do that soon.

I went to this place because I was on a restricted diet and so rice and vegetables were something I thought I could get here. I ended up with home style tofu. It was kind of oddly served, in a glass pie dish, very soupy. It was a bit cloying in flavor. A lot of other people were there getting things that looked better, so I’m not going to judge the place exclusively on my dish. As someone else noted, they did seem to be all about the oil and frying.
I got a rice soup dessert… not sure how else to describe it. I honestly was just happy to see something on a dessert menu which did not have any ingredients excluded on my diet. However, it really was nothing more than thin rice porridge with no spice or sweetness, and very hot which was quite unwelcome on an already hot evening. I don’t know how this qualifies as dessert, even in far eastern cultures, but in any case I just didn’t like it at all.
Overall kind of mediocre. I guess we were missing something. To be quite frank we were the only non-​Asian people there. Not that I felt unwelcome, but certainly out of place. The staff was very sincere and friendly. The menus have English, but I don’t really feel the translation was complete/​adequate. If you don’t read or speak Chinese, go at your own risk/​adventure. We were really hoping to find a decent Chinese place around here that was primarily sit-​down rather than take out, but I don’t think we’ll be going back.
Speaking of adventure, parking was definitely a challenge. Backing out in between two SUVs we almost killed two bicylists. It was their fault as they should not have been on the sidewalk… totally illegal. Still, be careful.

We ordered take away last week and it was pretty average. We ordered scallion pancakes, wun tun soup, general tso chicken, beef and broccoli and shrimp in garlic sauce.
We ordered the pancakes after reading other Unilocal reviewers raving about them, but were not really impressed. They were tasty, but pretty greasy and didn’t seem too fresh. The chicken was tasty, as was the beef and broccoli, but with both, the vegetables were over-​cooked. The shrimp was a let down, unfortunately. The shrimp was very over-​cooked to the point of mushy and the sauce had a very different odd taste to it.
Also, the the prices we were charged for almost all of the dishes were more than what is quoted under the menu on this site.

DO NOT EAT HERE. I ordered a few dishes and had a near death experience after trying the DICED CHICKEN WITH PEANUTS IN HOT PEPPER SAUCE. Once you bite into the chicken there is an overwhelming poisonous taste that consumes your entire tongue/​taste buds and leaves a residue that feels like you are on the verge of death. I have no idea what they put in this dish. From the outside it all looks normal; peanuts, peppers, and veggies, however the taste will leave you wishing you achieved more in life because you WILL feel like dying and throwing up continuously. I strongly urge people to not eat here. It’s not like the other dishes were good either. This is definitely the WORST Chinese food I’ve had in my life.

I’ve been to Little Sheep before (and a place in Chicago) for hot pot. I keep wanting to take my friend to Little Sheep, but they’re too crowded. That’s when I Googled for another place in the area and came across Sichuan Spring.
Parking isn’t that great out front. You’re parking right on a busy road, so backing up might be a chore sometimes.
This place was pretty empty on a Saturday at lunch time. Maybe two tables with people on the restaurant half and none on the hot pot side. That’s usually not a good sign, but the reviews on Unilocal are good and we were already there.
The people working there were friendly. We were seated quickly. The hot pot tables look very old and dirty. Black crud all around the outside on the middle of the table. They had problem starting ours. They had to come restart it 3 times and put a paper towel and a large tea kettle of water on top to keep it running. There’s gas lines running right under the table, so I’m not sure I’d want to come here if I had kids.
Our pot of broth came out very quickly and some tea. There’s some stuff on the table you can choose from such as chili oil, garlic, scallions, cilantro, and a few sauces. The tea was excellent. Not sure if they put anything in it, but I didn’t need any sugar. Winner: Sichuan Spring. I didn’t get tea at Little Sheep and their sauces were terrible. Not that you need sauce.
Not sure if they have other types of broth, but they gave us half mild and half spicy. Which is fine because that’s what we were going to order anyway.
I saw the size of their hot pot menu, and that combined with the dirty table made me want to get up and leave. But I don’t really care about the dirty tables, and people here said the broth is very good and more authentic, so we stayed.
There’s maybe 20 items on the hot pot menu where Little Sheep had over 100. I was very disappointed by the lack of items. They didn’t have a lot of selections I wanted since i don’t eat seafood or chicken. They didn’t even have something simple like spinach. We tried beef, lamb, bok choy, some sort of mushroom, noodles, potato, sweet potato, and a few other items. I didn’t care for the lamb. It had an odd taste. I also didn’t care for how they served the meats. They weren’t thinly sliced frozen meats. They were large chunks. Lamb had a lot of fatty stuff on it. All the food came out very quickly.
Mild broth was very tasty. The spicy side was not as hot as people here made it out to be. In the beginning the spicy broth was very tasty, but towards the end it developed an odd flavor and I couldn’t eat any more. If the broth didn’t develop that odd flavor I’d have ordered more scallion pancakes and continued eating.
I gave this place 3 stars because they serve hot pot, we got seated quickly, and the scallion pancakes were great. I took off two stars for that odd tasting broth and the lack of items to choose from. In the end, I would rather wait 45 minutes for a table at Little Sheep.

Is it possible to give 6 stars?
Pallabi G. and I went back for one final meal at Sichuan Spring before we all depart for residency and what an incredible last meal.
First, the scallion pancakes were maybe the best scallion pancakes I’ve ever had — incredibly light and fluffy within but crushed on the outside, permeated with scallion flavor and perfectly seasoned. Did I mention these are free?!
The hot and sour soup was the best I’ve had there and also I tried what I always used to think was just broth. It actually has turnip and little meatballs in it and the broth is incredibly flavorful.
We ordered the usual and everything was out of this world, with the exception of the first iteration of the pork intestine, which weren’t as crispy as usual. However, we asked for them to just pass them through the wok again and they happily obliged; the end results were incredibly crisp and flavorful.
Goodbye, sichuan spring. You shall be missed.

I love this place! The owner (the old man) is VERY friendly. He seems very passionate about the menu and the restaurant. The food is very delicious and authentic. My favorite dish is the spicy fish with soft tofu and the bamboo shoot with pork.
I love their weekday’s lunch specials! it’s $ 6.95 across the board with a wide selection plus unlimited soup (hot and sour, egg drop, or chinese bone broth) and unlimited scallion pancakes! You really can’t go wrong with that!
I also really like their complimentary pickled veggies that they serve in the beginning of the meal.
The only reason i am giving a 4 instead of a 5 is because the place definitely can use some renovation and the spicy beef tendons tasted like it was sprinkled with MSG. oh and the dan dan noodles is WAY too salty.

This is for the hotpot side of the restaurant. We were originally going to go to little sheep mongolian hot pot right up the street but reservations were booked and we weren’t trying to wait, so we found this place!
Though it was deserted on this side of the restaurant on Christmas Eve, it was still kind of nice having the whole sauce bar and area for my family. Definitely get the half spicy/​half regular broth and have fun and order whatever you want. I think we ordered about 12 different plates.
Service was super fast and attentive — the food and pot came out immediately and the waitress was always clearing our table and refilling our drinks.
I especially enjoyed the spongy tofu, the white long mushrooms, the lamb, the beef, the beansprouts, and the glass noodles! It was different because the meat didn’t come out in frozen rolls but marinated fresh raw meat. I really liked it that way. The broths were flavorful — the hot broth is suppperrrr spicy so watch out and don’t be stupid and eat a peppercorn like me.
Definitely on the pricier side (9 dollars for a plate of shrimp), but if you split it among the party, it’s not terrible. Hot pot tends to be on the pricier side also.
Left VERY full and content. So glad that we found this place. I also hear the regular restaurant is quite good and authentic so we’ll definitely be back to try that. When we were leaving, there were maybe 4 – 6 parties on the restaurant side.

Sichuan Spring in a tiny retail strip along Raritan Avenue (Rt.27) in Highland Park was a great find for me this week after finishing up in court and driving my client home nearby. I was able to park right in front.
Walking in I saw a few tables occupied with Chinese workers and students happily talking and eating from multiple plates in front of them. I could tell by their enthusiasm that they were enjoying the food as well as the company. A waitress approached and led me to a table in the middle of the floor. She handed me a ring bound menu and left me alone for a few. Immediately, I knew this was going to be a good experience. The offerings had lots of little red chili icons and plenty of options with kidney, intestine, stomach, tendon, and fresh hot pepper sauce. Too, I detected a sheen on some of the platters nearby that indicated the use of enough oil to make a strong foundation for the authentic Szechuanese fire sauces. I know some don’t like that, but it is what I am accustomed to from time in Chengdu.
The House provided Hot and Sour Soup and Scallion Pancakes for all on a table in the other dining room. The soup was excellent — full with mushroom, tofu and a base that was laden with subtle spicing. The pancakes were also solid and fresh enough to be crunchy. Impressive.
I ordered the Dan Dan Noodle with Minced Pork Vinaigrette to begin. They were well cooked with an ample load of Ground Pork mixed with 3 Alarm Chilies. Very tasty and hot enough to begin to anesthetize my lips and gums. As a wise person once educated me, «numb is a flavor.» As I had to return to work I opted not to put myself under, but to go with something milder for my second course. Beef with Eggplant (hot) came out with a glow of purple, brown and green. It was very good, and helped reduce the loss of oral sensation.
Next time I am in the area I will be back to taste more from the extensive menu. I have my eyes on the Rabbit with Peppercorn Vinaigrette and Spicy Fish Fillet, among other possibilities. Need to have more people with me so we can order and sample many more dishes here.
I ambled out of Sichuan Spring with leftovers for another meal, and a warm glaze-​eyed smile.
The Heat was back.

This is the perfect place to go to on those cold rainy days. The dishes are delicious and spicy. The menu serves different kinds of meat. for the adventurous there’s frog, tripe, kidneys and intestines. There’s also the mundane beef, pork, chicken, lamb and seafood.
We decided to have hot pot. I think we got the «lovers» which was half spicy and half savory. I’m so glad the waitress suggested that because the spicy was dang ridiculously spicy. There were chilies and and whole black pepper corns. The savory broth had slices of tomatoes with what looked like raisins. It sounds weird but it was a great compliment to the spicy broth. We also ordered a baby squid dish sautéed in spicy sauce. All delicious
The servers are nice too. It seems to be a family owned place. All in all a good experience

Since first going here less than a month ago, my boyfriend and I have been back, no joke, 5 times. We’ve only gotten delivery since the first time, but there has been no compromise in quality of food. However, it is frustrating trying to place an order over the phone because of two reasons 1) they don’t have a menu online that matches their store menu in price and they don’t have paper menus at the store that you can grab. I had to resort to taking pictures of the menu in the store and EVEN then, there are discrepancies between the prices depending on the menu. 2) It’s hard to communicate what I want exactly over the phone because of the language barrier, but I think the owner recognizes my voice when I call and has an idea of what I like (good or bad thing?)
We have discovered that their lunch specials are extensive and offer a lot of the favorites at ½−1/3 the price for dinner. The portions aren’t bad either, so if you are in the area, definitely go for lunch.
Pork Kidney with Spicy Sichuan Vinaigrette ⁴⁄₅: It’s funny. I’ve gotten this three times and EACH time, the preparation of this was different. I really don’t understand what’s happening here, but it was good every time.
Chicken with Eggplant ⁴⁄₅: not your standard brown sauce. I like, I like!
Lamb Sichuan style ⁴⁄₅: This was a great flavor. They used some sort of pickled hot peppers in the sauce and it was fantastic. The flavor of the lamb didn’t really come through until you bit into the meat, but it was pretty tender
Fish and Bean Curd in Spicy Soup ⁵⁄₅: Ok, this isn’t exactly soup, but more like fish fillets and soft tofu in a thick sichuan sauce. The dinner portions for this was enormous. It filled one large and one small soup container. We ate it for days.
They really should have a frequent diner card for me.