Sichuan Queen

I got the crispy chicken with 3 peppers or whatever. It was good. I just keep ordering the same thing and forgetting it’s fried. Totally not this place’s fault for my lack of memory. All in all, good food and good service. I will definitely come back and remember the dish is fried. I would like to try other items on their menu. Seems very legit and authentic.

It’s really hard to pick a restaurant when in Chinatown. There are seriously hundreds of them! Even within one plaza it is difficult. My coworker and I stopped in here on a Friday afternoon. Service was quick. We had the eggplant, spicy fish and tofu, stir fried lamb, and dumplings. My favorite was the dumpling. It had so much flavor. The spicy fish and tofu was also really good. Note that the portions are extremely generous and this was all too much food for 2 people.
For all that food the total came out to be about $ 35.

We have been going to the Sichuan place next to Shanghai (which is what we call it) for several years. This is the first time we realized that it had changed owners. The waiters spoke English and service was fast unlike the previous times.
We could still get our favorite dishes. The sizzling rice seafood dish is still delicious. It’s a bunch of seafood and lettuce with sauce dumped on a bed of «rice crispies» that crackle when touched with heat. Our other favorite is the spicy vegetable trio which is basically a medley of vegetables such as black fungus, broccoli, snow peas and water chestnuts. This tasted a little sweeter due to the chef being different but still came out piping hot.
I really want to try the barrel fish dish next time since it seems like the new chef’s signature!

Food was very tasty and arrived in a short amount of time. Waitstaff is nice and attentive.

Sichuan Cuisine, Sichuan King, Sichuan Queen… With different English names spanning across Unilocal,Google, and even the storefront, this Szechuan-​cuisine restaurant is one of Houston Chinatown’s classic establishments.
However, Sichuan Queen clearly has a management change as the staff transformed from a «loan shark» who literally chased my party to the parking lot because she couldn’t find the tip a few years ago to a polite group of people who are more than happy to help. Friendly service is definitely a huge plus especially in the Chinatown area where rude attitude is the norm. Heck, the restaurant even offers a free appetizer for Unilocal check-​in, which is something I never thought I would see in Chinatown!
Unfortunately, the food was nothing special. Aside from the water-​boiled fish that was the spicy goodness that I desired, the fish-​fragrant eggplant and the tofu stew with pork intestine were mediocre at best. Some dishes were priced unusually high, like the signature bucket fish that was priced $ 40 per portion, and I thought tea for $ 1.50 per person was a bit ridiculous because its Chinatown competitors serve tea at $ 1 or less per person or free.
The excellent service makes me want to return, but with so many excellent Szechuan restaurants in its proximity, Sichuan Queen’s food needs major improvement especially to justify its higher prices.
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tl;dr version:
1) One of the best services in Chinatown
2) Overpriced yet mediocre food

Mom has been looking forward to a meal at this place since we started planning the Houston road trip. It is universal Chinese Mother Law that all Chinese mothers must only dine at Chinese restaurants while on the road, and my mom’s must-​have dish at any sichuanese joint is the couple’s delight (spicy beef tendon).
The food here has apparently gone downhill since opening. The roasted duck was way too salty and the couple’s delight was too oily and lacking in portion size. The only thing I enjoyed was the fish soup with pickled veggies (not sure of the exact translation) that I ordered. My brother’s sesame chicken wasn’t bad but that’s more of an Americanized Chinese dish than authentic sichuanese cuisine.
Overall, I doubt we (read: mostly my mom) would come back again. It’s a decent meal but they couldn’t get the most standard sichuanese dish right (couple’s delight), which speaks volumes about the restaurant’s authenticity.
Everyone around us ordered the bucket fish so maybe we should have gotten that dish? Either way, there are plenty of fish in the Houston Chinatown sea (pun intended) and we will head elsewhere to satisfy our sichuanese food cravings.

I walked by this Sichuan Restaurant one night, not knowing the name of this place. But I noticed a very interesting easel at the entrance. I squatted down to take a picture. After researching more about bucket fish (木桶魚) online and thought, this could win a lot of attention in Houston’s foodie community. I immediately contacted Que N and added Sichuan Queen (老四川) on our bizarre-​food adventure collection.
We arranged to meet at 1 pm because I wanted to avoid the lunch crowd. Waiter was very helpful as he explained their menu thoroughly in English and made recommendations on the appetizers. We ordered bucket fish (木桶魚), cold cut combo 3 and little soup bun. The cold cut combination came with 3 choices from the appetizer menu — seasoned pig ears, smoked pig snouts and spicy beef slices (夫妻肺片). They were thinly sliced and very flavorful. I didn’t care too much with little soup buns (小籠湯包) because they were too sweet for me.
The presentation of bucket fish (木桶魚) was spectacular. It took 3 people to give us an awesome performance in a brief minute. First, the bucket arrived with sizzling hot black pebbles. Then, another person tossed sliced catfish onto the hot rocks. Finally, the chef poured hot soup in the bucket and topped with the lid to «cook» for a few minutes. I was a little disappointed as I didn’t get a chance to take a video with my phone. The sensation was incredible. The soup was flavored with fresh fish, all kinds of peppers, cucumber, ginger, enoki mushrooms, king mushrooms, black mushrooms, garlic, tomatoes and some seasoning dissipated during cooking.
Just the bucket fish alone costs $ 39.99 and it’s enough for 4 people. The dish took the majority of the table space. I would want to sit at a table with lazy Suzy so we don’t have to walk around the table to get something.
I chatted with waiter about the history of Sichuan Queen. He is a senior member of the restaurant as he started with the restaurant. There was a recent change of ownership and they hired a chef from Sichuan. That’s why they have another set of menu exclusively for his authentic Sichuan cuisine.
This is also a popular lunch spot during weekdays. The $ 4.95 lunch plate with complimentary soup brought many people to Welcome Center.
For more information about Sichuan Queen and its bucket fish, here is the link to World Journal in Chinese

I dined in the restaurant in late November and ordered hot pot buffet. This was my second visit and was my last one as well.
I ordered beef and pork but was told that they were out of them. This was fine because they gave us beef for other dishes in place of hot pot beef slices.
Overall food quality was okay, nothing special. The thing that really made me upset was they charged my two year old daughter for half of adult price, which was 9.99. This is the only time that I have to pay for my two year old daughter for buffet. I do not get the price policy even until now since a two year old kid cannot even finish more than two bowls of hot pot. Also, no other restaurant charges me for a two year old kid.
Given so many hot pot choices here in Houston, I will not dine in here again.

It was so lit. It got real lit real fast. The food was lit. Come to this place immediately all the time. You know why cuz it’s LIT

Sichuan Queen is a legit place! It is tucked deep in Chinatown and even google maps will have trouble finding it. Go by the Physical address and count down the numbers on the doors of each business to find the location. Yes, you will circle the parking lot as there is no signage. After finally locating it, we entered the restaurant. It is very casual and Chinese signage all over the place. The menu is extensive but no english explanation left us wondering. We ended up settling on a spicy bamboo appetizer, which is free if you check in with Unilocal.Please make sure to notify your server prior. The spicy bamboo was good but not the best I have tasted. The entrees were a bit more impressive! We ordered the Kung pao tofu and spicy chicken. Its totally not called spicy chicken but I forgot the official name. These 2 plates were very flavorful. I loved that the firmness of the tofu was on point! I definitely enjoyed this plate the most! The spicy chicken was also good! Over all this place is cheap with great food. It would have received a 5 star but I have ordered the same dishes down the street at Mala Sichuan and they somehow taste better there! Still a good contender though!

Received an email from my credit card company showing that the restaurant get $ 15 tip over my $ 20 meal. And I actually tipped $ 4 instead $ 15. I don’t know what happened but will not go back since I can’t trust this place.
I will rate 2 – 3 stars for the food.
Update: spoke to the restaurant; they called back the next day saying they typed in the tip from the receipt after or before mine and going to refund the rest.

I’ve never had Chinese food from the Sichuan region so I thought I’d check this place out. It didn’t disappoint. It wasn’t busy and I found a table quickly. I ordered the sweet twisty bread as an appetizer. Think of it like a churro except without the excessive sugar and more soft and chewy. I was going to order the boneless spicy chicken with 3 chilli but the waitress who was taking my order suggested I go with the Chong Qin Crispy Spicy Chicken. It came with a nice big serving of rice. It was spicy but nothing I couldn’t handle. Wasn’t too oily or overly salty. Wait service over here is friendly and my water was always filled without me having to ask about it. I definitely wouldn’t mind coming back here to try their other dishes.

My other favorite restaurant in Chinatown besides Classic Kitchen. The food here is very authentic and I should know as I am from Sichuan and grew up eating Sichuanese food. Honestly, I am salivating right now as I’m writing my review just thinking about the dishes they serve. The only complaint I have is that the dishes got less spicy with the recent change in management. The food is still tasty, but I wish it were spicier. But then again, I use ghost peppers in my dishes, so you may not want to go by my rating.
The new staff is very friendly and speak very good English. Oh, and did I mention the food is AMAZING? This is pretty much my go-​to place for hometown food. I would include some of my favorite dishes, but there are just too many and I don’t really remember the English names for them. But everything is delicious and the waiter will give excellent recommendations too.

I dont care what the name is: King, Queen, Cuisine, you can pick what you want. The food is awesome.
I love the chong qin dry chilli chicken, spicy fish, mapo tofu, and general tso shrimp.
I am a spicy food fanatic and love the sichuan flavor. Highly recommended; also specially for desis who love spicy chinese food.

We went back for a second time since they changed owner and this time we were very disappointed. For some reason the food tasted different than our first time there with the new owner. The dishes tasted more like they were made by a Cantonese chef, which is great if I want Cantonese dishes, but not when I want Sichuan dishes. All the Sichuan dishes we ordered tasted mild at best and the only dish that actually tasted better than before was the fried rice, something Cantonese tend to excel at.
Sichuan King (or now called Queen) used to be our favorite Sichuan restaurant but we may not go back there for a while. It’s a shame that there seems to be a trend going on in Chinatown where Sichuan restaurants are closing and replaced by Hunan restaurants, which I also like but I want Sichuan sometimes too.

It’s a new place. I gave it a try. I like their fried tofu. They were smart and left the sauce on the side and it kept the tofu crispy. Yummy: p

Nice place to try! price is reasonable! huge portion! so many varieties! will definitely come back again!

It is so funny that the new restaurant named itself Sichuan Queen (and the old restaurant here was «Sichuan King»).
The old restaurant in this place used to be our favorite Sichuan restaurant in town — so we were quite concerned when we realized they switched owner.
BUT WE WERE PLEASANTLY SURPRISED!!! They kept the original setting of the restaurant (with cold appetizer bar that you can combine multiple dishes). The menu is somewhat same like the old restaurant… I can taste the difference in food, there are better ones and not-​as-​good ones. But in general, their dishes are actually BETTER than before.
I was a little concerned when I noticed the waitress is from Guangdong province, since normally it’s a warning sign for potentially American Chinese food. But after tasting the dishes, I also learnt that their chef is a real sichuan chef!
Muahaha, I am coming back, baby!

Love this place. Food is delicious, waiters are friendly, price is reasonable. Will definitely come back and recommend to friends. Keep up the good work.

I surprisingly love this place and the food. As a culinary/​pastry chef this place amaze me. It was clean, staff was very friendly, and the food was delicious. I am usually picky when it comes to cuisine but this was great! I recomand this place who is looking for spicy food.