Chengdu Taste

never had a bad meal here; prepared to either come early or late, b/​c there’s always a wait for tables. if you don’t like spicy grubs, then this is not the place for you. the flavors are intense, deep aromas and heavy on the spice, which is what/​why people keep coming back. i always end up ordering more than i can finish, which is not a bad thing b/​c the leftovers are delicious next day too.

Bad service
When waiter brings you the dishes, doesn’t even tell you anything, no «hi», no «here is your dish» nothing. We asked for ice 2 times before getting a small cup of ice. No one helped refill any drinks or refill the rice. Waiters seems to try to avoid eye contact.
Bad food quality
We ordered a «lion fish» which was fried. It wasn’t fully cooked and there were still raw parts on the fish.
When we attempted to ask about the «raw» part, waiter never came back with an answer.
At 10pm sharp, regardless that there were 5 more tables eating, they turn off the music and stand next to you to ask you to pay.

Chengdu Taste continues to be my favorite restaurant — not favorite Sichuan, not favorite Chinese, not favorite «Asian» — my favorite restaurant. I would go here everyday and twice on Sunday if I could, but saving it for special occasions is probably best. I acknowledge they serve a pretty particular taste profile, but for spicy and numbing pepper lovers like me, this is Heaven.
I’ve had mixed results on introducing Chengdu to others, but last night we were all happy campers:
Cold Garlic Noodles — a must.
Wonton in Numbing Sauce — my favorite, might be the most severe in terms of effect. Only one other person at the table would even try it, which means more for me!
Hot pot beef — always a winner, and even went over well with people on the less spicy spectrum.
Chicken and vegetable stick appetizer — solid, served cold, we pretty much ordered these because of the visual impact of seeing the many-​sticked dish on so many other tables. Might be best for a large group where everyone gets a few sticks.
Bitter melon omelette — Really tasty, not spicy.
Volcano Fish — Ordered it mild, kind of a take on sweet and sour but not gross; still isn’t really my bag, but the fish and veggies were good.
Chengdu Fried Rice — Simple but perfect fried rice, light, airy, and a needed complement to the hot stuff.
Plum juice all around!

If toothpick lamb is your favorite dish here, don’t bother reading anymore.
I must admit that this place was all hype in the beginning. But now that I look back at the consistency of the different locations and how tasty most of the dishes are; I have to say that I am a fan.
Highlights:
+Slightly more upscale Chinese dining experience
+Your order comes to the table in less than 10 minutes (how they do that?)
+The Sichuan pepper corn is super effective (potency game on point)
+The chili pepper/​chili oil is super flavorful
+Easy to find free parking
My rant:
–People need to stop talking about the overly hyped toothpick lamb. It’s just cumin lamb on a toothpick. It’s not the best cumin lamb and it’s super annoying trying to take it off the toothpick. I just want to shove it into my mouth without biting into a splinter and bleed to death.
–Due to it’s more upscale setting, expect to pay $ 1 – 2 dollar more for most dishes compared to the other Sichuan style restaurants (it’s a small price to pay to get some of the best food you can find in town).
–Avoid sitting in the corners. It’s quite hard to get service when you are hiding in the corner. Chinese servers will not prompt you to see how you are doing. You gotta flag them down if you need something. That’s just how they do it.
–And lastly, who the F charges for rice? This place does. Unheard of at a Chinese restaurant in the 626.
Recommended dishes:
+Mapo tofu, yes it’s basic, but one of the quintessential Sichuan dish. Their super numbing Sichuan pepper makes it super delicious when paired with white rice.
+Steamed pork aka «Feng Zhen Rou», also sounds super basic, but trust me, you want this. Pork belly steamed for countless hours with five spice until its soft, gelatinous, and melt in your mouth yummy.
+Stir fried string beans, easily something that is often over looked. But the way they do it here is like no other place I’ve seen. They stir fry it with Sichuan pepper corn and minced meat. Every bite gets you charred string beans and delicious morsels of minced pork that’s pack with the flavor of the pepper and spice.
+Cold noodles. A humble bowl of noodles but it’s super delicious. If you want to know how legit a Sichuan restaurant is, simply order this, see how it tastes, and if you don’t love it; then this restaurant isn’t that good.
Glad Chengdu Taste has extended their restaurant to the 626 east. It’s definitely not as packed as the one in Alhambra, but come on weekends during dinner, there is still a wait. Most dishes here are pretty good. A few things that are not worth it, but that’s just my opinion. Try it for yourself and tell me your favorite and worse dish that you’ve had here.

I’ve been reading about this place for years and it really does live up to its media coverage. Everything was excellently prepared. I was worried that the food here would be overwhelmingly spicy, but everything was just the right amount of hot (I’m Thai so YMMV)
The cold mung bean noodles（傷心涼粉）is a good appetizer and seemed to be on everyone’s table. This was addicting, I loved slurping up the slippery noodles. It had a good Mala taste that definitely jump starts your appetite. Not really that spicy unless you bite into the Thai chillies.
The Toothpick Lamb (牙籤羊肉）is a fun dish to eat and goes well with rice. There’s no «gaminess» with the lamb, so even if you’re not a lamb eater you might enjoy this dish. The cumin flavor and cilantro really complement the lamb’s flavor.
Green pepper fish (藤椒魚）was another excellent dish. The fish tasted fresh and absorbed the savory notes from the broth. The broth wasn’t too salty; if you drink a lot your mouth will start to feel numb. The portion is quite generous, not only are there lots of fish but there’s also a good heaping of bean sprouts at the bottom.
We came in at 11 and the place was empty, but by 12 there was already a line forming (this was a Wednesday afternoon). Prices are fair and portions are normal to hefty, we paid $ 40 total but took home a lot of leftovers. I’m already dreaming of going back again.
NOTE: They accept Mastercard and Visa for orders above $ 30.

The WORKERS are lazy, they don’t want make togo orders! they turn off their phone and tell you «the phone was defective» … srsly?
员工不接外卖电话，到了店里 告诉你电话坏了 会自动关机 太假了， 非常不负责任 ！ 差评！

NO RECOMMENDED. AVOID IF POSSIBLE.
I would give ZERO stars if I could.
The service is TERRIBLE. so extremely bad it’s CRINGE WORTHY.
Before we went in to order take-​out, we called the restaurant 6 times to find that no one answered. We found out later that the lady working behind the register was extremely rude. She purposely didn’t answer the phone and she gave us attitude. After 20 – 25 minutes when our order was ready my mom went in to pick it up and she found the lady behind the register counting the money instead of packing out takeout. Like wtf. Plus the restaurant has CASH ONLY, which is like illegal… If I actually ate in the restaurant I would give like a 50 cent tip.
Pros:
–Decent food
Cons:
–shitty service
–long wait
–cash only
–pretty much everything

Gaaaah, I’m not sure what’s up with Chengdu taste and their terrible service. We had to flag down a server for everything. Water. Extra Napkins. Refill for tea.
Food is up to par with the other Chengdu branches.
What we ordered:
Toothpick lamb — oh so flavorful and so delicious. This is a must order if you’ve never had this item. It’s flavored to a «T» and it’s soooo good.
Fish with red sauce. It was not bad but nothing special either. I have had better in a nearby center.
Depending on what day you go, they may take CC’s, or it may be Cash only. Hopefully they get their ducks in order and make up their minds on the payments they take.
They’re in the same lot as Hong Kong market, RH Garden café, and has a huge lot. If you don’t mind to walk a little, there’s plenty of parking. It can get crazy because people are always trolling for a closer spot.

Even if you sit down, they can’t service you within tolerable time. Waiting for one hour just for one dish. Totally bad

Avoid this restaurant. The food is mediocre and rudeness abound among its staff.
Came here with 5 friends on a Friday after 1:15 pm. Several customers were waiting outside the restaurant, so I went inside to sign up on the waiting list. A waitress came by to view the list, so I asked her for an estimate of the wait time with 7 names before us. She retorted, «I can’t tell you. Some customers eat fast and some eat slow. You just have to wait.». Ok, we waited. After 10 minutes of observing a large unoccupied table, I asked a passing waitress if our group could have that table since all the waiting customers were either two’s or three’s. She rudely replied that the table was only for a large group. What! Six wasn’t large enough? When we left at 2:40 that table was unoccupied the entire time we were there. The arrogance of that waitress. She could have saved us a further ½ hr of wait time.
I tolerated such rudeness only because I was curious about the quality of the food, since many reviewers rated this restaurant with 4 and 5 stars. To my disappointment the food didn’t measure up to these vaulted ratings. The fish and beef were over cooked. Several other dishes were very oily and salty. I just can’t fathom why so many people patronize this restaurant with many of them repeat customers based on conversations I had with the waiting customers.
For sure you won’t see me back at this place.

Came here with my family for lunch. Now we know why people are always lining up during dinner time. We ordered four dishes: toothpick lamb, mapo tofu, fried intestine, stir fried achoy.
Pros:
–flavorful dishes
–spicy and numb dishes
–bottle of ice water was provided
–toothpick lamb has good amount of seasoning, was not too salty. It was not as spicy comparing to other dishes
–fried intestines were nice and crispy
–overall the dishes all had good amount of seasoning and worked really well with rice
Cons:
–mapo tofu was a bit too spicy comparing to other restaurants
–can get busy during peak hours
–CASH only
It was a nice experience and we would definitely come back to try the lion fish and other dishes.

Other than the wait, I’m a fan of the place. First time there I didn’t know what to order, but luckily I went with my GF who’s from Northern China and she did the ordering. OMG the food was tasty. Even though I’m not an expect w/​Szechuan foods, but this place was authentic.
Note: Keep in mind that this place serves Szechuan cuisines, so many dishes will be very spicy. So if you not a fan or if you have issues w/​spicy food, this would not be a great choice.

Came here for lunch to avoid the lines! It just opened up and is carry on with the name so don’t expect any service. This is owned by the chinamen!!!
I got the Bobo chicken with the sticks and green pepper soupy sauce. But u don’t drink the soup! I liked this dish the most!
Then we shared the fish with red sauce. It was not bad but nothing special either. I have had better.
Then we shared the cold noodles! Now that was my fave. Will get it again.
I didn’t get to try the lamb stick because my friend doesn’t eat lamb so next time!

After I hear good things about this restaurant, finally thought I’d give it a try, and I was happy I did.
This place is temporarily cash only, due to they are still putting up the internet, they will accept credit cards after internet is ready to go (however I wonder why it’d take this long to do so, this place had opened up a few months).
We got here a bit before 12 noon, the restaurant was already full, we waited a few minutes for a table. The interior is bigger then I expected, just by looking at the exterior you would expect a much smaller restaurant. The color scheme is red and black and with a modern Chinese touch. I liked they have a bell on the table, so you can just ring the bell and they would come for you, and they are very quick to respond and the staff are pretty attentive and friendly tiny surprise for a Chinese restaurant.
Here is what we ordered :
1. Chicken with green pepper sauce /​appetizer — ⁴⁄₅ this is a cold dish with bamboo skewers of chicken meat, chicken feet, chicken gizzards, slices potatoes, cauliflower, seaweed dipped in a bowl of cold green pepper corn sauce. This was so different then any sizchuan dish, and I love it, this is slightly spicy and very numbing, a great appetizer for a still very warm october.
2. Boiled vegetables in Sizchuan style spicy sauce — ³⁄₅ this is a all veggie dish with lotus roots, bean sprouts, cauliflower, black fungus, and vermicelli on the bottom. There is also a meat option or an half and half version. This is also very spicy and a bit too salty, however I learned that the chef will be happy to adjust the seasoning to your taste and like, which is also very rare for a Chinese restaurant to offer .I will definitely try this dish again with less salt.
3. Toothpick lamb with cumin– ⁵⁄₅ OMG love love love, this is an awesome tasting dish, the lamb pieces are just the right amount of lean and fat to make each piece tender and tasty. Yes you are getting a ⁵⁄₅ rating from a Peron that normally don’t eat lamb, not for my entire life because I hate the gaming taste, but this dish you could not at all taste that instead it’s the yummy cumin and the spices with the mouth watering meat, I am just so in love with this taste, and I know I will be getting this one to go even if I won’t have time to go eat in .
4. Wonton with sizchuan spicy sauce — ⁴⁄₅ we just ordered so much food to be able to finish this, it’s a fairly big portion as compared other restaurants, the wontons were tasty and sauce was spicy and numbing, and my o KY complain was it being too salty for my taste, but definitely will ask the chef to go easy on the salt next time.
This was a very pleasant experience, we had a lot left over, and the waitress here will bring the containers to the table and help you pack the left overs, which is good service for a Chinese restaurant. Our waitress also was friendly and patiently explained how they will be very happy to adjust the seasoning to each customers taste and they would be happy to take away a dish to redo for you if necessary. I give the service here ⁴⁄₅ this is a mighty high score for a Chinese restaurant in the 626, I took off 1 star for them not coming around on their own to check on us, but they are very attentive an quick to respond to the bell.
Definitely recommend this place and will come back again and again !

If you love spicy food this is the best place to go yummmm. Must try the fried intestines to die for. Remember to bring cash as they do mot take credit card.

I’ve been to the Szechuan province many times. The flavor here is authentic and fantastic. I recommend the tooth pic lamb. A lot a small spicy savory bites. I also recommend the Dan Dan noodle. The Dan Dan noodle has a excellent peanut spicy flavor. So many more entrees to discover.
Thank you for bringing such an authentic experience to So Cal! Looking forward to coming back soon.

A very spicy restaurant is what you should be prepared for. Ordered mapo tofu, toothpick beef, Dry pot intestine, sautéed beef with onions, Chengdu fried rice, Dan Dan noodles, wonton in hot oil and this chicken dish in hot oil. Most to all dishes was seasoned with Sichuan peppercorns which makes your mouth numb. *i recommend some plum juice, because it will soothe your numb mouth*
I see a lot of negative reviews about the customer service and I feel like a lot of Unilocalers don’t understand most Chinese restaurants and that is THERE IS NO CUSTOMER SERVICE. In that note understand that you will have to go up and beyond for anything you want such as water, napkins or more food.
Restaurant gets crowded so I suggest that you come early or to call early for a reservation.
Overall scoring
Food and flavor: ⁵⁄₅
Ambience: ³⁄₅
Customer service: lol

Tooth pick lamb, TOOTHPICK LAMB!
What should you order here? The TOOTHPICK LAMB! I can eat an entire plate all by myself in one sitting. I love how it is perfectly spiced, and has the perfect combination of fat and meat. So delicious!
The fish cooked in chili oil, wonton in chili oil, beef noodle soup, and dan dan noodles are also really good… but get the TOOTHPICK LAMB!

Wish I could give zero. Food was extremely oily.
My stomach started acting up on my way home. Completely tasteless, and not spicy at all to be called Sichuan dishes. There was actually a line. Seriously?

YAY! CHENGDU TASTE FINALLY OPENED!
I am so glad to have it a lot closer to me now! I used to drive all the way to Alhambra to eat this. Overall, I still think this is the best Sichuan food in LA. Everything they make is super authentic!
This new location is in the Hong Kong plaza. A lot of restaurants in this plaza have closed, but that means new spaces for new restaurants! This plaza is a great location because there are tons of parking spots. After you eat, you can also get your grocery shopping done! You can also get your car washed while you eat!
The dishes here are the same as the other locations. My favorite is still the toothpick lamb! I also love their cold noodles, especially on hot summer days! Everything is really really spicy — just the way I like it!
However, let me warn you, this new location is just as popular as the other locations. So expect to wait!