Chili Max

Ignore anything here on Unilocal labeling this place as Sichuan-​style. While they still have some Sichuanese dishes, they have now switched their format to similarly spicy Hunanese. In principle, this makes Chili Max far more unique in a crowded Convoy area with lots of Sichuanese options. In practice, I’m not sure how well they pull it off, but I admit that part of that uncertainty comes with me being generally less knowledgeable about Hunanese.
To fully embrace the Hunan flavor, we ordered the Mao-​style pork. (Mao Zedong was born and raised in Hunan). I have to say the preparation was a little different than what I remember from eating the same dish *in* Hunan, China. The pork was a little dry. However, the sauce was fantastic with a hearty vegetable mix and big chunks of garlic. All in all, this dish was more like a stew than the versions I’ve encountered before.
Despite my mixed review, I am now much more excited to revisit Chili Max given that it is no longer an also-​ran among the area’s Sichuan restaurants.
Summary: I’ll be back to see if this place deserves a Max rating.

I order a Dinner dish to go and pay full price, I went home with the food to see it was no rice, just the food. I called the restaurant and ask about the rice and they told me I needed to pay more money if I wanted steam rice. This is the first restaurant that I know that sells dinner dishes with out rice.
Also the waitress was wearing a «Superman» shirt, very unprofessional!

One star for the one dish that they have on a poster around the restaurant, which I do not know the name of because the waitress did not tell us and just wrote down when we pointed out the picture. That dish was good. Also got the chicken with cucumber skin and wild peppers. We ate about one spoon of it from the plate. I don’t know what kind of meat they put in it but it definitely did not taste or seem like chicken at all. It was extremely chewy and hard to swallow. Service was horrible. Waitress was very rude and did not care at all about us. She sat around talking to her friends and we had to go up to the register to pay and one of the ladies had to walk to our table to see what we ordered since yelling across the room to our waitress about it didn’t work.

One of my all time favorite places to go! I have been comming here since before the name change. I loved it when it was Barren and I love it now too. They have authentic traditional plates that make my mouth water. I love comming here and I always try to make people come here. Even the most simple dishes like the chow mien which you can get anywhere they find a way to make it amazing and stand out. My personal fav is the chicken hot pot it’s on the flaming spicy side so be warned but it’s delicious!

Ordered niuwa and hongshaorou, great.

I had this very large hemorrhoid that was causing me much agony for about the past 30 years. About a day after eating at Chile max it popped out of my rear and just hung there. And a day after that it popped. What a mess! But a week or two after that it healed up and volah! No hemorrhoid!!! I’ve been to two doctors and they said my insurance wouldn’t pay for the fix. Thanks chili max!!! If I ever get another one, I will be eating at your restaurant again!

They got the original taste of Hunan food. If you like spicy food this is the exactly place you are looking for. I love steamed fish head so much. I’ve tried several dishes already and I love all of them. The best part of that is you could also choose your spicy level: mild, medium, spicy.

Walked in and stood for a few minutes… didnt notice the person behind the counter sandwiched between the refrigerator and wall unit sleeping for a few minutes.. Waited a few more minutes and left.

I’ve been coming here at least once a month since I moved to this neighborhood in June and have always thought this place had great food.
Today, though, I ordered from their to-​go menu, 3 items for $ 19.99 or something like that, and I asked for those items to be put in their cylindrical seal top containers since I was on crutches. The food sauce in regular to-​go containers would spill out into the bags as I hobbled back to my truck/​apartment, I knew from experience. And after some explaining, the girl over the counter was Chinese (used just a little English), and talking to the person at the back, she finally said, «Ok!»
So I get my order and the cook/​owner comes out from the back and I thought it was so he could look at me, the full-​of-​hastles guy who had to have a special type of to-​go container. But instead, he came out of the back so he could help me carry my stuff to the truck. I was like, «Whaaaat?» I told him he was too kind and he smiled and walked on w/​me.
I love this place even more now. Great food, great service.

This place seriously lives up to its name. It serves some of the spiciest food I’ve ever had. FYI, water boiled dishes should be called lava boiled instead. This place is authentic though, it really takes me back to the days when I stayed in China for a bit. The «Lover’s Special» is a good deal with 3 dishes for $ 20. I must warn you though, ordering in English can be tricky sometimes, it’d be best if a Chinese speaker accompany you, especially for phone orders.

Chili Max has a new «to go lovers» special. For $ 20 you get to select three items off a pre-​designated menu, plus you get rice and a large carton of soup. The item sizes are full portion. I’ve done this twice and have tried six different items — there are a lot to choose from. The selections are different than what I would order if I were dining in the restaurant, and some are better than others. However, it feeds me for 3 – 4 days with 2 meals a day, so I’ll be eating my way through the menu as long as they have this special. I think it’s only good from 11am-​6pm. If you try to call in your order ahead of time, ask for Jerry. He speaks good English. Otherwise maybe go and place your order in person.

Don’t let the rather dinky looking exterior fool you — the cuisine is very authentic Hunan food, and was delicious. Lots of options on the menu, everything tasted great. Most things can be made spicier or non spicy if you request it as such.
Not the most amazing Chinese food I’ve had, but quite delectable nevertheless. If you don’t mind a lack of ambience/​décor (I don’t), it’s great for family outings.

We’ve been here a few times and always leave happy. It’s a shame that it isn’t more well known. An undiscovered treasure.

It took a long while to get over the grief of Ba-Ren’s passing, and my first visit here was very negative in comparison. However, I’ve learned to judge Chili Max on its own merits and I must admit it has won my reluctant heart over, with caution. First of all, it’s not Szechuan, it’s Hunan: one difference being that instead of numbing Szechuan peppercorns to give the dishes heat, Hunan uses straight up chilis to give it fire. Personally, I prefer Szechuan spices, but Chili Max delivers a lot of flavor – even more so now that they are no longer trying to imitate its predecessor.
Although I found the stir-​fried lamb to be an overly saucy disappointment, I’ve tried the spicy cabbage, braised pork belly with preserved greens, pumpkin with lotus seeds, Hunan cold noodles, hot and sour wontons, boiled fish in hot sauce, green beans, and a number of cold dishes over the course of 3 visits. They were all good enough to keep me coming back for more, experimenting with new dishes each time.
One star off because service will test your patience unless you have Chinese restaurant manners (shouting and being obnoxious to get your waiter’s attention). Most everything I’ve tried is really satisfying but there are still some duds.
So, spicy Chinese lovers, don’t despair too much. Chili Max (despite the absurd name), like a second marriage, gives you another chance at happiness in a different dress.

Yeah, yeah, it’s not Ba Ren. But this place ain’t bad either! I’ve eaten in once and gotten it to-​go another time. Their to-​go menu and dine-​in menus seem to be different or at least in a weird different order. But I really like the spicy noodles. I think they’re supposed to be cold noodles, but the spicy sauce is hot, so it warms the noodles up. Super hot! A nice burn to start our meal! I have tried a couple of their fish filet dishes and they’ve all been really good. The fish is tender, chunks are big, and has so much flavor!
Just like Ba Ren, we get the appetizer dishes from the front buffet. Your choice of 3 for $ 6. It seems like they give you more when you get it to-​go, but what I want to focus on here is that everything is so good!
TIP: You must put at least $ 20 on your CC if you want to use it. They don’t take AMEX.
I won’t get too far into the service here because it’s the same as Ba Ren. It sucks! Don’t expect great service because you’ll be sorely disappointed. So my 4 star review is for the food, not the service. That’d knock it down a star or star and a half.

This ain’t Ba Ren folks.
The décor is exactly the same as before nothing has changed.
The booth that I sat in had lumps in it and was very uncomfortable so I sat on the other side.
The service is the same as Ba Ren’s which is non existent.
I ordered the boiled fish and lamb combination.
They never asked me what I wanted to drink so they just gave me some water.
No tea.
My food came and it was all lamb.
No fish at all.
The lady looked and took it back.
It came back and they removed a lot of the lamb and put a few pieces of fish in there.
Wonder what they did with that lamb?
The lamb was sliced super thin.
For a boiled dish I would think you want a thicker slice of meat since the boiling just leaches out all the flavor of any kind of meat.
So needless to say the lamb was kind of tough and flavorless.
They served me one small bowl of rice with the rice.
Usually when I order boiled fish at any other restaurant they give me a plastic bowl of rice with a cover on it a substantial portion of rice.
Of course they added 80 cents to the bill for the rice, bad move.
There is no sichuan peppercorns in the food because it is a Hunan and not Sichuan food restaurant.
The boiled dish I had today did not have the depth of flavor that Ba Ren had at all.
Spicy City is a better version and their service sucks too lol.
I may try this place again but then again maybe not…

Came back again and I still love the food and the service here!
Definitely will keep on coming back! I love Hunan food!

Ba ren is under new ownership and the place is called, somewhat ridiculously, chili max.
When I walked in I knew something had changed. Diffferent staff. New décor. And the silly new name. The menu selections are very similar, if not identical.
We ordered the number 42 boiled fish on scallions, chicken chow mein, and garlic spare ribs. The fish was very tasty and spicy. At a medium I could eat it, enjoy it, but knew I was at my spice tolerance. Would order again for sure.
The chow mein was also good. Nothing too special. But better than most. The spare ribs were also good — they weren’t broiled ribs like you generally get a chinese place. These are like fried rib nuggets.
I give it four stars for the flavorful fish dish, friendly staff (more friendly than original BA ren), and huge portions. You can feed a family of four for $ 15 here. Easy.
It ain’t ba ren but it’s a worthy substitute.

Do not be fooled. I had read such great reviews about BaRen that I decided to give it a try. When I looked it up on Unilocal,it says CLOSED so I called the number just to make sure. When I called someone answered the phone saying something like «—- max» and I asked if this was BaRen and the person said yes. I got into my car and drove up to the restaurant which still said BaRen and had a new sign «under new management».
I decided to try it anyway hoping the chef was the same. I highly doubt it. I ordered Mapo Tofu or Mapo Dofu and Schezuan Fish and was highly disappointed. I found the place to be very dirty and while the food was spicy the overall taste was one-​note (a bad one).

they have the DIRTIEST plates i have ever seen. Right when i sat down, i felt like this was a mistake. The plate and tea cup that was sitting in front of me were so dirty that i can literally see bits and pieces of food that the last customer had. UGH!
The food there was okay. My friend said the food was actually pretty good to him but maybe because of the disgustingness of the environment, i just didn’t even wanna be there any longer. there was little fruit flies here and there flying over the dishes so the food just seem to be less appealing.
service was chaotic. it seems like they don’t have a good system of serving customers. every waiter or waitress will go to every table start asking the same questions such as have you ordered yet? it was actually kinda funny.
anyhow. i would rather go to other sichuan places although they might be more crowded.