Sichuan Home

Even though this place is Michelin rated, it doesn’t fully preserve the traditional taste of Sichuan.
We ordered the spicy fish & Chinese herbs, mongolian beef & the fried chicken.
Entrees 3: The spicy fish was very numbing and didn’t have enough spiciness but the fish itself was very tender. The mongolian beef was tender but didn’t have the right flavoring. The fried chicken was more salty then spicy. I would’ve liked more chili spices, the type that makes you sweat & chug water, brought to each dish to really bring out the authenticity of Sichuan.
There’s only 1 restroom and it’s past the kitchen on your left.

I was super disappointed about this restaurant.
I am a foodie and Chinese, who loves Sichuan food the most. I have been searching good Sichuan restaurant in SF, and X&Y is the only one that meets the standard so far. I was happy to find this one, since it looked it has authe tic sichuan food.
Here is what happened about the food:
We ordered about 9 dishes, from their signature Chili live fish fillet to delicate steamed xiaolongbao. I believe that the sample is good enough to rate the restaurant.
First thing you will notice is salty !!! I mean I am from northern China, who loves eating flavorful and salty food. But when saltiness is overwhelming, it’s just bad. Overall the food is soulless and salty ¹⁄₁₀.
One dish they should never put on menu is 椒麻鸡 （maybe English name is chicken salad with Chili and peppercorn). What a shame!!! It did not have any flavor from papers and numbing pepper corn except sauciness). –1 000 ⁰⁰⁰⁄₁₀
And the chef special sauteed chicken (沸腾小煎鸡） is very salty too. It didn’t have the Sichuan signatures spiciness at all. It’s such an
over salty ordinary dish. ¹⁄₁₀
The live fish in Chili sauce (沸腾鱼）is a different story. The Chili sauce looked very red and spicy. But u could taste anything flavorful and spicy when u eat it. It tasted very mild and flavorless. I had suspicion that the Chili oil sauce is reused, which sounds horrifying:(. And the fish tasted fresh, which is the few positive things. ¹⁄₁₀
The braised beef with noodle (牛腩刀削面), i never had any noodle worse than this! it’s so mushy and soggy! it’s the worse thing you can do to noodle! The broth and beef is actually decent, but noodle is just too bad. ²⁄₁₀
Cumin lamb, it was OK. It’s just standard lamb, ⁵⁄₁₀.
Xiaolongbao skin was bad, the same problem as the noodle. But the filling was not bad. This is also only thing I enjoyed eating, even though skin
is kind of soggy. ⁶⁄₁₀.
Service was average. It wad little better than average Chinese restaurant.
They have weird layout, you have to walk through the kitchen to use bathroom. It’s not a pleasant walk for sure. The restroom had a disgusting odor, almost killed my appetite.
I saw some Caucasian enjoyed their food, not the typical food we order. The table next to us ordered dumplings, fried rice, etc. I think for these general Chinese food, they might be doing OK. But when it comes to their so called Authentic spicy Sichuan food, I highly recommend you to go somewhere else.
这家的川菜做的非常非常咸，没有任何辣椒花椒香味和神韵。 典型的不用心做菜的餐馆， 作为资深川菜Eater非常不推荐。

I went there for lunch. Last time I ordered the dan-​dan mein which was pretty good. This time I noticed from a «lunch special» menu taped on the window. When I tried to order one of the dishes on that menu, the waiter said they don’t have a «lunch special» menu anymore. They should take it down if that’s the case.
So I decided to order the chicken noodle soup because the photo on the menu looked enticing. BIG BIG MISTAKE! When the dish arrived it looked nothing like the photo. There was barely any chicken pieces and some of the pieces were the chicken neck flattened to disguise it from being part of the neck. The chicken bones were fractured so tiny pieces of bone were dropping into the soup. None of the 5 chicken pieces were longer than an inch. Definitely the worse chicken I’ve ever had. I swear the chicken were the rejected scrap chicken pieces that didn’t make it to other orders.
I have to seriously think again if I want to go back there. Definitely avoid the chicken noodle soup dish at all cost.
If I went back and ordered the dan-​dan mein dish again would I be disappointed? The dan-​dan mein dish that was so wonderful the other time I went there. Stay tuned. Maybe I’ll go back just because they do have an extensive menu and just order what other reviewers raved about.

Solid spice all around. We had the fish in spicy sauce and Chinese herbs, the squid, the cold noodles with chicken, spicy wontons, Shanghai dumplings, and hot and sour soup. I can say we didn’t go wrong with any!
The fish in spicy sauce warmed you up from your chest to your head. The spicy wontons were very flavorful. The cold noodles with chicken had a spice with a delayed effect. And the hot and sour soup, while nothing to write home about, per se, was solid. I enjoyed the Shanghai dumplings but they were a bit oversized, didn’t have enough soup, and could have had a more delicate dough wrap.
If you’re looking for spicy Szechuan, this is a good spot to go!

I’ve been here many times, but took my parents here last night and just had to gush over my love for Sichuan Home. One of the last remaining legitimate Chinese food places in SF. The menu is extensive and I do suggest doing your research on what to order, but you can’t deny that when it is good, it is excellent. Food is served hot and service is «Welcome to my kitchen» friendly.
ALWAYS order: Chef’s special fish stew, chef’s special vegetable, wonton in spicy sauce
Cuttlefish is great, but can get mixed reviews at the table. The dan dan noodles where too soupy for the connoisseurs, but the noodles themselves were fresh. Lamb with cumin was delicious, the duck roll was also fantastic.
The szechuan tea smoked duck has great flavor, but is bony (and is meant to be). Don’t get this if you are confusing it with Peking duck.
Overall, any misses are made up by the other fantastic dishes. It gets 5 stars because it’s true to what it is and can remind you of how good Chinese food was (pre-​Panda Express and PF Chang’s Americanization). You know when all of the neighborhood Chinese people are eating there and ordering jellyfish, you found a good spot.

I love spicy food as much as I love sweet! This is my top choice for my spicy craving days ! Numbness, real hot peppers make my stomach so satisfied although foods are a little bit too salty for me. I like ask them to make my food extra spicy when I order food. Lastly I love their FREE dessert green bean dessert. Perfect after mouth of spicy and garlic smell. I recommended many of my friends come here, they like it too.

I’d never been here before today. Right away after I arrived the server brought me a complimentary salad of some sort with picked cabbage. It was tasty
I got the pan fried chicken with the bone in (bones are optional) and the pea shoot greens with garlic. The food was excellent. I’m not generally a fan of that spice that makes your mouth go numb (I don’t know what this stuff is called). I don’t like how it tastes. Well in the chicken dish it was used but with moderation. Most places I’ve been that use the numbing spice put way too much in and it overpowers the other flavors.
Even though there was a lot of oil used in both dishes they still tasted light.
The server was very sweet, friendly and accomodating.
At the end they gave me a complimentary cold sweet bean soup. I’d never had anything like it before and enjoyed it for its novelty.
All the other patron’s dishes look fresh and very tasty.
I’d come here again.

When I’m not eating at Sichuan Home, I’m dreaming of eating here. My partner and I came two weekends in a row. It was really that serious.
First time was a Sunday afternoon around 3pm. Luckily there was a table ready though the place was packed with big groups enjoying their lunchtime as well. Super authentic! Chinese families were gettin’ down with wine and beer and the beloved lazy Susan.
I have not had dan dan noodles in ages. A bowl by itself is large enough to be a huge solo meal. We shared the dan dan and pan fried chicken — you can choose between boneless and bone in. We also ordered a plate of the garlic cucumber and a plate of the pan fried pork buns. Everything was literally ⁵⁄₅. The food comes out quickly and so hot.
Dan Dan — ⁵⁄₅ lovely chewy loooong noodles in the chili oil. It was more soupy instead of oily and perfectly done.
Pan Fried Pork Buns 5÷5− the freshest and softest buns I’ve ever had. Meat is good, but the bun ins the star here.
Pan Fried Chicken 5÷5− Simply amazing. We made sure to order this again on our second trip one week later. The dish includes these little bites of fried tofu that has a sour flavor and it’s SO GOOD.
Garlic cucumber 4÷5− a little pricey for what it is, and I wish they’d add some spices but yummy nonetheless.
Second time around we had to wait about an hour on a Friday night. The place was packed. Definitely make reservations! We tried a couple new dishes –
Beef Short Ribs — ⁵⁄₅ similar to the pan fried chicken, but the tender beef pieces still makes it unique and not redundant in flavor.
Wontons in chili oil — ⁵⁄₅ Some of the best I’ve had. Chili oil flavor is to die for and much different than the dan dan.
This is our new Chinese go to in the city. Service is great and I’m ready to try out basically everything else on the menu!

My favorite Szechuan restaurant. Everything’s packed with delicious, well-​balanced flavor. It’s definitely a place where I know I could order something I usually don’t like but end up enjoying it anyway.
Highlights:
Chongqing Fried Chicken: I order this at every Szechuan I go to and Sichuan Home has my favorite. It’s fried perfectly and has just enough spice to kick in that numbing sensation just a little. Portion is pretty good and you can add fried green beans to the dish for $ 3. Highly recommended.
«Chef’s Special Fish»: This is probably what I’d consider to be the specialty at this restaurant, and it comes in a few varieties. Every time I’ve been here the fish has been perfectly cooked to be firm to the chopstick but soft to the tooth. The broth is quite spicy but very flavorful. Highly recommended.
As with most Szechuan restaurants you definitely need to order rice to temper the savory saltiness of the food. Service isn’t perfect but is generally friendly. Prices and portions are about average. Bring a hungry stomach.

I think this is definitely one of the better Sichuan places I’ve tried in the Bay Area. We came here about 8p on a Friday night, and there was a little bit of a wait. I imagine at peak times, the wait gets kind of crazy.
I liked the service here a lot. The ladies were really nice although full warning that one of them tried to upsell us like crazy on their specials that day, like the Lobster noodles special. I heard her do this to another table too. However, we wanted to stick to the basics. I think you can always tell how good a Sichuan place is by gauging certain classic dishes: the Chong Qing chicken (spicy chicken) and the spicy boiled fish fillet most especially.
We ordered:
— Chefs special fish fillet
— Spicy oil dumplings, or Hong you chao shou
— Dan dan noodles
This was a good amount of food for two people and we did not finish everything. Everything was certainly spicy! The dan dan noodles were quite good, very spicy and not super peanuty. I actually like that style more so it was good. The noodles were thin though and I wish they were chewier but that’s just personal preference. I probably would not get this dish again so I could try other things on the menu but it was good.
The spicy oil dumplings were decent too. Not the best I’ve ever had because the filling was not my favorite, but still good. The fish fillet though — oh man that fish fillet was really delicious and chock full of veggies (though we did add veggies). I’d definitely like to come back here and try some of their other dishes, like the sauteed frog legs in chili oil.

This place is SO good and worth the trip to the Inner Richmond. I made reservations for a party of 8 (complete with a lazy Susan because #Chineserestaurants), and the table was ready to go when we arrived.
I thought all of the food was incredibly authentic and tasty. Of the dishes we ordered, some of my favorites were the dan dan noodles, dumplings in chili oil, Sichuanese fried chicken (with bone!), eggplant, and garlic pea shoots. I didn’t try the pumpkin pastries, but I heard from my vegetarian friend whom we had ordered the pastries for that they were awesome. I was a little underwhelmed with their special spicy fish stew, though. Next time I come back, I want to try the classic spicy boiled fish.

I’ve been here a couple of times and am definitely a fan! Great Sichuan flavors permeate through the restaurant. The menu is massive and decorated with many pictures of food that make you salivate.
I’ve had some of these dishes–
— Chef Special Fish Stew: added tofu per hostess recommendation and loved it. Spicy! Lots of fish fillets and great taste.
— Spicy Tea Smoked Duck: very smokey but the duck was very tasty. Served with red chili peppers but not that spicy in my opinion.
— Sauteed Lily Bulbs & Celery & Gingko Nuts, Cashew Nuts, & Macadamia Nuts: tasty veggie dish to accompany all the spice. Ample amount of nuts and greens. Very good.
— Chicken Wing & Special Sauce: very good! Crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside. Couldn’t stop eating these.
— Pork Stuffs & Eggplant In Garlic Sauce: another veggie dish that offered relief from the spices. eggplant is cooked in long slices, which is something I’d never seen before.
The only thing I’ve tried that I recommend to skip is their Xiao Long Bao (Shanghai soup dumplings). XLB’s is not part of Sichuan cuisine so it’s understandable that they didn’t taste authentic.
Also wanted to add, the main hostess /​server lady is absolutely hilarious! She is loud and always tries to upsell daily special dishes to you. She’s very good and got us to add tofu to our fish stew dish, which we ended up liking very much. She’s got a great personality though. I’d go back just to see her walk around and do her thing!

My favorite sichuan place in town is Z&Y, but this Sichuan Home is starting to win me over because of its home-​style and the unpretentiousness.
Service is super friendly (it helps if you speak Mandarin, or Cantonese because I heard some around the corner). We were seated promptly with hot tea served. Ordered 3 things:
— chef’s special fish stew. They definitely tried to upsell us with the add-​on veggies. We got the enoki mushrooms, which were super tasty and flavorful. The fish stew itself has great value — $ 18 for a gigantic amount, and lots of flavors, spaces, herbs, and very spicy for our request of «just a little spicy» version.
— the «little fries» which contains thin taro, potatoes and chives slices. Very special, and tasty. Taro’s texture was a bit hard for me.
— hand-​cut noodles with pickled veggies and pork. Great value again (huge bowl for $ 7), and super tasty, warming broth, al-​dente hand carved noodles. They split the noodle soup into two bowls for us, one with pork and one without, which is very sweet of them.
For the two of us, we took most of the fish stew home as the portions were huge. That fish stew was also a great thing to re-​cook and add all the veggies you want for a second meal. It was also quite spicy, but not numbing as this dish wasn’t cooked with the numbing pepper.
The meal came with a pickled cabbage and konbu (seaweed) appetizer. And a mung bean soup for dessert. Both great.
One thing worth mentioning is Sichuan Home was on the Michelin bib gourmand list for 2013, 2014, and 2015. It’s definitely a strong and quality restaurant in SF.

The cumin lamb is really good. The place is small so don’t be surprised by a short wait to get seated!

Having recently moved from philly to SF, I was really looking forward to more authentic Chinese food. Unfortunately I was wrong. This restaurant, with a 4 star Unilocal rating, definitely doesn’t deserve it.
The only dish I enjoyed was the cold dish — thinly sliced pork with garlic sauce.
We also ordered their famous perfume fish and Ben Ben chicken and wontons in chili oil. Because everything is drenched in chili oil it all tastes the same.
The service was okay… but what I really didn’t appreciate was the server kept telling me to order more and to order the expensive seafood dishes. For the two of us we ended up ordering way too much food and they didn’t even tell us! They just told us to keep ordering. I felt like I wasted money on a meal that wasn’t so good and have to keep eating it for the next few days. I DO NOT recommend this restaurant for people looking for authentic Sichuan food.

Service was INCREDIBLY friendly. Like the antithesis of every Chinese restaurant I’ve ever been to. The food was fantastic. We ordered the dan dan noodles, smoked tea duck, and kung pao chicken. All were incredible, and came out lightning fast.
Surprisingly not as spicy as I expected, but great balance of flavors. Excited to come back.

I love szechuan food and I believe this is one of the best in the city…
We had been going to Z&Y and Chili House (which don’t get me wrong, are great) but this has a more authentic feel and taste if that is what you are looking for.
Highlights (disclaimer: this is from the perspective of a «I Grew Up Eating This» Chinese-​American vs. a «I Only Like Chow Mein» type of Chinese-​American…):
— Boiled Fish
— Steamed Egg
— Lotus Salad
— Calamari
We have also tried the spicy chicken but there were too many bones.
Overall the food can be on the greasy & oily side but is OH so delicious!
Staff is also incredibly friendly (bonus points if you know Mandarin).

I’m not a big fan of spicy food, and I am giving this place a 5-​star? You can tell how much I like this place.
Came on a Saturday night with 4 other friends. Not a big restaurant but not very crowded. Our server (lady boss?) was very friendly and didn’t hesitate to spend time with us explaining items on menu in details.
#Crab Meat and Fish Maw Soup 蟹肉魚肚羹: B+.
Wasn’t planning to get this here since I don’t think it’s one of the Sichuan specialty food but my friends were so eager to get this. Taste was above average; I like the fact that they put a lot of those main ingredients inside, instead of a diluting soup like a lot of Chinese restaurant does.
#Chicken and Red Chili Oil 口水雞: B+.
This is a cold appetizer, have never tried this combination before (cold+spicy+chicken). It turned out okay. Chicken meat was pretty tender. The taste was actually slightly bland even from a person can’t take spicy like me so if it can be a bit more chili oil it would have been even better.
#Garlic Pea Sprouts: A-​.
Needed to order some non-​spicy food as a balance. Fresh vege, perfect timing of stir fry.
#Chef’s Specical Fish Stew: A.
Can’t believe I am giving an A on this super spicy dish! The spic level was quite high, and to achieve that the chef put A LOT of chili and other ingredients inside. By looking at how much ingredients they put to get the taste right you know this place is legit. The fish deeply absorbed the chili sauce and it was super spicy, but I don’t know why I could keep eating it (and keep sweating of course) there must be some special formula the chef used to make that chili soup, but yea it was super good.
#Mapo Tofu: A-​.
This dish could be hit or miss — easy to make but if you don’t pay attention to the details it will fail big time. And I loved how they made it there — heavy smell and taste, lots of red pepper and chili, and soft tofu.
One of the very few spicy food restaurants that I actually don’t mind coming back again and again. Need to try more of their dishes next time but the fish stew is a definitely must-​get!

Mmmm! My housemates and I were craving something spicy so we decided to give this place a try. We weren’t disappointed — there’s chili oil in EVERYTHING! We ordered the chicken in chili oil which was okay. The picture looked tasty but it came as a cold dish so we were thrown off. We also got this cold… bean jelly (?) as well. I liked it because it was covered in sauce and because I like the texture. What I really enjoyed was this stew that consisted of asian spam, intestine, pork blood and tripe. Omg it was delicious.
Not to mention, their service was ON POINT! Especially for an asian restaurant… They were attentive and super friendly. Loved it!

Yes I waited 2.5 hours to eat at this joint on a Saturday night because everything that other people there were ordering looked fantastic.
I highly recommend going early during open hours, or come in around 8:30−9 when the bustle empties out.
This restaurant is so far the best authentic Szechuan restaurant I’ve been to. I had their spicy soup dish with fish inside where they bring out a portable stovetop to your table for you to enjoy the hot soup throughout your meal. Fried chicken is a MUST!!! It’s cut into small pieces so you can enjoy as finger food– and make sure you get the bone in if you don’t mind working a bit for the tasty chicken.
The star of the night (believe it or not) was the tofu broccoli dish. It’s simple yet the best dish of the night.
Come here for a casual night of amazing Szechuan food!