Sichuan Express

Their food preparation time is not bad but it took them forever to manage both the buffet and soup order lines. Very inefficient
I got the spicy beef stew and thought it was okay. There wasn’t much flavor to the broth, but the pickled veggies and cilantro added a nice kick. I would not order this again because they use beef tendon. Had I known that, I wouldn’t have ordered the soup. I’ll try their mapo tofu or buffet next time instead

They load up their noodle soups with way too many noodles. I ordered their noodle soup without noodles; I just felt like having just some soup and not throwing away a ton of uneaten noodles. They said they can’t do it. So lame they won’t give you LESS than what they normally include in the soup.

Skip the hot bar line and walk straight up to the register. Everything you want is posted on a menu on your left – a selection of delicious and authentic soups. They’re all good but mapo tofu is my favorite.
You can get the soup to go in a plastic container or dine-​in with a plastic bowl. Soups come with extra toppings to up the flavor such as fresh herbs or pickles. Never skip the pickles!

This is not a buffet. Its a kiosh at an underwhelming basement food court. It’s standard cheapo faux-​chinese white-​people «sichuan.» The majority of these photos are not at all indicative of the selection here. There are about eight options; all standard takeout, tailored to american tastes, all underwhelming.
That said, at under $ 6/​lb and no worse than any other takeout Chinese food option, its definitely a bargain.
That is if you’re into eating bargain food…

Pretty damn good for a food-​court Chinese buffet. They almost always have passable mapo tofu, still-​crisp fried spring rolls, and usually at least two selections with green veggies. Hot and sour soup or eggdrop soup is free if you get a pound or more. The buffet line can be long, but moves quickly at lunch.

The beef noodle soup was good. Big serving and comes with plenty beef and noodles. Fast and good eats near most work places. It is good and fast and cheap for that quick lunch. A 4 star because of the way ordering is setup. You have to stand on the other side of the buffet line to specially order soup and the cashier has to service the buffet line and squeeze the soup orders in between. This creates a back up of service and will take10 minutes to wait for orders.

Great food. Great prices.
Sichuan Express is situated in the lower level of International Square, in a food court. This however is not your average food court Chinese food. This stuff is the real deal and it’s really good.
In addition to the entrees and soups you can order, during lunch Sichuan Express offers diners a buffet option. The buffet is filled with a rotating assortment of foods in addition to staples like pork buns, vegetable fried rice, chicken lo mien, and sesame chicken. The food is fresh and is cooked in woks right in front of you.
The buffet line during lunch weaves throughout the food courts seating but moves at a steady pace. The food is a steal at $ 5.75 a pound on the buffet. Any Styrofoam container that you fill over 1lb comes with a free soup. The hot and sour with chicken is great.

Buffet is okay. Much better than whole foods overpriced hot/​cold bars. Beef noodle soup is a must try. Nice broth, huge pieces of meat.

Delicious, cheap! Great!
I had Ma Po Tofu today, which is spicy just like authentic Sichuan food.

The power move at this place is to show up, cut in front of the buffet line like a boss, go straight to the cashier and order a #4 soup, spicy. That’s it, enjoy!

This food court eatery is legit!
Mapo tofu noodle soup (with or without meat) is awesome. You’re probably more accustomed to having mapo tofu with rice, but it’s equally delicious prepared as soup, with fat, ramen-​like noodles.
Sichuan Express serves up huge plastic bowls for dine-​in patrons or tightly packed plastic containers for carryout. I didn’t think I could, but I drained the entire freaking bowl! It was deliriously good.
The pickled veggies served on the side add some welcome relief from the heat of the soup.
I sampled my friend’s shrimp and edamame udon noodle soup, and that was pretty tasty, too. It was definitely milder than the mapo tofu noodle soup.
Besides ordering different noodle soup bowls, you can also buy assorted meat and veggie entrees by the pound: Select what you want and have it weighed. Any order over a pound is topped off with a free soup.
The three black woks lined up on stovetops behind the counter mean business! The sight of those woks was very comforting and yet another sign that Sichuan Express wasn’t your standard food court Chinese takeout.
I was initially quite skeptical of Sichuan Express because it is located inside a business building’s food court and because they offer the typical General Tso’s chicken and Kung Pao something or other. But don’t let these details deter you.
The long lines of mostly Chinese-​speaking customers, the non-​English speaking staff, and the garguntuan bowls of soups, which are not timid imitations of familiar Sichuan dishes, but the real deal, are proof that Sichuan Express is an authentic source for regional Chinese cuisine.

One of the very few remotely authentic Chinese places in Downtown DC. Pretty good noodle soups. I’ve never tried the buffet.
Tip: Skip the buffet line and go straight for the noodle soups line on the left.
Tip 2: This place isn’t open for dinner on weekdays.
Sichuan Express’s noodle soups hit the spot. Extremely large portions for around $ 10. Unfortunately, they are by no means the best noodle soups that I’ve ever had. Even more unfortunately, Downtown DC doesn’t really give you a whole lot of other options when you, like me, crave the heartwarming comfort that only a bowl of noodle soup can provide.
Food:
I’ve had the Beef noodle soup (which notably uses legit Sichuan peppercorns) and the Shredded pork/​mustard greens noodle soups. Both are fine – the beef one is a little spicy if you’re not yet a Sichuan food addict. The noodles leave something to be desired, but again, this is as good as you’re going to get. And it’s not bad at all.
Service/​Décor:
It’s a food court.
Pros: Large portions, possibly the only Downtown DC option for your noodle soup craving, would probably be a godsend in the wintertime
Cons: Noodle soups will not send you to a higher plane of existence with their taste

Came to the food court for lunch. This place offers buffet style food that costs $ 5+ per pound. The food selection is pretty good: buns, white rice, fried rice, veggies, fried egg with shrimp, sesame chicken, onion beef, tofu (which did not taste fresh!), chicken, etc. If your food weighs more than 1 pound you can get free soup. Everything was pretty tasty.
There is another menu for ordering noodles.

You may think this place sells authentic Chinese food based off of the long line of Asian-​looking people in front of it every day. You wouldn’t be wrong. The food here is authentic IF you’re comparing with some of the shockingly unsanitary restaurants in China who apparently cook their food in gutter oil.
I used to love coming here for the greasy cafeteria Chinese takeout. One day on a whim I ordered a beef noodle soup and it was nothing like how they make it in Northwestern China. They basically threw some chunks of beef in a bowl of noodles. No big deal, I kept coming back.
Then one day my steamed pork bun smelled funny. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it smelled like, but the closest scent was maybe cleaning products. And then I found out the centers of my sweet and sour chicken pieces were raw.
That did it for me.

This place was below par. One of the worst lunches I’ve had in DC. Very disappointed

Decent

This is my fault for not reading Unilocal reviews on this place earlier but what the hell? Who would have expected that a food court Chinese restaurant would have anything even merging on authentic? I have passed up this place several times because it seemed like the buffet was standard fare. But I should have noticed the disproportionate number of actual Chinese people standing in line at the buffet, or the handwritten menu of noodle soups to the left of the cash register. I had noted that the restaurant was very close to Sichuan Pavilion, and even heard some vague rumor of its relation, but I just dismissed them.
Well, color me embarrassed. I finally went the other day, craving some noodles. I figured I would even eat greasy lo mein, which is why I bothered to go. Then I saw the menu! And the steamed bao zi. And all the Chinese people speaking Chinese in line. I saw that they had zhajiang mian and I ordered it. I should have ordered a bao zi too but didn’t think to. The zhajiang mian was huge, and decent. No cucumbers or bean sprouts, which is too bad, but the meat sauce was pretty tasty and pretty authentic and they do include the pressed tofu (doufu gan) pieces too. A little oily, but that’s to be expected.
I liked the two little pickled vegetable sides. One was a spicy turnip (not that spicy, though) and the other a radish. They had a nice kick.
I am very excited to try other dishes here. It far exceeded my expectations for a food court Chinese place.

1^st of all, the name of this restaurant makes no sense. There is no Sichuan food there whatsoever, nor is the food spicy.
Sichuan Express is a self serve buffet style that goes for $ 5.95 per lb. If you get 1 lb of food or more, you get a free soup (Hout & Sour Soup). Being a typical Asian, I of course was just picking the meat while leaving out the veggies and cheaper stuff lol.
Sounds like a great deal huh?! It sure is, however the food isn’t worth coming back for. The Americanized Chinese food’s extremely salty, greasy & reek of MSG. There is no single dish that’s not greasy there, aside from steamed rice & brocolli lol… I was thirsty and uncomfortable for the next couple of hours after consuming their food. Save your $$$ and don’t go here!!!

So I’m not sure why this place is rated so highly. For a buffet place — I guess it is better than usual, but that is not saying much. I can’t help that I’m a bit of an Asian food snob– I am half Taiwanese and have grown up eating my mom’s fantastic cooking. That being said, I can still enjoy Americanized Chinese food for what it is.
Anyways, I had the white fish, beef broccoli, pork bun, white radish with pork soup, spicy pork, bok choy, and shrimp fried rice. The only things that were pretty good to me were the white radish with pork soup and the pork bun (the most authentic things on the menu that day). The white fish, bok choy and spicy pork were okay– completely unremarkable. The beef broccoli and fried rice were subpar even for Chinese takeout/​buffet type places. Despite the relatively cheap prices, I would probably not ever come back.

Been here a couple of times to try the noodle soups. Overall, it will do in a pinch, but could be much better. Beef noodle soup is the big seller and it was ok. The beef was adequate quality and the soup had flavor & spice. My main complaint is the noodles themselves. These manufactured «noodles» (if we can call them that) had a mushy, bland texture. They were also cut short, which I find disappointing. (Aren’t these people aware of the Chinese tradition that long noodles = long life?)
I also tried the steamed pork bun, which was good size and satisfying. No MSG is a plus!