川 CHUAN - Contemporary Chinese Cuisine — Restaurant in Vienna

A really nice space for a Chinese restaurant in first district (Innere Stadt). It’s pretty authentic, but some dishes are hit or miss. My family is from the Sichuan area in China, so I’ve tried almost every iteration of ma la, hot pot, etc.

Mapo tofu wasn’t as spicy or flavorful as I expected, but you can sort of tell from the pictures that it’s meant to appease local palettes - some places’ Mapo tofu is so hardcore it turns people off, so I get it. If you want truly authentic and spicy Mapo tofu, go to Shu Spicy Sichuan in 4th district.

Also, the Peking duck - while delicious - wasn’t as well prepared as some others in the Vienna area. For example, Saigon - near Naschmarkt/Secession and TU - had a more authentic duck dish and they’re Vietnamese. I sound like I’m hating on the place, but honestly it’s good!

We also had bbq ribs, vegetables, dim sum sampler (XLB’s, shu mai, and har gow) which were all excellent and truly authentic. So, it’s weird to me why those other more iconic dishes did not fully deliver.

Price to quality ratio was fine, although being in first district you should expect to pay a premium for good food.

Service was what you would expect from a normal Chinese restaurant. Decent, but not overtly exceptional. I’d come back to try the soups and sautéed meat...

This dining experience left a lot to be desired. From the moment we arrived, the service set the tone by reminding us of a strict 1:20-hour time limit — not a great first impression. This wouldn’t have been an issue if the appetizer hadn’t taken 40 minutes to arrive. The service overall felt rushed and uncoordinated, with one server even taking my plate while I still had my fork in hand.

As for the food, the appetizer was decent, but the main course was disappointing. It lacked visual appeal, resembling something out of a witch’s cauldron, and it was both tasteless and not served spicey. The real kicker? Every course was served without rice — a staple for many dishes — and you had to pay extra for it. It’s like being served pizza without dough and being charged extra for that essential component.

Overall, the combination of poor service, overpriced dishes, and lackluster food makes this a place I wouldn’t recommend. Definitely not...

We booked this restaurant for 7 people. 3 of us walked in saying we booked a table for 7pm for 9 people only 3 of us now. The male waiter sat us down in a table that max sits 4. When the rest of our party arrived we got up to meet them at the door and told the male waiter we would require a bigger table. He shouted over us saying we said table for 3. (If he thought this do not shout at us simply say sorry it thought you needed a table for 3). He then sat us at our table that we booked for 9. We were sat 10 minutes no menus or nothing. We asked a female waiter can we have menus and she got them for us instantly. 19.23 (23 minutes in a restaurant and not a drink order taken)... we got up and let to the restaurant across the street Huth and had a beautiful meal drinks and food ordered 10 minutes into sitting down with no reservation!!! Awful...