Szechuan Gourmet Restaurant — Restaurant in Toronto

I've been coming to this restaurant for years, and most of the time my experience (including the food) has been good. However, I feel compelled to write about my latest experience which was a take-out order. I ordered the dry-sauted cripsy shredded beef and the hot and spicy peanut chicken. I was asked about the spice level for both, to which I requested normal spice level (and while I can eat very spicy, other family members cannot, hence normal).

The first issue I had was with the dry sauted beef. For years, they would add a small amount on sauce on the bottom of the takeout container, in which you'd mix the beef in the sauce. Well, not this time. The beef, although crispy, was too dry and lacked flavor due to no sauce being put in the dish. I called after arriving home to express my dismay, to which the lady (she has dark black straight, chin length hair), told me that the chefs changed the recipe due to beef becoming soggy in the sauce. I've been coming here for years, and it appears this is the first time they have changed this recipe. My suggestion to the lady (who unfortunately would not let me talk and kept talking over me), was to inform customers who order this dish of the recent change, and to ask them if they still want sauce in the dish. Her response: "We cannot inform every single person, okay!. Well, excuse me, but your customers are your 'bread and butter' !! Without them, you'd have no business! They should at the very least update their menus to reflect the change, not to mention, maybe inform customers for the first few weeks of the change (recipe has been modified without the sauce). As a restaurant, YOU are offering a product (in this case, food), and it is YOUR responsibility to notify customers of the changes made to YOUR dishes/food items.

The lady on the phone offered to put sauce on my dish if I came back with the dish. I'm sorry, but I live a decent distance away and was not about to drive near back so THEY can fix a mistake THEY made. Also, it was near closing time for the restaurant.

What the lady should have done is, first, apologize like a normal human being would, for the mistake of not notifying customers of the changes made to this dish. She could have offered to replace the dish on the next visit, but clearly she was being very defensive and tried to CONVINCE me that the new recipe is better. Excuse me, but I KNOW what I like, so please don't ever try to convince me that the shredded beef taste better without sauce. Everyones taste is subjective and unique.

So she did not apologize, nor did she offer to replace the dish for the next visit. What did she do instead? She hung the phone up on me. Excellent customer service right? Schezuan Gourmet should be ASHAMED with how poorly they handle their customer service issues.

Oh and I am not done yet. To make matters worse, the peanut chicken was deadly spicy - honestly inedible. I can eat very spicy, but this was unacceptably spicy. And the best part... THEY asked about the spice level to which I responded NORMAL spice for both dishes. Again, I've been coming here for years, so I know what their normal spice level is like. So this dish was ALSO a complete let down.

Overall, this take-out visit was completely unnaceptable in terms of the quality of both dishes and thr poor customer service.

I will forgive them this time. Maybe this was a 'one off' experience, and maybe the lady on the phone was having bad day (this is not an excuse!), but if their customer service continues to be poor, including not fixing their poor communication (the spice level and lack of sauce are both communication errors on their part), I will not be coming back to this restaurant. The issues with both dishes were in my opinion completely preventable had they done their due diligence in communicating properly to...

DO NOT EAT HERE! I called to pick up an order, paid $60 for 4 items. House fried rice, deep fried chicken wings, shrimp with black bean sauce & broccoli with garlic sauce. The fried rice & shrimps were ok but the chicken wings & broccoli with garlic sauce wasn’t. chicken wings were old wings, breaded too much they didn’t even look like chicken wings, they were dark inside & I called to explain that to the manager & she said to come by with the food. I came to the restaurant & asked to speak to the manager, she takes the food & opens it, & begins to tell me that the chicken wings were good & that they are the “best seller”, I told her I’m not eating the food & I want my refund, the chicken wings were not edible & the broccoli with “garlic sauce” had no garlic or flavour & the chicken wings were old wings. She puts the food back into the bag & slides it over the table & says she doesn’t give refunds but she can do an exchange of food. I did not want to eat anything after my appetite was already ruined looking at the chicken wings, I kindly told her to please give me back the money I spent on the food. She continues to say no & takes out her phone to record me & say she’s going to call the police. So I took out my phone to record her as well & explain I work hard for my money & that I just wanted my refund. I sat down quietly waiting for the police to come as she continues to record me on her phone. Other guests at the restaurant told the manager to just give me back my money & she was firm on saying “NO REFUNDS”, I stayed at the restaurant for about 20mins waiting for the police to come & they didn’t, I didn’t end up getting my refund either. Please don’t eat at this place, if you like good food DO NOT EAT HERE. If you want to be treated with RESPECT, DO...

I originally read through the numerous reviews for this restaurant.... many 5 star and many not. I decided to try the place myself with a party of five.

We had a reservation so we need not worry about waiting. We were greeted at the entrance by the hostess (our experience matched several others in that she was not the happiest person to deal with). We were seated promptly. The server did not offer us water until we were at the table several minutes and we ended up asking for water.

We ordered the crispy beef, pork ribs, beef spring rolls, general tsao chicken and chicken lo mein. All the dishes did not arrive together... each plate had a five minute interval so when the last plate arrived the first wasn't hot.

The crispy beef was unlike anything we saw before.. it resembled falafel, big pieces. When we tried to bite into then it was like a rock... more crispy coating than beef! The ribs tasted ok, but were not very meaty. The beef spring rolls were good... not as wonderful as many other reviewers claim to be. The general tsao chicken was just unlike any we tasted before... Not sweet and spicy nor red coloured... very bland and served in a soy sauce. The chicken lo mein was ok, but was cold when we started eating and soaked in soy sauce... It seems the same sauce is used for all the dishes... a bland soy based sauce, brown and unappetizing. Everything blended together on the plate into a bland, brown heap.

Overall, I have to side with the not 5 star reviewers... the food is not consistent and is unappetizing at times. I am beginning to believe the 5 star reviews were compensated for their contributions.

This was our first and last time dining here... very...