Szechwan Garden — Restaurant in Artesia

Pardon me, I have to tend to my new garden

Seeing the Valpak advertisement, I happened upon Szechwan Garden #2 for lunch on a random Friday. Why #2, you ask? Well, the OG Szechwan Garden is 2 doors down on the left and is a sit down restaurant, whereas #2 is the fast food branch. Their special is $7.99 for a 3-item combo & choice of steamed rice or sweet potato rice porridge. I was hoping for more authentic Chinese dishes, opposed to the typical Chinese fast food on every street corner. Let's see if Szechwan Garden #2 fits the bill.

Fatty pork, eggplant & pig intestines- Pig intestines? Yeah, I'm an offal son of a gun! The pig intestines were tender, and had just a slight "poop shoot" taste to them. The eggplant were bright & soft, the fatty pork decadently juicy. Quite a lot of portions, I was originally gonna go for chicken wings instead of the fatty pork, but when I was told only 3 wing sections were considered an item, I made the audible for fatty pork.

Sweet potato rice porridge- Don't expect a sweet dessert porridge. The only sweetness came from the sweet potato. Hot, comforting and definitely filling.

Rice roll- I was given a rice roll with my to-go order. I don't know if this is standard or a check-in deal, but the roll was stuffed with some "mystery meat", which I believe is pork of some kind. Parts of it had rice that was hard, which I just removed. Considering it's free, the rice roll wasn't too bad.

Besides lunch & dinner, Szechuan Garden #2 promotes their Chinese breakfast, opening at 8am. Classic comfort food like egg tarts, steam buns & cha quay are some of the options available.

Service was good. The staff speak limited English, so communicating was a tad difficult, if not humorous. I asked for soy sauce & chili sauce packets, which the staff told me they didn't have. A good amount of seating via tables for those that choose to dine in.

Parking is in a private lot. Szechuan Garden #2 is located in the same plaza as Kariya Shabu Shabu & BBQ.

First time at Szechuan Garden #2, and I found it OK. It's pretty much what I expected going in. I enjoyed my meal, which had plenty by way of portions & the added rice roll was a nice gesture. While I'm not hankering to go back right away, I wouldn't poo poo the idea of coming back to Szechuan Garden #2 when I'm in the pursuit of a quick...

Honestly I don't understand the bad reviews. My husband and I absolutely love their food and love supporting them. My favorite thing about this restaurant are the cold dishes. You seldom see restaurants with a cold dish bar like this these days. The restaurant is clean, it's clearly a small family owned business that's trying to keep it traditional, price is extremely reasonable and portions are GENEROUS. Not to mention the food is very very authentic and delicious. We don't live nearby but a lot of family does, and when we're around we only come here. This place is great for take out and dine in is always nice too, never a wait. We just love...

Unfortunately, there s a lot more bad things I could say about this place than good things. The food seems to be a little hit or miss. The Szechuan cold noodles aren't very tasty and the texture isn't great. The hard boiled egg is sitting on a bed of what I think is supposed to be a braised pork but smells fermented. And the most criminal of all is the rice. I'm not sure if I got the bottom of the rice cooker or if they just didn't cook the rice well, but it was really clumpy and stuck together. I came at 12. There are some good things though. The mapo tofu is pretty good. Most of the vegetables are...