Grand Szechuan Restaurant — Restaurant in Bloomington

Disclaimer: I RARELY write reviews about places, and I have a hard time writing anything bad about this place, but unfortunately I have to. First off, I moved to the Bloomington area over a year ago and since then this is the ONLY Chinese place that we patron. The food is great, I love the tea that comes with your meal when you dine in, and my boyfriend claims they have the best Kung Pow Chicken ever (even compared to his own!). The biggest reason for the lack of 5-stars is the service. The first time we came was on a whim - we just drove by and decided to give it a try, no forethought or research done. We stood at the entrance waiting to be seated for probably 10 minutes (Over half of the tables in the restaurant were empty, so it was not busy). The whole time we stood there, every one of the waiters/waitresses were looking at us, not one of them taking the time to seat us. After time, the line started to back up (about 3-4 groups of people behind us), still no service. It's like the people working the floor don't seem to want to help out the host (who was obviously elsewhere) when it comes to something that's not technically "their job." I have no tolerance for that - I mean COME ON! If you seat me, you get paid and tipped; it's as simple as that. After a solid ten minutes, we were finally seated, mere seconds away from walking away. For the next 6+ months, everything was just fine. Every time we ordered take-out, it was ready when we arrived to pick it up. Every time we went to dine in, we got seated. ...Until the last time. We went to pick up a take-out order, and again the same thing happened. The host was having an issue with the credit card machine, and in that time a huge line formed, mostly of groups waiting to be seated (again, a half empty restaurant floor on a random Tuesday night). Floor staff would consistently look at the line, truly doing nothing to help minimize it. And you may be thinking..."Oh well they must be busy helping the people who are seated?" Nope. Most of them were just walking around aimlessly. A group of them were just chatting in the back casually, all of whom saw the line and did nothing about it. I love the food here, I really do, which is why I hate to write a bad review. But the service is incredibly bad. Yes, please serve the guests who are seated well, but you won't have more guests/tips/money if you don't seat those waiting in line. Having the floor staff just walk past lines of people waiting is not only disrespectful to the host (who is obviously swamped with something), but also to the hungry people in line. The first time we thought was a fluke...no such luck. Fool me once, same on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. We are now very hesitant about returning.

UPDATE: I tried giving this place ONE more chance a few days ago. My boyfriend and I arrived to the restaurant and were seated promptly (unlike other times I had gone in the past). However...once we were seated is when the chaos ensued. The waitress came over, asked for our order, to which I asked her a question about one of the menu items. The minute I finished my question, she walked away. No "be right back"; no "I don't know, let me ask someone else"; nothing. After about 2 minutes, the same waitress came back as if nothing had happened, and asked us for our order...again. I told her that I had asked her a question before she walked away, and she looked at me like she had no idea what I was talking about. So I asked the same question...AGAIN. And she, AGAIN, just walked away with no discussion with us about where she was going or what she was doing. That was the last straw for us. After a few minutes of not returning, we gathered our things and walked out. Let me preface that I have NEVER, EVER in my life walked out of a restaurant before because of the poor service. Thankfully we didn't order anything (so no, we didn't dine & ditch). I am saddened that this has happened as I really do enjoy their food, but the poor service severely masks the food here....

Update 3/8/23. Riddle me this, at almost every restaurant I have been to, the lunch specials are slightly smaller versions than the dinner entrees or entrees off the main menu. That's the whole idea of lunch special! On this occasion, I ordered off MAIN menu so my 2 younger kids could share an adult regular sized entree, instead of ordering lunch specials for both. The main entree costs more at $15. The same lunch special is $10. The lunch special includes rice, eggroll, and soup. The main entree includes nothing. So i pick up entree and it comes out in the small Chinese ubiquitous left over carton! I said to the guy, "I ordered main entree" and the guy tells me yes, that is the size. The size is what leftovers go in. it should be more than lunch special size! So don't be stupid like me, order lunch entree, throw away the rice, eggroll, and soup if u don't want it because u will still get more than entree sized portion which costs more! I'm done with this place. So many Chinese restaurants available.

Although mod expensive, Used to be my favorite place to get nearby decent chinese, now I will boycott. Too many issues w downright rude, unapologetic service. Ordered 1 app, 4 entrees for us. App comes out. Dan dan noodles. No entrees. Well is it rude for one person to eat their food and others wait? Or is it okay to let food get cold while waiting for others to get food? 10 mins goes by. No server to be seen. Other tables around get their food. 20 mins goes by. No server. Go up to front desk, assuming he has some authority. Here's the convo: "Ahem, excuse me." Doesn't even look up fr writing. Repeat it. "Yes?!" "I have no idea where server is and it's been 20mins. We got part of our food, but not the rest." He states and asks, "busy night, what did u order?" I tell him. He blames it on me for ordering fried food (tofu n orange chicken." Really? To fry food?? Then has the nerve to say, "what you want me to do about it?!" Give me my damn food and the chk for my app and noodles. Cancel the rest. Never again. All done w this place. So many other great options. Too expensive for amazingly...

So first and foremost I come here every Friday with a group of co-workers and we love the dishes and the price is very good for what you get off the lunch menu. Overall love the place but lately been some issues. I don't mean to come down on one person but there is a newer waitress that needs some HEAVY training. Visited 8/27 (Today) with one co-worker. my coworker ordered first and watches the waitress write down his order. he ordered an ice tea and she instantly thought we wanted two, one for myself which was not the case and had to correct her multiple times that we only wanted one ice tea. I then ordered my food. we waited maybe 10-15 minutes to get food. my food came and co-workers did not. sometimes they come out a minute or two later so we waited patiently. waitress came back once to ask if I needed a box at which point we asked if he was going to get his food. she said he hadn't ordered anything which flabbergasted me as I watched her write his order down. We told her multiple times that he requested a specific item off the menu. Was told sorry but there was no mention of making it up and getting the item. by this point we had been there for 45 minutes and he still had no food and we needed to leave. She brought the check and before she took it I asked for his drink to be taken off as it seemed ridiculous that he even had to pay for an iced tea. she said she would take it off. no surprise when she got back I was charged for the tea and she brought him an iced tea to go. clearly misunderstood. not sure why we would want it to go. we should have had to pay for an iced tea when an hour of someone's day is wasted and they never got their food.

Love Grand Szechaun, but this is not the first time we have had this newer waitress. she has made other mistakes in the last few weeks and it never gets fixed. Until she gets training it really makes me question coming back. even if that means having her shadow someone or them shadowing her and making sure everything gets ordered. maybe she has too much work I don't know but Its clear she...