Blossom Bar at Sichuan Garden — Restaurant in Brookline

Oy. This place was such a let down. It's rare to go to a restaurant and feel like it's just bad, but this is how my friend and I felt. So many issues. 1) The food just tasted bad. We got Kung Pao tofu and it had the weirdest aftertaste that we had to stop eating it. Both of us felt it -- like a tingly in our mouths. It was disgusting. The lo mein had almost no taste. The only thing I enjoyed was the white rice... also the water was completely lukewarm, like room temperature, and it was almost 90 degrees outside. They can't serve cold water? Or add ice? Again, the whole experience of actually eating the food was gross. I would never order from here again, not even take out. 2) The atmosphere sucks. It's so dark you can't see anything and it's so loud you can't hear anything. My friend and I are in our 30s and don't have vision or hearing problems but yet, it was impossible to talk or see in the restaurant. 3) They have the menus on QR codes so you have to use a smart phone to access it. I'm assuming there are some folks (e.g., older people, people of lesser means) who don't have smart phones so this is a pretty exclusive policy. But I think the bigger issue is that the menu, once it populates on the phone, is so small you have to enlarge it and then keep moving the image around to see it. I thought I was being punked at first. Like -- this is how you want me to read your menu? But it's so small I can't...read it? And it takes 10 minutes and gymnastics to navigate through one section? Super non-inclusive policy for folks with vision challenges (and even for those of us without them). 4) Our water was snippy and rude. I felt bad every time I asked him for anything. I've seen this sort of feedback on other Google reviews, so I'm not surprised. But it was annoying and weird. 5) As other reviewers have mentioned, the food is SO overpriced, my god. It was not only tasteless, but often gross and inedible. Still, they charged like $25 for a dish of tofu. Ridiculous. Finally, 6) our (male) waiter kept calling us "guys." We were a party of 2 women looking to have a good time but still couldn't escape the patriarchy. There are so many inclusive options for how to address women without a) erasing their right to be female and b) subjugating them under a gender to which they do not belong. You could say "good evening, ladies" or "what do you folks want for drinks?" or "how are you gals liking the meal?" or even just "are you enjoying the meal?" But no. We had to be reminded, even at a dinner we were just trying to enjoy, that we're invisible in society. Honestly, it's just so unacceptable in 2025 to address women in a way that diminishes their identities. You wouldn't say to a table of men "how are you ladies enjoying the meal?" They'd feel invisible and confused. Why are you...

When my family was coming to town, I had to find a dinner reservation near my apartment in Brookline. I searched the Internet thoroughly and came across a few articles with top restaurants in the Boston area, which this was one of them. We came here on a Saturday night after booking a reservation about a week ahead of time. There are a few tables available outside on the patio beside the sidewalk, but during the summer it can get quite humid and stuffy. We opted for an indoor table near the window, and we were glad we did. The staff were very friendly and quick to get our orders in for drinks and cocktails. After reading online many reviews, it seems as though they are famous for their cocktails. We had two of them, and we’re blown away by their taste. We had the Duan whip and the sour. Both fantastic and tasty. Check out my photos below.

The food, however, is where this place truly shines. We were a mix of vegetarian and carnivores, and definitely had enough options for all of us. To start, we had the cucumber and chilli oil (very spicy), and the Dan Dan noodles (fantastic flavour). The vegetarians got a lo mein and crispy green beans, which were easily the star of the show and I need to re-create them at home. The green beans were unbelievably tasty and had the best crisp and texture. Would definitely recommend you order those and try them.

We also got the prosperity noodles with beef and a Kung pao tofu dish, which was my favorite. The tofu was extremely crispy and flavorful, however, there was a few hints of lemongrass which our party did not enjoy. Otherwise, everything had such good flavor. Would 100% recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a good Szechuan style meal in the...

Really great food and cocktails but am knocking off two stars for two main reasons:

1. The menu did NOT specify when dishes had peanuts and the first dish arrived with peanuts in it. But, because the menu also recommended ahead of time to alert the servers to any food allergies, I was OK with this--no harm done (although in all honesty this reminded should be larger and NOT in fine print). We then asked our server to ensure whether there were any peanuts in the remaining 4 dishes that had yet to arrive and the server came back saying no.

However, my friends ended up finding two whole peanuts in the fei teng fish dish--which led us to believe it was some kind of accident. This is a extremely dangerous accident and fortunately my friends caught it before I ended up eating any.

2. The inside of the restaurant was open for restroom use as long as you wore a mask. After we paid the bill, I put on my mask and tried to go inside to freshen up but before I could enter, a waitress came out and told me I could be helped outside. I indicated I just wanted to use the restroom and she told me it was "only for guests at this time." (as if it would be available to non-guests at another time? But this is irrelevant and I'm just being sassy here). I had to tell her I just ate as a customer before she let me pass through. It would have been nice if she didn't outright assume I WASN'T a customer; she could have at least asked if I was a patron before denying me use of the restroom.

In any case, great cuisine and REALLY would have liked to give this place 5 stars--but in the name of an honest and informative review I can't this time around due to food and...