De Tasty Hot Pot Restaurant — Restaurant in City of Ithaca

First off, I will say for authenticity, the food is pretty good. I ordered the fish dry hot pot, my wife ordered a spicy beef stew. Both dishes were excellent. The food was also served fast, which was also nice. But that was about the only good thing.

Food is not enough to make me want to come back. The service was non-existent. Aside from bringing us the menus and the food, they did literally nothing. When we asked for the drink menu, they pointed to a cooler near us, and said help yourself.

Mind you, there are two ladies doing the ordering and bringing the food, a chef cooking ..and several grown men sitting around talking to each other or playing on their phones. Not cleaning, not organizing, not bringing the food or asking about the service. That is why the place had zero customers aside from us.

When we were there, only two take out orders, and no dine-in customers.

Also, rice should be a given. I should not have to order it separately or find someone and ask for it. Also, when my wife says not to make very spicy, that doesn't mean "throw as much pepper as you can on top, and dose it with a whole bottle of chili sauce".

The worst service I have ever had in a restaurant, worldwide.

If they can fix that, and add more lights, and add more traditional Chinese decor, they can make money. The food is excellent, just need to touch up the environment and actually have people working there. Very lazy people working there, and you can thank the four guys sitting and playing on their phones who should be working. Get off your butts and clean the place and add new lights.

If you want to force a 15% tip on the bill, at least provide an...

This was the best Sichuan restaurant my family and I have eaten at ever. There was simply spectacular taste in every dish we ordered, and this is definitely a memorable dining experience. (Also, the photo in the review is at the point where we had eaten halfway through the chicken after a couple minutes, so it doesn’t show the actual portion.)

Starting with the basics, the menu is very well-rounded, the decor is lovely and warm, and the atmosphere is great. My family and I ordered the egg drop soup with minced beef, shredded beef sautéed with little hot peppers, sliced lamb with cumin powder, maoxuewang, and smoked wok tossed chicken with roasted chili. We highly recommend all of these dishes, especially the lamb. The prices for these dishes are reasonable, even more considering that the portions are huge but still manageable.

This is definitely one to add to all of our favorites. You won’t regret taking time to eat in this wonderful restaurant. You can tell that the staff are all hard-working. They also don’t mind chatting with you if you ask them questions, which we did about the restaurant. The food is indeed authentic; just the pleasant smell of the restaurant walking in told us that.

Overall, I don’t know what else to say except that this restaurant is truly mind-blowing. When we all took our first bites into the food, we were surprisingly delighted. Such high levels of crisp, tenderness, spice, authenticity, flavor, seasoning, and feel cannot be replicated elsewhere. I hope that I can revisit this place, even though I do live in NYC. I really won’t forget this experience, and thank you...

Early afternoon in College Town. It looks like you're in China Town. 🏫 girls giggling, holding hands, in uniforms walking across the street, here. The southwest corner of Eddy and Dryden. Down the street from Classic Optical. Glassed storefront. Inside, menu in Chinese on the wall. Ponytailed smiling girl behind the counter, thick accent but very friendly, cooperative. Very large, comfortable wood tables, chairs with runners up the back, comfortable seating, better than restaurant grade. But there's not many tables. It's a small place, gets crowded very fast. Subway tiles on the walls, everything immaculately clean. A man stepped out from where the food was being made. Even he looked like he was cleaned and pressed. Tall, slender, well-coiffed, in a perfect tee-shirt and suit pants. Smiling as he looked around. Not like a cook. Well-lit. Cozy. Pleasant. Very soft music in the background. Nothing to offend. Huge sealed broad wood spoons and bowls, like laminate. Had a deep bowl of chicken soup, big pieces of chicken breast so tender touching it made the skin on the back fall off. Loaded with water chestnuts, celery, leeks, bean sprouts, rice noodles. My friend rolled her noodles with her chop sticks on the spoon. Not one drop of fat. I couldn't finish it. Neither could my friend. Fabulous. Some of the tables were filled with food. Folks were chowing down. Everyone was happy. Chinese business men in suits. A UPS guy. People reading while eating. Parking lot close-by, just a buck. Best Chinese food in Ithaca....