Szechuan Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Copperas Cove

We got take-out from Szechuan Chinese Restaurant in Copperas Cove on a Thursday in our quest to find good Chinese food in the Central Texas area. The restaurant is located well off the main road in a large strip mall. Except for the sign, from the outside it doesn’t even look like a place to eat. Inside, it looks like what you would expect of a Chinese restaurant. The owner was working at the front counter and was very friendly.

We got the Bo Bo Platter (for 2) as an appetizer. It has (2 of each) egg rolls, beef steak (sticks), fried shrimp, BBQ ribs, crab puffs, fried chicken wings. The egg rolls and fried shrimp were okay, but we wouldn’t get them again. Both the beef steak and BBQ ribs had good flavor but were overcooked and not worth getting. The crab puffs were our favorite and we also like the chicken wings. Next time, we will only get an order of crab puffs and skip the rest.

For our main courses, we got the House Special Lo Mein and the Orange Chicken. The House Special Lo Mein has chicken, beef, and shrimp. The Lo Mein had good flavor and just the right amount of sauce. We both liked it and would get it again. The Orange Chicken was okay. The flavoring was right on, but there was way too much sauce and breading on the chicken. It sometimes seemed like we were eating only breading and no chicken! The fried rice that came with it was good.

Finding a good Chinese restaurant is challenging in Central Texas without going down to Georgetown, Round Rock, or even Austin, where there are a lot more options. Szechuan Chinese Restaurant is a family owned and operated local business, and the owner told us that she has been in this location for 30 years. I have been pretty critical of some of the food, but overall, I recommend that you give this local business a try. I’m confident that you will find something that you would like to eat here (without having to drive all the way...

The decor is kinda pretty, portions are reasonably sized. The others I was with thought the food was of better quality than most other places they've been (I'm kinda new to the area). However I was not all that impressed with the food. My chicken had a really odd boiled texture and taste to it, but the steamed rice and vegetables were okay.

I've seen reviews about the 'great atmosphere' but it was incredibly lacking. When we showed up there was only one other customer and the others who came in were only there for take out. And the host lady would disappear into the kitchen for extended amounts of time, leaving customers waiting up front for several minutes. They were even trying to get someones attention and were still left waiting. They seemed about ready to leave when she appeared. There was no music and the absolute silence was unnerving.

Cups were kinda dirty and the sodas were in cans, so no fountain drinks. Which I suppose isn't terrible but weirded me out a bit. But I might just be too used to drinking 5 glasses when eating out.

The hostess was polite but really hard to understand with broken English. We don't intend...

Well, I haven’t ordered from here before, and my favorite place in town was closed so I decided to give this a go. I ordered online through “we deliver” another app I’ve learned my lesson on and won’t be using again. I was using their tracker thing and the time just kept going further and further out, so I call the restaurant. I ask if my food is ready and that I’ve never used we deliver. The lady starts yelling “yea yea food done food done lady not here to pick up yet what do you want?!?” Alright... strike one. I get ahold of we deliver, the driver calls me and says she’s been in line for 10 minutes and they keep saying my food isn’t done. Strike two.... she finally, after almost 2 hours, gets here with the food. I look into the bag, everything is there but the portions are tiny compared to the price. Strike three... if Beijing cafe isn’t open, I guess I’ll just wait to have Chinese food. I’m not paying $50 for my family not to even get full, when I always have 1-2 days of left overs from Beijing and it’s about 10-15...