Sichuan Chili — Restaurant in Evendale

I highly recommend this restaurant - it's carry out or delivery only at the moment, but it's worth the drive to pick up an order. This was by far the best Sichuan food I've had in the Cincinnati area, and I've tried multiple Sichuan restaurants in this area before, but at every other restaurant I felt the food wasn't even close to spicy, and was even bland or flavorless, and there was a complete absence of Sichuan peppercorn and other traditional spices. However, at Sichuan Chili all of the food tasted awesome, the flavor itself was excellent (not bland) and it was appropriately spicy, with Sichuan peppercorn. Honestly, this was some of the best Chinese food I've had in this area, period. I drove about 30 minutes to get to Sichuan Chili and it was worth the drive - I will definitely be back. I ordered the Dan Dan Noodles, which were great. Other Dan Dan noodles can be bland and flavorless, but these were awesome! Even after a 30 minute drive home, the noodles were still chewy and bouncy, not overly soft at all. Perfect texture and flavor - salty and slightly sweet, with numbing spices. I also ordered the dumplings in chili oil, which were also some of the best I've had - they seemed homemade to me, with very fresh pork filling, and what appeared to be handmade dough, and again, the flavor was awesome - not bland and overly oily with zero spice, the way they are often served at other Sichuan places. Moreover, the dumplings were huge! You get a lot of dumplings for around $7.00 at this place. Finally, I ordered the Prawns in Oil and the Red Dried Chili Fish Fillets, and I could not have made a better choice. They were both awesome, especially the Dried Chili Fish. I was also surprised by the quality of the prawns - served in a sweet and sour sauce with chili oil, they came with shells on, and as a result, they were very juicy and delicious. There were 15 or more prawns in my order, which I was very happy with - at other places, you might pay $12 for prawns and end up with 99% vegetables or sauce and 1% prawns - not at this place. My order was loaded with prawns. The Fried Fish was the best dish I ordered - I will be ordering that fish again very soon. It was sort of MaLa in flavor, and a perfect pairing with white rice. Salty, Spicy and Numbing - seriously awesome. the recipes for the food at this place, or the skill of the chef, is leaps and bounds better than other Chinese restaurants. I can't speak for the American 'Chinese' menu, because I ordered from the Sichuan Chinese menu (which I highly recommend), but I can tell you this - the Sichuan menu items aren't just good,...

The restaurant is small, but clean. The bathroom was clean, which I always appreciate.

The waiter was okay, but not super friendly. We also weren’t even offered chopsticks, they brought us forks. I had to ask for chopsticks, other patrons were given them and didn’t receive a fork. He also steered my daughter away from ordering the mini hot pot because he said it would be too spicy. She ordered chicken with garlic sauce from the Chinese menu. It was tasty and had a slight amount of spice. She ended up disappointed that she didn't get the hotpot, even though she did like her chicken dish.

Her boyfriend ordered pepper chicken. I didn't try this one, but he really enjoyed it. I wasn't in the mood for jalapeño flavor, and it was covered in jalapeños.

For myself I ordered sliced ear, bo-bo beef, and dry chili chicken.

I was also warned that the bo-bo chicken would be very spicy. I sperically told him I love spicy food and I know I can handle it. I even mentioned that I didn't find the food in India spicy at all.

The sliced ear was very tasty. My daughter liked the flavor, but not the texture. The outer portion has a texture similar to tendon, which was fine with her, but the rest was more like cartilage. I loved both textures personally.

The dry chili chicken was perfectly cooked, although I could have handled some extra chilis in it. It was crispy and tender though.

The bo-bo beef? Honestly, I did not find it overly spicy. It was spicy, but not what o would consider a 3/5. I didn't even feel a need for any type of drink during the meal. When the waiter asked me how was the spice. I had to tell him that I expected more. The dish though was delicious. The beef was the most tender beef o have ever tried. It has zucchini in it, which I love. Very good.

The question is, do I just have that high of a spice tolerance, or did they give me "white girl" spicy? I seriously think it must have been less spicy than normal. I didn't even break a sweat and barely had a runny nose.

Overall, it was very good. The portions were a good size.

I went here specifically because if I could eat here I would be the Queen of Spicy in the Dayton area. I still don't know if I earned that crown.

The spice level and the waiter not really believing me almost got them a 3, if I could do 3.5 I would. I know there are people that order it spicy and then they want to have it remade, so I'm not totally upset about the attitude. I'm just disappointed that I was promised spicy and it wasn't even on the top 5 spiciest...

Customer beware I've been getting to-go food from here for years now and haven't had a problem until today. I ordered Mongolian chicken with extra chicken and extra rice. I finally got home to to serve my family one of our favorite meals! I immediately notice the lady that took my order put extra beef instead of chicken like I asked but It did not bother me that much because the food is good and is the reason I've been a loyal customer. I make my kids plates and start cleaning. A hour later my niece complains her stomach is hurting which I chucked up to her eating to much but as im laying her down my son comes and complains about the same thing and says he doesn't think the steak was done right while running for the bathroom. I go to check my container of food and sure enough the thicker pieces of steak is super pink on the outside and redish pink when I cut into it. I called to let them know and the same lady just keeps saying she took my order correctly and is fixated on placing the blame on me for ordering beef when I didn't and that is not the concern here, the under cooked beef is!!! She also said they don't have a manager I can talk to. So when they make a mistake this is the customer service you will get. I will be taking the rest of this order down to the department of health tomorrow as this is unacceptable. You can't serve people under cooked food and then refuse to take any accountability for anything at all, this just tells everyone you're only worried about the money you make and not the customers who keep you in business. I don't think I have ever had customer service this horrible. They truly don't care after your money is in...