Food: 5/5 This is hands down my favorite Szechuan restaurant in the loop. Strong flavors and spice, especially that "mala" numbing spice that the cuisine is famous for. I'm SO relieved that Hu's Cooking survived the pandemic. The food has always been consistent, and the portion sizes are generous. My boyfriend likes that they also have several Taiwanese dishes on the menu (his favorite is the Three Cup Chicken). My go-to is the Poached Fish in Spicy Sichuan Oil. I've also seen this dish referred to as the "spicy sliced fish" in some other restaurants, but the characters are usually 麻辣水煮鱼. It has a lot of the mouth numbing (but not painful) Szechuan peppercorn spice. For the vegetables, my favorite is the string beans.

Service: 5/5 The wait staff is very responsive in refilling the water and rice even when the restaurant is totally packed. Even the staff who aren't assigned to my table are always quick to pop over if they think I look like I might have a question, and the owner or manager are always walking around to get feedback from guests. Definitely seems like a team-oriented operation.

Ambiance: Loud The atmosphere is very lively and can be pretty loud, especially around dinner time when the restaurant is busy. Maybe not great for a first date since it can be a little difficult to hear the person across the table, but the background noise is perfect when I dine with family and want to avoid awkward silence Lol. Lunch time is probably better if you want to have conversations.

Parking: There's a small lot available, but there's plenty of free street parking in the neighborhood behind the restaurant.

Overall: 5/5 Would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone interested in trying out Szechuan food.

Edit: Recently went again and got some non-spicy items: the eggplant in garlic sauce, the twice cooked pork, the sweet-skinned duck, and the dan dan noodles. Everything was delicious!!