Szechuan First — Restaurant in Kent

WAS A REGULAR – POST-REMODEL, NOT ANYMORE

Short summary: Salt and sweet being used to replace real, authentic, complex flavors … so much so that my tastebuds felt a bit like sandpaper on the roof of my mouth as we left.

Our experience reads to me like there are new owners who over-extended putting money into a refurb of the front and the kitchen. Now they are trying to increase margins to pay for it. More expensive ingredients are a notch or two lower in quality. Pricier imported seasonings are being reduced or eliminated. Instead, they’re using cheap, domestic salt and sweeteners that give the impression of big flavor. The Kung Pao chicken was so sweet and syrup-y that was almost like they’re now using commercial Buffalo wing sauce as a base. The crispy tofu seemed crusted in salt.

They told me it’s the same chef. If that’s true, I can only imagine how unhappy he might be. Similarly, the owners responded to an earlier review about saltiness, that they’d be giving careful instruction to the chefs. That was not in evidence last night. I take that to mean this is path the owners are determined to stay on. What they're saying is just optics.

Szechuan First is a hole-in-the-wall. None us regulars came here for the décor or for obsequious service. It was great authentic food at a good price, worth driving a dozen or more miles.

These new owners might understand something about the market that I don’t. Increasing prices (in itself reasonable) AND lowering the quality of flavors and ingredients does not seem to me like a good business move. Like many before them who bought a restaurant and tried to increase margins by replacing real, authentic flavors with cheap, bright ones, these owners may well slowly find themselves with a ghost town within a year.

Our server also mentioned that Szechuan First is now owned by the same folks who own Tasty Szechuan in Bellevue. If that's true, I'd think the business opportunity is to bring the Bellevue location (Google average 4.0, almost 300 reviews) up to the standard of the Kent location (Google average 4.4, almost 900 reviews), not the other way around. (Those of us who work with data for a living know that's a whopping difference.)

I may give this one more try in a month or so, to see if they’re actually acting on what they’re hearing in reviews, instead of just saying they are. I’m certainly going to look for other Szechuan options, even if that means...

I have to say it is really terrible to have meal in this restaurant. There are two people, one of them is an old guy, another one is a female. They treat people especially Chinese very rude and mean. In July 12th, my friend and I went for lunch at around 2:00, we came in and no one led us to the seats. I went to the counter to find the old male staff, he did not ask us like how many people just directed a table to make us seated. There are no service during our meal, even asked us if we need more water. They smiled to other customers who are non-Chinese people during our meal. After we finished meal, there was no one coming for us to deliver the check. I went to counter myself to check because I need to finish it early to get back to work. We spent about $30, I added $2 tip on the receipt. The old staff told me that I can't only pay $2 tip, I need to pay as percentage of how much I spent on the dining. I was really mad because they did not provide us with good service. At that time, I had to leave for work so I just added $1 at the tip and left. I did not wanna fight with them, it is not worth for me to fight with people like them. But I regret I added the tip. I will never go to this restaurant again. They invited many local guide to give them 5-star google review, please don't trust them. I strongly suggest Chinese people choose other Sichuan restaurants, you will get better service.

虽然我不知道你们这样对中国人是为了什么，但是你们这种看不起自己同胞而刻意去舔其他种族的人让我感到十分恶心，给你们1分那是我没有办法，因为最低只有1分。...

I had zero complaints about my food. My experience wasn’t extravagant, but it was worth every penny and tasted so delicious. Yes it’s in an odd location with misleading labeling on the front, but let the food and price do all the talking. The service won’t let you down. And there is plenty of parking.

Personally I enjoyed the menu selection finding it plentiful, but not over whelming. They organize it by the main source of proteins. Made it easy for me to find a fish based dish with flavors I was craving.

The inside was clean and had an appropriate theme, but it was visually a bit out dated. It’s a smaller to mid sized venue. Booths on the left and right sides, normal dining tables in the center, registers and kitchen in the back. Nothing to complain about.

My highlight was the actual food. They actually took time to make it look more than presentable. I enjoyed the way they added the seasoning and topping. Allowed me to visually see how fresh the ingredients were before mixing it all in. Yes the ingredients all looked and tasted fresh. And the spice. It was the Szechuan spice and tingle I was looking for.

There are many places that have prices like this but very few Szechuan spots at this price serve food this darn good and with level of quality and love. Their Szechuan boiled fish was darn near perfect in my opinion. Also, yes these guys eat their own food. And the food they ate made me wanna order more food since it looked and smelled...