Chengdu Impression Restaurant 成都印象 — Restaurant in Lake View Township

WARNING: Do NOT bring your toddler or baby here (if you don't want your child get injured).

I would give this place a zero if I could. The servers here are totally untrained and indifferent--especially dangerous for kids.

We had a party of three adults and a 14-month-old toddler. We were seated at a square table, with three adults seating on three sides and our daughter seating in a high chair on her own side. After our order, at some point, a male server having a really bad attitude just appealed BEHIND THE SIDE OF OUR BABY, and put down a hot dish DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF HER, without giving any notice in advance. We were a little shocked. We have been to many restaurants with kids, and we knew it is a standard of service (or just common sense) to give a little notice or warning to the parents before you serve hot dishes, and try to put hot things a little bit far away from kids. So we said to the guy:"Please do not put the dishes in front of the baby." He totally ignored it, responded nothing, and just continued in a rush to throw three bowls of rice in front of the baby, and left. We moved all the food further away from our daughter by ourselves. Then, after a while, the same guy suddenly appealed, AGAIN, behind our baby. (I just don't understand why he had to bring the food from the side of a baby, while the other three sides of the table were seated by adults!) ONCE AGAIN, WITHOUT ANY NOTICE, he put an EXTREMELY HOT DISH--with full of spicy hot oil and fish in a very hot, stainless steel serving bowl--RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR 14-MONTH-OLD DAUGHTER. Before we could say or do anything, our daughter of course did what a toddler would do, grabbed the hot bowl and dipped her fingers into the hot spicy oil. We immediately washed her fingers (which were covered by hot oil and were already red), and soaked them in my cup of iced water. We were furious because we had told the server not to do that, but he still chose to ignore our words, and act so recklessly that it almost seems like he did it on purpose. After what happened, I did not hear any apologies or words from this male server. Instead, a female server came and helped making (ridiculous) excuses for him, such as "he was not supposed to take care of this table" (so he was not happy about covering other's work and just gave the attitude to customers?), and "our table is small" (so he could not serve the food from an adult's side, or give a notice, or just respond to customers?) We could not stand this and decided to just get the bill and leave. Before we left, we asked to talk to the manager or owner. The female server came back again (I don't know if she is the manager or not). Before we said anything, she just went:" Our boss is not in today. If you go to see a doctor and have costs, call us. Restaurants have, you know, an insurance." Seriously?! That is your response and reaction to a possibly injured baby, caused by your restaurant's untrained and reckless service?! Having an insurance does not justify your untrained and reckless service, and does not mean the restaurant can care nothing about the customers and the kids' safety.

We will never come back. If you have kids, or if you just don't want a bad service ruining your day, I sincerely recommend that you and your family avoid this...

Awesome Sichuan (Szechuan) Chinese food. Chengdu by the way is the capital of the Sichuan province, hence the name.

The place is rather cozy affair but its not cramped. The three times I've been at least half the clientele was Asian, a very good sign that you're getting some authentic food. I was lucky enough to visit China a couple of years ago and this is definitely the closest I've gotten to authentic Sichuan Chinese food since my visit.

Service is pleasant enough if rather curt, and they're normally quick to take your order and refill your drink as needed. Some people may take it as slightly rude how all business

A lot of the food is very spicy, though not in the same way a buffalo chicken wing or Mexican food might be spicy. Many dishes, like the Dry Chili Chicken, make liberal use of both chilies and red Sichuan peppercorns that give the food a spicy, mouth numbing taste that's rather unique compared to other kinds of hot spicy food.

They do have less spicy, and non spicy dishes, but they generally pale in comparison to the authentic dishes.

Dishes are generally meant to be shared, the idea is to order a few and then split them amongst your table. For 3 hungry guys, 3 protein dishes, a vegetable dish, and some white rice is about the perfect amount.

I haven't had yet had the hot pot, but I certainly mean to next time I go.

I'd definitely recommend the Twice Cooked Pork with Pancake, which is pork belly that's sliced thin and blanched then stir fried in a spicy sauce with leeks , bell peppers, celery, and pieces of savory leek pancake.

The Dry Chili Chicken and Dry Chili Beef with Celery are also very good, but I'd recommend only one of these type of plates per about 3 people so as to not overwhelm yourselves with spice.

The Sichuan String Beans are also really tasty, as is the eggplant dish.

The General Tso Chicken that my less spice loving friend ordered was just okay. Good for a nicer Americanized Chinese place but again it pales in comparison to the more authentic dishes.

Awesome place and definitely worth...

The food was delicious and authentic. I went with friends and we shared 5 dishes. Xiao long bao, chili pepper fried chicken, beef soup with tofu, pea tips with garlic, and cold cucumber salad. The xiao long bao was a bit disappointing, there wasn't much soup inside which is the main point! The flavor was good but the dumpling skin was overpoweringly floury. I would pass on this dish. The cucumbers and pea tips were very fresh and delicious, definitely try one, you won't be sorry! The beef soup with tofu had tender beef and the spiciness was spot on. I loved the chili fried chicken (la zi ji), it too was very fresh and the crispy chili added a good kick.

The older waitress seemed only to speak to the tables with Chinese people and didn't seem willing to go to tables with non- Chinese people at it. That wasn't very cool and a bit perplexing because one of the people at my table was Chinese, but I guess she only wanted to speak to all Chinese tables. Our waiters wasn't Chinese and he was very cool and nice, taking over at the tables the waitress didn't want to go to.

The atmosphere/ ambiance of the place was non existent. The decor is nice enough but it felt like eating food at a buffet where people could watch you eating as they waited for a table.

All in all, go for the food, it's definitely worth it. Call ahead and make a reservation because it got packed pretty fast. Don't expect too much from some of the staff though, that was the main...