Szechuan Empire — Restaurant in Livonia

Why oh why do the staff seem so angry? Cmon people you chose to be in the hospitality industry (hospitality is defined as: the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers”), we are but simple customers who chose to come to you, so why act like we are an inconvenience or like somebody who just left the seat up at the most inopportune moment.

Historically I have been coming here for 15+ years, I haven’t been in the last 3, but everything that made this 5 stars across the board drop dramatically, seemed to start during the pandemic.

So this visit felt very awkward, the staff seemed really unhappy to be there, which reflected and shadowed the entire visit. They literally tossed the menus on the table, and did a same sort of motion with the plates of food but a little softer. Next up, the traditional part of getting the small cup of soup was no more, if you want a bowl it’s 2.50. It’s odd because most take out places sell a pint for around that price and a qt for $2 more, seems a little rip-offy. I noticed they had a lunch menu but the post pandemic lunch prices are about 40% higher and the portions easily seen as smaller. I’m okay with less but either charge more and give the same or charge the same and give less, not both! Last up was quality, I had something I have had at least 20 times the stir fry almond chicken, this is something that I have never had anywhere else and it’s locked in my memory as amazing, sadly this was not the same by a long shot. I am certain this was not made to order, I’m guessing a big batch was made earlier and reheated since it was fairly mushy and the fact it was served in about 5 minutes after ordering.

Lastly and this is just an observation, the room that seems to be a banquet room is now a storage area for stuff like construction materials, furniture and other junk, it’s very visible and very messy looking, it might be a good idea to put a divider up so guests do not see it.

I’m afraid if they don’t do a bit of self reflection and work on the hospitality end of things, this place will be nothing but a distant memory of a once...

I am so disappointed. This place USED TO be a favorite of my family. We have many great memories of fabulous meals here. So when my husband and I were in the area, we stopped in for dinner and wow, have things changed.

Dining Room/Cleanliness: The restaurant has never been fancy or particularly nice inside, but it used to be a place I didn't hesitate to bring friends or family. Now it is disgusting. Not only hasn't it been updated in many years, but I'm not sure it's been cleaned in a while either. Everything is dated and worn. There are ceiling tiles that look like they might be growing mildew. I'm shocked the health department hasn't forced them to replace them.

Food: This used to be the best Chinese food around. Now, it tastes like every other Americanized, mediocre Chinese restaurant. It's like they decided to stop using garlic, ginger and spices in the food. My husband and I were disappointed in everything we ordered, and these are the same dishes we used to love. We ordered our General's Chicken "hot" and it was absolutely mild and bland. Our Kung Pao Chicken (hot pepper and peanuts) didn't have a single hot pepper in the dish. Special little touches like hot tea and orange slices are no longer offered. They were out of green beans, so I can't tell you if that dish remains tasty, but I'm not hopeful.

Perhaps this is why my husband & I were the only two people in the dining room at 5:30 on a Friday night. The place used to be packed. As a matter of fact, the second dining room that we used to sit in now appears to be a storage room full of boxes.

I don't take one ounce of pleasure in writing this review. We really enjoyed this restaurant for over 25 years and are so sad to discover that is just not the place it used to be....

The place isn't very nice and that's okay but the prices are not accommodating for it's shape. 13-15$ for a dinner plate plus tip is a bit absurd to be asking for a "hole in the wall" type of place. I have had so many better places than this at much cheaper prices (china gold, pan pan). My girlfriend ordered the general Tsaos, that is about as basic as you can get in terms of chinese food so it's very difficult to go wrong. I ordered spicy garlic chicken thing (the exact name escapes me for the moment). Her general Tsaos was neither awful nor good, it was 100% bland. There was zero,zip,nada flavor, I am not kidding there was some lettuce in there and any chicken that touched the lettuce was over powered by the lettuce flavor. Yes you read that correctly, the lettuce had more of a taste than their general tsaos. My spicy garlic chicken thing was good but I have had much better at other local Thai places. The service was terribleeeeee, we were the only ones in there and the other servers/waiters/whatever just sat on the back table playing with their phones. I understand it's not busy and you're bored. That's all fine but it's not a good idea to be sitting in the back with your phone out and just daddling. Go into the kitchen where no one can see you and do that. The extra annoying part of it all was even with them sitting right there it still took forever past eating to get the box and bill (about 20 minutes of sitting). Because of how absorbed they were into their phone to look over at the only 2 people in the place. No thank you, I will...