Szechuan House — Restaurant in Midland

UPDATE: The business replied to my review, which I appreciate - so I am bumping up their service rating internally here. Thank you for being open to having me back as a customer.

I can't eat meat, so I have to stick to their seafood dishes, so that does limit a lot of their options for me. After trying a dish that I loved, I now have designated this restaurant as THE place for that dish and I only come here to eat that: it's the Salt and Pepper Shrimp dish with fried rice. That dish carries the crown here. I even drove to the Odessa Szechuan House branch to eat the same dish, but they don't serve that and their menu is completely different from the Midland branch Szechuan House.

The first time I dined here, we were seated right in front of the bar and our server was insistent on hovering around us constantly - I'm not even exaggerating, she was always there. I could feel her eyes on us at all times. You could constantly feel that all she wanted from us was the check and for us to leave - she was not rude at all, it was just that we couldn't take our sweet time to eat there in peace. The vibes of "please eat quickly and get out of here" were way too strong. I saw that she didn't do that hovering with the other couples who were dining there - maybe it was because it was just two females dining out here, that she behaved like this? Either way, it disturbed my entire eating experience and I was turned off from coming again for 3 months. The service experience is just.... not warm. The servers always give a surprised look whenever we decline drinks - they even asked us twice after we said no, and then the manager even came and asked us if we wanted drinks. Why is "no" not an acceptable response? Are we not allowed to decline drinks?

Finally, after that long hiatus, my mom convinced me to try again and this time, we were seated somewhere else (so not immediately in the eyes of the servers gawking at us like vultures) and served by a different gentleman. This visit was much better but I made the mistake of ordering steamed fish.... It was beautiful, fresh, and hot, but it was my first time, and I didn't expect it to look so.... white and bland. It was perfectly steamed, but that was the day I learned I could not eat steamed fish. The portion size was AWESOME too - too big for two people! That was a good deal. But the star of the show has always been the Salt and Pepper Shrimp for me - you can't go wrong. It is a bit dry, but personally for us, the fried rice makes up for it.

I always get the Salt and Pepper Shrimp here every time and they have consistently cooked it perfectly. The shrimp is beautiful, the batter isn't heavy or irritating, and the onions/red peppers/chili seasoning mixture is superb. The rice is good too, but you only get the standard "side" size, so I always have to order another - which is a tad expensive since it's such a small portion of rice. This dish also doesn't send my gut into a frenzy of abdominal body pain, so that works well. The service here is not their forte - hasn't been extremely pleasant or warm, but that's fine, since I'm paying for the chef's tastes, not the customer service. They are all hard-working people, though!

I haven't tried any other dishes of theirs. I've also tried their spring rolls and they are fresh and crispy! Great as an appetizer. But, if you have chronic gut issues, the vegetables inside the spring rolls might be too sensitive for your gut and might trigger an IBS attack, but it all depends on your body. Eat with caution, though they are delicious and...

My wife and I went there yesterday for lunch. We prepared ourselves for a wait because it was lunch and the parking lot was nearly full. As we walked in, we were greeted with a smile and promptly seated at a very clean table. We had been at this place before it was a Chinese restaurant and were really surprised at the changes they made to improve the atmosphere. There were three waitresses, one bus boy, a manager, and one other assistant, keeping everything flowing smoothly and efficiently. These people were moving! They all had smiles! They asked every table if they needed anything, even if it wasn't their table! I ordered steamed pork buns and chicken lo-mein while my wife ordered pork fried rice. It took about 10 minutes for the food to hit our table, but it was hot, well plated, and plentiful! It was also delicious! I travel a lot! This was the best lo-mein I've had in many years. The only improvement I could see in it was after tasting in pork in my wife's fried rice. The next time we return, I will be ordering lo-mein with pork! Looking around the restaurant, I didn't see an unhappy customer. Yes, the meals were around $20 a plate before the tip, but I've paid more for less food and less quality. I can't emphasize enough how happy we were and how soon we'e coming back! My friends and family have been told this is the...

I ordered take out from the midland, tx. Instead my order went to the odessa, tx store, 40 minutes from me. They automatically added an $11.00 tip to my order, with out permission. I ordered the crispy chicken. There was more peppers in my bowl than chicken. It was so spicy, I couldn't eat it. What a waste of money. I will never order another meal from szechuan house. I just recieved a call from the szechuan house. She tried telling me everything that I complained about didn't happen. I told her I spent $95.00 and all of our food was so horrible it went in the garbage. My husband ordered the crispy chicken. It had 4 pieces of chicken in the bowl and enough red pepers to cover a 9 inch plate. It was so hot it was ineatable. The szehuan house representative said that there was more than enough checken in the meal. I asked if it was customary to only have 4 piecens of checken. She kept saying there was enough chicken. The person I spoke to wouldn't listen to our experience, just that it never happed. Horrible customer service. It just cements why I will never patronize the szechuan...