Szechuan Delight @ 7 Ave — Restaurant in New York

I ordered here for the first time Yesterday afternoon. First the service....the woman who took my order had a scowl on her face the entire time I was ordering. I did have a feeling that perhaps I should not buy from her b/c the scowl on her face seemed to say "why are you here?"...but I ignored my instinct. I ordered food for myself and my Mom. When we returned home, I was shocked at how the fried chicken looked. Shocked. I have fried chicken wings from chinese restaurants in the past....something they usually do well. I couldn't believe how it looked. I should have taken a picture and posted it. My mom in the interim, asked me whether I thought it looked cooked. Then the other dishes.....my mom looked at me and said, "I am really sorry to tell you this but this is the absolute worst chinese food I have ever had". Frankly, it was terrible. I told my mom that while I was ordering the woman had a scowl and frown on her face which made me 2nd guess my decision myself but I ignored my instinct. I shouldn't have. This place makes...

We had been coming here for over 25 years. We loved their food, especially their cold sesame (peanut butter) noodles, pork dumplings, and their empress chicken. I felt like it was the only place in the USA I could find empress chicken and cold sesame noodles. I would have loved to have given 5 stars. Unfortunately after Covid and their restaurant remodel, the quality has deteriorated significantly. The restaurant space lost its warm, spacious feel and now has a modern, smaller, depressing feel. The food quality dropped and the portion sizes have gotten smaller despite the prices increasing. Typical shrinkflation. It is a real shame. I remember when the empress chicken was around $10 and it was such a large serving we could split it amongst 2-3 people. The chicken was tender and the glaze was good. Now it feeds 1-2 people, and it felt drier and fried with far less sauce. At its current state, it’s a 3.5 star...

Two of us went here after Jewish Voice For Peace Seder action. Attentive service and good amount of creative vegan options. We wanted an all veggie dish & and all tofu dish to share so we’d have mingling flavors. With a caveat from the server of its spiciness, Szechuan tofu was recommended. I just figured, I have Szechuan all the time, so it seems redundant to mention its spiciness. It was excellently flavored with a tender tofu instead of being the default over-fried texture most other places give, but definitely take the server’s heed — this has more heat than most other Szechuan places. The perfectly textured Spicy Mixed Vegetables were delish and a pleasant surprise as most places don’t offer this simple dish with such redolent flavors. If need be, order extra rice to temper the flavorful kick of these two dishes. I look forward to returning & trying other...