Lao Sze Chuan — Restaurant in North Bethesda

Okay, just starting out, I'm giving 5 stars solely based on the service staff. Chris, wherever you are, thank you for being amazing closing out 7/2/22 with us.

Painting the picture, we (party of 2) joined the waitlist on yelp for this restaurant. Wait time was supposed to be about 10-15 mins. One of the hostesses allowed us to wait at the bar area after aboit 30 mins of waiting in lobby. Now we're rolling. We sat at the bar and Andrew and the other bartenders were very nice. They made a variation of a Mai Tai that was great, as well as a respectable old fashioned. Voodoo was another hit (thank you, Andrew).

Once seated, we found out that Chris would be our waiter. His personality is fantastic. He's going to be honest and genuine with you from the jump. If you have questions, he has all the answers. He routinely was on the ball about every course we asked for, any drink accommodations we inquired about and any advice we may have needed on what to try next. Chris is what made that meal for

-the crab dumplings were delicate and delicious. -pan fried crispy skin dumplings were a little tough (pan fried, duh) and full of flavor. -szechuan string beans with pork was cooked delicately. Large portion. -we opted for tofu fried rice rather than the ordinary menu options. Great items if you'd like to share with 2 or 3 people. -Peking duck half set came with a small tray of vegetables and the thin pancake and plum sauce. Very tender, moist and crispy skin on the duck. Exactly what you want a Peking duck to taste like. Definitely enjoyable and worth the wait (they warn you it may take a little time, hence the duck skin platter first).

When it came to dessert, we literally told Chris we would be trying everything.

The cold jelly brown sugar is something that Chris told us that he makes himself there. He suggested that the cold jelly would be a great palette cleanser and a nice cool down since it was a little warm in the restaurant that night. He was spot on. It was refreshing and a great cleanser. Cold, clear jelly with chopped peanuts, golden raisins and some other sauce. It basically tastes like a cold granola oatmeal which was a great idea inbetween courses.

The crispy sweet rice in brown sugar was a great texture. Crispy fried sweet rice bars with a chewy and warm center. You can dip it in a chocolate sauce and I believe a brown sugar plate.

There was a rice ball in a sweet rice wine sauce. This comes warmed in a bowl. Very nice colors and great flavor on the rice wine.

The golden pears were impressive. These are fried mochi with red bean paste in the middle.

The last option was I believe $60. Stewed birds next with papaya. Now, for those that don't know, this is made with dried bird saliva which is said to have many health benefits, is very painstakingly sourced and prepared, hence its price tag. Apparently this is a well known dish steeped in historic cultural importance. Not many of the waiters knew what this was, unfortunately, which leads me to believe they aren't offered these items for family meals to try in the kitchen to better inform their patrons. So, we ordered it, it came out in a whole papaya. I believe, after researching, that this is customarily how it's prepared. It's a warm soup that you eat while scraping up the papaya it's served in. The soup itself was a milky while coloring, with a sweet, date-like flavor. The stringy bits would be the bird saliva if I'm correct in my assumption.

Anyway, winding down, I grabbed some hot tea and Chris came by and talked with us as the restaurant was closing. He was still very energetic. He shared some things about himself and his life and we enjoyed talking with him about the creativity he has as well as hearing about his family. He was a bright spot in a great dining experience who only made our time there much more memorable. Thank you to the hostesses, the bar staff (Andrew, especially) and Christopher (Chris) for being...

I used to really love this restaurant. Anytime I wanted to go to a high-end authentic Chinese restaurant, this was the place. However, the last couple times we went, things changed. Service was no longer what it used to be, and the food doesn’t taste as good anymore (maybe they changed chefs?)

The last time we went on NYE, we tried calling ahead to make reservations but was told in a condescending tone that they do not accept reservations for two. Okay, I guess we’ll just try our luck walking in. Showed up around when it opened and was able to be seated right away at the bar. Restaurant was getting packed right away so service was slow. We were very understanding that it took a while for the server to take our order. What I couldn’t understand was why he did not write anything down, even though it looked like he was having trouble remembering them. We had to repeat our order several times and point on the menu directly to the items we wanted, but I still worried that he may have messed up our order. In the end, he did. After the looooong wait to receive our food, one of the chicken dish we ordered showed up as a strange beef dish. We brought this up to another server at the bar, who apologized and took that dish back so the correct one can be ordered. However, it took just as long (45-60 min) for the correct dish to finally come out. By the time it did, we were already done eating! The other dish we had (sliced beef in golden soup) that I used to love and always order, also tasted extremely bland that night. We didn’t even bother complaining to the server about it because we just don’t have that kind of habit (have this irrational/rational fear of chefs spitting on the food you send back), and if we did and they took that dish back, we’d be left with nothing to eat… Fine, mistakes happen, kitchen was very busy on a busy night, I can accept all of that.

What was unacceptable was that there was another couple who was seated next to us around the same time, who also had delays in getting their food, but were treated completely different than us. The server brought them a plate of fried rice, complementary of the restaurant, to apologize for the delay. What about us?! We also experienced delays and got the WRONG food, so EXTRA delays. We were always polite towards the servers despite all the mishaps, so why did they get preferential service? Was it because we were Asians and they were not?! Turns out, on a certain Chinese app (little red book), other people also complained of discriminatory service from this restaurant. It made me remembered another instance at this restaurant where another couple (also non-Asian) got a free cocktail on the house while we, who actually ordered drinks, did not. I can’t believe it, a Chinese restaurant, discriminating against Asians and providing better service towards non-Asians. I will never step foot in this...

October 2, 2023 I was driving around and found this restaurant that say Old Sichuan and I just wanted to check it out because I just came from SiChuan, Chengdu 1 week before to the States to visit my family. So I walked in the restaurant curiously just looking to see what was inside this place. Then I asked for a menu, I wasn't interested in buying because most restaurants say they are traditional/authentic, but the flavors are not as accurate as you expect it to be. As I was reading the menu I started to became interested in various dishes. As I looked up I seen that the manager was Chinese and asked could I speak with him, because I wanted to challenge his Mandarin. While waiting I seen two of my favorite dishes and instantly went from just checking the menu out to wanting to make an order. The manager came out and I wasted no time asking if he spoke Mandarin and once he verified. I immediately started speaking and ordering my food in Mandarin as if I was back in China. He understood and spoke the language back to me with a little English because I think he was unsure of my level of Mandarin until I say I few difficult sentence and dishes while reading the menu. I order take away, but changed my mind once I looked inside and seen how clean & neatly the restaurant was setup. I came back after 10 minutes and asked to be seated and apologize because I ordered take out and change to dinning in at the last minute. They agreed to seat me and said it was to late to change it from take out to dinning in and would have to bring it to me in the take out boxes. While being seated inside I saw a couple celebrated their wedding here. After 5 minutes my meal came fully plated and not in a box to go. I was highly impressed and greatful that they took the time to plate my food after the last minute changes and didn't make an issue of my sudden change of location. The atmosphere and ambiance is great, the plating was perfect, the host and staff was amazing and it my surprise the food actually tasted like I was back in Chengdu, China. I highly recommend this restaurant to any person that hasn't tried authentic Chinese food or to people who are from the SiChuan Providence to eat here and enjoy the original taste of home. I'm rating this restaurant a 10/10 on my list of traditional/authentic Chinese food. I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone looking to have a nice family dinner, romantic dinner or to really impress someone who has or hasn't tried traditional/authentic Chinese food. The food is mind blowing, staff is amazing and very alert. If you can't figure out a dish to try for your first time experience I highly recommend the Pork belly with Abolone. It's so delicious and literally melts in your mouth. You don't even have to chew it. I give this restaurant a...