Sichuan Folk — Restaurant in Plano

My husband has wanted to try this place for years. Ever since the H-Mart location next to it was opened. We ate there this past Saturday, and have been ruminating over the experience since then. We walked in and were immediately greeted/seated. First off we noticed the way of ordering isn't typical. You scan a QR code presented at the table via a placard, and that code is specifically for the table you're at. The online order can be added to or modified by anyone at the table, using the QR code. This is simply for the ordering process, you pay at the end of the meal the standard way. We also noticed anything we ordered from the site from each of our phones, automatically attached to our names in the order. Most of the crew were able to converse with us in fluent English with very minimal hiccups. My husband had made a note in the order page to make a dish extra spicy, one of the waiters came to clarify it was spicy already. Which was no problem, but he insisted they make it super spicy.

We ordered the Dan Dan noodles, Beef with bamboo, spicy wontons, vegetable rolls, hot and sour soup, egg drop soup, and 2 orders of white rice. From the get go, I want to point out it's not the cheapest chinese food we've had. Most of the dishes are about $14+ for a main course. Also, they do charge $1 for each order of rice. Looking around at similar restaurants, this is common both for the rice and overall prices.

Onto the quality of the food. The Dan Dan($9) was excellently flavored. This was what was ordered super spicy. We've had this dish before, but its usually doused in fire oil with little flavor. Here the noodles were coated, but not sitting in an oil broth. The minced pork was an appropriate amount, and the spice was not over bearing but still made your nose run. The portion was about a standard ramen or pho size, but piled high. Next the beef and bamboo($15) was also a good stir fry combo. The bamboo seemed fresh/not canned, and cut length wise about the size of a whole green bean. Good texture overall. Vegetable rolls(2 for $2) were piping hot for at least 15 minutes after they brought them out. Spicy wontons($9) were the BEST we ever had, so herbaceous and tasty! Not so spicy at all, even with the heaping crushed up chili paste mixed in. The hot and sour soup was a bit more vinegary, but still pretty delectable. It also come with wood ear mushrooms/crunchy brown/black colored. Husband likes them, I'm not a fan. Egg drop soup didn't have a single hint of sulfur you typically get from 98% of places selling it. The only draw back to it, was that it was a bit bland. Remedied by adding some chili oil and a splash of soy sauce. Both soups were served in a bowl...not a cup at ($3) each, and both remained hot well into the meal. While I know its common place for most chinese places to give the steamed rice for free, at ($1) each they brought out a bowl the size of a full stack of corn tortillas. It was plenty for us to be placated. The only flavor issue was we didn't get that numb tingle that Sichuanese pepper is supposed to give, but it may have just been we didn't order the right dish to accentuate it.

The service was great almost entirely through the meal. Drinks were topped off regularly+, no attitudes were given, no excess waiting for someone to come around. The only issue my husband had was when trying to pack up our leftovers, the female staff member came over to basically take over packing the bag a bit forcefully. While we know she did it to be more helpful with the soups being there, she wasn't asking.

We will be back, and our total score here is...

#badservice #rudewaiter # This was by far the worst customer experience I have had in any restaurant in close to 20 years of living in the US. My wife and I were in Plano area for some work, and since it was lunch time ( 1:30pm) we decided to eat at a nearby restaurant. Did a quick yelp/Google review, and decided to give Sichuan Folk a try. We got seated, and noticed there were hardly 3 booths occupied. Perhaps due to the time ( a little after 1:45pm) since the place had a good rating. We ordered from our waiter, who looked like he was only big enough to be in high school. Since my wife had to webex into a business call, we requested our waiter if he could reduce or stop the loud hip hop music that was playing in the restaurant for 5-10 minutes. The music did not seem to fit in with the demographic anyhow, and the waiter nodded his head and went away. Well, the music was still loud after a couple of minutes, so I waved at the waiter to get his attention. He walked ( swaggered is a better word though) towards our booth and said that he could not turn the music off since other people in the restaurant were listening to it. I looked around and again saw 3 booths/tables seated with clients that clearly did not fit the demographic that enjoy loud hip hop music. I then politely asked him to bring me take out boxes since we would need to pack everything up and leave so my wife could take the call from a quieter place. He swaggered back, came back with some boxes and the check. At this point, I asked him if I could talk to the owner before I left. I wanted to let the owner know that I was leaving the restaurant half way through a meal during off peak time due to loud music. He responded sure, and then walked away from the booth. I waved him back after a minute, and by now I was getting agitated with his nonchalant behavior. I again asked him who the owner was, and he said I can find out myself! What??? I said how would I know who the owner was? He again just told me to go find out myself. That was it! I walked up to leave, walked towards the front and asked who the owner was. The lady only spoke Chinese, and there was another waiter around, so I just basically told them that they had rude staff on duty and I was going to simply walk out of the restaurant. The lady and the waiter followed me as I walked out of restaurant, and asked me to pay up before I leave!!!! I explained the whole situation, which went through a translation from the waiter to the chinese lady. I asked if the rude waiter was the owners son, since he continued to be fiesty with us, and even pointed to a Cop car in the strip mall to call on us! That's it, I am beyond shocked with this restaurant. The Chinese lady, and the other waiter ( our interpreter) were clearly trying to protect this guy.

They were clearly more concerned about getting my $25 than controlling their rude waiter on duty.

Clearly, this was an episode of racism. I doubt they would ask any of the chinese clients or any white person to first pay the bill no matter what transpired. I am definitely not stepping into this restaurant again, as they made it clear they will protect their staff no matter what. I still have Royal Sichuan, Sichuan King ( both in RIchardson) and Jeng Chi that are my usual haunts for last 5 years, I only happened to try this out since I was in the area for work. BEWARE OF THIS RACIST PLACE, IF YOU ARE NOT AN ASIAN (READ CHINESE) OR WHITE, ENTER AT...

I could not think of a better meal to eat than some hot pot to celebrate Lunar New Year, and Sichuan Folk satisfied my cravings!

Most people don't know that they offer AYCE hot pot, and I don't blame them since the restaurant doesn't really advertise it at all. My boyfriend and I ate here multiple times in the past whenever we're craving Sichuanese food, and it's always delicious. However, their hot pot was even better!

I called the restaurant to see how busy they were on Lunar New Year Eve, and they said they were packed. I asked if they have hot pot tonight and they replied they do, but it's going to be a long wait (~1 hour). I didn't mind since most of the Asian restaurants are packed for the celebration, so we came and waited. I'm not sure if there was a miscommunication on the phone but I came in and asked for AYCE hot pot, and they said they're not serving it tonight. I told them that I called on the phone earlier, and I don't mind waiting, but I already drove here so it's pointless to pick another place. The owner lady said okay and I just sat at the waiting chair. The restaurant was fully packed with customers, there weren't any empty tables left. They had big parties on the round tables, and smaller parties on the left side.

It took about 25 mins to get seated, which is faster than the estimated one hour wait. The menu is online, so you just scan the QR code to order. The hot pot option was at the end, and it was a little confusing. The price was $24.95/person for AYCE, and a one-time fee of $10.95 extra for the soup. We had a party of 3, which equals out to about $28/person total. They had a lot of options on their hot pot menu, like the basic beef/lamp/pork/chicken shabu, then a bunch of seafood and vegetables. I was surprised to see lotus roots offered as well since other restaurants typically don't have it.

It took about 15 mins for the ingredients to come out. We picked both the plain and medium spicy broth, and it was SPICY. The server told me it was a 6/10 for a medium level, and I think my tongue died from the first taste. But, it was SO delicious, despite the burning. They did not skim on the amount of food that we ordered either. They brought 3 trays, separating the vegetables, sliced meats and seafood/noodles. Everything was so tasty with both broths that I'm still drooling. They refilled our broth constantly, and there's no extra charge for that. The meat slices are thin, and cooked instantly the second you put into the pot. OH! The hot pot is this big metal pot so there's plenty of space to cook your ingredients. There's a time limit of 1.5 hours, but we sat down at 8 and they didn't rush us until the restaurant was closing at 10 PM.

Overall, this is my new favorite hot pot restaurant! I've tried all the other AYCE hot pots in town (Manna, Happy Lamb, Squares, Gogiya, Volcano, etc), but nothing satisfied my cravings like Sichuan Folk. The price was perfect for the amount of food you get, and definitely cheaper if you have a bigger party since the broth is a one-time fee. Beware that they bring out your ingredients according to the number of people at your party. They gave me a huge tray of beef tripe even though the other two don't eat, since there's no "adjustment" on the app. Next time I'll ask if I can get a smaller portion for specific ingredients, but aside from that--...