Sichuan Fortune House — Restaurant in Pleasant Hill

I just got back from being in China for 3 weeks and was excited to try some Sichuan dishes again. From all the restaurants I frequented throughout China, their spicey dishes made me go back more and more for every bite! Unfortunately, I did not have the same experience with Sichuan Fortune House. From the items I had on the menu, I was not impressed enough to return. Perhaps, they have a different chef at the time I went?

First off, I went for a late lunch on a Saturday to avoid any crowds. Only a few tables were occupied. Plenty of seating available with different size options for small to large groups. As you enter the restaurant, it has a modern feel due to the chairs and Asian screen partitions, but then as you sit down and take a closer look, the setting is rather dated, cold and stale. There are no pictures on the walls, no music,... only two vases of fake flowers nicely arrange on side tables that add a pop of color.

The food servers are nice, and one had a very warm and welcoming smile. Service was very good, but then again, only a few table were sat.

The menu was varied with several Sichuan dishes mixed with your regular Chinese dishes, which you can find in most Asian restaurants. I ordered the Tan Tan Noodles (dry noodles with a distinct spicy sichuan paste sauce), which was just MEH. The noodles were nice and chewy, and you can taste the sauce, however nothing special and no spice. I also ordered the spicy Sichuan Wontons. Again, the noodle with minced stuffing was good, and you can taste the familiar taste of the Sichuan spice oil, but not enough spice! Something is lacking in their Sichuan sauce. It doesn't capture the try taste. My last dish was the stir fried green beans with minced pork and garlic. It came out nice & hot and was the best of all three dishes.

With a pot of tea, overall, the bill came out to just under $35. That's pretty pricey for 3 dishes at lunch and the portions received. I might consider returning in the evening, but only if I was in the...

Service: Horrible horrible service. We came in on a Saturday at 5 pm, right when they first opened. Not a lot of people and the server took our order rather quickly so we thought we will get served quickly. First of all, the server didn't even write down the orders while I was going it over with him, he seemed like he was confident he will remember all the orders, to which I didn't question because some people could be just that good. However, I was wrong. We sat around for 40 minutes, all the tables that came after us got served already. He kept coming by our table to ask if we order certain dish that was actually for another table close to us. First of all, if you can't remember people's orders why don't you write them down or take some notes instead of constantly going up to the customer and asking them if they ordered something. That is very rude. Then after all the table around us got served, by now it's 5:50, 50 minutes has passed after us just sitting around with nothing on the table, he finally came and asked me to make my orders again. He did not even apologize for not remembering the orders, rather, he tried to pull a fast one by saying he just wants to verify my order. After I attempted to make my whole orders again the second time, food came out immediately, which means for the first hour(almost) that we are sitting around with nada on our table, he forgot our whole order, and didn't even own up to his mistake nor show any signs of remorse for making us sit around for so long.

Food: The food is just high on MSG and spice, it's not really authentic Sichuanese cuisine (I am from around the Sichuan area). I'd even say the food is over salted and over spiced to the point where you can't even taste what you are eating anymore.

We came here because of the great reviews on google, but it turned out to be a huge disappointment. Please avoid this...

This is one of the best Chinese food restaurants I’ve ever been to. The food tastes super duper fresh and the staff is wonderful... Sichuan Fortune House has been one of our favorite pandemic carry-out choices this side of the tunnel! It’s the only place my family goes to get Chinese food around here because nothing else we’ve tried in the area COMES CLOSE! In terms of favorite food, where to begin? When we were able to dine in pre-pandemic, the Salt and Pepper Tofu was my personal favorite (less so for carry-out, since it’s fried and thus doesn’t travel well). The staple for my family has always been the Dry Cooked Green Beans, which are, and I cannot stress this enough, DELICIOUS. That beautiful salty garlicky sauce is just... chef’s kiss. And most recently, the Vegetable Hot Pot has been a favorite for the whole family, particularly myself. It’s spicy as heck, which is a good thing, and I think they use Sichuan peppercorns in it which gives it that awesome tongue-numbing sensation. I’m not personally a fan of eggplant, but I’m told the Eggplant in Spicy Garlic Sauce is phenomenal. And that’s just a few suggestions. The family is mostly vegetarian/ vegan and they have plenty of great dishes for those dietary preferences, but the non-vegetarian stuff we’ve tried like the Prawns Chow Mein and Chicken Fried Rice have also been tasty. The moral of the story is that if you haven’t given this place a try, do yourself a favor and order some takeout sometime. Simply put, it’s...