Red Pepper — Restaurant in Worcester

We don't dish out 5 stars often, but if you love REAL Chinese food, then Red Pepper is worth the trip. Dump your visions of pu pu platters and chicken wings for Red Pepper is more like visiting family in Hong Kong. Authenticity is a word so over used today, but so applicable here - we've revisited a couple of dozen times now, always bringing new friends to try things like stir fried sponge gourd, earthy flavored emerald bits of luffa squash in a mild yet flavorful clear sauce. Here, the DanDan noodles are like no where else, expect nuclear spices and chili peppers, but dishes that you would never dream of. If you don't have a Chinese friend with you to read the daily specials on the board written only in Mandarin, ask for a translation. Yeah - it's that sort of place. It's also one of those places where it can be really difficult to try something new, once you have visited once - we struggle to try a new dish because we are craving the ones we ordered the previous visit! I recommend the Stir Fried Stem Lettuce, or Celtic (if in season, for this is a seasonal menu) - like disks of pure, crispy jade, pea shoots are amazing, the beef and pickled peppers - which are cut into tiny threads so flavorful that we fight for the last pieces. Mostly Chinese students here which tells you something, and while most are sharing hot pots bubbling with lamb, spices and broth, we have yet to try that. It's one of those menus where you want to try everything, and so far, every dish has tasted different and unique which says much about the chef. They best dish so far we had on New Years Eve as take out - we are not sure what it was as the menu item was written in Chinese but it's often listed as a daily special - our waiter always points to his upper chest and says something like "beef trachea", which indeed it was. Huang Hou is said to be according to Google, 'Throat Tendons' (OK, stay with me) our waitress suggested that we order this, and now we can't live without having it at least once a month. If you don't mind the textural crunch of tendons, this dish comes either with pickled peppers sometime or brown fungus in a sauce so tangy, sweet, sour and salty, crunchy and immensely flavorful, that it can be addictive - we've even turned conservative newbies onto it who might turn their nose at weird fare. Believe me, every dish has been extraordinary, experiential and if you are a foodie envious of those food travel shows, this place will make you believe that you just sat on a plane...

Review based on initial visit for lunch. Ordered off the lunch special menu — General Tso’s chicken with hot and sour soup, steamed rice. Lunch is served with a pot of hot tea. Food was well prepared, tasty and good portion size. The hot and sour soup was really spicy — I like it; but some might opt for the (no red pepper) egg drop or won ton soup. I never order fried rice on a first visit — try the steamed rice: if this is of decent quality and well prepared, the restaurant’s food is likely to get a 4 or better rating. Physically handicapped accessible from parking lot — ramp at side entrance. Street entrance has a step. I’ve tried several Chinese restaurants in Worcester and this is the best one so far, and the only one offering a range of Szechuan dishes. 12/16/24 - raising my food rating to a 5. For Worcester, best Szechuan I have had in the city. 06/15/25 - Father’s Day lunch —- great food! I brought my own bag of puerh tea to enjoy with the meal.

PS — the food is so good here that my wish would be that they offer both green and ripe puerh, lightly smoked lapsang souchong, and several varieties of oolong to pair with...

The skinny: One of the best authentic sichuan places you can find in the Boston area.

Overall was very impressed by this spot - it sits unassumingly in Worcester away from the hustle and bustle of Boston or Chinatown. But if you're ever in the area and craving chinese food I'd recommend you come here. We ordered a few dishes to share: Dry Braised Pork Intestine w Spicy Sauce in Hot Pot, cumin lamb, tendons in chili, wontons spicy and the sliced fish tofu with spicy sichuan pepper. The favorites were the fish and the tendons - perfect mala spice - just enough to taste the different flavors - without overpowering the dish. Would definitely recommend these. Everything else was absolutely delicious as well. Cumin lamb had a great spice balance and came in a large portion. Wontons spicy were the only item that I was not super impressed by - solid but was flavors were bland compared to our other dishes and a little less juicy than I would have liked.

Would I come back: Yes - this will be my go to place for authentic sichuan food when I'm...