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Szechwan Cafe (Chinese cuisine)  $$

 6.25
JaT Rating

406 California Ave, Palo Alto, 94306  (Directions)


650-327-1688


Website  Menu  vCard

            
Tiny chinese restaurant crammed into downtown Palo Alto.


Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1040
Reviewed: 7/22/2004
Rating: 6
My photo gallery 		It all went downhill when we were seated at this tiny ass table at Szechwan Cafe. Knees were bumping and barely enough room for 2 people. We glanced over the menu and on the 1st and LAST page, Szechwan talks about acommodating to peoples certain needstasteor whatever. BUUULLLLSSSHHH***TT....I wanted to split potstickers with Terry, so I figured half meat, half vegetarian, same price by the way....We cant do that What the heck? Why not...ok fine, Ill get the shrimp with lobster sauce (7.95 is steep for a chinese lunch special). Terry got shrimp with garlic sauce? He asked if he could substitute the white rice with fried..... No substitutions, sorry. Wow...denied twice...whats with puttting that introduction on your menu to accommodate your taste and what not. They are full of crap.

The lunch special comes with soup, salad, and main course. Soup was blahh...salad I didnt even bother trying...my shrimp dish was ok. Shrimps were the size of tiger prawns, onions and bell peppers needed to be cut down a bit. Who likes eating huge slices of onions? At this point, I just want to finish my meal and leave. Our combined meals with a side of potstickers and 2 waters was $25!!

Maybe Im in a bad mood, but for 45 mins of my time, I was not a happy customer. Well, if it make Szechwan Cafe feel any better, this place was completely packed at 12PM. There was a short line to get in for about 5 minutes.
 


Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 739
Reviewed: 7/23/2004
Rating: 6.5
My photo gallery 		We were seated at a small table (there were bigger tables they could have put us at). Opened the menu and things were looking decent. Nice selection. The front of the menu said that they would accomodate any need. Wow, thats cool. The lunch specials were a little on the pricy side ($7-8). I decided to go with the spicy garlic prawns (remembering fondly my experience at Hyang Won in Oakland, though there was no garlic there). I ask politely if I could swap the white rice (tasteless for me) for some fried rice. I was shot down. :( Wow.

The food arrived and it was displayed on the plastic stained yellow plate rather elegantly. It came with a salad too (which was quite tasteless and pushed aside). The vegetables in my dish were tasty and it was refreshing that they put so many (unless it was an intentional cost-cutting measure!). The sauce was pretty good and I had to mix it in with my tasteless rice to extract any enjoyment from the rice. The prawns were large. I finished my plate quickly because I was hungry, but you can bet I probably will not go back here. Maybe next time Ill go to a place a little cheaper and a little more accomodating.
 
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