Ollie's Sichuan Restaurant

04/20/2008 Posted by RP18901

My wife and I went to Ollie's Sichuan last night for a quick pre-theater dinner based on the reviews on CitySearch. We were extremely disappointed. The Shredded Chicken in Spicy Sauce was neither spicy nor flavorful, and was loaded with gristle. The Chicken in Lettuce Wraps was a very odd recipe with tiny minced chicken, grated carrot, and raisins - nothing like the type you get at other restaurants. The Scallion Pancakes were crisp, but quite greasy. The Char Siu Bao (steamed buns with roast pork) had this odd, salty finish to it. Worst of all were the soups - my wife ordered the velvet chicken corn soup. It had no flavor at all, very little meat, was gloppy with corn starch, and a radioactive yellow color. I had the noodle soup with chicken, and pai an extra dollar for wontons. The soup had a ton of noodles in it, very little chicken, and one wonton. The broth was very bland as well. We were rushed constantly by the servers - they asked for our order three times within the first two minutes after we sat down. Even though we asked them to space out the dishes, the brought them one right after another - so much that we had to have the soups taken back to the kitchen and held for us. Even with us slowing them down, we were in and out in 25 minutes (not by choice). This place has had a number of positive reviews, perhaps it's better if you order the Sichuan specialties - or if you are Chinese - but we had a very bad experience and DO NOT RECOMMEND this restaurant.

Pros: If you think getting in and out fast is good

Cons: Rushed service, poor quality food

04/03/2007 Posted by jamesnelson

My wife and I have been to this place several times since they opened in January. My wife is from Sichuan and we used to go to a couple of other places in the city for authentic Sichuan cooking. Although we like the food at the other places as well, we like Ollie’s on 42nd best because of the good ambience and the pleasant waiting staff. The place is clean and we actually took time to look at the framed pictures hanging on the walls. I love Chinese food but am never a big fan of Chinese waiters. But the waiters here speak English well and are very pleasant to deal with. This place also carries a small list of decent and inexpensive wines. We think it is a nice touch. No, they are not great but they also don’t cost you $1,000 a bottle.

Pros: Excellent Food, good ambience and service

Cons: Really can't think of any, may be a bit pricier than your average Chinese

03/30/2007 Posted by joechan

My wife and I have been to Ollie's Sichuan a number of times and we LOVE it. We take all our friends and they are always amazed at how cool the restaurant decor is and how great the food is. All the memorable Chengdu pictures on the back wall make us feel like fall onto the old Chengdu city. Recently, we had a late nite dinner here, the specific New Wave Sichuan dishes we ordered and most highly recommend as being both the real deal and absolutely stunningly delicious are the following: hong you dumpling (spicy dumpling in red chili oil sauce), fu chee fay pian (husband and wife beef tendon cold in spicy sauce), shway zhu niu (beef dish drowned in hot chili spicy oil - - this last dish is not for wimps) and Spicy jello fish. The service was fast and efficient. Forget about ShunLee, forget about Our Place of Shanghai, forget about Joe's Shanghai, forget about Grand Szechuan...... if you want authentic Chinese cuisine done the way it is done back home at a good price, this is it!! This place gives you the most authentic Sichuan Chinese food in town!!

Pros: Incredibly Authentic, delicious, inexpensive, nice ambience, good service

Cons: I feel like an idiot letting anybody know about this place as I want it all to myself but you just have to know what real Sichuan food tastes like!

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