My wife and I went to this restaurant on the advice of someone we knew. We decided to try it as we were in the general area. Personally I didn't think the atmosphere was anything special, but apparently its the norm for a Chinese / szechuan restaurant. At any rate, we sat down at the table. The cleanliness of the restaurant was decent. Found out they had a very small bathroom though. Our waiter brought our food. He seemed pleasant enough. We ate, paid our bill, and left. After a little while, we both seemed to experience a little heart burn. All in all, this place is an "OK" restaurant

I've been eating at the Szechuan Chongqing on Commercial Drive since 1992, and it's one of my "comfort food" restaurants. Most of the dishes that I have tried are wonderful, in particular the deep-fried spicy tofu, the duck in plum sauce and the Szechuan green beans, but it's their Deluxe Tan Tan noodles that keep me coming back again and again. They are amazing.

OK, so the ambiance is a little lacking, but service is quick and efficient and the prices are reasonable. My partner and I eat here at least once a month (but usually more).

My coworkers and I go here every so often and always leave full and happy. The food is amazing and the service is great, they always have suggestions and they are also fast.

Some Reccommendations:

General Tao?....This is reallly spicy but so tasty!
Hot and Sour is super yummy
Mongolie Beef - also pretty spicy but very good!

I've come here a handful of times for lunch and have always ordered something with beef in it, be it the Mongolian Beef, Ginger Beef or the Beef & Black Bean, all accompanied with an order of steamed rice. Great flavours and consistently made. Spicy actually means spicy here and leaves a fiery, yet unintrusive linger tempting your tastebuds.

The place could qualify for a dive. It's dirty, smelly and drained of all exuberance. The lunch time crowd seems to be sparce, as on a couple of ocassions, there are more employees there than patrons dining. Service is decent enough.

The location is a sore point but it's been around for a while and time has taken it's toll on the establishment, but the food still speaks for itself and has people (and me) coming back.

My family has been eating here for years and years and it never loses it's quality of food.

It's changed owners over the past but that hasn't changed the food.

Service is alright, you just have to have some patience with some as English is difficult for them.

The price isn't bad and the portions are pretty good.
I had dinner with a group of about 12 and it came to under $100 and we had to take lots home.

Don't expect the nicest of restaurants. This place has been open for a long time and looks pretty much the same than it did 10 years ago.

Some of my favourite dishes:
Ginger beef (all-time fav)
Dai ching chicken (with or without bone is up to you)
Chicken chowmein
Hot and sour soup
Chicken corn soup
Lemon chicken (although gone down in quality over the yrs)
Friend green beans szechuan style (dry and hot) (another all-time fav)

Anyways.. highly recommend
(Either their Commercial Dr location or W Broadway)

Our preferred close-to-home Asian place.
We go for:

Ginger Beef-perfectly cut & tender,-best ever according to my boyfriend

Spicy Eggplant-melt-in-your mouth zap,-one of my top 3 vegetarian dishes of all time

Also have had:

Large selection of Drinks
ChiChi & Mai Tai: excellent and the right price for 3.95-5.95

Won ton soup-savoury
Hot n Sour soup-average & satisfying

Spring rolls- average, could do better without them

Vegetarian Chow Mein- average, but good compliment to the specialty dishes if you love chow mein

Rice for 2- fair sized portion

Jasmine Tea-revitalizing

Atmosphere-some fish tanks

Service-only once in 6 times we've been there have we waited long to order. Food comes quickly.

Take Out-seems to be a slightly reduced portion

One of the best ethnic food places in the city. My boyfriend and I have ordered there well over 10 times and his work also gets delivery quite regularly.

The bride and I went for supper here since we were schlepping around Commercial drive and I was too lazy to cook. We've been before but now know what to get from this "ambiance-free" restaurant. Go for the Szechuan green beans - they're amazing. Go for the Chongqing Chicken - spicy, flavourful on a bed of crunchy spinach. My wife also likes the Deluxe Mixed Vegetables with crunchy noodles. The service was very good for a chinese restaurant. The waiter was patient about explaining the various differences in the dishes. They were also very prompt about refilling water, brining tea, etc... Three good sized tasty dishes, no booze for less than 40 bucks... sweet deal. No wonder we love coming to this place. I agree with the previous poster - don't order cantonese stuff at a szechuan restaurant...

Service was pretty okay. Our waiter had a sense of humour uncommon to most waiters in Chinese restaurants.

We ordered: hot pepper wonton, slide duck w/ plum sauce, shredded chicken chow mein, steamed pork buns, sweet & sour pork. The wonton stood out as being not super greasy; everything else had a disturbing consistent sheen -- especially the chow mein.

Serves shark -- a huge mark against the restaurant.

By sketchy, greasy Chinese food standards, the restaurant is considered expensive. Other restaurants in the same price bracket, such as the Kirin Seafood Restaurant in the City Square offers ambiance, service and food quality that are just a notch better.

--

Review by Fish on behalf of The Last Supper, recorded on 2007-07-15, uploaded 2007-08-21

The food is absolutely AWESOME. We just randomly tried three different entrees and all of them were fabulous. If you like hot and spicy food, run for it!!! I'll definitely go back to this place again! The green vegetables are cooked just right to perfection - the color is green and the vegetables crunchy... mmmmm

If you love spicy this is your place. This is not the kind of place you order spring rolls and sweet and sour pork.. although you can. They are all about spicing it up. So many things to die for on this menu. #1 - Tan Tan Noodle, its like peanut buttery, spicy and delicious. Tied for #2 is the Extraoridnary Ginger Beef, so potent in flavour always cooked just right. Also Szechaun Green Beans. Ive taken so many people here and they say they dont like bean but make the exception for these babies. So crispy and tasty. Other things to get are the Pork Lettuce wraps, Chongqing Chicken and Fried Bread. All around great choices, you will not be disappointed. Lines on the weekends, so make a reservation... service is a hit or a miss... generally pretty solid.