Szechuan Wilmington Chinese Restaurant

Address:

Szechuan Restaurant

3615 Kirkwood Hwy
Wilmington, DE 19808

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Szechuan Restaurant Wilmington: Closed

Occasionally we side-step our ardent passion for Indian cuisine and have a fling with other cuisines like Thai, Mexican, Chinese etc.

You see the craving for a good meal and the scarcity of it at most Indian restaurants in Delaware encourages us to flirt with other cuisines.

After trying a few Thai restaurants we struck gold recently at a Chinese restaurant on Kirkwood Highway in Wilmington.

We are no strangers to Chinese food. But much of our interaction with Chinese food is primarily in the form of Vegetable Lo Mein Noodles or Vegetable Fried Rice from the neighborhood Chinese takeout places.

Chinese Buffet - A First Time

For the first time, we tried All You Can Eat Chinese Lunch Buffet the other day while driving on Rt 2 West (Kirkwood Hwy).

It was around Noon on a Monday morning and as we were heading to Starbucks on Rt 2 to pick up a Tall Coffee we spotted Szechuan Restaurant.

On an impulse, we turned right into the complex and marched in to check what is available. The outside board has a sign that read all you can eat lunch buffet Monday-Friday 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

The restaurant was mostly empty with just two elderly Caucasian women savoring hot soups.

We were greeted by an energetic Chinese waiter with a pleasant smile on his face and quickly shown to a table. The same waiter enquired whether we'd like to try their buffet or a la carte. Since we have not tried a Chinese buffet, we opted for the buffet not even knowing how much it would cost. Only when we got the bill, we realized what a great bargain lunch buffet it was.

Soon a young Chinese waitress came and filled our water glasses. The table had a bowl of Crisp ribbon noodles with duck sauce and tea cups on the side. There was a paper table mat with a brief explanation of Chinese Zodiac.

Chinese Zodiac Table Mat

Crisp Ribbon Noodles with Duck Sauce

As we were settling down, another Chinese Waitress (a middle aged woman) accosted us with a broad grin on her face. We timidly asked her if there are any vegetarian offerings on the buffet. The friendly lady accompanied us to the buffet station and pointed out the six meat-less dishes.

The same lady asked us if we wanted to have some hot sauce on the side and served Red Chilly Hot Sauce at the table.

The hot red chilly sauce was not really hot for our spice hardened Indian palates. But it was delicious and we used it generously to enhance the spice level of various buffet items. Hey, the texture and flavor of red chilly sauce reminded us of the Andhra Red Chilly Pickle (a.k.a Korivi Karam or Pandu Mirapakayala Pachhadi) we used to have back home in India.

Yummy Red Chilli Sauce

Fine Dumpling Sauce

Out of the six meat-less dishes, four were complete vegetarian and two had scrambled eggs. Satisfied with the number of meat-less dishes we embarked upon our Chinese Buffet odyssey with gusto. As we were returning to the table the same waitress enquired whether we like to have hot and sour vegetable soup. We nodded in the affirmative and soup was served at the table by a Young Chinese waiter from Fujian Province.

Szechuan Wilmington - Fine Buffet Spread

Lunch Buffet at Szechuan Restaurant included a total of thirty items after counting the desserts as well.

No, we are not kidding. While we do love good food, we are no Bakasuras. Out of the thirty items, we managed to sample a lot by picking small quantities.

Here is our take on Szechuan's Buffet:

Szechuan Chicken, Pork and Shrimp Items

Szechuan Roll - Hot temperature wise and stuffed with meat filling. We dabbed a bit of Red Chilly sauce and finished the single cut piece we picked. Egg roll with shrimp was also available but we did not try it.

Szechuan Roll (top left), Fried Scallop (top right)
Sweet & Sour Pork (bottom), Pepper Pork (center)
Bourbon Chicken (top) Rice Noodles (left)
Crispy Spicy Chicken (right)
Fried Scallop - Crispy and no complaints folks.
Sweet and Sour Pork - Good with the red chilli sauce.
Pepper Pork - With Green and Red Bell Pepper vegetables Pepper Pork was a tasty delight.
Grilled Bourbon Chicken - Chicken was tender and it was visually so attractive that we could not resist a medium-sized serving.
Crispy Spicy Chicken - True to its name, Chicken was crisp and reasonably spicy. Though not Indian spicy.
Steamed Dumplings - Steamed Dumplings by themselves were alright but what added allure to this humble appetizer was the accompanying tangy Dumpling sauce. The thin watery Dumpling sauce with Soy and ginger ingredients was delicious and enhanced the taste of steamed dumpling. The sauce was so good that we took a second helping and relished it like the Indian Rasam.

Steamed Dumpling (top left)
Veg. Fried Rice (bottom left)
General Tsao Chicken (left), Fried Shrimp (right),
Jasmine Rice (center)
Eggplant with Chicken and Garlic Sauce - Garlic sauce seeped well into the Eggplant and Chicken turning it into a delicious item.
General Tso Chicken - Set in a thick sauce with red chillies. Hoping to give a treat to our spice hardened Indian palates, we took a bite of one of the Chillies. While it was yummy with all the marination, the red chilli was too hot even for us and had us gasping for water.
Fried Shrimp with Broccoli - Set in a creamy sauce and a dab of snow peas, Fried Shrimp with Broccoli found favor with our taste buds.

Vegetarian and Egg based Items

Hot and Sour Soup was hot temperature wise and not as sour as we expected it to be. It included Tofu, grated Carrot and Green Onion.

Hot and Sour Veg Soup
Scallion Pancakes (left) Rice Noodles (right)
Ribbon Noodles were crisp and we enjoyed them with Duck sauce and Red Chilly Sauce.
Scallion Pancakes - Hot temperature wise, yummy taste wise with chopped Green Onions in the middle. We daubed Red Chilli Sauce on top and enjoyed it thoroughly. To our Indian eyes and tastebuds the Scallion Pancake was a thicker version of the South Indian delight Akki Roti with Green Onion stuffing.
Jasmine Rice - Was hot temperature wise and had a freshly prepared texture. We used it as a side dish for many of the entrees.
Vegetable Rice Noodles - Thin rice noodles cooked to perfection with grated Carrots and Snow Peas. We added a dab of Red Chilli sauce and enjoyed it thoroughly.
Vegetable Fried Rice was delicious with diced Carrots, Green Peas and scrambled Egg.

Sauted Beans, Veg. Lo Mein
Hot Black Tea
Vegetable Lo Mein with grated Carrots and Beans too found favor with us.
Sauted String Beans with Onion and Garlic seasoning was tasty but a bit oily.

Beverages - Tea
Black Tea came piping hot in a steel kettle and remained hot until we finished our meal. We kept sipping tea while gorging on various items from the buffet station.

Szechuan - Desserts

Desserts at Szechuan Restaurant are a combination of cut fruits, Jelly, Donut, Cookies and Ice Cream.

Cut Fruit Desserts

Pineapple Pieces - Very sweet and at room temperature. Pineapple was so sweet we treated ourselves to a second helping.

Donut, Cookies, Coconut Pastry,
Jelly, Diced Pineapple
Sliced Orange, Melon, Papaya, Pineapple
Cut Orange Slices - Yet another sweetish delicacy. It was so fresh that we could not resist scraping it till the skin came into our mouth.
Melon - Not as sweet as Pineapple and Orange but was still good.
Ditto with diced Papaya fruit.

Szechuan - Pastries, Cookies, Ice cream and Jelly

Jelly was alright.
Cookies had a slight chemical taste but was still flavorful.
Donut did not endear itself to our tastebuds one bit.
Coconut Pastry was delicious.

Chocolate Vanilla Ice cream
Chocolate, Vanilla Ice Cream was from the Ice Cream machine and just OK.

Szechuan Restaurant Service - Mixed Bag

Besides the $7.45, 30-Item Bargain Lunch Buffet what we liked at Szechuan Restaurant was the friendly demeanor of waitstaff toward paying customers.

Water glasses were refilled and used plates removed promptly.

The staff kept replenishing the items on the buffet station. Names and ingredients of each of the dishes were explained. More importantly the waitstaff displayed a smiling, cheerful face unlike the mourning face sported by waiters at most Indian restaurants. The silver - two spoons and forks - was neatly placed on top of the Chinese Zodiac paper table mats.

The buffet station has even large notices requesting the diners to use fresh plates for each visit and a request not to waste food.

But no restaurant is perfect and there's always a service snafu or two.

While we enjoyed the food and prompt service we did not like the middle aged waitress nibbling on the Scallion Pan Cake and moving around the dining hall. Also, the same waitress never informed us that Hot Tea is at an extra charge and not part of Buffet. Sure the kettle of Hot Tea was only a buck but we would like to be informed beforehand that it's outside the buffet price.

Szechuan Restaurant Wilmington - DelawareIndia.com Rating

Price Range - $7.45 30-item bargain lunch buffet
Food Taste - Good with plenty of fibre and Vegetables
Serving Size - All you can eat buffet
Service - Overall polite
Pure Vegetarians - Check with the staff about pure Vegetarian dishes

Notwithstanding the minor irritation over service issues, we recommend Szechuan Restaurant on Rt 2 West in Wilmington DE for its $7.45, 30-item Bargain Lunch Buffet.

Sure, the number of items on the buffet may be overwhelming but you can pick and chose items from a wide spread of appetizers, entrees and desserts.

Our suggestion to Vegetarians is to check with the staff about meat-less and egg-less items.

As for us, we can't wait to return to Szechuan Garden to gorge on the Scallion Pancakes, Cut Fruit desserts and other delights. - © DelawareIndia.com