Shota Sushi & Grill

Flip past the standard offerings and head straight to the wild side menu. I was so pleased to find my favorites here and even tried "strange flavor tripe" which was fantastic and not strange tasting at all. The Ma Po Tofu was smoky and spicy with perfect cubes of delicate tofu, the Chong Quing (chicken with dried chilies and green beans)- very very close to how I had it in Beijing, and the Kung Pao Chicken Sichuan Style had plenty of numbing peppercorns. I wish I lived closer, this place had me a little less homesick for good chinese food.

I had high hopes when seeing many tables of asian customers dining . However, upon arriving home, discovered that the Cashew Chicken I had ordered did not contain any fresh vegetables. It was clearly made using frozen vegetable medly (corn/peas/carrrot cubes) commonly found at the grocery store. The chicken was deep fried and overcooked and there was not much left of the frozen vegetables after cooking. The Seasme Chicken was also heavily breaded and overcooked which resulted in more breading than meat. The potstickers were ordered steamed however, were simply soggy..

My wife and I ate there on Christmas night after searching all over Bellevue for an open restaurant. We both love spicy food and were a little concerned when we read the review which is posted in their lobby. The review said the food was good, but the spiciness was more Seattle and less sichuan. I think the owners took that review to heart because our food was definitely more sichuan and less Seattle. We ordered the Fire fish, Buddha's Chicken(excellent vegetarian option), General's Prawns and spicy cucumbers. We asked the waitress for sichaun spiciness and not Seattle spiciness and we weren't disappointed. All dishes were excellent and full of flavor. The General's prawns were the best we've ever had anywhere and the Fire fish was incredible, though it was big enough for 4 people.
There was a lot of oil in all of the dishes but we expected it since that's where a lot of the flavor is concentrated.
Our only complaint was the service. They only had 3 people serving the whole restaurant and so we had to wait a bit. This may have been due to the fact that is was Christmas night, but we are patient anyway so didn't mind the wait. We will definitely be eating there again

Some of the dishes are good, but some are literally swimming in oil. The service was absolutely awful. You have to flag down the servers to get any attention. This restaurant will survive only because the dishes are cheap (< $15.00), however the Bellevue residents will not tolerate the pathetic and rude service. Oh God, it was a really terrible service. If you want to spoil your time, come to this restaurant. You'll end up being ticked when you leave.

If you like Sichaun cuisine, try Bamboo Garden in downtown Bellevue! They also have delicious non-spicy dishes if you don't like to take a "walk on the wild side"(spicy food). Its Asian inspired decor is very intimate & well done.