Grand Sichuan Intl Inc

I've had 3 meals in the dining room of Grand Sichuan, and ordered delivery once. Fine as the food has been (I do like the well-known soup dumplings), the service has been the RUDEST I've had anywhere. Servers expect you to order immediately, don't appreciate add-ons, and act as though there is a minimum order. Our delivery person complained about our 5-floor walk-up (sorry, that's part of the job), and took his 20%+ tip with a sneer. Well, it does feel like being in China, anyway. Be warned.

It's all about the Fresh Chicken and the Soup Dumplings - complain all you want about the other dishes, but those two alone will have me coming back time and time again to this no-frills no-nonsense eatery that has to be the best Szechuan this side of Spicy and Tasty out in Flushing. Make sure you find the Fresh Chicken section, and you will know how fresh a chicken can taste.

I studied abroad in Beijing last spring for 5 months and I would describe this restaurant as between "american chinese" food and authentic chinese food. They speak mandarin, not cantonese, so I could practice the language.

Also, to explain the confusion about the restaurant being closed: there were two locations both on 9th ave (one between 50th and 51st and a second at 24th) and the first closed sometime in the fall of 2007. The woman who answered the phone at the 24th street location told me something about a lease running out.

The Sichuan food here is good, suitble for most customers, even Chinese torist groups who enjoy eating here. However, the restaurant is still open and why city search marks it "close?"

Went there for dinner Friday night and ordered a few traditional Sichuan dishes. First were two appetizers - spicy beef & tripes; sliced conch w/hot oil. The sliced beef was tough (should be tender) and the dish was too salty. The conch on the other hand was superbly bland! Then the three entrees we had: Chicken w/chili pepper; spicy "water" cooked fish; string beans. The string beans were okay, hard to go wrong there. The chicken again was overly salty but otherwise was okay.

The fish was the dish we went for and was the dish we were most disppointed in. It was totally cooked the wrong way. As the waitress put it down on the table, we all looked in awed and she was quick to say this is "how we do it here." I said this is not how it's cooked [authentically] and you should've told us when we ordered [in Chinese]. She said "I don't know what kind you had before" but yet she was quick to tell us that this is how THEY do this dish! It was as if we ordered a beef stew and was presented with chunks of burger patties [no sauce] instead. A total disappointment.

I had the same dish at the sichuan restaurant on St. Mark's in June and it was made the authentic way.