Ruiji Szechuan Cuisine

So good and so hot. First time and definitely not the last. Toothpick lamb was amazing

THIS IS THE BEST SICHUAN CUISINE RESTAURANT EVER!!!! We love Malatang so obviously we fell in love with Sichuan cuisine. There are a couple of Sichuan restaurants around the town that are quite famous. BUT we found this gem just yesterday and COULD NOT BELIEVE WE DID NOT TRY EARLIER! You can tell that this place is good just by looking at who are eating in this joint: old Chinese folks. When your old fams of your food origin is eating your food like it’s nothing, you KNOW it’s good hahaha yes, not a pretty photos but we could not wait to try and DID NOT DISAPPOINT!!!

Who doesn’t love a bit of mouth numbing watery-ness? After living in Shanghai for years and being married to a Chinese man, it’s safe to say, I love Chinese food! We discovered this gem at a previous location in Garden Grove, and we instantly fell in love. The food will make you shout and the price point will make you shout even louder. Unfortunately, that location closed down so we had been waiting for an occasion to come up to Lomita from Orange County. We came up for our anniversary and it was worth every cent and mile. Taste: While I lived in Shanghai, I probably didn’t have the most authentic Sichuan cuisine, but for sake of argument, it was close enough. There is something about the 麻 (numbing) of peppercorns mixed with the heat of chilis. There are definitely dishes I like more than others, but I can’t say there was one bad choice on our table. Everything was simply amazing. Mushrooms, heat, 魔芋 (sorry, I don’t know how to say this in English), flavor, meat, and everything that came out of their kitchen was fire. Price: At first glance, each dish seems kind of expensive. Once they’re served, you’ll know you’ll be eating for days. We have a tendency to over-order, so that meant lunch for us and our daughter the next day. We spent around $60-$70 for our meal. For authentic Sichuan cuisine, I didn’t feel this was all that bad. Again, this gave us leftovers that we happily garbled down the next day. So we’ll worth the cost. Recommendations: 口水鸡 - mouth watering chicken (can’t remember how they translated it on the menu) 干果菌类 - dry pot assorted mushrooms (Anything dry pot is amazing - I also like it with frog) 水煮鱼 - boiled fish in chili oil (by far my favorite anywhere I go) Other recommendations (didn’t have this time): 麻婆豆腐 - tofu in a pork chili sauce 干煸四季豆 - basically green beans (a big fav of mine) 牙签羊肉 - the best lamb you’ll ever have 孜然羊肉 - more lamb you’ll love but with cumin 泡椒木耳 - wood ear mushroom is rubbery but filled with collagen for beautiful skin lol - also good for vegetarians I could go on and on, but if you’re looking to venture outside of your typical Panda Express repertoire this is the place to go!

Very delicious food and great restaurant.