We came in not totally sure what to expect, especially since my parents can't handle spicy food. Even though Shang Cafe is known for its Sichuan heat, we stuck to non‑spicy dishes, and honestly, most of what we tried was good. The flavors were clean, balanced, and still interesting without relying on chili oil or peppercorns. It was nice to see that they don't treat "non‑spicy" as "boring." Service was attentive the whole time -- staff checked in often, made sure my parents were comfortable with the dishes, and helped us pick items that fit their spice tolerance. Because of that, the 18% service fee didn't bother me at all. It felt justified, and the team genuinely earned it. You can definitely feel the connection to Ping Bistro: similar quality, similar care, just with Shang Cafe leaning more into Sichuan identity. Portions were decent, and the food came out quickly. read more

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This place is super good place if you like spicy food. For me, I am not that into spicy food, so food is okay, we ordered Mala/Numbing and Spicy chicken, Stir-fried Chinese Bacon with Leeks， and Steamed Beef & Green Peas with Glutinous Rice Flour, I like the 2nd one most, other two depends on your spicy tolerance. The mala chicken will make your tongue numbing for sure, always intrigued by this feeling. In terms of serving time, there are quite a bit of crowd in front of us, so be prepared during weekend. read more

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This place has a crazy extensive menu! It ranged from multiple spicy noodle soups, stir frys, cold dishes, small bites, you name it! I had the Garlic pea sprouts - Delicious, simple yet delicious and addicting. I don't know how they cooked it but each bite was so full of flavor, crunch, oil, and pure euphoric joy on the taste buds that I wouldn't mind eating this for the rest of my life. Sichuan Style beef noodle soup- Very hearty, full of beef slices and the noodles were very al dente and chewy. The spicy wasn't overly spicy but it had the classic Sichuan numbing spice. Beef was also tender as well. I highly recommend this noodle soup! read more

3.5/5 This used to be my favorite go-to spot for Sechuan boiled fish soup with the numbing peppers. Tried it several times over the last 1 year and the quantity of fish has only been dwindling. There's barely any now and for $39 it's a bit unreasonable. It's mostly broth with some mushrooms and peppers, barely enough for one person unless you can fill up on the broth. Used to love some of the other entrees here too like their Dan Dan noodles, mapo tofu but haven't tried them recently. For the price, the food doesn't stand out anymore with other better priced, comparable options in East Bay. Service is courteous and efficient. Ordering is through a QR code. Ambience is casual dinning. read more

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Great Sichuan dishes at Shang Cafe. The House Special Spicy Chicken, Signature Rattan Pepper Fish (Snakehead Fillets), Braised Pork Ribs with Potato, Stir-Fried Shredded Cabbage, Stir-Fried Minced Meat with Wild Bamboo Shoots, and Cranberry Ciba Iced Jelly were all nice. read more

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Highly recommend the poached beef combo in green -- the numbing spice is just the right amount and the bowl comes with a generous variety of tasty side dishes alongside the tender beef!! The noodle soup with fried bean and meat was a bit light on the minced meat, but the noodles themselves were perfectly chewy!! read more

Shang Cafe - Chinese Near Me - Fremont, California

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Located in a busy plaza with so many good food options! This place differs from the rest because of the cozy, homey feel. Each dish was packed with flavor and each had its own personality. I really enjoyed the bamboo shoots! It was crunchy and fresh. The pork was amazing with rice. The fish soup had tofu noodles which added great texture and was super yummy. Highly recommend trying this place out but beware - if you can't handle spice, you should ask for mild! read more

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Many of my friends recommended this restaurant, so I decided to give it a try after our 9-mile hike at Lake Chabot! We ordered Chicken in Red Oil Sauce, Noodles with pickled Pepper Chicken Gizzards, and Chef's Special Boiled Fish Fillet in Green Peppers Soup. My favorite dish was the Noodles with Pickled Pepper Chicken Gizzards, which is packed with flavor, the noodles are chewy, and the sauce is spicy! My second favorite dish was the Chef's Special Boiled Fish Fillet in Green Peppers Soup, which was thinly sliced fish simmered in a broth infused with green Sichuan peppercorns, chilies, and other spices. You will have a numbing sensation aftertaste, but it was not as spicy as the Noodles with Pickled Pepper Chicken Gizzards. read more

Shang Cafe - Noodles with Pickled Pepper Chicken Gizzards - Chinese Near Me - Fremont, California

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House special spicy chicken辣子鸡 had so little chicken, flavor was good but the meat was so tiny. Not worth $26. 鸡丁又小又少。 spicy noodles with boiled beef&green双椒牛肉面 WAYYYY too spicy even after ordering mild spicy. The noodle's red chili sauce of death was actually inedible, which was a shame because otherwise the flavor was good. 真的太辣了。 read more

Shang Cafe - House special spicy chicken - Chinese Near Me - Fremont, California

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Short Story: Wow, this place is spicy! Long Story: I've been here several times over the years whenever I'm really in the mood for spicy Chinese food. They have an expansive menu including my favorite: sliced beef combination in spicy sauce. This dish is like no other. It has minced garlic, ginger, peppers, scallions, spicy oil sauce, and of course sliced beef. You can eat this alone but normally you pair it with rice and lots of iced water :). This dish definitely works on a cold and rainy day. The service here is good and the restaurant is always busy. You can order ahead to go as I usually do. Verdict: I'm definitely going back! read more

Only a 5 minutes drive from home, tucked in one of our local and fave plazas, we discovered Shang Cafe! Small restaurant, but plenty of seating and clean! Not too long of a wait! Highly recommend reservations! Known for their spicy noodle dishes, the food was both delicious and served in fairly large portions. For the typical spicy food lover, the spicy noodles are perfect, but for people like me and my family... prob not! The noodles were so spicy it made our tongues numb! Yikes, spent most of dinner drinking tons of water because of that lol! But outside of the spicy noodles, we absolutely enjoyed their string bean and pork options, and their yummy beef with turnip! Wow so good! Definitely come give this place a try! Service is also top tier! read more

Shang Cafe - Chinese Near Me - Fremont, California

Deceiving mal-business practices at this Chinese restaurant: 1. Fixed imposed 18% tip, even with small parties of two. Significant delays and wait times for closing the bills and miscellaneous asks. They are significantly under-staff. We customers had to grudgingly pay the 18% tips, with the bad customer service. 2. Deceiving told us to order the food ahead, even when the table is not ready (maybe for the same before mentioned reasons). We had to wait additional 20 mins after preorder food, and before table is ready. We could have gone somewhere else. They should be reported to the authorities! 3. Food is fair in-line with its relatively higher prices. Could find similar food at similar prices in the area. 4. Restaurant is small; they make more spaces by putting up portable and foldable plastic tables and chairs outside the restaurants; those furniture could be purchased from nearby Costco. Feels like an Asian street food atmosphere even while paying the relatively higher prices and fixed tips for the food. read more

Ordered for delivery via DoorDash. Unfortunately our group was so hungry I forgot to take a picture before everyone dug in! Pretty standard Chinese food. Overall, everything was pretty good! Not too spicy for someone with weak tolerance for spice like me. Very flavorful across the board when it came to the different dishes we ordered. Fuqi Feipian was probably my favorite along with the eggplant dish. The soup with the fish was so flavorful that there were folks in my party who drank a lot of it! Some dishes like the mapo tofu and the pork belly dish felt like something was missing and could've been more flavorful. read more

Shang Cafe - The spread: Dug in before I could take a picture! - Chinese Near Me - Fremont, California

Randomly stopped by this restaurant while in the area. Pretty good! 3.5 rounded up. This restaurant specializes in sichuan food. It is located in a plaza filled with other restaurants, and parking is always difficult during main eating hours - be forewarned! Interior is fairly nondescript modern with touches of Asian flair. Service is brisk and neither friendly nor unfriendly. We ordered pork belly strips with green onion, liang mian (cold noodle), braised beef & daikon, mapo tofu, and pig feet soup. The pork belly with green onion was by far my favorite dish. It had a perfect balance of umami flavors with the sichuan peppers, which wasn't too overwhelming. My husband's favorite was the liang mian, but I wasn't as much of a fan - it was just normal to me. The braised beef & daikon dish and also the mpo tofu dish was only okay to both of us, neither here nor there. Pig feet soup was surprisingly good! Not my favorite dish of the meal, but heart warming and rich. I would recommend for those looking specifically for a sichuan meal, but not sure if I'd come back here unless that was what I was looking for. read more

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We came here for lunch, ordered our food, and while we wait for the food the following happened: "Hey, is that a cockroach running around in the floor?" I asked my wife? She looked, "yes". We told the waiter and he killed it quickly with a napkin and walked away... Now, both my wife and I are nervous. Is this place clean? Do they sanitize their kitchen daily? Now I'm looking everywhere in the restaurant nervously...I mean the food ain't cheap here... "OMG, here's another one!" my wife told me. "Yup, it sure is" I responded to her as it moved between our table and the table next to ours. A waiter came and killed it as well. After a second time, I told the waiter we would like our order cancelled and he said they have been battling this issue for the past month. Wait, what? A MONTH? Shouldn't they close the restaurant and clean this place COMPLETELY? You know the drill, if you see a cockroach, chances are that there's probably a swarm somewhere. The question then becomes, how many swarms? Yea, this stuff gets dark very quickly. We left as quick as we can. If you do choose to eat here, eat at your own risk....eww.... :( No, I won't be back and neither should you. read more

I ordered 3 dishes and they were all delicious. The service was fast and the server was very helpful because my daughter doesn't like too spicy food so she recommended less spicy choices and the iPad had a whole selection to change the flavoring, salt and oil level as well. I would give it 4 stars for the food but it was quite pricey, dishes were not abundant and gratuity was added automatically for even 3 people. read more

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Stopped by for brunch before heading to the mall and it was pleasantly not busy for a Saturday afternoon. Shang Cafe is a spicy Chinese spot and it's conveniently found in auto mall parkway with other tasty foods. So expect it to be busy with not a ton of parking. We ordered the chicken paw chili dish, the spicy pork, and a regular fried rice. Everything came out hot and spicy which is something we quite enjoy. The service was super nice too, making sure we ordered the correct items, refilled our waters, and made sure we got napkins. It seems like they change their menus often too as the street food options changed the last time we were here. Overall, Shang cafe is the spot for spicy food here in Fremont. Highly recommend for some tasty eats, super chill spot, and excellent service. read more

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Shang consistently offers good Chinese food with great services. Please expect to get in waiting lines on weekends. The latest stair fried shredded pork with garlic stems 蒜苔炒肉丝 really hits the spot. If you enjoy authentic Chinese food, you need to give it a try! read more

Shang Cafe - Chinese Near Me - Fremont, California

My cousin recommended this place for a family get together and it was the first time I had been here. Its a neat and clean environment inside but a tad small so it fills up fast but there is some limited seating outside as well. Seems to be pretty popular so try to go during off time to avoid long wait time. There is a large number of menu items so the variety is a big plus for me. Most of the menu is numbing sichuan peppercorn items which I enjoy but there are enough non spicy menu items for parties with varying palettes. Myself I love the flavor so normally I would try a couple standards such as mapo tofu, dandan noodles or boiled fish fillet but since family wanted to try some non-standard dishes I ended up ordering the twice cooked pork belly and it was absolutely amazing! The variety of other dishes our family ordered were all equally amazing as well and every single dish had amazing wok hei flavor so they are definitely cooking it right with the intense heat back in the kitchen. Others ordered some standard dishes such as the dandan noodles, soy sauce fried rice and steamed pork belly with preserved vegetables, a dish I usually am not a big fan of but its very flavorful here. I am also not a fan of cold dishes usually but the ones I have tried here so far are so amazingly crunchy and flavorful I may start to become a fan! Great options would be the Lettuce Stem salad with sichuan peppers and saliva chicken. I am usually a huge meat eater but this place had some of the most amazing stir fry vegetable dishes I have had so I have gone back twice more on my own just to get those and sample more veggie dishes. Top recommendations would be the stir fry cabbage with pork, shredded pork and green pepper, tender tips of bamboo shoots with minced pork and the cauliflower with pork. For meat lovers the Spicy Crispy Pork Ribs with Chili is simply amazing and not too spicy but you can dip your pork int he spicy garlic pepper crumble to added heat. Bottom line I have been here 4 times now and keep wanting to try the more famous dishes like the Boiled Fish specialty and Noodle soup dishes but I keep ordering my top dishes as they are too good to pass up! Give it a shot its worth the wait. Also each rice order is HUGE enough for two people so keep that in mind. Amazing authentic cuisine here folks so dont miss out! read more

Good if you are not going for super spicy. Great for kids to try out spicy food for theirs is around medium to low without asking them to tailor spicy level. For me, spice is ok but prefer more numbing. Service is fast but they won't seat you without your full party even the place is half empty, nope you sit outside until all your friends are here even you might want to order appetizers or eat first. read more

I used to be a loyal customer here, but over time many of my favorite dishes have quietly disappeared from the menu. At the same time, prices keep going up. Since I'm not really a noodle person, the current menu just doesn't appeal to me as much anymore... read more

I would literally give this place 0 stars if I could. I got food poisoning from here and I've been throwing up all weekend. They need a health inspection or something because I see other people saying this happened to them too. Do not come here. read more

Hands down my fav restaurant in the Bay. I've heard good things about this place from my boyfriend and have been wanting to try it for so long and it actually exceeded my expectations. Normally when I hear good things about a restaurant, it never reaches my expectations, so that says a lot about this place. Their fish with pickled vegetables was the best that I have ever had. The chongqing chicken.. flavor was good but the pieces of chicken are so small and hard to find. We also got the twice cooked pork and the cauliflower. Service is okay, I feel like they treated us better since we were Chinese (typical in Chinese restaurants). I read a lot of reviews that said they felt sick or got food poisoning after and lowkey my stomach did hurt after the meal. But it was worth it, i'll be back! read more

Shang Cafe - Chinese Near Me - Fremont, California

Excellent food that have different flavor profiles even when they are all spicy. We typically order to go and this time we were able to dine in and it's so much better! You get the nice presentation with dishes on top of flaming stands for the tofu and fried intestines. It feels like you get more food at the restaurant than to go as well. We came at dinner opening to grab a table and scanned the qr code at the table to start ordering. The waitress will come by to confirm your order and provide extra napkins. A water pitcher is available on the table. It's so hard to pick which dishes we liked best because they are all unique and taste so good. None of the spicy dishes were overpoweringly spicy but you do feel the numbing spicy slowly creep up as you keep eating. We got great contrasting dishes with the fried intestines opposite the intestines in the soup. The maoxuewang has a bunch of other items in it like fish, veggies, beef tripe, quail eggs and more. The mapo Tofu with pig brains has a silky soft and thicker quality than the soup based dish. Highly recommend! read more

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We ate here and ended up having a ton of leftovers. The servers took the food to pack it up for us in the back, and when we took a look at home, not only was there less than half of the original dish actually put into the takeout containers, they also took what looked like most of the meat from the meat & veggie dishes. Seems like the restaurant is taking part of your leftovers! But it's what they might be doing with it that scares me. Might they be serving our leftovers again to other customers? Not sure! Guess we'll never know, and we'll never be back again. read more

Very overdue review! I would highly recommend this place if you love spicy Sichuan food. Everything from here is delicious and similar to Pings Bistro in Fremont but more casual. I do recommend getting their one of their drinks to help balance out the spicy flavors while eating (and it's refreshing). It's located on one of the side plazas in the Pacific Commons area so there's plenty of parking but it can be quite busy in this area. Looking forward to coming back again! read more

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The only problem with this place is that I have to order at least two servings of fried pork intestines--they're so good I need my own and can't share with anyone. Perfectly crispy with classic seasonings, this dish is consistently done right at Shang Cafe. Order with rice and the eggplant, you won't regret it. read more

The food was alright, we had a few good dishes and a few misses. Overall service was good, got our water refills and the food came out quick! The restaurant was pretty packed, but we didn't have to wait too long to be seated either. Parking in that lot can be quite hectic on weekends though, there's a lot of restaurants sharing that one parking lot I would recommend the Sichuan cold noodles, really good flavor and a good take on the dish! I also really liked the braised pork belly over preserved vegetables. Super yummy, the pork belly was melt in your mouth tender. The chef's special boiled fish with green chilis was VERY NUMBING. It had our lips numb and coughing a bit, different different from the normal 水煮鱼 I'm used to, not bad just the flavor isn't vert strong. The twice cooked pork was a miss for me, the pork was tough and the dish didn't have any leeks in it which I think is an essential part. Overall a decent spot, but if you're looking for Sichuan food I would suggest somewhere else read more

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The steamed pork belly with preserved vegetables and sautéed sponge gourd were excellent. The boiled spicy beef was okay. Personally, I prefer more thinly sliced beef. Overall, a very satisfying meal and I look forward to trying more dishes next time. read more

Shang Cafe - Steamed pork belly with preserved vegetables - Chinese Near Me - Fremont, California

Every time I'm at the asian plaza at Pac Commons, there is a wait to eat at Shang Cafe. Now I know why. We got in early so no wait for us! We ordered the braised pork belly. It was fantastic. So tender and packed with flavor. Higly recommend! We also ordered the Beef with Chilli Oil. It was a tad too oily but had good flavor and a lot of spice. Lastly we got the Steam Egg with Minced Pork. It was like savory flan. So light, fluffy and delicious. Also highly recommend. By the time we finished lunch, there was quite the wait. Definitely would go again. read more

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The spice and flavors of the dishes are on point! This place gets packed! We waited about 30 mins for a Saturday dinner but the food was so good, it was worth it! We ordered while we were waiting and once we were seated, our dishes came pretty quickly. The portions are big, my husband and I were stuffed and had left overs to go. Can't wait to come back to try more dishes! read more

Shang Cafe - Fish fillet in green pepper soup - Chinese Near Me - Fremont, California

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Great food, great service. I almost never give 5 stars to restaurants but don't have much to pick on this one except waited half an hour. Food - typical Sichuan spicy food but had a bit extra to it that made it extra delightful. The signature chicken dish is one of such, it's a big platter really. The steamed pork was so so though. Desert was excellent, sweet and a bit heavy but pleasure on the taste buds. Beef was good quality though would like to have more than the amount they gave. Service wise I usually don't ask for much, but giving us a bigger table is good. Also gave a full bowl of rice, I don't ask much but so notice extra things they do. Interestingly the General Pot next door also won me over with this little extra, I don't really care that both aren't my top pick for great food, but I was happy and that counted the most. read more

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This is my absolute favorite restaurant in the Bay Area. If you like spicy and numbing spice food with actual Solid flavors- this place is hands down the best I've ever been to in America. I've had my fair share of good spicy food growing up in 626 and also traveling throughout Asia. Despite this, I would still default this place to my top favorites. The service and value is good here. We always order more and take home the saucy dishes to make extra dishes at home!! Every single thing I've ordered is amazing. My go to must orders every time is the boiled poach beef, century egg and spicy chicken. You won't regret it!!! Unless you can't take the spice :) read more

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First time trying this restaurant and it did not disappoint. Every dish that I tried, minus the beef, lamb, and pork were good. I feel like each dish share the same base but slightly altered. My favorite has to be the fish soup. So spicy and numbing but so good. I like that they add so much fresh chilis lol. These dishes definitely need to be paired with rice, unless you have a salty palate then you'll be fine. I find it slightly on the saltier side but very good with rice/noodles. This restaurant is in between tamper room and cafe Mei. Decent size and gets very busy during dinner time. I'd like to return to try other items even tho it felt like we ordered almost everything. read more

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We loved this place. We saw a huge crowd inside and decided to try it. Ordered the tomato and egg soup and a fish with pickled cabbage soup. Both were unique and very delicious. The fish was done just right. The staff was friendly and prompt. The place was clean. The servings were pretty large. We will definitely go again to try other dishes. read more

Shang Cafe - Fish and pickled cabbage soup - Chinese Near Me - Fremont, California

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Good, service and amazing (spicy) food! Five stars for the fried chicken paw, fish, pickle and cabbage soup, and lettuce stems. Highly recommend all dishes if you are a fan of spice. Heads up: the soup is very numbing! read more

Shang Cafe - chicken paw - Chinese Near Me - Fremont, California

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Went to Shang Cafe for lunch on weekdays and all the tables were fully booked! Didn't wait long for the food. Very nice ambiance for lunch and dinner with friends. Must ordered Chef's special boiled fish fillet in green peppers soup! It wasn't too spicy! A lot of fish! Nice and tender! Love the flavour! Also loved twice-cooked pork with leeks! Very flavourful! Stir-fried cabbage with pork is also a bomb! The smoke smell of the cabbage really enhanced the pork! Also loved house spicy chicken. Although, it was a bit hard to find the chicken since the meat was a bit small. read more

Shang Cafe - Food - Chinese Near Me - Fremont, California

Decided to try out this place after noticing this whole section of Pacific Commons changed. The restaurant churn rate is really high here which is quite sad but I was optimistic about this place because there seemed to be a lot of customers. Turns out that the food was extremely salty and the dishes were just okay. - Dan-Dan Noodles - I did like this dish a little bit better out of the two that we got but it's pretty salty and spicy. The flavor itself though was pretty good with its minced pork and pickled vegetables balancing out the noodles. I wish though that the portion sizes were a bit bigger. - Stir-Fried Shredded Cabbage with Pork - The flavors of the dish was pretty good but it was way too salty. The cabbage soaked too much of the soy sauce so it was really difficult to eat it without a ton of rice. Also, I wasn't a bit fan of the pickled carrots and radish on the side, the flavor profile wasn't something I was familiar with. Overall, okay experience. I would just say it's a bit too salty for my taste, so next time I come, I will probably ask for less salt. read more

Shang Cafe - Dan Dan Noodles - Chinese Near Me - Fremont, California

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We often passed this restaurant and decided to try it on Saturday. We arrived at 11am and promptly seated. It became more crowded at lunch time at noon. We ordered wonton in spicy sauce, dan dan noodle (not spicy version) & spicy noodle. The foos came out pretty fast. Me and hubby love the spicy wonton. It had mala/numbing pepper in the sauce. The noodle was firm round noodle which we like. Me & hubby likes both noodle. I knocked down one star as the price was a bit expensive for the portion we got. The restaurant is located in the same complex as TJMaxx / Home Goods. It has ample parking but was pretty crowded during weekend & lunch time. read more

Shang Cafe - Spicy noodle - Chinese Near Me - Fremont, California

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If you like spicy food then this restaurant is perfect for you! I can't really handle spice that well so I was burning up from the spicy flavors, and the spicy dishes also had a numbing effect on me. - Dan-Dan Noodles: Noodles are really spicy and flavorful but after a few bites; I can't really taste anything because of the numbing from the mala sauce. - Sliced Beef Combination in Spicy Sauce: This is a cold dish, it was a little bit salty, and the flavors are similar to the Dan-Dan Noodles but less spicy. - Spicy Wontons in Red Chili Oil: The wontons also have the spicy mala sauce but it wasn't as spicy compared to the other dishes because of some sweetness in the sauce (which I enjoyed). - Stir-Fried Asparagus Lettuce: The vegetables had a slimy texture to it but it tastes great because it was not too salty, and it was great for cleansing my mouth from all the spicy food. Overall the food is great but just not for me because I can't handle the spice, and the service was mediocre. read more

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