Review Taste Of Szechuan - Auckland

Recently visited Take A Bao in Albany and it's evident they've invested time in their restaurant design. The ambiance is enhanced by thoughtful decoration. Service is delightful, with every waitress and even the boss engaging in friendly chats as they pass by our table. While some dishes were slightly salty, they paired well with the beers. Overall, it is a pleasant dining experience.

This is a great little Chinese eatery hidden away from the main Albany centre. The restaurant atmosphere is lovely and clean. The food not only presented well but also very tasty. A definite plus is that they meals are all MSG free, which is a plus to me when comes to Chinese meals. I would rate their soup dumping is probably the best I have had in Auckland. Their truffle soup dumping is a must if you happen to dining in the place.

I’d say it’s good place and food. I won’t say it’s authentic as it’s like a fusion food of east China, but they all taste great. You are expected to grab your own cutleries, bowl and dip, including the free tea at the side. Service was great, they come to you immediately after just an eye contact, ps they were busy at that time. The price was least expensive compared to surrounding restaurants. And they have English menu which saved my brain lol. Def come back to try other dishes.

Open most of the day. One of the most delicious Xiao long BAO that I've eaten. What I really liked was the soupy Xiao long BAO, noodles with stir fry spicy mince, noodles with 12 hour cooked pork belly. I think the others were great but these three dishes get my 5/5. There is tea and water you can help yourself to. Some quirky bamboo chairs that might swing back if you get up and leave your bag on it. I loved it. We went there two days in a row for lunch. I'd recommend to call and book before going. Check if any of your favorites are sold out as well. We tried different things on both days. Also, very reasonable.

Great food! Not terribly priced for what you get as well! $70 fed my wife and I and we borderline ordered too much but we managed to finish it all because it was so delicious This cuisine of Chinese food is Noodles rather than rice so only a couple of fried rice options are on the menu which wasn't bad but was definitely the least favourite of what we ordered. Food was quite fast to receive after ordering & free self serve hot tea was very nice to have. The staff and all service was very friendly, although obvious seating areas for Chinese vs non-chinese existed which was a bit funny but understandable as im sure that's a nice thing for chinese nationals to have a bit of feeling of home. Definitely look forward to eating here again 😋

Excellent food and great customer service. Tyler is so good to hold the sui lo bao for us as the stocks are limited. Very friendly staff and happy to advise the most popular foods which are so yummy. Definitely will go back again.

Delicious dumplings and guobarou😍 Make sure you tell them you want guobarou not sweet and sour pork as it has the same name!

Excellent food and service. Pretty sure coming back with friends.

Good services with good price for the food portions. Recommended the stir fried chicken with fresh pepper.

Awesome food. Very clean. Friendly staff. We will be back

Good service plus hot and nice food to make my day! Highly recommended:)

So yummy!!!

点了一个干烧鱼 厨师临时加价说菜单价格没更新 关键鱼特别不新鲜。钱已付，不会再去第二次。

These two stars only gave to the ambience. Food looked delicious but tasted awful and lacked flavour. I wondered did the chef ever tasted the dishes that he cooked? ? Did he forget to put salt?? Every dish that we ordered tasted so plain. Won’t come here anymore... overpriced and overrated. very disappointed.

Ordered Gong Bao Chicken and Hot Pot (original spicy flavour). Gong Bao was okay but the Hot Pot ruined everything. It was literally cooked in a bag of salt, and every ingredient we chose was way too salty and we ended up having less than half of what we ordered. Additionally it was way overcooked as noodles were mushy. I'm not too sure if the hot pot is supposed to be this salty (I've been to a couple of Sichuan hot pot places which were no where salty as this) but if it is, I'd avoid this place for rest of your life unless you want heart diseases.

The ambiance here is marvellous. The decorations are traditional and characteristic of period Chinese movies. There is a good selection of meat and vegetables to choose from. Although, I feel there is room for improvement in the flavouring of the Dry-Fried Hotpot.

Saw a funny thing today: two “sweet” couple came in and ordered two pots of tea without seeing the menu even if their waiter offered them but complained about the price when paying… WHY DON’T YOU READ THE NUMBERS ON THE MENU!

Probably the best Chinese restaurant I've visited so far in Auckland. It's got very positive rating among my Chinese friends but strangely low score on Zomato. Very funny and I must say people taken Zomato review must regret not been there themselves.<br/><br/>My personal experience - Loved the interior at first sight, food's amazing and staff genuinely friendly. We ordered 5 dishes, took a while but within expected time. Honestly if you are looking for freshly cooked dishes, it has to take time. (Like you can tell the difference between fish and chips cooked from different place, some took only 2 mins and give you crap food) it's not fast food, so fast is last thing to expect.<br/><br/>Food - so fresh. I can tell all the ingredients are imported, you probably cant find them in local supermarkets- really worth the value. I talked to the owner and hes explained a lot about his food and culture (you should really talk to him too!). Also bought a jar of chilly sauce , says from secret recipe from the kitchen. Tastes just as original, unlikely to find it anywhere else in Auckland.<br/><br/>Would definitely return with some other friends, and perhaps on weekdays when it's less busy.<br/><br/>

Lovely place for a casual dinner with friends. The dishes are all well prepared and really delicious! Sweet and sour chicken is my favourite!😊

The decoration of the restaurant is very classical and exquisite. The restaurant features sichuan cuisine, all of which are derived from sichuan, China. In addition, the restaurant also has some Shanghai dishes, which are not spicy and can be served to children.

nice ambience, and friendly staff, food is above average, price is not that reasonable compare to the similar place,<br/>will come back sometime with friends

We come here almost on a weekly basis, they do amazing Szechuan flavours. We love the dry fried pot. A bit expensive but you pay for the quality of ingredients.

Love the food and the ambience! My Chinese friend is a frequent and highly recommends it. I had lived in Xi'an for some years back earlier, really thrilled to be reminded the taste of the delicious noodles, dumplings and dry fried pot. $60 plus lots of tea flowing during the catch up. Great value! Owner and staff are very friendly too.

Must try - pork dumpling with chilli oil.. they were out of the world!<br/>The chicken with capsicum and red chillies was top notch . We will be back to try the hot pot sometime soon! Amazing place!<br/>Very nice wait staff too.<br/><br/>

I ordered the signal noodles with beef jerky which is soooo amazing. <br/>And I like the interior decoration style which is full of traditional Chinese culture!<br/>Will come back!

Absolutely LOVED it. The options were so diverse and were perfect for creating my own little masterpiece. The ingredients were incredibly fresh and the sauce was a spicy little winner. The ambiance was great - well decorated and really vibrant. Prices were reasonable too, considering how much food you get. Will definitely be back - thank you!!!

LOVELY！I am a huge fan of Taste of Szechuan XD !! No matter spicy dishes or non-spicy ones all make my day. The shrimp balls were crunchy. <br/>And the owner and the staff are all friendly, they are happy to help us to order and tell stories about the interior design. <br/>Anyway,I’ve recommended it to all my friends !

Probably my 10th time here already and I still recommend it! It's more popular and busier each time I return, but FOOD and SERVICE are SERIOUSLY GOOD. waiting time can be quite long although not big order, but can tell because the some previous tables ordered a lot of dishes. Staff are friendly and keep apologizing for the wait. The pots are definitely must try, same good taste as always, then the new menu added a lot more options, myself especially like the small portions of each that you can get to try out more different dishes each time (yes I could be one of those holding up in the queue - sorry!)

"The food is WORTH THE WAIT" We arrived at 17:45 reasonably early after their opening time 17:30. Only ordered three beef noodle soups and 2x lots of dumplings... took almost an hour, while others had their hotspots served before us. Offered to give us our tea for free... the wait was worth it though, just wish it didnt take so long lol. Ambience and staff are super friendly which is quite comforting. Took my parents there on a whim.. as they drive up from Wellington every so often to visit and always perfer dining in new Chinese restaurants.. suggested Taste of Sichuan and they loved it so much we are dining again tomorrow 🤭 (unsure if the staff are Sichuanese though).<br/>

We came here before the English menu was available and enjoyed our meal. we came here again with friends but left with nothing but disappointment.<br/><br/>We ordered 5 dishes, one came within reasonable time, but the 2 noodle soup dishes took more than 40 minutes. we had to ask if they've forgotten our orders but they said it was on its way. when we finally got the noodles it was extremely salty. it was as if they cooked the noodles in seawater instead of regular water. I had the same noodle before and no way was it this salty. Our final dish took almost an hour, with the chicken rock hard from over cooking.<br/><br/>It was a busy night in the restaurant but we arrived before it started to get busy. we saw people who came after us being served hot pots before our foods arrived.<br/><br/>We told the manager who offered us a discount. when we paid we realized we got 5% discount.... and was overcharged for the rice.<br/>

Food was good and it’s exactly authentic Szechuan flavor. Unfortunately, it’s price was extremely expensive. In this pricing, I think I will be able to get twice or triple amount of food at some other restaurants. Not very recommended.