Little Garden

The portion was GIANT here with reasonable price. Holy cow, can’t believe that it was my first time dinning here two weeks ago, food was great but we had to wait for 45 mins (there might be a big take out order coming in right before we headed in) Highly recommended to do take-out or come in early to secure a spot. Best spot for post hiking or post skiing Chinese food (yes. When you are hungry, you are ready for Little Garden)

Hole in the wall!! Went at 6:30, would recommend going earlier to avoid wait time. The service was not great, pretty slow, and the waiter was a bit rude, but the food was great! Amazing quality sichuanese food with super yummy spicy boiled fish, mapo tofu, and dry fried green beans! Very big portions for the price!!! The atmosphere was okay, not super nice inside but that’s okay - more casual dining setting.

When the first thing the waiter (is that the owners wife?) says when you enter the restaurant is “45 minute wait for the dishes” despite a half empty restaurant, you better believe she means 45 minutes. The food comes so slow (it’s a wok restaurant! If ingredients stay in a wok for more than a minute they burn!) that I’m convinced the owner walks over to Asian family mart and buys groceries to order. Anyway enough joking around, I’m sure just mise en place the entire order before rapidly firing them one after another on the wok, because once one dish arrives, the rest of them follow very quickly, such that the 45-hr wait doesn’t actually feel that long. The food is cheap, delicious, generously portioned, and hits me with nostalgia to eating Chinese family meals despite me growing up in Canada. I don’t think you can go wrong with any menu item - the mapo tofu was soft and saucy, the saliva chicken succulent, the eggplant sweet and tender - everything is boldly flavored and pairs excellently with rice. After tax and tip, the five of us spent <20$ with leftovers to spare. If you got time to spare or money to save - little garden is an amazing place.

It was Monday night so we didn’t wait too long, but it did take longer than most restaurants. The pickled long bean with smoked pork & sizzling lamb plate were flavorful and big portions, good value. Will stop by again only when they are not busy.(menu as of 2024 March)

The bao was very dry throughout. The chongqing xiaomian 重庆小面 was not authentic at all and put authenticity aside was just not a good noodle dish. Even one of the aunties who work there told us she doesn’t think it’s good. Of course she only said that after we refused to even take it home. We arrived soon after they opened at 11am, and most tables including us did not get any food until 40-50 mins later while we witnessed all the take out orders being picked up. We overheard one of the aunties asking tip from a guy who came to pickup the food, when he asked for chopsticks, claiming “it took us a lot of effort to pack these food up”. Little garden claim to be an authentic Hunan restaurant, but it is not.

The service from that 2 old ladies is HORRIBLE!!!! food is ok but the waiting is so long. Reason to give 1 star is because they did nothing but simply putting food on your table, but asked for more than 15% tip in front of your friends to embarrass you. I ended up tipping about 20% ($16) but to be honest, this is my last time eating at this restaurant. I know they don't care but still Bye bye~~!

Only 2 stars because of the HORRIBLE attitude of the server staff! I used to dine here frequently since at least as early as 2011/2012 but took a break during the pandemic. Food has always actually tasted quite good. If you go on a day with the pleasant, kind waitress, you’d get a good dining experience. However, if you run into the older lady who seems to be incapable of being nice, your experience would be completely different. Today when we walked in the door, instead of a “welcome” or a “hello”, what we got was: [rudely] “2 of you? Takes 45 minutes from time of order for food to be served. Don’t sit if you are not okay.” What the what?!!!!! If I didn’t take my Mom there specifically to try a dish her friend recommended, I would have immediately walked out the door. We went there with an expectation to have an enjoyable time, NOT TO BEG FOR FOOD! Not to be treated poorly by that rude woman! It’s sad because the terrible service completely overshadowed the hard work of the chef! The food was decent. What a shame that the serving staff didn’t care to provide a welcoming environment to its customers!

Price: 5 Taste: 5 Quality: 5 Quantity: 5 Service: 2 I really enjoyed this restaurant. I will say that it helps to understand what exactly you are getting yourself into before coming. For starters, our friends came in about 30 minutes before us (5:00 on a Saturday night) to get the table and we didn’t have any issues. They were telling us that they tried coming after 5:30 in the past and they were turned away with no hope of getting seated. If you plan to come, the food is what will set this place apart. The service is almost nonexistent, which is okay if you know going in, so temper your expectations on that front. The menu is quite a bit to digest, no pun intended. It’s extremely long with no pictures, so it helps to go with someone that knows these dishes, speaks the language, has been here before, or all of the above. Im afraid you won’t find the picture support or waiter recommendations here. We ordered 6-7 entres which was MORE than enough for our party of 6. We ordered, cauliflower veggies, chili oiled green beans, mapo tofu, pork and veggies, cumin beef, egg plant, and fish in chili oil. I think all of it was pretty good. The Szechuan flavor here (on the mapo tofu) leans slightly higher than what you’d find to be the average level of intensity at other restaurants, so if you like that, definitely give that one a go. All the meals come with hot tea beforehand, but the waters, we had to ask for. So, make sure you ask for water before all the spicy food comes out. It could save you lol. All things considered, this restaurant is an awesome spot to bring friends, break bread, and not feel like you’re unwelcome. I’d recommend this spot and I’d be open to coming back, but if I’m in the area, I might be tempted to explore other restaurants given the density of awesome cuisine in the area.