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Cravings of good Chinese food and spice brought us here. Our excitement was high because it’s been recommended by fellow colleagues, Asian friends, and even brought up on several Facebook groups that this is the best Chinese cuisine there is in St Louis. When you’re too excited and fall it’s a louder thump than you think. This is the summary of Chili Spot for us.
When we walked in, there was barely any light. I understand mood lighting but heck I was looking for my glasses when I don’t even wear one. One waitress smiled at us from across the room, but the one we were assigned was rather curt and rather judgmental. She spoke no English and had zero recommendations. When we were ordering she was more in a hurry to grab our menus even before we were done placing our order. Mind you we are one hour and 45 minutes away from the restaurant closing. We found it rather odd, but since we were excited we let go of the minor/major inconvenience.
Chongqing Popcorn Chicken: A dish that certainly packed a punch of flavors. It was spicy because of the dried red chilies lending a deep, smoky flavor. The Sichuan peppercorns has a numbing sensation that is often described as "mala" in Chinese cuisine. Yes, we have had some exceptional Chinese cuisine in UAE and have heard it several times on YouTube. It certainly had its distinctive in flavor and made the dish and experience unique. The chicken was crispy as you’d expect popcorn chicken to be, but the meat was barely there. A heavy mix of cornstarch and spices but pretty low on the actual meat. The use of aromatics like ginger, garlic, and scallions was definitely appreciated.
Beef with Black Pepper: Sharp and pungent in taste, but loaded with bell peppers. Heavy use of soy sauce made the dish saltier than we anticipated. We were hoping for the beef to be stir fried, but it tasted almost boiled and lacked the juiciness and tenderness we’ve grown to enjoy in Asian cuisines. This was a miss for sure. It came out steaming hot though so wonder what went wrong.
Kung pao Chicken: Small chunks of chicken with a generous amount of peanuts. Savory, sweet, and spicy. Very fragrant, but also a lot milder than the popcorn chicken. Heavy use of the Sichuan pepper but balanced out real neat with steamed rice.
Steamed Rice: I’m not the one to be rating steamed rice because how can you go wrong with something as basic as cooking rice? Well, the rice was definitely gooey in places and really hard textured in others.
The lack of communication with the waitress along with her hurriedness kind of ruined the experience we were hoping to have. The food is good, but I’m sure if we tagged along with our Asian friends they would have better recommendations and maybe be able to get the dishes the place is known for. Definitely a place I would recommend you to visit if you know what exactly to get and with whom!
