Old Town Taste

Loved this place! We ordered the tomato and egg soup, beef with dried tofu, and green beans with olive veggies — everything was super tasty. The soup was cozy and comforting, the beef was tender with great flavor, and those green beans were so good I could eat a whole plate by myself. Portions are big, prices are fair, and the staff was really nice. Definitely coming back!

We have been enjoying this amazing restaurant for many years, and drive from central Phoenix because this is the best Szechuan food in town. We love the boiled fish in oil, which is made with Szechuan peppers and has a lot of delicious Chinese vegetables. We also enjoy the Szechuan style spicy fish, which is fried with the Szechuan peppers. The green beans are great, and so are the potatoes. They’re open late too, so if you didn’t have time for dinner before the show, you can come over here after.

This is a solid Chinese restaurant. We have been coming here for years. The food is California Chinese restaurant quality, and they have great fried spicy fish as well as chicken dishes. The soups are spot on as well. We have tried the west lake beef soup and the rib and noodle soup. All taste like Chinese home cooking without all the work. This restaurant is also right next to Joe’s Italian ice. It’s a great way to cool off after some great tongue numbing Szechuan spicy cuisine. Try the golden sand corn, the stir-fried string beans, the braised tofu and orange chicken for non spicy dishes. The Szechuan pepper fish and chicken are great spicy dishes and the soups are the perfect complement to everything.

The best pork intestine you’ll ever have! Perfect combo of crispy and chewy, not to mention the garlic mushroom chicken & noodles 😋 definitely coming back to try more! Open late is a +++

Just had the most delicious dried tofu with beef in town! Staff is nice, the food has a huge variety, and prices are fair. Evokes my memories of the taste from hometown

Such a fun menu. Great friendly service. Love the variety of food and the fact that there are safer dishes for the folks that aren’t as adventurous. We love the cumin lamb and the spicy fish. Scallion pancakes are the best!

Foods is amazing!!!!! Everything is good! Everytime we go there, we never got disappointed!!!!! Service was amazing too! Foods came out so fast! But if u come in the dinner time in the weekend, it’s kinda busy and you might need longer time to wait to have a seat. And i took my friends to go there last week and they all were so satisfied!!!! If you look for the Szechuan foods, YOU MUST GO TO OLD TOWN TASTE!!! Trust me, it’s so good! And the good thing is only 3 mins away from our house 😁 Now i know where to take my family or friends to eat in AZ!

The food here is really delicious. Everything was fresh and had a lot of authentic flavor. The servers were also really nice and restaurant was clean.

Dishes came out real quick. Love the spices in the green beans and pork intestines. The fish in the soup was smooth. The server was very attentive.

I'm on the fence about this spot. The orange chicken is OK, but it's different in that the sauce is on the side. So you either pour it over or dip it in but dipping is good because if you don't eat it all you can air fry the chicken the next day and have it still be crispy. The fried dumplings? No, absolutely not. Did NOT like them. The mix of meat and some sort of vegetables give them a strange taste. They do offer a meat dumpling with spicy sauce but I think it's only available until a certain time. We will try those another time. The guy working was nice and friendly and he offered good service and the decor is pretty cool plus this place seems not just clean, but CRISP! If that makes sense. I give them 3 stars for the food so far but I bumped it to 4 because they were open and serving at 11:00 pm and in fact are open until 1am so they are there if I get hungry late at night.

The ambiance is definitely more modern and nicer than Original Cuisine. Let's talk about the food, I loved the Dry Pot w Intestines! They were very clean no weird taste or smell. Intestines were fatty and soft! We also loved the chopped string bean with dry preserved vegetables. This dish brings back my childhood memories! And it is soo good with rice! I was little disappointed with the Chongqing Spicy Chicken. It was not crispy enough. The breading fell off. I enjoyed thid fish at Original Taste better! The eggplant was too sweet for my liking. Maybe I am used to the Hong Kong style flavor for that dish.

Probably my favorite Sichuan Chinese food in the area. Love the chongqing chicken and fish, the scallion pancake, and the braised pork hock. The staff here are super friendly and always serve our table efficiently. The restaurant is clean and spacious with lots of seating.

Soooooo happy Old Town Taste exists. I'm a vegetarian and get food from here pretty often-- I get the Chongqing style Tofu, Mongolian tofu, they'll even make Mapo tofu with no meat when I've asked, the fried rice with the pickled greens, scallion pancakes, the greens and bok choy all so good. Please let this spice stay how it is and know what you're getting into with this type of numbing spice, do some research and be open to new, it's changed my life!!! Never had anything like it and it's so good I crave it. If you want to try mild- Mongolian tofu, medium- mapo, and hot- chongqing style. All excellent! And they're open late night which is a plus. Everything tastes extremely fresh and spicing is on point. Everyone that works there is kind, they will get busy so be prepared and if you have to wait know it's worth it for good food.

Old Town Taste is an amazing spot to get Chinese food you wouldn't find in mainstream restaurants. I haven't had a bad dish or so-so dish yet after several visits. I highly recommend giving them a try, especially their golden sand corn, fish dishes, and chongqing style chicken. Service can be slower during rush times but solid otherwise. The restaurant is open in its space and doesn't feel cramped.

Headed to this place for dinner with some friends who had been before. This is a very casual atmosphere. Tried multiple things on the menu. A lot of their spicy dishes taste similar. I do love that this isn't your average run of the mill Chinese restaurant. It is authentic Chinese food. The Chinese stirfry pancake strips were really unique and yummy. Also loved the fried beef noodles. We got the chongqing style beef and the spicy chicken as well. You can pick your heat level. These were pretty hot and they tasted the same. None of us really loved the flavor on these. They have a huge menu and lots of interesting options on it. Service was slow. Took a while for someone to come to our table and then when we were finished, it took a while for someone to come back. Didn't really check on us in between while we were eating either. They had something called. sweet iced jelly on their menu for dessert. We asked one server if we could get a couple orders and she told us they were out. Another server came to the table and told us they had it. It was a little odd. We ultimately tried it and it was unique and good. This restaurant isn't close to where we live so I'm not sure I would drive out of my way to go here again, but if we find ourselves out in Tempe wanting Chinese food, I would go back.

We had not been back to Old Town Taste for a while and we were excited to come back. My review is going to be 3.5 stars until I go back and give another shot. It's a mixed review so 3.5 stars is most reasonable. Service was pretty good. I like how they have you order food from the tablet on the table. Our server came by a couple times and everyone was polite and nice. I like having a water pitcher on the table. Ambiance is casual. The only reason my review Is mixed is that 2 of our dishes were good and one of them was almost inedible. We enjoyed the hot and sour soup and the chongqing style spicy chicken. The item in question was the ma po tofu with pork play pot. This dish was so strange. Both of us started to eat it, and our mouths and tongue became numb, which we were not surprised due to the effect of the Szechuan peppers. What was unexpected and unpleasant was a super salty flavor and cooling effect when we drank water. Like to the point I had to stop eating that dish. And I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth with water so I ordered a coke and that helped. The spicy chicken came afterwards and that was delicious. We wonder if the ma po tofu had too much salt and/or MSG in it? Because it was such a bizarre experience. We took the dish home and we will try to neutralize the strange flavor by making it Into a new dish. I saw other reviews of people complaining about overly salted dishes but I thought they were exaggerated since that had not been my experience previously, but I can now say I've had that same issue. And to clarify I've had ma po tofu at other restaurants and didn't have this problem. Quick food, good service, and casual spot. I Just need to order something else next time and see if this was an isolated incident or maybe some dishes are just overly salted/MSG? Then I can update my review.

I'm surprised I haven't reviewed this spot as I've been here multiple times. I think recently the menu has changed and I can't order my favorite pork belly with pickled veggies anymore :(. Came with friends who were vegan, the fried eggplants and potatoes is our favorite. I really enjoyed the braised pork with tofu, it reminds me of mapo tofu but I don't think I saw that on the menu. However, the pork rib noodle soup tasted so bad. The soup is not tasty and didn't taste like a soup but just watered down sauce. The pork tasted frozen and old taste.. Overall, we usually come here for Chinese food. I might have to look at their menu again.

Easily one of the best Chinese restaurants in Phoenix if you enjoy a Szechuan flair. There are definitely non-spicy options but if you are coming here you should be well aware of the potential for spice/peppercorn taste which is what the Szechuan region is well known for. I would caution that if you are not accustomed to authentic Chinese food that the flavor/style may be a novel experience to you but all the more reason to come here! Servers are friendly and checking in is fairly easy at a kiosk if you need to add yourself to a wait list. Be aware that the biggest down side to this restaurant is the limiting seating and popularity which should tell you that this place is great. We went on a Saturday night and at 7 PM had to wait about 20 minutes. It seems like there is a robust take out option as well. Ordering is pretty easy through a tablet that has pictures. The menu can be switched from English to Chinese with ease. The server will come over to confirm your order once it is put in. Ordering is pretty much family style with large portions so keep this in mind. Here is what we had: -shredded potatoes. Highly recommend. It's shredded thinly and cooked and oil and with some peppers. Not particularly spicy but good flavor -dry fried green beans with pork. One of my favorite dishes in general and this lived up to it if you are looking for a vegetable dish -saute spicy beef. Well cooked with a nice presentation. -boiled fish in oil. Easily one of my favorite things to eat from the Szechuan region. I love the flavor and how the fish melts in your mouth. Definitely be aware, especially if you've never had this before, that the peppercorn flavor is strong and may overpower/mask your experience with other dishes. -make sure to note rice is separate but at a low supplemental cost of $1 for a generous bowl. 100% recommend this for your next Chinese food experience and will plan on visiting this place anytime I'm in the area.

After all the positive reviews, unfortunately we felt underwhelmed by Old Town Taste. We had the friend chicken that was raved about in other reviews. My partner and I both thought it was ok. It simply seemed like fried chicken with hot peppers in it. It was also a little greasy. We also had the fried rice and the hot and sour soup. While the hot and sour soup was good, we thought the fried rice tasted a bit bland. Luckily the decor was cute with a nice mural on the wall and the service was very polite and fast. We might try it again... we'll see.

So good I forgot to take any pictures Decided we need to get Chinese food after a Kdot..concert. This was one of the very few restaurants let alone Chinese food spots open late on a Tuesday night. We got honey walnut shrimp, general tso, and a combination fried rice. Wow.. the food was just how you want to imagine Chinese food after a long night. Great balance of flavors. Not too salty or bland. I didnt need to add any soy sauce like I usually do either. The prices are super affordable too!

An authentic szechuan restaurant in Tempe, AZ. The service was quick. The menu was both in Chinese and English. You could order via the app or have a server take your orders. Most tables had Asians customer which is a good sign the food is authentic. House special spicy dry pot: the flavor was great with the slight numbing of the Szechuan pepper corn. However we were disappointed that the dish was not in a typical hot container with a fire under to keep it warm. Dry fried green beans: a classic dish that is quick fried and sautéed.

Coming from SoCal, it's definitely tough to find good affordable Chinese food. I would likely recommend the eggplant with minced pork. 5/5. Lightly fried eggplant with a umami soybean sauce with minced pork. Boiled fish with chili oil 5/5- it looks spicy and intense with all the red chili, but it's not as spicy. Also how I eat it... I don't drink the broth. I just eat the fish and the soybean inside the broth. Fried fish/ Chicken- 5/5. We didn't know we ordered two of the same things but with different meat. Perfectly coated with a light batter and seasoned with salt. My preference is the fish over the chicken. Walnut shrimp 3.5/5: maybe by this time, I was done with fried food, but definitely not the best shrimp and walnut.

Ordered via DD and everything was ready during the predicted time. Ordered 3 items: Special house fried rice: pretty good, lots of fillings which was nice. Good amount of chicken and didn't skimp on the fish. Szechuan style spicy fish & tofu: really good and flavorful. Tender fish and tofu. Big portion split into two to-go containers Black pepper beef: maybe a mistake to order off the western menu for this one. Portion felt small for the price. Dish was not amazing nor terrible, just ok! Overall pretty good but other places could provide better value for portion size.

Great authentic food. Sometimes little salty. Would advise server to discard some of the cracked plate.

One of my favorite spots in town for Szechuan cuisine. It's best to go with friends/ family for communal dishes to be shared. The chongqing chicken here is the best compared to other spots imo since it's large piece of chicken, added garlic and green beans. Flavorful bites of chicken is a must order. Dry beef pot can be better since I don't think I'll order again.

Good authentic Chinese food, although very spicy (so beware). Me and my partner have a pretty decent spice tolerance so the spice wasn't too bad. Each dish is flavorful and big enough to share! We had no wait and every dish came out promptly.

Completely blown away by this place. My friend, who is from China, and I were staying in the area looking for something to eat. He stumbled upon this and seemed extremely excited by the menu, saying how a lot of these items are things his family would make for him back home. We couldn't wait to try. We got all sorts of plates, and we even came back the next day. Everything we tried was amazing. My friend was especially excited by the eggplant and the mapo tofu, which were delicious. We also got some lotus root, fried fish, and a bunch more dishes. Everything was perfection. I am salivating as I'm writing this. My friend said the dishes are meant to be shared, and share we did. The staff was very kind. The atmosphere was that of a family restaurant in China, with a turntable to be able to access all the different dishes. I can't wait to be back in this area and come back here to eat!

This place was such a good find! Cane here on a Friday night. It was pretty busy but we only waited about 20min to be seated. They have an extensive menu with lots of delicious chinese dishes. The portions are generous! The staff was friendly and worked really hard on a busy night. The place was pretty big and has lots of large tables for bigger parties. We got the dry pot, the eggplant, the spicy fish and a fried rice. The dry pot was very big. It had lots of seafood and veggies that were all cooked to the perfect temperature or crunch. The seasoning was just . The eggplant and potatoes dish was very tasty and the spicy fish had a very nice kick to it and the fish remained soft. Very happy with the whole meal and will come back to try more dishes!

I've only been in Tempe a few times over the last few years, but I've had my share of Chinese food, both in Tempe and elsewhere. This is, in my humble opinion, one of the best tasting Chinese food in Tempe! The nice assortment of offerings means that you can find almost anything tasty to eat. We ordered only 3 dishes on the menu (for the four of us) but we could've easily ordered more. Everything was tasty. We ordered: * Szechuan style spicy fish with tofu * Fried lamb with cumin * Stirfry mixed vegetables with omelet on top The last dish was surprisingly yummy, although you shouldn't expect it to be vegetarian because it has pork strips in it. The lamb was tasty too, but I wasn't crazy about the deep fried lamb as as I find it a bit chewy. Still, the taste was fantastic and presentation beautiful. The Szechuan fish and tofu was solid and it reminded me of my fav dish - fish in chili oil. There are so many other items on the menu that I wish I had ordered. What a gem in Tempe! I also love the wall paper decor of the place, and the excellent service (we told them I was catching a flight and they rushed out the food for us), kicking this up a notch in every way.

A lot of the food is great, but there are some misses. I would say their best fish is actually their fried rice surprisingly, which is some of the best I've had. Their fish dishes are also a delight. I would avoid their bok choy since they use the wrong ones with little proper seasoning.

Definitely my favorite Chinese restaurant in the valley. Everything on this menu is delicious especially the Chongqing chicken and the sautéed fish with tofu and chili sauce. 10/10 recommend.

This place has excellent EVERYTHING! The food: taste bud heaven! The service: extremely nice and attentive waitresses The price: amazing value.

One of the best Chinese restaurants in the Valley! I'm so so glad I got to try this place out, they keep the place super clean and it's pretty spacious. People here are so friendly, that made me feel so good even before trying the food. We had lotus root dry pot, spicy fried chicken, and egg fried rice. And OMG every single dish was the bomb. So so good. I was really surprised how their lotus root was crunchy and the sauce was perfectly savory. And the egg fried rice! It's classic, simple, yet so flavorful. Spicy fried chicken was so good too. It's their signature according to them, and now I know why. It's super tender, perfectly marinated with flavorful sauce, and the portion was huge. In fact, all of their food had a huge portion, which I loved! Can't wait to come back and try their other yummy dishes (:

Great food and Great service! Nice mix of American Chinese dishes and authentic plates. Great prices and fast service.

Went there just before closing . Service was phenomenal considering that. Been here a few times and loved it. Our 5 person party ordered hot and sour food - it was not the same as usual, seemed watered down with no sour. Garlic fungee chicken- phenomenal , kung pao chicken- very good although portion was smaller than usual, Yu Shang pork- phenomenal, chicken chao mein- excellent. Love this place and will return

All the dishes were super flavorful and quite oily. But I believe it's that style of food. The grease didn't sit well in my stomach but I will still be back as I crave the flavors. Service was great.

Was feeling sniffly and needed to take the cure from hot and sour soup. Yelp steered me here, ordered takeout close to closing time. Have a high standard for this stuff, and several places don't get there. The soup was delicious, and the portion large enough to share with a sniffly friend. Will probably go back tomorrow!

The service was great although it was pretty busy. The food was really spicy but tasteful. If you cannot handle spicy food this place is not for you but otherwise the food is great.

Love this place! Owner is super lovely, staff are very friendly and knowledgeable. Honestly the best Chinese restaurant around here!

Service was great and the atmosphere was great! The portions are huge!! My only dislikes about the chicken was that it felt a little too greasy, it could just be that I personally am not used to it. The soup was enough to feed a family!! I originally wanted it for just myself and ended up sharing. I will be returning to try the rest of the menu!

The Mongolian beef and dumplings had ZERO flavor. I had to pour some soy sauce on the Mongolian beef for it to taste like something. Dumplings tasted like straight up oil. The fried rice was good, but go figure, also had to add soy sauce to that as well for some flavor. The reviews overhyped this place.

I'm a Chinese food junkie. Old Town Taste it's every mark. Service was terrific!!! Egg Fried rice was on point but could have used a little salt, Spicy Fish was insane bursting with flavor and perfect heat! Mouth got that tingle I love. Everything was very fresh and not a bit oily or over sauces. I highly recommend!!!

Great food. I mean really good. Made fresh awesome flavors and served hot! My family come here almost once a week

I used to love this place and recommend it to my friends constantly. While the food is good, the fact that they took twice cooked pork off the menu is insane to me. Really the only reason I go. Other than that the beef friend noodles are pretty good. Bring back the twice cooked pork!!

Really good authentic Chinese food! Great flavor, and really not all that expensive considering how large each dish is. Word of caution though, I've found most menu items to be quite spicy, so if that's not really your thing be sure to ask the servers about non spicy options.

Came here for second time, trying to have more eaters at the table so we could order more dishes. Eight people signed up but in the last minute I was so disappointed 5 canceled and only three of us showed up. So we did not order the menu of eight dishes We ordered the braised pork hock for $28.99. it was so delicious fall off the bone, and the skin was sooooo melt in your mouth delicious. I ordered the variety that was with a sweet and spicy sauce. It was not spicy. All the other two people loved it. And we ordered chopped string beans with preserved vegetables. Very delicious $14.99. and the last dish was cumin lamb. I ordered this dish because the pictures shows the dish doesn't have much in there so it would not be good for eight people to share. Indeed it was just right for three people to have more than three pieces each. It was delicious as well.... fried crispy. Cost $26 each including tax and tip. Andy was our server and he was a great host, telling us about the Chinese dishes we ordered.

Food was fire !! Loved the ambience and the vibe. Super underrated. It should be way busier. Chen was a great server. Kept checking up on us and kept bringing water and ice cause we were thirsty. He was top notch server and was so nice. 10/10 recommend. The spicy and sour soup is to die for and I hate soup so that says a lot.

We come here often. Their boiled fish with pickles is one of the best. We also tried their scramble eggs with fungus and pork (very tasty, a little Oily, but it still taste "clean"). Their service (2 people there) is really good. They do 3.5% up charge for credit card payment, but does make it fair incentive for cash payment (10% off the bill if paid with cash)

Amazing flavorful food, very authentic. We were the only non-Asians in the restaurant for the majority of the time we were there. It was a Saturday at lunchtime, and it got full very quickly. They were only two people serving so service was a tad slower than we would have liked but not terrible. We enjoyed the fried spring rolls (6 for $6.99) which we believe were vegetarian. They were smoking hot, very crispy and moist inside. The only downside was that they served the sweet chili sauce in a plastic container with a lid. There wasn't much heat in the sauce, or it was tasty, it would be nice to have some hot mustard to add to it to jazz it up a bit. We also enjoyed what we like to call Dry chili chicken or what they call Chongquin Style Spicy Chicken ($14.99) Basically, it is small pieces of chicken breast, and or thigh very lightly floured and fried, along with rough chopped dried red chilies which is then mixed with a small amount of sautéed sliced garlic, bits of scallion, coriander seeds, rice wine, soy and vinegar, and it is completely dry. It us tongue numbing hot and delicious! We look forward to returning so that we can try many other dishes. They have an extensive menu with lots of unusual ingredients that are very authentic in China.

Hidden gem inside a shopping plaza. I knew as soon as I walked in and saw almost every customer was asian/chinese, they always know where the authentic spots are. Food was fresh and full of flavor, can't wait to return.

Our go to. Best food in the valley. Ma po tofu is great. Broccoli and garlic amazing.

First time eating here and was very impressed with the food. Great taste, great value and awesome customer service. Very friendly and welcoming. Will come again when in town!!!

The best Chinese restaurant in Arizona! The flavors are authentic, the portions are generous, and the service is friendly. I love the spicy fried chicken and old town style crispy sweet and sour pork.

This place was highly recommended to me by a client from work. Knowing that we had similar taste buds, he thought I'd like this place. So of course, I had to check it out! This restaurant is located in a small plaza in Tempe in an area I would have looked over if not for the recommendation. When we first went in, we noticed right away that the ambiance was nice and relaxing. Their décor simple, comfortable, and straight to the point. Nothing too fancy. After looking over the menu, we decided to order fried dumplings and the scallion pancake as an appetizer. For our main dishes we ordered fish flavored eggplant strips, twice cooked pork, fried lamb with cumin, and sausage fried rice. The dumplings, scallion pancake and the twice cooked pork were okay, just on the average side. But oh, my goodness! The eggplant strips were delicious. There was a bit of a crunch to them and they were also stuffed with minced pork. A bit on the oily side but eggplant dishes at Chinese restaurants usually are. I was afraid this dish would be too spicy for me but surprisingly it wasn't spicy at all. This was the dish I was the most skeptical about liking and was pleasantly surprised otherwise. Next, the sausage fried rice was also delicious. It was the perfect balance between sweet and savory. Last, the fried lamb with cumin. Our absolute favorite dish we tried. The level of spice was just right. There was enough spice to leave my lips tingling but not overwhelmingly spicy to the point where my tongue went numb. Bonus points that the lamb wasn't overcooked where it was too tough to chew. The décor inside this place might be simple but, the flavors in their dishes? Complex in the best way. Additionally, the service was fast and friendly. The only downside to our experience was that we received all of the main entrees before any of our appetizers. Which made us less inclined to eat much of the appetizers aside from a few pieces of each. Besides that, everything else was great. I see this place becoming one of my regular spots in this area.

Most authentic and best Chinese I've had here in the valley. Gotta get the cumin lamb

What a good find! Having tried Szechuan food in Chinatown New York I haven't had robust flavors like that offered by the Old Town Taste in years. Don't be fooled by the restaurants sparse appearance as the food is outstanding. There were two in our party, we started our dinner with an appetizer of the hot and sour soup, which unfortunately is offered only in portion size of a bowl that could probably feed somewhere 10 to 12 people so plan on leftovers unless you're bringing a large group! Probably the only minor disappointment of our meal was that the soup while robust, was perhaps a little bit more vinegary then I would expected in a sour soup of this type. The Mongolian beef was perhaps one of the best that we had ever tried, and really had some wonderful flavors. The vegetable fried rice was a typical Szechuan style light and complementary to the balance of the meal. The green beans were another outstanding dish. Overall, we enjoyed the dinner. A couple of things that would've up the game for this restaurant would include a little table and window cleaning as they all need a good washing. Further, our server while pleasant struggled to get the order the food so that the soup came out first as requested; the main course came out well before the soup did. We also had to ask for items, such as napkins, additional beverages, water, which we would've expected is a standard serving experience. The chef gets four stars, servers get two stars, restaurant cleanliness gets two stars for an average of three stars. Focus on cleanliness and service in this restaurant and it could easily be a 4 to 5 star establishment.

Old Town is my favorite Chinese restaurant in the valley. They have pretty authentic sichuan style Chinese food, with a decent price and portion. The indoor of this place is unique and well decorated with Chinese style colors and patterns. We ordered some of our all-time favorite dishes and the details are marked with the photos below. Whenever we dined at the restaurant, the service was nice and fast. The only complaint I had is their daily lunch break does not always match with my schedule. There were many times that I wanted to pick up their food on my way back from work but it happened to be during their lunch break. However, I am sure they offer lunch breaks to their employees because how good the business is, which definitely means a recommendation for people who are craving for sichan style Chinese food.