Karol M.
Yelp
I've learned over the years when visiting Abilene not to expect much from the restaurants, mainly because I don't eat beef, BBQ, or fried chicken. And frankly, I'm getting tired of pizza and variations on cheese enchiladas, and iceberg lettuce and a mushy tomato with croutons does not count as a salad. So when someone suggested Chinese, I was expecting a semi-greasy buffet or maybe something along the lines of the speedy Panda place. Safe to say, Szechuan's ambience and menu exceeded my expectations by a long shot. Who knew there were restaurants like this in Abilene?
The new building itself is inviting, with the perfectly manicured grounds and entrance walkway that leads over a peacefully babbling creek. The night we visited, it was 27 degrees outside and the place was fairly empty. We were seated quickly and waited on by two friendly, competent servers (one in training). The seating arrangement is pleasant and fairly private. Why get it to go when you can eat in such a nice atmosphere?
The multi-page menu is nicely organized by proteins, and I quickly found an entire section with vegetarian options. I noticed that some of them asked you to specify if you'd prefer it meatless, so rest assured you're still in Cattle Country. But the vegetarian options are legit. Woo hoo! When in Abilene, you can say that in a nice restaurant and people don't think you're strange.
I ordered a vegetable medley, which was a crisp and fresh combination of Chinese and American vegetables and mushrooms, served in white sauce with steamed rice. The rice is the perfect sticky consistency for chopsticks (fried is the only other option, no brown rice, sadly). But if you want chopsticks, you'll need to ask. They are the rounded bamboo variety pre-packaged in paper, so perhaps they don't get a lot of requests.
The rest of our party had a variety of dishes: chicken lo mein, mu shu pork with vegetables, and kung pao chicken. All were tasty, fresh, thoughtfully prepared, and beautifully plated and served. We ordered hot green tea to drink, but they have the full array of sodas as well.
So if you're traveling through or just have a hankerin' to try some good Chinese food while in Abilene, this is the place. Makes me want to rub a Buddha belly.