Lisa Z.
Yelp
Located in Arlington, Szechuan Dumpling is also called Hangzhou Loving Poetry 醉杭州. They serve both traditional Szechuan, a better-known Chinese regional food here in the US, and Shanghai, Hangzhou Chinese cuisine a lesser-known cuisine here. If we hadn't heard from our Hangzhou friends, we probably would have missed it. Since I grew up with my mom's HZ-style cooking, I felt right at home in this place.
The first page of the menu is in Chinese only, it represents HZ cuisine. The rest of the menu is bilingual. We have ordered from both.
The ambiance is nice and the dining area is very clean. At dinner time it is always packed, mostly by the mainland Chinese which is a good sign of its authenticity.
The service is consistently efficient and friendly. The owner ( I think) is a smart young lady who effortlessly manages the place and serves customers. She remembers repeat customers and shows her appreciation.
The food we ordered was mostly delicious southern Jiangzhe style. We have tasted many of them during our consecutive 4 visits.
My favorites were chestnut chicken stew, shredded pork with bean curd, Tiger pepper, eggplant ( prepared any way), Napa cabbage with shredded pork, and wide bean noodles, minced pork with vermicelli. The fermented sweet rice with mochi balls was such a comforting and delicious ending to a satisfying meal. We went back for more.
Wonton HZ style, the wonton itself was very good, unlike the Cantonese style. But the broth fell flat. It could have been better if they had used homemade chicken broth.
Overall this is an excellent restaurant with delicious yet very reasonably priced food. This style of cooking is a rare finding even for us hailing from the Bay Area. They also have some Sichuan dishes and Beijing dishes. We will be back whenever we are in the Boston area.
Note: This review was written in September 2023.