Michael X.
Yelp
Tasty House is another addition to the numerous Szechuan restaurants in the Eastside area, and I was interested in trying the place and seeing how it stacks up to the competition! We went on a Friday around 6pm and had no wait to get seated for a party of 3.
This restaurant is located in a large shopping plaza with many other shops and studios, and fortunately there are many parking spots that open near the restaurant that are about a brief walk away. The interior of the restaurant is pretty open - there are plenty of tables and seats and windows at the front for potential diners to observe. The menu is physical and you can order through talking to your server. Food is served fast - we got everything after 10 minutes of waiting.
We tried a couple of dishes, which I'll review down below:
Seafood Tofu Pot ($27): A good amount of fish and tofu throughout. The tofu is chunky and the fish is soft, though the texture between the two are very similar. There is mushroom and shrimp throughout the dish which provide a different chewy texture that makes the dish not too uniform, which is nice. The sauce is very light in terms of flavor - I know usually seafood tofu pots have a nice subtle flavor of aromatics and chinese flavorings, but it was pretty one-dimensional in terms of flavor with only a bit a savory to make the dish just come together.
Mao's Pork Belly ($23): The pork belly was tender and simmered well, decent chew and well covered in the sauce. The sauce tastes like your standard braised Chinese pork belly, with hints of aromatics like cinnamon stick and some star anise. The flavor is a bit light, it is similar to the Seafood tofu pot - you could eat this whole dish without rice and be alright, which is OK, but I personally would like it more flavorful.
Assorted Dry Pot ($29): I thought the dry pot was alright, it wasn't my favorite of the three dishes we ordered. There is a decent variety in the assorted dry pot - from woodear, cauliflower, pork, and others. I thought this dish suffers from the same thing as the other two dishes we ordered - it does get one dimensional really quick, with the only flavor being spicy and salty. I was hoping for some smokiness and some standard peppercorn flavor, but unfortunately I didn't get any.
Personally, I feel that most of the dishes served were underwhelming - they aren't as well spiced as the many other competing Szechuan restaurants on the Eastside. There is also a missing smoky wok hei that separates solid Szechuan restaurants from a standard restaurants - it gives more "dish you would cook at home" rather than a restaurant quality dish. Which is not a bad thing, but it misses what I'm personally looking for when I go out to eat.
I do think that these dishes do lean on the pricier side for the quantity and quality of the food. Though I'm glad that there are more Szechuan restaurants to pick from on the Eastside, I'm not sure I would come back to Tasty House as there are many other Szechuan restaurants that fit more what I'm looking for.