Chef Zhao Bistro

Good Szechuan food, though much of it is too spicy for my American palette. My Chinese friends love it. If you like spicy, try the giant bowl of fish in broth with chilies. (Half the tables in the restaurant were having it.) If you don't want spicy, the General's Chicken and the stir fried string beans are great. The cucumber in garlic sauce appetizer is good (garlicky but not hot), as are the dumplings.

The food was good. The service.... Not great. Got seated... Waited 10 minutes to get menus. We ordered our food and it was brought out a plate email few minutes as oppressed to bringing everyones meal at once. We asked for Chinese hot mustard and chili sauce. Apparently.. This is a Chinese restaurant that does not have Chinese hot mustard! First for me! We had to ask again to get the chili sauce brought to us. They never came by to refill our drinks. It was busy but not overly so... There were empty tables. Sorry... No real excuse for poor service.... I won't be back. Plenty of other places near by that want my business!

The food here is average at most compared to other Chinese restaurants in Bay Area. The reason I'm giving this place 1 star is as follows: 1) The speed they served our dishes is really slow. It wasn't that crowed the day we went there, but we got our last dish when everyone was done eating. 2) The table where we sit is very close to their kitchen and their sorting/working station. One of my colleagues even felt like we were sitting right In the kitchen. 3) What's more, they printed tip on the receipt and charged me without my approval. Although it's only several dollars, this kind of behavior is disgusting. Therefore I already disputed the charge. I won't come to this place anymore, and I won't recommend this place to anyone. Food: 2.5/5 Atmosphere: 2/5 Service: 0/5

The food is okay - not very high-end-like, but slightly better than ordinary Chinese eateries. The quantity is less, the price is high, so bang for buck is low. Each dish is like $12 to $19, comes without rice or any side. I had a shrimp dish for $17, came with 10 shrimps and 3 small rice cakes and lots of chillies. I don't think that was worth the $16.99 I paid for. The other dish (chowmein) was okay - $12.99. Quantity was okay, but I really missed seed the flavor in it. At cheque came without fortune cookies. I won't return, as there are better equally priced Chinese restaurants right on Castro a few minutes away.