Zoe T.

I had just come back from a month-long trip to Beijing, missing my Meituan-delivered skewers a little extra. My boyfriend looked up three Chinese BBQ restaurants only to find out two of them were permanently closed. Blessing in disguise, though -- this joint lived up to my standards as someone who has her palate spoiled by affordable, traditional Chinese food. If that's not high praise, I don't know what is. The squid was my favorite, seasoned with I'm-not-even-sure-what but it's delicious. My boyfriend loved the oysters, scallops (with vermicelli!), and enoki mushrooms. I couldn't miss out on the rice cake even though it's a dessert-ish dish here drizzled with condensed milk versus the skewered/dry-rub ones I had in Beijing. The wonton soup and fried rice were surprisingly authentic too (yes, we ordered a bunch), only the Chinese chives were a little rough on the teeth but that's hardly their fault. Paired with some lychee beer, it was the best dinner we've had in a while. For my Chinese folks, the 烤冷面 was not the best I've had. But in the time being of lacking traditional Chinese food options in Seattle, I still ordered it the second time I went for dinner. Lovely staff too, couldn't figure out why the restaurant was so empty both times we were there!

Derrick G.

This is an amazing authentic Chinese restaurant that specializes in Chinese BBQ. I arrived shortly before closing but still received good service. I ordered fried noodles and spicy combination for 2 dish, with lamb, pork and wings. All dishes were exceptional and had amazing flavor and a great presentation. I highly recommend this restaurant if you enjoy Chinese Food.

Restaurant was clean and very cute, had a nice ambiance. Skewers are very good, they came out fresh and hot. My only complaint was that maybe a teensy bit undersalted, but their spice blend was perfect, reminiscent of the 串 I had when living in China. Favs of the night were lamb (of course), zucchini, taishan cauliflower, green beans, and beef tendon. Their non-skewer food was nothing to write home about so I would avoid and skip (other than the deep fried bao with condensed milk if feeling dessert). Water had a very tap taste.

Junella T.

Really torn about my experience here. Food was great. Atmosphere good. Service was zero. We came here around 6pm on a Saturday night and we were the only customers. We were slightly confused because Google said this place was VERY busy right now. There was a lady on her phone in the back booth, we literally had to walk all the way up to her face for her to notice us. Normally I don't care about service at an Asian restaurant but literally there was no service here. The lady manning the "desk" was in her phone the whole time and watching a drama loudly and besides someone bringing out the skewers, we spoke to no one else. You order and you pay on the phone. Oh, we did order a beer from the lady, she seemed to be confused that we wanted to order a Heineken. The skewers came out fresh and fast. It was slightly strange. A lady from the kitchen carries them out by hand, no plate or anything and then places them on the box. The box just keeps the skewers warm via tea light candle and there's no cooking. We got a variety of skewers. Everything is basically spicy and covered in the same spice powder. Highly recommend the powder, it is so good! Beef kabob - this one has a slight gamey taste to it but it's minced beef on a skewer Pork belly - delicious, crispy and fatty Hot iron squid - could have used more char, got cold really quickly so it was chewy Clams with garlic and Vermicelli - won't reorder this. Barely any clams and it was minced up. It also had the texture of something that had been sitting so it was stuck to the shell New Orleans wing - juicy, tender, only one wing Chicken gizzard - chewy and crunchy, great with beer Beef finger - must get, fresh, juicy, tender, great taste Chicken Cartlidge - my favorite! Small portion, grab two, crunchy and fresh, great with alcohol

Michael S.

OVERALL: 8.8/10 (Yelp Converted Score: 4.4/5 - rounds down to a 4/5). The big win for a Chinese skewers place: No peanut oil, and no peanuts for the most part (except for one non spicy sauce -- ask to be sure)! Yaaaaaaaaaaayyyy!!! 1) VARIETY/SELECTION: 9.5/10. The entire ordering experience (menu and actually "placing the order" experience) was on a mobile website that you would access by scanning a QR code on your table (presumably since it also includes a number next to the QR code stating the table number you need to use). The menu consisted of BBQ meat (lamb/beef/pig/gizzard/chicken-heart/)/seafood(quail-egg/oyster/shrimp)/veggie(enoki-mushrooms/eggplant/green-pepper) items, and also some "miscellaneous" options like sliced potato, cold noodle, tofu skin, etc. It was a more-than-expected level of selection, with plenty of variety for meat-eaters like my friend and I. I would be slightly concerned as a vegan/vegetarian, but that's the only complaint I had. 2) FRESHNESS: 9/10. Skewers and whatnot... Mmm. The order is made exactly as you order, and the food is always served fresh, but you have a "warming rack" (using candles) at your table to make sure the skewers remain warm as you're eating it. Generally speaking though, most (if not all) of our food was fresh - there were a couple of instances where it may have been "rewarmed" or "reheated", but generally speaking, I didn't notice anything that was stale or didn't meet an edible/freshness bar. 3) VALUE FOR MONEY: 9/10. After tax and tip came out to $74/person, and we had leftovers (they took a while longer for the 2nd order that we submitted than expected). This included all of our food and two large Tsingtao beers per person. In all (skewers + beer), not a bad haul! The portion sizes were mostly "as expected", but I did think that $6 for 5 basic skewers was slightly more expensive than I expected it to be; the $4/2 "complex" skewers seemed decent, but for the most part I think it was a fair amount for a mid-to-high-end skewers place (especially since there are so few of these in Seattle to begin with) 4) SERVICE: 8/10. I'd say it was a "busy" Friday night, but there were still enough seats for a party of two without reservations (my friend and I). We arrived at 7:15pm; the place got super busy closer to 8pm (late dinner?), but cleared out just before we left (around 10pm). The main "pros" of the service was that you used an app to order (based on a QR code that you could scan at your table), and the wait staff would print out a ticket and cross items off as they are delivered; the downside was that you couldn't see the status of in-flight items in your order; sometimes the restaurant would either delay or outright "forget" certain items, and water was hard to flag down, unless the wait staff was delivering food to a nearby (or your) table. 5) CONSISTENCY / FIRST IMPRESSION: 8.5/10. The feeling I had about this place given the atmosphere and the hype my friend had for the place, was that it would be good or great; by and large, this place cleared those expectations. The QR-code-ordering-workflow is technology-forward and I appreciated this method of ordering, especially over having toe write things down or having the wait staff spend time at each individual table taking specific orders (possibly incorrectly). This is definitely a great implementation of a scalable solution to a human experience problem!

Tony J.

Small-ish Chinese bbq skewer/kabob place on Aurora Ave, near Green Lake. Has a few parking spots on the side street shared with some of the neighboring business. Went on a weekend for later lunch, and the place was not crowded. They don't have physical menus and you have to order using your smartphones by scanning a QR code. Good for them for embracing technology, but a physical menu would have been nice. Each table has what looks like a skewer BBQ on it, but it's covered in foil and it's really used to keep the skewers warm (there are candles underneath). All the skewers and food is cooked when brought to the table, so don't expect to cook your own. We ordered a bunch o skewers and they tasted alright. Also ordered a pot of skewered meats in a really spicy broth, and that was pretty spicy. Also got a few of the small plates, but nothing really stood out as being especially good or bad. Overall, the place was alright. Bill ended up being like $35 per person.

Mona M.

We were craving for some Chinese BBQ and decided to give this place a try. We didn't dine in but ordered takeout from here. I gotta say that we didn't really expect much when we ordered, expecting just standard-to-bland food. But to our delight the food actually tasted great! We got the Pork Belly (2pcs), Beef Kebab (5pcs), Hot Iron Squid Skewer, Twisted Potato and their Large Oyster (2pcs). The skewers came wrapped in foil, while the oyster and the twisted potato came in a foil food container. Although our drive home from the restaurant was only within 10 mins top, most of the dishes we ordered were already room temperature and some were even already fridge-cold (like the squid). When I first saw the beef kebab skewer and the pork belly skewer, my initial impression was that each looked quite plain, topped with a little bit of toasted sesame seed. My instinct was wanting to dip the skewer in something but it didn't come with any dipping sauce. I tried the pork belly first, expecting something bland. I was surprised by the burst of flavor that was dancing on my tongue despite the plain-looking pork belly. It had a very strong grilled flavor along with that charcoal taste combined with a perfectly grilled meat. The beef kebab was also good and charred but a little bit chewy. The cut was a good combination of lean and fatty. The twisted potato was also great. It wasn't too oily and was really delicious with the seasoning (chili, spices and sugar). So it was a combination of salty, spicy and a little sweet. Since the twisted potato was packed in a foil container, the potato was no longer that crispy due to the steam that was trapped inside the container. Regardless the lack of crispiness, it was tasty and I really liked it. We both weren't a fan of the hot iron squid skewer. It was cold and rubbery. We had to sliced it into bite sized pieces so we could manage to chew it properly. The large oysters were quite amazing. I'm a big fan of garlic and the oyster was topped with tons of garlic butter and some red chili. None of the dishes were too spicy for me. All of them have the right amount of kick. We would like to try dining in here once it's safe to do so and see if the temperature issue was just due to takeout -- although I do see a lot of dine-in customers who had also commented on the dish temperature here, so hopefully they'll address that. Overall we liked almost everything we ordered. We would definitely reorder the potato twist and the oysters, and then try their other meat and seafood skewers. Also, they currently give you a 12% discount every Monday thru Thursday if you pick up your order at the restaurant.

Le T.

Skewers here were really good, well except the beef tendon cause it was so damn salty and cold. They marinated the meat well. I would enjoy more if they make the skewers warmer. All skewers were pre-cooked and the little heater on the table was just for fun! They said that to keep the food warm but the meat was just getting colder... the veggies chive and enoki were delicious. Its funny that the girl carried the skewers out holding on her hands not putting on any plate, so some meat dangled in the air on the way. Everyone work there all looked so done with life, not that unfriendly, no, just really sleepy. Prices are high, but skewers are always expensive (dont know why).

Mia Y.

Their beef tendons were AMAZING!!!! We ordered 2 at first but ended 4 more. Lamb ribs were delicious! We were lucky to get their last order for the night hahaha. Pork feet was okay. The inside was old.... like fresh out off the fridge lol. They heated it up but it was still cold. It's probably because they brought it back within a minute. The 2nd order of beef tendons were cold too. Lamb kebabs were undercooked. Sad.... for the taste, I'd say it's a 3.5/5. Lamb kidney was undercooked as well and we could still see the blood on the foil paper. However, the taste was good. 4.5/5. It was busy tonight so it's kinda understandable that they made some mistakes. No big deal. Still loved their food. 作為資深吃貨，我一定要強推一下串門！CA的思烤吧，WA的串門！絕了！ 網上搜了好久，最終決定試一下這家。2個小時沒有白開！！！ 第一份上的是牛筋！滷煮過的牛筋烤的外交里內，入口即化。軟糯的牛筋混著恰到好處的辣醬和干料。第一口就被驚艷到了！兩個字！好吃! 第二個強推的就是烤羊排。有點偏甜口，需要自己沾乾辣椒（本人比較喜歡辣）。同樣也是滷煮過的。鮮美多汁。外皮酥脆，但是每口下去都是香到爆汁。 第三個！！烤羊腰！！有點小隻，但是一點也不羶。一點點肥，恰到好處，香而不膩。就是有點沒熟。。。還有滲血 其他的並沒有什麼太出奇。雞脆骨並不是烤的，是提前醃製好炸出來的。有點小失望 1.5/5。 肉串味道還OK。最多3.5/5，而且有點沒烤熟[捂脸] 豬蹄本來第一口還不錯！是脆皮。但是！！！裡面是冰的！冰的！冰的！熱了一下還是冰的[捂脸][捂脸][捂脸] 烤冷麵有點小貴但是醬汁還是蠻可以的。 今晚來的時間不太巧，他們有點忙，所以有的烤串烤的有點急也是能理解的。總體來講口味還是純正北方的（師傅應該是哈爾濱人）值得一試喔！

Christine X.

2.5 Stars. This place has potential but there are a lot of logistical issues. The food tastes good and the dipping spice was authentic but the overall temperature of the skewers was lacking and the time between orders could be improved. After trying the last Chinese skewer restaurant (DL BBQ) I had higher hopes for Chuan since their google reviews averaged 4.5 stars (most likely fake reviews). I was soooo wrong. The first thing that made me suspicious was that they have the setup where the skewers are cooked in the kitchen and you have a small 'warming' box on the table that keeps the heat via tealight candles. To be fair, Chaun had 3x the amount of candles that DL BBQ had but still, the combined warming effect is not a lot. The main gripe I have the skewers was that when I'm eating this kind of BBQ, I expect everything to come out hot enough that you can see steam rising off the meat. We ordered lamb, beef, and shrimp skewers as well as quail eggs and pork belly skewers. The quail eggs and pork belly came out first and were lukewarm at best. After informing the waitress, she sent another skewer of quail eggs our way, which was nice of her. The meat skewers were hotter but still did not reach the temperature I was hoping for. After we were done with the skewers, the beef don that I had ordered still hadn't come. We asked the waitress, who said it would be coming shortly but we ended up sitting at the table waiting with all the food finished and the check paid for over 10 min.

Audrey L.

The bbq here is quite the most authentic I've had so far. It's northern Chinese style bbq, the only thing is that is pretty pricey, but it was worth the experience!

Lydia L.

Came here for a Saturday dinner. Party of 2. Called to reserve a table but they only do it for party of 6 or more. Luckily the lady who answered my call asked for our ETA and offered to put my name on the waiting list. We arrived on time and only waited for less than 10 minutes to be seated. LOVE IT!!! Very legit Szechuan BBQ!!! We ordered a lot of food (because we were starving and I eat a lot ). I enjoyed all of them except for the tofu appetizer. Very legit spicy level, so I can see why some reviewers didn't like it as much. But IMO this shouldn't have been the reason of a low rating... maybe they were not considerate enough to give warnings ahead of time, but that does not cancel out the food quality. One con: Sort of overpriced. We did order a lot of different items but each had a small portion. Our check ended up being $51/person, including tips & tax. WARNING: 1. For walk-in the waiting time can be very long; 2. Currently their kitchen closes at 9, even though the info on Yelp says 11:30. So get there by 9, otherwise you'll be let down. Looking forward to coming back!

Yen D.

Service was good. Apparently you can order your food via the wechat app or with the waitress. Loved the beef kebabs since they alternated the beef with beef fat. The lamb kebab was also good too. I was surprised to put on peppers it would cost an additional $1. I would recommend this place for people in the neighborhood. The kebabs come in groups of six.