So How Is the Chinese Fare at Lao Sze Chuan?

Seems Lao Sze Chuan, the first Vegas restaurant from the Mayor of Chicago’s Chinatown Tony Hu at the Palms, isn’t offering up all that it promised. Al Mancini reports the restaurant "promised a menu with more than 250 items, far larger than one might expect in a casino. There’d be 60 made-to-order dim sum items, and an assortment of hot pots would be featured for the late-night crowd."

Instead he found 112 items on the menu, less than 30 dim sum dishes and no hot pots. Apparently the roll out of the entire menu is happening "gradually."

Despite that, he says you’ll find "a slightly more upscale version of what you’ll find in a good Chinatown restaurant in any major city."

His favorites? Tony’s Chicken ("a mildly spicy General Tso’s chicken with a lighter sauce and a slight fruity sweetness."), the Mandarin pork dumplings (with "the refreshingly bitter bite of minced raw garlic"), fried rice and the smoked tea duck ("the subtlety of its smoky flavor is absolutely perfect.").

He also sampled the Vegas-only Sze Chuan peppercorn fish ("it’s the large dose of peppercorns that gives it a serious kick") and the stir-fried flat rice noodles ("you’ll spend the entire meal trying to name all the spices on your palate").