Viva Bites in Birmingham

For well over 20 years we have eaten from Szechuan House regularly and considered it the best Chinese take-away in the area by far. We never had a bad dish and the food and service was always wonderful. Sadly, however, it seems to be under new management since we last ordered from there a few months ago. There was no warning or announcement, as far as we were aware, so the first indication of the change was when we phoned to order. Our number has always been recognised by the extremely friendly and efficient Chinese staff, who never had to be told our address. Last week we were answered by a really rude lady with a broad Brummy accent who seemed to struggle with the menu and not even know what was on it. When the food arrived, it was the worst Chinese meal we have ever had. The ribs, normally thick, juicy and in a tasty barbecue sauce, were very dry and fatty, like old meat in a thick, jelly-like substance, like treacle that had no flavour at all but was extremely salty. The spring rolls, normally in a light, crispy pastry stuffed with a fresh, moist & very tasty beansprout mixture, had a thick, stodgy, soggy pastry with tasteless, not at all fresh beansprouts. The prawn toast was just as bad: a layer of very dry, chewy, badly minced prawns with bits of shell in it just sitting rather than spread into the top of very dry toast. Again, it was tasteless but very salty. The pork dumplings were soggy pasty filled with a tasteless, gelatinous mixture, nothing like any pork filling we've ever had before. The Seaweed was overcooked and the fish flavour so overpowering that I gagged. The main courses were also truly awful. Rice noodles with pork (my favourite usually) were dry (the bits of pork that are usually juicy and fresh, were like scrap leftovers that had been sitting around for a couple of days. The Char Siu was not Char Siu at all. Char Siu is actually marinated then roast pork served sliced with a distinctive red colour around the edges and nothing else. What we got was boiled pork in a bland but salty glutinous sauce with vegetables. The beef dish was no better, with dry beef in a very thick very salty sauce that just tasted of soy sauce. The rice was probably the best dish but even that was overcooked but dry and crispy around the edges. I like my food salty and always add extra, to the dismay of my family, but even for me this meal was far too salty, I suppose to mask the lack of taste. To top it all there were no fortune cookies. Suffice to say that, after nearly 25 years, we are having to find a new Chinese takeaway as there is not a chance on earth that we will ever eat from Sezchuan House again, particularly given the 'dodgy' stomachs we all suffered through all night. The food reminded me of the kind of bland tasteless 'Chinese' food, full of monosodium glutomate, that was served in the 1970s when foreign food takeaways were unusual and most Brits thought vol-au-vents were sophisticated. If we could give Szechuan House zero stars, we would. Such a shame.

Very nice food. Great range of options and minimal plastic in the packaging. I had a teriyake rice bowl.

I recently moved here and tried this place for the first time., and the last.. the man was a grump, the food was tiny portions and actually awful the chow mein noodles were hard and dry the chips were pale and bruised and the crispy chilli chicken was whiter than me top 10 worse Chinese meals I’ve ever had

Very welcoming staff helpful, friendly, polite attentive atmosphere was warm and friendly tables were laid lovely food there was plenty of choice it was absolutely delicious cooked beautifully and presented. chop sticks and hand wipes available hood drinks and price

6 hours after eating the prawn curry, I had to take my are se for a pss Finally back on solid food, 48 hours later Be warned