Tea House

88 Nathan Ln N
Plymouth, MN
763-544-3422
http://www.ourteahouse.com/
Other locations in St. Paul and Downtown Minneapolis (T-Express)

Category: Chinese, Szechuan

Rating (Scale 1-10, with 10 being the highest):
Food: 9
Service: 8
Ambience: 8

Recommendation: Excellent! One of the best Chinese restaurants in town, serving authentic Szechuan (Sichuan) cuisine…on par with Little Szechuan, our other favorite.

Tea House is located in Plymouth, right off of 169 between 55 and 394. Its location, right next to Willow Creek Theatres makes it a popular place for a pre-movie meal. Located in an old strip mall, this place doesn’t look like much from the outside but the inside is very charming. Rustic chairs, bamboo blinds, beautiful murals lining red walls, and lanterns are part of the charm. Tea House has 2 menus…a traditional Sichuan menu and a standardized American one. For the true Sichuan experience, we recommend asking for the Sichuan menu and ditching the standard Americanized dishes such as Sweet and Sour chicken or Kung Pao Beef. Sichuan cuisine has a reputation of being hot and numbing due to the commonly used ingredient, the Sichuan peppercorn and Tea House lives up to this. It is truly authentic. Some of the dishes such as Tongue slices and Pork Belly might scare aware the average diner, but the menu also has plenty of other dishes such as Twice cooked Pork, Dan Dan Noodles, Cumin Lamb, Spicy Beef Short Ribs that will satisfy almost any palate. The Plymouth location has a lunch buffet but the items are standard Chinese fare so we’d recommend skipping it. A newer location in St. Paul has a bigger menu, more specials, and dim sum on weekends.

The Chong King Spicy Chicken (#704, $11.95) was delicious. It was extremely spicy from the chili oil and red peppers but the heat was worth it. The chicken had a crispy texture on the outside but the interior was soft and tender. This dish can also be ordered with bones to preserve the flavors, although bones do end up being a pain. We hesitated ordering the Black Pepper Beef Tenderloin (#502, $18.95) mainly due to the steep price but were really impressed. The beef was so tender and flavorful, we’d go back just for this dish. Large chunks of steamed broccoli lined the sides of the plate to make a beautiful presentation.

Service was surprisingly pleasant, the restaurant was well staffed (we’ve been jaded by our terrible service experiences in ethnic restaurants overall) and our server had good recommendations. A couple of tables are set up outside but you have to remember you are sitting in a strip mall.

$-$$