Located on the edge of Chinatown through one of the side gates off Archer, the original Lao Sze Chuan - a member of Tony Hu’s Chinese food empire - is a casual Chinese restaurant, with great Szechuan-style dishes.

This place serves comforting Chinese food, and the menu offers everything from dry chili chicken, to hot pot to Szechuan green beans. We generally like to stick with some of our favorites, while always ordering something new from the long menu.

While Lao Sze Chuan is reliable for its food, the atmosphere isn’t always so easy to pin down. We’ve been on a number of Friday and Saturday nights when it’s crowded, likely due to the fact it’s BYOB, but we’ve also been at similar times when it’s dead. We honestly can’t figure it out, but what we do know is you can make the mood whatever you want. Show up in sweat pants and a hoodie, or come with a group of people ready to drink and hit the bar. Nobody will judge you, and at Lao Sze Chuan you shouldn’t care either way.