Ruiji Szechuan Cuisine - Lomita

Who doesn’t love a bit of mouth numbing watery ness? After living in Shanghai for years and being married to a Chinese man, it’s safe to say, I love Chinese food! We discovered this gem at a previous location in Garden Grove, and we instantly fell in love. The food will make you shout and the price point will make you shout even louder. Unfortunately, that location closed down so we had been waiting for an occasion to come up to Lomita from Orange County. We came up for our anniversary and it was worth every cent and mile. Taste: While I lived in Shanghai, I probably didn’t have the most authentic Sichuan cuisine, but for sake of argument, it was close enough. There is something about the 麻 (numbing) of peppercorns mixed with the heat of chilis. There are definitely dishes I like more than others, but I can’t say there was one bad choice on our table. Everything was simply amazing. Mushrooms, heat, 魔芋 (sorry, I don’t know how to say this in English), flavor, meat, and everything that came out of their kitchen was fire. Price: At first glance, each dish seems kind of expensive. Once they’re served, you’ll know you’ll be eating for days. We have a tendency to over order, so that meant lunch for us and our daughter the next day. We spent around $60 $70 for our meal. For authentic Sichuan cuisine, I didn’t feel this was all that bad. Again, this gave us leftovers that we happily garbled down the next day. So we’ll worth the cost. Recommendations: 口水鸡 mouth watering chicken (can’t remember how they translated it on the menu) 干果菌类 dry pot assorted mushrooms (Anything dry pot is amazing I also like it with frog) 水煮鱼 boiled fish in chili oil (by far my favorite anywhere I go) Other recommendations (didn’t have this time): 麻婆豆腐 tofu in a pork chili sauce 干煸四季豆 basically green beans (a big fav of mine) 牙签羊肉 the best lamb you’ll ever have 孜然羊肉 more lamb you’ll love but with cumin 泡椒木耳 wood ear mushroom is rubbery but filled with collagen for beautiful skin lol also good for vegetarians I could go on and on, but if you’re looking to venture outside of your typical Panda Express repertoire this is the place to go!

Had a dinner with 3 colleagues. We stayed in Torrance but wanted something authentic Chinese food, it was nit disappointing the minute I saw the first course on the table.

The best Chinese restaurant in LA Tasty,clean,good price

First authentic Sichuan place I found in the South Bay. Portion sizes are all to share as it is typical in a family style restaurant.

This is the best Sichuan cuisine restaurant ever! We absolutely love Malatang, so it was only natural that we fell in love with Sichuan food. There are a few well-known Sichuan restaurants in the city, but we only discovered this hidden gem yesterday, and everything we tried was fantastic. You can tell a place is good by its clientele—lots of older Chinese patrons. If the folks who know the cuisine best are enjoying their meals without hesitation, you know it's authentic! While the photos might not look fancy, we couldn't wait to dig in, and we were definitely not disappointed!