Crouching Tiger Restaurant Review, Redwood City

Reviewer: Foodnut.com

Crouching Tiger Restaurant

2644 Broadway Street (Near El Camino Real)

Redwood City, CA 94063

650-298-8881

650-298-8866 (Fax)

Crouching Tiger Restaurant Website

Crouching Tiger Redwood City Exterior

Crouching Tiger Restaurant is a Chinese Sichuan, Hunan, and Mandarin style restaurant in downtown Redwood City on a Street full of different restaurants. Their name in Chinese is really Crouching Dragon. They specialize is spicy dishes, noodles, and authentic local dishes like Xingjian Lamb and Pickle Fish soup. Our last visit was in October 2011.

Crouching Tiger Redwood City_0032

Decor, Vibe – Crouching Tiger has a very modern, dimly lit, clean interior with many flat screens and digital picture frames. We wish more Chinese restaurants would have this level of decor. Nice mix with half of the folks Asian, the other half Caucasians. Families, large parties, couples were at dinner.

Crouching Tiger Menu Pictures (Click to zoom into any picture)

Crouching Tiger has a classic Chinese restaurant menu with all sorts of dishes spanning multiple types of cuisine. We focused on the Sichuan dishes that they really specialize in.

Website Crouching Tiger Menu

Picks:

Crouching Tiger Redwood City lamb

Dry Cooked shredded lamb ($10.50) was deep fried and came with lots of jalapenos and other chilies, making this pretty spicy. An excellent dish for those that like heat.

Crouching Tiger Redwood City eggplant

Beijing eggplant ($7.50) was a beautiful dish with lots of shiny eggplant. The dish also included chopped up tomato that was stir fried an acquired the sauces flavor. On our last visit the eggplant was undercooked.

Crouching Tiger Redwood City Scallion Pancake

Scallion Pancake (1) Pan-fried Homemade ($3.50) was authentic and not too greasy nor was it very crispy. One of the better ones in the Bay Area.

Crouching Tiger Redwood City Beijing Cold Jello

Beijing Cold Rice Jello in house sesame sauce ($5.95) was a big bowl of thinly chopped up rice jello. Good and not too savory. In 2010 were served the version that was a little too sweet.

Crouching Tiger Redwood City Sichuan Cold Noodle

House Special Sichuan Cold Noodles ($6.45) minced pork or shredded chicken with cucumbers, topped with house perfect 10 spices (choice of spicy or non-spicy) was a very good version of the classic. You mix the noodles, pork, and sliced cucumbers yourself. This dish is one of the main reasons to eat at this restaurant.

Tea smoked duck ($9.50 for half) came to us very hot, fresh out of the kitchen with very nice smoke flavors and a very crispy crust.

Chinese broccoli stir fried ($7.50) is a house special dish served Northern Chinese style with the vegetables all chopped up. A little greasy but worthwhile.

Crouching Tiger Redwood City Eight Treasure Dessert

Eight Treasure Sweet Sticky Rice ($6.95) was an excellent version but lacked any nuts. Peaches, blueberries, and other fruit were used. Nicely restrained sweetness. Allow 30 minutes for this dessert, so order it with your meal. On our last visit they rushed it, and the rice was not fully steamed.

Chicken lettuce wraps ($7.95) included a huge plate of chopped up chicken, crunchy Rice noodles,, and vegetables along with the requisite lettuce cups. A decent implementation of the classic dish.

Braised Dongpo pork knuckle in special house Ginger sauce ($12.95) was a huge gorgeous plate that got chopped up at the table. Very tender meat along with an excellent tangy sauce. The fatty part was easily avoided when you order the entire knuckle.

Dry Cooked chicken wings sautéed with Chili and pepper, Chongquing style ($8.95) is a house specialty that came out of the kitchen piping hot. The wings were lightly battered, juicy, but moderately spicy.

Dry cooked prawns sautéed with chili and peppers ($11.95) was another stellar dish, with lightly battered fresh shrimp that were pretty spicy.

Dry cooked string beans with garlic and red chili ($7.50) were spot on, crunchy, fresh, exactly what we are looking for.

Beef Chow fun ($6.95) was a surprisingly good dish, given that it doesn’t fit with their Sichuan style.

OK:

Crouching Tiger Redwood City Sichuan Pickle Fish Soup

Sichuan Salty Pickle Fish Soup ($6.95) was average, nothing special to it. Flavors of the soup were pretty undramatic. 5 Joy in Foster City makes the reference version locally.

Crouching Tiger Redwood City XINJIANG Lamb

Xingjiang Lamb stir fried with green hot peppers, cumin and chili powder ($10.50) had lots of thinly sliced lamb with heavy cumin flavor, bell peppers, and onions. Dish was pretty greasy. Beijing Restaurant in San Francisco serves up a far superior version. The leftovers the next day, became a lot spicier.

Pans:
Walnut prawns ($13.95) was a big dish but heavy on the Mayo, marginal batter, and best left to Cantonese restaurants.

Tiger cocktail ($6) was made with soju and tasted like a robot made unbalanced drink.

Crouching Tiger Restaurant had fair service with long waits before ordering or tracking people down. This restaurant has only one waitress and one helper, so service can lag at times. The food was pretty authentic yet their menu had typical Chinese restaurant staples for Americans, so they could help bridge the divide and allow folks to test the authentic dish waters. Crouching Tiger is a safe bet for Chinese Sichuan cuisine on the Peninsula, definitely one of the better places. Limited wine list with glasses from $5.50, bottles from $20.

They have Americanized Chinese lunch rice plate specials 7 days a week 11:30 – 3pm.
Crouching Tiger on Urbanspoon

Restaurant Map:


Crouching Tiger Restaurant Overall Rating: (Good 2)

Come Back?

Food Rating: (Good)
Service Rating: (Good)
Atmosphere Rating: (Very Good)
Value Rating: (Very Good)

Guide: 0 = poor, 1 = Below/Average, 2 = Good, 2.5 = Very Good, 3 = Excellent , 4 = Extraordinary

Alcohol:Beer, Wine, Sake
Attire:Casual
Hours:Mon - Th 11:30am - 9:30pm, Fri - Sat 11:30am - 10pm, Sun 11:30am - 9pm
Parking:Street
Reservations:Yes
Prices:$6.95 - $17.95

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7 Comments

  • Newaur
    August 29, 2009 at 9:23 pm

    There’s a 10% off coupon (exp. 11/30) on the free Chinese newspaper – News for Chinese. Making the deal sweeter and spicier!

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    October 29, 2010 at 9:53 am

    […] Chu – Oakland Coa – Danville Colibrí Cook – St. Helena Corso – Berkeley Crouching Tiger – Redwood City – Not that great! Cucina Paradiso – Petaluma Delarosa – How […]

  • Little Sichuan, San Mateo | Foodnut.com
    November 17, 2010 at 12:02 am

    […] cuisine try this place for specific items.  It is hard to justify coming here from a distance. Crouching Tiger in Redwood City is far better. Many other places serve better Sichuan cuisine including Little […]

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    January 21, 2011 at 1:11 pm

    […] providing this level of cuisine in the San Francisco Bay Area, so we would definitely be back. Crouching Tiger in Redwood City is one place that comes to […]

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    March 11, 2011 at 12:01 am

    […] Spicy Empire serves up extremely spicy food of average quality. We prefer the Sichuan restaurants Crouching Tiger in Redwood City, and China Village in Albany over Spicy […]

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    October 26, 2011 at 3:32 pm

    […] – San Francisco Cook – St. Helena Corso – Berkeley Cotogna – San Francisco Crouching Tiger – Redwood City – Not that great! Cucina Paradiso – Petaluma Delarosa – How […]

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    October 22, 2013 at 5:49 pm

    […] – San Francisco Cook – St. Helena Corso – Berkeley Cotogna – San Francisco Crouching Tiger – Redwood City – Not that great! Remove them Cucina Paradiso – Petaluma Delfina […]

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