Mission Chinese Food at the Lower East Side...Worth the Hype??

Go during any given hour at this new uber popular Chinese spot in the Lower East Side (by way of San Francisco) known for unique takes on spicy Szechuan style cuisine, and you're probably going to end up waiting in line.   Since they've opened a few months ago, the lines at Mission Chinese Food have been pretty insane, though the prices are very reasonable at around $8 to $13 a dish on the average.  Our group was there on a Tuesday night in June at 6pm and we pretty much had to wait close to an hour for a table.  By 7 or 8, I can imagine that the lines would even be longer...so at this point your best bet is to go during off hours or maybe even get takeout.

Mission doesn't hold back on their take on the Szechuan classic mapo tofu; their version is also fiery hot, very flavorful, with a decent amount of Szechuan peppercorns.

A dish that's pretty awesome was the Thrice Cooked Bacon...the Bacon is good, but stir fried rice cakes really make the dish.  However, although spicy and flavorful the salt level almost made it inedible at the same time.

The Kung Pao Pastrami was also a pretty good dish that was again very flavorful but packed with an insane amount of salt.  It's spicy and stir fried with a lot of peanuts and celery.

Lastly, we had the Chongqing Chicken Wings.  The wings were fried really well but the dish was really more salty than spicy.  The chilies were basically there for dramatic effect haha.

So that's it for my trip...there are a lot of other interesting items on the menu, but the insane lines have pretty much discouraged me from making a second trip back anytime soon.  The food was flavorful but oh-so-salty.  I think the only way to eat the food here is to take the approach of looking at it like drunk food!  While salty, the food would go well with an ice cold beer.  Speaking of beer, the make the wait more tolerable, they do have a keg in the waiting area where u can help yourself to complimentary Bud Light....which is a great idea!

Mission Chinese Food

154 Orchard St

(Lower East Side)

New York, NY 10002

(212) 529-8800