Jia Szechuan Food & Bar

There is a reason why ethnic restos stay on Buford Hwy... Because the mass pedestrians can't or won't eat most things on the menu. They just don't understand the foreign cuisines... And that's ok, they don't need to know about our secrets. Szechuan grub has been headlining this town for the last few years and some FOBs are even taking the chance to boldly go where no FOB has gone before... To hipster intown markets. First, there was Gu's Dumplings in the KSM which turned out to be a total dud, overpriced and lacked the Szechuan flavors and techniques... But they're cool hipsters with oversized glasses, now. Then Sweet Hut in the heart of midtown which is ok but a dumb down version of the original. Shit, I don't even care for the original on Bufo Hwy as much anymore. And now, the Tasty China peeps is breaking the quiet nerdy stereotype and assimilating in the hipster crowd at PCM. Tasty China OTP is still good even without that narcissistic Peter Chang. But will they open these dirty hipsters' roundeyes to a fiery Chinese cuisine that has eluded them their entire lives... Will they truly enjoy it or pretend to? Who the fuck knows, the Pouch only cares about the quality of the grub and how closely they will execute it true to the original.
They have been pretty packed since the opening even without a liquor license... But they seriously do not know how to run a busy restaurant. The volume is just too overwhelming for them in PCM compared to their stand alone OTP location. There is zero training, the staff is basically doing their own thing without anyone clearly in a leadership role. The service is seriously lacking and amateur at best... Wow, they really must be fresh off the boat.
The extensive menu could have something to do with the mass confusion and chaotic atmosphere thrust upon them on a daily basis. Doesn't take an industry expert to see that they are constantly in the weeds and way over their heads. The menu is very prettily designed and laminated with beautiful color pictures of the dishes offered. This is not your traditional Chinese menu... Red flag right there. This menu is totally catered towards the roundeye crowd... It's like the Very Hungry Catepillar, who isn't drawn in by those colorful pages? Their mistake was to put on way too many dishes on the menu, I mean fucking way too many... There were at least 100 dishes, some looked authentic and some totally Americanized. And believe me, many of these dishes all looked and prepared the same way except for a couple different ingredients in each dish. I looked at the couple's dishes next to me and they all looked exactly the fucking same. Either they wanted to eat the same fucking dish 3 times or they just didn't know what the fuck to order in a Chino resto... And the fat chick was Asian, too. Shame upon your family.
Fuck it. Let's just get this out of the way, so the Pouch can move on with it's measly life to bigger and bolder restos and flavors... Fuck, I don't think I have ever dreaded eating food this much, especially Chino grub... Well, maybe except for Gu's Dumps. The things I do for my one fan...

Jellyfish in Red Chili Oil. This did not look half bad. The jellyfish was actually pretty good. It had the texturous crunch and the red chili oil was a bit muted... Until you get under the cucumber slivers. The chili heat settled and concentrated at the bottom. Make sure you mix this up thoroughly. For an app, this was not too shabby.

Dry Fried Eggplants. WTF is this? Looks like a game of Pick Up Sticks... or midget Dicks. The presentation and portion was depressing. This is evidence that they have way too many menu items and can't handle the volume going through the kitchen. This is just plain sloppy cooking. Hey, motherfuckers, people are paying for this... I had nicer plating at the Pine Street soup kitchen. These were some of the worst DFE I have had in this town. They were almost as bad as Gu's Dumps. These were just deep fried and then tossed with Szechuan peppercorns, dried chilis, oiled soaked coriander leaves/stems and a good handful of MSG...er, I mean Umami sprinkles. These were not dry fried after wok frying them... They just don't have the time to do it correctly. The batter/crust was pretty thick and the eggplant was mushy and shrunk half the size due to deep frying it... Basically, like a bad mozzarella stick. Skip these, they were total crap.

Mapo Tofu. The classic Szechuan dish... C'mon, they can't fuck this up, right? It looked pretty decent when it came out. After examining it and taking the first bite, this was like shit you find in a can. It wasn't spicy, lack the all important ground pork bits, the tofu was ultra soft and broke apart, medium firm is preferred, the chili sauce was gummy (cornstarch much?) while watery at the same time, the black beans were the only noticeable flavor due to the fermented beans and don't forget about the MSG... In short, this was a shitty version of Mapo tofu. If you don't eat it and just stared it, it woulda been ok. 

Chicken with Scallion and Chili. This looks more appealing in the flaming stove setup than actually eating it. First, there is no need for this dry stir fried chicken to be sitting on top more flames... It will just burn and smoke. Blow the shit out and just eat the fucker. The strips of chicken and onions dominated over the scallions and chili portion but the main star of this dish was salt. Lotsa lotsa salt. So salty you need a 10:1, rice to chicken ratio... Just to absorb the sodium/MSG effect. It wasn't that spicy and there was barely any scallions in there. Coriander leaves yes, scallions no... Maybe the scallions on top of the Mapo tofu was for this dish. A very middling and boring specimen of a dish.

Chinese Sausage with Sour Cabbage. I wanted to save the best for last... The best of the worse that is. Chinese sausage with sour cabbage or mustard greens is a classic. WTF this is, I have no fucking clue. The vermicelli noodles were fine and the sour cabbage were chopped up and mixed in with the noodles which didn't give you the multi-level of flavors and texture I was looking for. The brown sauce underneath it, I had no idea what it was except that it was too wet, too salty and too brown to go with this simple hot pot. Don't mix it up, you have been warned. But wait, that is not the best part of this creasture... That is not Chinese sausage. No fucking way. Who are they trying to fool... That is fucking Murder Kroger brand Polska Kielbasa. Did they run out of real Chinese sausage and went next door to Kroger for whatever sausage they could find? Possibly. But somehow, I don't think this crowd would even notice the difference.

Close up of the Murder Kroger brand kielbasa. The horror, the horror. Avoid this at all costs.

They have so much shit on this overpriced menu that it will become their undoing. Every dish seems rushed out because they are trying to turn over tables as fast as possible. I saw many dishes that came out to other tables that looked indistinguishable from one another. The fish in chili oil, Shan City chicken, soup dumps, Szech burgers, pork belly, Dan Dan noodles, etc etc did not look like anything close to the pictures of the menu... Except for the string beans. This may be a reason why so many gwailo's are confused just as the staff was when the dishes are brought out to their table... The amount of dishes the kitchen have to execute properly is mind-boggling... And they are fucking up every single dish coming out. What are they trying to prove? The only thing they are proving is that they can't run a restaurant, can't cook properly, and in way over their heads trying to be hip and trendy. I'll give Gu's Dumps this much, that they didn't overloaded their menu in that tiny shack... But the quality is still not there.
As for this joint, if they continue doing what they are doing now they will all drop dead from a heart attack... Imagine what will happen when the bar gets the green light and the volume of drinks they will have to pour and make in addition to cooking and serving. It is going to be a fucking goat rodeo up in this piece. Cut the menu down to like 30 of the best traditional and new style dishes, make them totally kick ass, train the staff to actually service their tables or a specific section and this may have half a chance of survival. We all know that there are at least 40 dishes that no one has even ordered on this menu since opening, why keep ingredients for all those dishes in stock when they're already so swamped in the kitchen.
It's saddens the pouch that it doesn't even have the smallest interest to return to try any other dishes on the colossal menu after the shit show it witnessed on this night. I imagine the crowds will keep coming in to see what the fuss is all about but believe you me, they won't be ordering most of what the menu truly has to offer in terms of Szechuan dishes... Which they will prolly fuck up as well, not that anyone here will even noticed. So, make sure y'all keep a good stock of breaded cheekan nuggets for the highly popular General Tso's cheekan with the ultra cloying HFCS sauce.

Flush.

675 Ponce De Leon Ave NE
Atlanta, GA 30308
404-900-7900