mmm-yoso!!! is a blog about food. Kirk is busy today and traveling around looking for food, Ed (from Yuma) is busy consuming food and preparing another interesting post about Yumans and their available food choices, so Cathy is writing this post.
Kirk blogged about a few visits when Szechuan Taste first opened, he also mentioned it in mid-March last year. Despite his not so favorable assessment, The Mister has been having on and off cravings for 'spicy' food and we've made a few visits.
During our first visit, I determined that the tabletop condiment selection, with the metal tin containing sauce of spices mixed with oil is necessary for me to be happy with the flavor + heat levels here.
The Szechuan chicken lunch special ($7) is served with the egg drop soup. It is fine for someone who is used to take out Chinese food, and not spicy to me, again, necessitating the addition of the tabletop sauce. 
The seafood crispy noodles ($11)is not made to be spicy and the flavors are pretty generic, but enhanced with the addition of the sauce.
The green onion pancake ($5) is well made, with the flaky layers quite tasty. However, I ended up wanting more heat and dipped pieces into the sauce part of The Misters choice:
of mabo tofu ($9). This was a good sauce, complimenting the tofu and ground pork and not needing any additional 'heat' component.
Even the sauce that the spicy wontons ($7) were swimming in wasn't spicy enough for me. 
Yet, we returned again, hoping for some spicy heat with flavor, perhaps by trying another part of the menu. On this rainy day, the Lamb and fish hot pot ($14) was excellent in both flavor and heat level.
Finally, a dish which needed no condiments!
The light flavor imparted on the tea smoked duck ($13) was just right and no spice needed to be added.
Hit and miss, not terrible if you have expectations of Chinese food, not great if you are expecting Szechuan.
Szechuan Taste 8199 Claremont Mesa Blvd San Diego 92111 (858) 754-8888 Website
It serves a purpose, I guess. Some people couldn't take Ba Ren. And there are so many "Mandarin and Szechuan" restaurants around that some folks think that is Szechuan. Was there any numbing spice?
Posted by: Ed (from Yuma) | Monday, 23 May 2016 at 07:24 PM
The food here is flavorful, Ed. Some items have heat (we never have been asked to order a heat level; just take what the chef does) none of it is numbing though. I've never felt the need to add so much of the tabletop condiments at any other restaurant.
Posted by: Cathy | Tuesday, 24 May 2016 at 06:08 AM