The Szechuan sauce is still great, and can be served with chicken or pork. The Szechuan Shredded Pork still has the delicious sweet and fiery sauce, shredded bamboo shoots, and other vegetables in just the right balance and offsetting flavors to make this as much a work of culinary art as just something to eat. If Lotus Mandarin has one dish that makes it worth a visit, I think this is it. I know other restaurants have better Szechuan style food, but I have not found any that I think serve a superior version of this particular dish.

Although not stated on the menu, the shredded pork can be modified to Szechuan Chicken with the same sauce and vegetables. Although the garlic flavored sauce was made to go with pork, the chicken has a good flavor as well. Those who want the real Szechuan style dish should probably order the pork, but sometimes I think eating chicken is more healthy.

One word of caution, though, is that the cooks by default will make the Szechuan sauce quite sweet unless the customer requests otherwise. When I have requested that the Szechuan chicken or pork be cooked "Chinese style," it had all the same ingredients but without the almost overly sweet component to the sauce that is served by default. I was told the non-sweet version is the way Chinese cooks would make it for themselves, and I thought the flavor approached the ones found in restaurants that specialize in Sichuanese cuisine. Looking back, it may have been a more "sweet" version that I remeber from the 1980's (and which is still served unless otherwise requested), but the "authentic" version seemed to give more of the type of flavor I would expect from traditional Chinese food.

I do think the Szechuan shredded pork has changed from the original version by no longer including strips of black fungus, and I think this would make the current version better, but I like everything else about it (including the price, since you can order a small plate if you are not very hungry).

Chicken Cheng Tu Style

For chicken dishes the Chicken Cheng Tu Style is a good alternative. The menu describes this as an "exotic dish for Chinese food lovers." The vegetables (broccoli, snow peas, and mushrooms) did not seem very exotic to me, but the sauce was good and I liked the fact that it had a good quantity of vegetables. Although this dish originated in the Szechuan region of China, I would say it did not quite bring across the flavor I found in the Szechuan shredded chicken dish.

Lotus Mandarin's hot and sour soup is one of the best in OKC

The Hot and Sour Soup is worth the nominal extra charge (but it comes free with lunch specials). It would be in the running for my favorite in OKC except for the fact that it is pre-made with MSG. Most of the time the soup is filled with the requisite strips of pork, black fungus, and bamboo shoots. The MSG has never actually given me a reaction, it is just the idea that I could be affected by the MSG that keeps me from ordering the soup on occasion.

The Sizzling Rice Soup was about average.

For a while Lotus Mandarin stopped offering most dinners in a smaller portion, but this is now back on the Imenu, so I believe the restaurant offers a good value without getting the buffet (food in the buffet has MSG, so I would not order it anyway).

Most dishes seem to be "Americanized" by default, such as the Szechuan sauce coming with added sugar, but some of the food can be made "Chinese style" by request. Like all Chinese restaurants, I think the only thing the owners want is for customers to be sure they really want the food Chinese style before ordering it that way. This includes ordering it spicy (with me, though, it never seems to be as spicy as I would like).

Forget the divey appearance (this restaurant is a great example of post-WW II strip shopping center Oklahoma modern). The good food and extremely attentive service will more than make up for it.