Mr. Chan's Szechuan Restaurant

I absolutely love the food and service here! Orange yuba is one of my fav dishes. They give you lots of little snacks before your meal for dinner. Their lunch price special can't be beat! Parking is behind the building to the left.

Mr. Chan's has been serving up a huge vegan menu for about 15 years. I think every vegan or vegetarian in the Baltimore area has been here (probably repeatedly!). Non-veggies will love it too - good place to take a mixed group as well as all-vegan. Can accommodate events and large groups as well. Really large vegan menu and unusual items. Nice additions of lots of fresh greens like kale that you don't normally find in Chinese restaurants. You don't get the fried, oily dishes here - it's generally a fresher taste. The veggie sushi has several unique variations as well. Hard to pick a fav item! I do love the kale w/edamame and so many of the others. It's the type of place you order your dinner and about 3 other items to take home for lunches for the week.

The number of veggie options here is almost overwhelming for a vegan that normally has to find the 1-2 things on a menu she can eat. I came here for a vegan meet-up, and it was very welcoming (they have a party room). The menu has sections for not just tofu, but also tempeh, seitan, yuba, and just plain vegetables. They also have a section for veggie sushi/maki rolls. Our group shared several entrees and my favorites by far were the Orange Tempeh and the Crispy Seitan with Scallions and Ginger. Not everything was my cup of tea (the kale/edamame dish was a little "meh") - but this place is a fantastic asset for the veg*n community. For those with special diets, they were very accommodating to adapting meals (creating a plate of steamed veggies). Although I was too full to try them, they even have vegan desserts!!

This place deserves 5 cows, because the vegan options would suffice for an entire restaurant. Unfortunately, I can only give it four since it's not fully vegetarian.

**It did seem like the restaurant was a little empty other than our group, so please go support this place!! The staff is very friendly.

While I didn't love my entree, I really respect this place for it's veggie and vegan options. Not only do they offer dishes with the usual tofu and seitan and tempeh, but they also offer yuba and healmy. You can get any of these mixed with various sauces and veggies. To start, I had vegan hot and sour soup. It was DELICIOUS! Just the way I remember liking it long, long ago (13 years!) when I wasn't vegetarian! For my entree, I chose the "sampler" that had yuba, seitan, and healmy with veggies and white sauce (a light garlic-y sauce). I pretty much only liked the yuba... it was closest to tofu, while the others were had a more slimey texture that was not so appealing to me. There were snap peas, red pepper, and mushrooms in it. Overall, it was average.... worth a try, but I didn't love it. For dessert, I got the vegan green tea custard. It came with fresh strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. It was very tasty! The staff was friendly and helpful. Be aware: there is a very tiny parking lot behind the restaurant, and the restaurant shares it with other restaurants. It was filled, and I was forced to do street parking (which is rather crowded in that area). Also, the menu is not very descriptive of the different entrees. I had to ask a few questions to explain the entrees more before making my decision.

Updated from previous review on Saturday September 25, 2010: At the time that I wrote this review I was not yet vegan, but now that I am I appreciate this place's vegan options all the more. My fave items: pineapple tofu and orange seitan! I also love the hot and sour soup!

And about the parking: I don't know if this has changed or if I just didn't know better at the time, but there is a big public parking lot across from Mr. Chans, so I have not since had a parking issue there.