Ask any longtime Albuquerque food person where to eat Chinese food that isn’t Americanized into oblivion and they’ll probably pause, think for a second, and then say Szechuan Taste on Central. It’s been out there in the University area long enough that it doesn’t need to advertise, and the regulars like it that way.
The restaurant sits in a strip mall stretch of Central Avenue near the University of New Mexico, easy to miss if you’re moving fast. Inside, it’s simple — booths, round tables, laminated menus, the kind of room where the food is clearly the point. Don’t come looking for atmosphere. Come hungry.
The menu is long and organized the way Chinese restaurant menus usually are — soups, noodles, beef, pork, seafood, vegetables — but what sets Szechuan Taste apart is how far they’re willing to lean into the actual flavor profile of the cuisine. The Sichuan peppercorn is present and doing real work. If you’ve never encountered mala — that combination of heat and numbing that’s almost electric on your tongue — this is a good place to meet it.
Start with the wontons in chili oil. They arrive slicked in a glossy red sauce with just enough vinegar brightness to keep it from being one-note. The filling is straightforward pork, but the sauce is the whole reason to order them. Get a second order if you’re with someone who can be reasoned with.
The dan dan noodles are worth ordering every time. Sesame paste, ground pork, preserved vegetables, a slow-building heat — it’s a bowl that rewards eating slowly. The mapo tofu is genuinely spicy and genuinely good, with silky tofu and a sauce that’s properly funky from the fermented black beans. If you want something milder, the kung pao chicken here is made with actual dried chilies and Sichuan peppercorns, not the sweet-gluey version that passes for it elsewhere.
For a table of two, you’re likely spending somewhere in the $30–$45 range with drinks and tip. Portions are generous enough that ordering three dishes between two people is usually the right call. Lunch service runs weekdays and tends to be faster; dinner on weekends can slow down, especially if the dining room fills up, which it does.
It’s worth knowing they’re closed certain days, and hours have shifted over the years, so checking before you go is smart. The parking lot can get tight during the university rush, but you can usually find something close on a side street without much trouble.
What you won’t find here is fusion twists or a curated cocktail list. What you will find is cooking that takes Sichuan food seriously, in a city where that’s rarer than it should be. If you’ve been defaulting to the same handful of spots around town and wondering what else is out there, Central Avenue has an answer. It’s been there a while.
