Szechuan Gourmet is Bloomfield Readers' Choice for Best Chinese Food

At first glance, the storefront Chinese carryout just north of Long Lake on the east side of Telegraph Road is nondescript.

But at – the for best place to get Chinese food – the quality and the service have kept a steady stream of longtime customers happy.

Readers agreed in last week's voting, with 61 percent choosing Szechuan Gourmet above the other six restaurants in the poll.

"Respect the customer," owner Gene Wong said is his No. 1 rule, and a reason his business has thrived for more than 10 years in the same small strip mall, where it seems businesses open and close as quickly as the changing of the seasons.

Wong says he uses fresh ingredients that make for all homemade, quality food. Customer favorites? No. 1 is General Tso's Chicken, followed by Sesame Chicken and Peking Spring Chicken.

Wong, who lives in Walled Lake with his wife, Mei, and has two grown children, not only owns the restaurant but also does everything from buy ingredients and prepare food to wait on the majority of customers. He does have a chef, but he knows how to make everything on the menu himself.

And Wong does indeed make the customer No. 1. He tells of a resident who moved away but who on a visit back to the area called from the airport. It was close to 9:30 p.m., which is closing time for the restaurant during the week, and the person asked if Wong would stay open longer so he could pick up his favorite meal on the way to his destination. "I said sure – I'm here already, no problem," Wong said.

Other customers have asked Wong to deliver their food – and although there is a separate delivery service the restaurant works with, Wong said he has delivered meals himself several times – as long as the customer is willing to wait til after closing time.

Szechuan Gourmet is open seven days a week – and Wong is there from open to close on every one of them. "Ninety-five hours a week," he said. "You have to enjoy it," or you shouldn't do it, he added.

The restaurant is open every day but Thanksgiving. It sometimes will close on Easter or Labor Day. "We never close on Christmas though. That's our busiest day," he said, noting that Jewish customers in particular order out on Christmas.

A couple of years ago, Wong did shut down the restaurant for 10 days when the entire family traveled to Hong Kong, where Wong and his wife both spent their young childhood years. He came to the United States in 1969, and attended school in Ann Arbor from eighth grade on.

Wong has seen a lot in the nearly 11 years he's been open in Bloomfield Township, including shutdowns for presidential motorcades and severe business slowdowns during long-term construction projects.

Gordie Howe used to come in a lot, along with his wife, Colleen, until her death in 2009. Joe Dumars, whose home is nearby, stops in frequently, he said. Howe always paid by credit card, and Wong still keeps one of those signed copies, cherishing that autograph.

One customer comes from as far away as the Lake Orion area; others include the police officers, firefighters and city workers all based just a block away.

But mostly Wong has families and regulars. "I've watched the children in some families as they grow up," he said.

Szechuan Gourmet, as winner of last week's Readers' Choice poll, will go up against Chinese, Asian or Sushi restaurants from around Oakland County in a second-round face-off that begins Monday.

More on Readers' Choice and Bloomfield businesses

• Check out all of our Readers' Choice winners.
• Visit Bloomfield Patch Places to see all of the Chinese restaurants in Bloomfield (and you can write a review, too).
• If you are a business owner, have you claimed your directory listing yet?  (and it's free!).