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Hunan Chinese Restaurant
Rating Details »
1940 W William Cannon Dr
Austin, TX 78745
(512) 443-8848
Austin, TX 78745
(512) 443-8848
- Hours:
Mon-Fri. 11:00 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Sat-Sun. 11:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
- Attire:
- Casual
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Price Range:
-
$
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
14 reviews for Hunan Chinese Restaurant
If I could give 4.5 stars, I would. Based on quantity of food, Hunan deserves 6 stars...it's a LOT of grub. $9 got me Won Ton Soup, an egg roll, 2 delicious chicken wings, fried rice (no pork...booo), tons of General Tso's and a fortune cookie. I chowed down and still have a solid meal left in the fridge.
That said, from a quality standpoint, it's a 3-4 star event. The soup is sort of bland, fried rice too plain, and the General Tso's sauce was too thick and peanuty. Got the job done, but as an American Chinese connoisseur, fair at best.
Fortune Cookie: Laughter is the world's best medicine.
Not a buffet, but might as well be!
My wife has been bugging me to take her here since I have been dropping her off at the ACC South Campus. I figured it was buffet style just looking at the place. I guess I was sorta wrong. The food is piled high! Not only that you get a large scoop of fried rice, egg roll, soup and 2 chicken wings. I had no idea I'd be served so much food. And I was an idiot and succumbed to my weakness of crab puffs and ordered a plate of those to start our meal.
There is a menu for more authentic Chinese faire where my wife ordered twice cooked pork. I noticed they also had stir fried tripe listed. Poking around her meal, she let me know pretty fast she didn't like it. However, in true fashion of Chinese frugality, she made us get boxes to eat the hefty amount of leftovers tomorrow.
I thought the meal was pretty normal myself. I ate the sesame chicken. Nothing spectacular. To my palate, it could have come off a buffet.
It's very funny how she and I can have two different views of Americanized Chinese food. I fully expected it to make her head explode when we came to the US, but that's not always the case. One buffet we went to in Carlsbad, NM she loved and I thought it was some of the worst food I've ever eaten.
So the wife claims she never wants to return to Hunan. I say it's pretty average stuff. The staff is friendly. They seem to have a lot of regulars they know. I'd never say never, but I do know we are splitting a plate if we find ourselves there again!
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I have gone to this restaurant for many years. I went there today after not having been there in a few years (moved out of state) and they had the same wait staff! They are such nice people and almost everyone that walked in, they knew because they were regulars.
Today I had the Cha-Jang Myun. It's on the "Oriental dishes" part of the menu. It's brown sauce with noodles and it is the same as it has ever been, delicious. The portions are big at Hunan. I could only eat half and I took the rest home.
If you're looking for your basic Americanized Chinese food with some outstanding extras give this place a try. Ooh, also, I saw that on the lunch menu you got an entree, soup, and egg roll for around $6 bucks...not bad!
I'd give it 2.5 stars if you could give half stars. But you can't, and 3 is clearly too much.
Was looking for some good Chinese on this part of town, and the reviews seemed promising.
My girlfriend had been here once before and said that the food was bland, but I decided to give it a try.
As many other reviews said, the amount of food that you get for the price is definitely super.
$9 got me a heaping helping of General Tso's (Called Hunan Tso's here), fried rice, 2 chicken wings, hot and sour soup and an egg roll. Unfortunately, tthe girlfriend's experience seemed the same as mine: the taste of the food was totally sub-par.
Their website says that they can put less MSG in their dishes upon request. If I ever ordered it again, I'd ask if t hey could put more.
The General Tso's had absolutely no flavor at all. None. I've never experienced that before. The fried rice was not very good either. The soup and egg roll and chicken wings were all fine.
Other negatives: I asked for some duck sauce for the egg roll, and the guy said they didn't have duck sauce, but put a similar sauce in the bag. The sauce in the bag was sweet and sour sauce. That was a little disappointing. I like duck sauce on my egg roll.
AND, when I got home they hadn't put any soy sauce in the bag at all. I have NEVER, in my many takeout experiences, gotten food to go and not had soy sauce in the bag.
I couldn't eat all the General Tso's, but I didn't even save the leftovers. For me, being on my thrifty budget, to not eat Chinese food leftovers...that means it's really not good.
Maybe the other dishes are better. The General Tsos was the worst I've ever had. So sadly, despite the awesome deal, I don't plan on ever going back.
HUGE portions
Great service
Food was yuck! Crab puffs...GREASE puffs you mean!
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If you really like Americanized chinese food, you should come here!
They have the typical chinese food that you want for a really good price. Their lunch and dinner specials are amazing and their portions are freakin huge. My favorite is the vegetable egg foo young.
Whenever I'm in the mood for just really delicious, typical chinese food, I go here (usually Sundays). They're really accomadating and they're generous about their portion size including their vegetables.
Also they have a little section on their menu where you can get Korean food. Their Korean food is decent too (although a little expensive). I think the business is run by Koreans and I have to say, they're reeeally nice and enjoy making small conversation.
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Good gawd, that's lots of food. Either of the entrees we got here could have easily served both of us. I mean, heaping mounds of entree (in my case sesame chicken), fried rice, egg roll, Mongolian chicken literally piled high: it was borderline intimidating how much food came out.
You get the distinct impression that Hunan is a family owned business, from the folksy greetings most get here, to the homemade inside signage, to the conversations I overheard with other tables who were filling in management about which of their kids that was headed off to college, and how other back stories long since started were playing out.
There's no mistaking that at least one of the reasons Hunan seems to have such a happy following is the great value you get for your buck, and the fact that they're very likely to remember you the next time you're in. Honestly, based on those ideas alone my rating should be a little higher, but they're stuck here for me because my food (mounds of it that there were) was about three star quality. It could have very well been what I ordered, and I clearly got my money's worth, but I noticed that the menu says that they can cook without MSG only if you request it, and the sauce that came with my entree was pretty thick, almost syrupy.
Anyhoo, I'll definitely be giving them another try: the way I see it, all of those other happy people at Hunan couldn't have solely been there for the great conversation. They also left contented, left connected to another person in their neighborhood, and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that sometimes, even in a bowl of soup, it's okay to find the roots you've already put down.
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Usually, we head right to East Oltorf or East Riverside for our Asian food (with the exception of sushi), but we felt it was about time to find a good Chinese restaurant in our own '45.
Having read a Yelp review about how great the Koren style Chinese food was at Hunan, I was extremely curious. Lately, I've really been digging Korean food. Well, when we took our seats and opened the menu, I was a bit disappointed not to find any japchei, bibimbap, bulgogi, or anything that resembled Korean food to me. (Disclaimer: I am a complete novice when it comes to Korean food.) To our western eyes (even my Mexican-tinted ones), the menu appeared to be the standard Chinese fare.
The hot and sour soup was tasty and pork-free, which I appreciate, but it had peas and carrots, and it was a bit too sweet - by the time I got near the end, I couldn't finish it because I was also overwhelmed by its saltiness.
The crab puffs were extremely tasty, delicately crispy on the outside, smooth and creamy on the inside. Just about the best crab puffs we'd ever had! Then came our meals, but damn, we were already quit stuffed. In general, they know how to cook their vegetables, the taste is flavorful, and the portions are enormous. (*See below for a detailed description of the meals we ordered.) We end up boxing almost the entire meals. Our server, I think, was afraid we had not liked our food. The services was extremely friendly and very attentive!
Our bill came out to $24 before tip - we could easily have invited two friends to join us and we would all have been quite full. For the prices being so low, the food is quite good.
Even though it's not Korean, I'd try it again, but I'd skip the hot and sour soup and share the entree.
*I ordered the Home Style Bean Curd that had a generous amount of carrots, broccoli, and mushrooms (there were about 3 different kinds!) - and even more generous amount of bean curd (tofu). The vegetables were steamed to perfection - well cooked but retaining their crispiness. The tofu was fried just enough to lose its sliminess. The sauce was spicy and flavorful.
My boyfriend ordered the shrimp, snowpea, and water chestnut - again, the vegetables were well cooked, although the shrimp seemed a bit too starchy - did not taste so fresh.
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I think this place is pretty standard, stereo-typical Chinese food. The Tso's chicken was a bit greasy and had too much breading. Their fried rice is pretty good, and their Hot 'n Sour soup isn't really that hot. Star for the prices and the huge portions.
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You've got to give this place credit for giving you a lot of bang for your buck. Seriously, the boyfriend and I can split an entree and still have leftovers. So I give them an extra star for the money we save by going to eat here. The food is just: eh. Pretty standard Chinese fare, not much to write home about. The service is really nice, but I swear the kid behind the cash register was maybe 12 years old.
Probably not my first choice for dinner any given night, but I'll definitely be back since it is in the neighborhood and I know if I order one meal, I can have it for lunch the next day and probably dinner again the next night . . . And maybe the next. I'm not kidding, the portions are huge!
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This was quite a little gem in Austin -- Korean Chinese food! wow! (I'm Chinese -- doesn't it help to kinda know when talking about ethnic food? I think so!) The trick is being friendly with the waitstaff and getting the "secret" Korean menu items -- my friend had been going there for years when he started taking me there. We were definitely regulars (even though I lived in N. Austin) and became pretty friendly with the waiters there (um, by name!).
Appetizer -- go for the chicken wings -- yummmm! The best thing ever!! Don't bother with the Americanized stuff...
Korean food -- they do have chapchae (I can't spell Korean stuff!), but it may not be under that name on the menu -- just ask the waiter. They can make it vegeterian if you want. Then there was this fabulous spicy, breaded shrimp dish (no shell) -- not on the menu (they have a chicken version); the waitress recommended it to us once when we asked for suggestions. It tastes even better as a leftover.
Chinese food -- I think we only got the mapo tofu from the Chinese menu -- the Korean dishes were pretty much our staple when we visited.
The ambiance is a typical American Chinese restaurant, but the food is yummy -- be adventurous and leave behind the fried rice and beef & broccoli! Be friendly to the staff -- they're really great! (okay, one sullen looking woman, but everyone else is friendly.)
(oh, and another bonus is that you can get frozen custard on the way home because Culver's is just down the street! heh...)
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i ordered the vegetable fried rice the other day and let me tell you, wow. it was good. the rice was cooked perfect. it wasnt overloaded with vegetables either.
as i ate the rice i was thinking "damn i got to redo the review."
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
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9/20/2008
These days most Chinese resturants are buffets. But this is one is a sit down open menu type of… Read more »
Hunan is my go-to Chinese restaurant if I'm staying in South Austin. It's tasty and the portions are huge so my man and I can split and save dough. I've never had to wait for a table or to check out. I was put-off by the waitress's stern expression at first, but I've grown accustomed to her face, accustomed to her reservedness. There's plenty of parking. Good all-'round stand-by place.
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I was shocked - yes shocked to find Korean style Chinese food in Austin! Good, Korean style Chinese food to boot! Jajangmyon in Texas - so exciting! The service is good, typical - we were invited to a local Korean church - I think when Korean's see my husband and his white wife they assume is an unchurched, bad son who needs reforming. If you aren't an Asian guy with a white girl - they'll probably just serve you your food. The place is clean, a little dark and the prices are great. This was a definite culinary surprise for my taste buds! They have "regular" Chinese food here too for those whitebread taste buds out there...but be adventurous and try the sweat and sour beef!
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