Hunan Home's Restaurant
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street, Private Lot
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Lunch, Dinner
56 reviews
Palo Alto, CA
"This place is a beautiful, upscale Cantonese banquet restaurant. You won't embarrass your great-uncle from Hong Kong if you take him here…" read more »
64 Reviews for Hunan Home's Restaurant
This restaurant has been around for a long, long time (15+ years) and it wouldn't be if it were in L.A.
Some dishes are OK like the dumplings, and lettuce wraps, but most dishes are on the salty and greasy side.
Rice roll (saran wrapped), Chinese doughnut, please skip and not waste your money.
Service was so so.
The place is getting pretty run down and dirty and I can't imagine how the kitchen looks. Never used their restroom... I have no plan to go back.
Wasn't too impressed. We've had take out a couple times and, to be honest, it's average Chinese take out.
The first step in "accepting" this place is getting past the awful turquoise and pink 80's Chinese take-out decor. I swear I heard "All I Need Is a Miracle" playing in the background as I got out of my Delorean with my feather hair cut and parachute pants.
But, I digress.
We've eaten staples here like beef & broccoli, kung pao chicken, chow mein, sesame chicken, etc. And, I've never really been overwhelmed. And, a sticking point with me, the staff is never really that friendly.
The place isn't too clean either, and while I want to say "you just accept that sometimes"...why should I? Clean up, people. We're trusting you with our health, for crying out loud!
Anyway, I can't swear I'll never be here again. Like Matt G said, there really aren't that many take-out alternatives around here.
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I'm not an expert on Hunanese cuisine. I know that Hunan cuisine is one of the top three cuisines of China (the other two being Cantonese and Sichuanese). But I don't know the characteristic dishes of Hunan cuisine. That being said, I felt this restaurant didn't differ markedly from other Chinese restaurants I've been to. This place does have a lot of lunch specials, starting from $7.95. Each lunch special comes with a soup, appetizer, main dish, and dessert. I had the Hunan Home pork lunch special, which was ok.
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I crashed my parents' social club event here--they had ordered a banquet, complete with clam soup, Hunan "you ji" chicken, clay pot crab with vermicelli, xiao long bao, a stir fried choy green, fried rice covered in scallop and shrimp sauce, abalone sautee served in its own shell, etceteras, etceteras. Needless to say, I was stuffed, and definitely impressed with the quantity of food. In terms of quality, there were some really spectacular ones and some 3 stars ones but overall my impression was favorable. I loved the crab--you have to come here for seafood, very fresh and really delicious. I thought the xiao long baos were passable, but the fried tofu in spicy sauce was really good... the clam soup was decadent but simple... and, again that crab with some noodles on the side, yum. Those would be the three things I would order again, oh and the stir fried choy.
Service was also impressive; we did have someone at the banquet who knew the staff, but still they went out of their way to get us an extra large seating table, tons of glasses for the bottles of wine and Hennessey we brought in, came by to chit chat with us about the food before whisking in something new and delicious... yeah, I like the manager, he's pretty personable.
Very greasy, even for Taiwanese standards (hee) but honestly, felt it was above average for the Chinese food in the area. I wouldn't go out of my way to come here to eat since Cupertino is so accessible, but for some real Chinese food without all the American fixings, this place satisfies.
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I used to frequent this restaurant a lot with my family back in high school. The owner was at the top of his game, every night was bustling and hustling with customers from all over.
It was so popular and so busy that it started to take a toll on him. Simon got skinnier and much weaker and not only did his body suffer, but his restaurant as well. After a couple years of treatment, he regained his health and now sports a flowing head of hair. His energy and charisma is back and we're all glad to see him return to his old self.
Unfortunately his restaurant business has not. While it is good, it is not what it was, which was pure awesome. We still go there occasionally, it's a good place to take out-of-towners to, but sadly we have been spoiled by his previous quality.
Dishes I recommend:
1. spicy crab in claypot with vermicelli noodles, I'm unsure of the exact name, but if you describe it, they'll probably know what you're talking about. (dah chien loh shieh jah foon sih) - terrible attempt at trying to spell it out, but give it a shot! have fun with the chinese language!
2. pork blood and intestines and tofu in spicy sauce, (tsah wah)
With a limited amount of family-owned restaurants along El Camino Real side of Los Altos, I needed to come here for lunch. This restaurant is located across the street from the San Antonio Shopping Center. The setup for the restaurant is good enough to attract Matt G's appetite.
I arrived nearly close to two o'clock and I was seated right away. I ordered one of the lunch special: Mongolian Chicken. For $7.95, I get a choice egg roll (which I got) or Chicken Salad as an appetizer, a choice of soup, which I got Won Ton Soup, Steamed Rice and dessert. My Hunan-style Mongolian Chicken plate, which comprised of bits of Chicken, sliced Onions, bell peppers and red-hot chili pepper was very spicy and tasty. My dessert was a small bowl of Mango Pudding, which was good as well, despite being a little bit small.
I also got a fresh brewed hot-tea with my hefty meal. Oh yeah, my meal was very filling and satisfying with friendly service from the associates. I charged my meal, in which they accept. I had a solid Hunan meal and whenever I needed to come back to Los Altos, this Hunan place is definitely worth coming again.
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Got some takeout from here the other night (orange peel beef, bbq pork chow mein, steamed rice). Fast service, friendly staff, and the food was not bad (the beef had a good amount of flavor and the chow mein wasn't greasy at all). I've dined at this establishment a couple of times before many moons ago (long before my Yelp days) and I don't recall any negative experiences. I shall have to come back, perhaps with family so that I can try several of their dishes.
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I heard good things about this restaurant, but I did not like it. The only thing I got that I liked was the potstickers - super juicy and tasty. But the rest:
wonton soup - so-so broth, very measly wontons
special hunan homes pan fried noodle - SWIMMING in white sauce
family style tofu: SWIMMING in brown sauce
Blech.
Plus, the place is kind of gross and dirty, and the waiters are running around with soup spilling out of bowls. It feels very haphazard and yucky.
Good for casual dinner but not great for dim-sum (avoid if you can). I was loyal to its SF location and came here expecting same quality of food. I would have to say that SF one is much better and that you can clearly taste the difference. However, SF one is in China Town where as this one is seriously the best Chinese joint in 20 mile radius.
I always stick to these three things:
hot and sour soup- consistently good
mapo tofu- lately they have been adding the brown Chinese sauce/flavor I don't like
chicken with snow peas- always finger licking good
bottom line: Service is what you expect at a Chinese Restaurant, prices are reasonable and food is great considering your choices.
Ok, I have a confession. I'm Chinese by ethnicity but, Chinese food is, like, #8 or #9 on my Top 10 Cuisines. *Gulp* Mom, Dad - please don't disown me. I love your cookin' but, I'm just not down with "Americanized" Chinese food. Gag.
Enter "Hunan Home's." This is the only Chinese restaurant my parents frequent. The ONLY one. Ever since I was an obnoxious little 11 year old brat, my parents have been taking me here. It's THAT good.
My parents even like the fried rice at Hunan Home's. And any Chinese or Taiwanese person born in the motherland will tell you that you should never, never, never eat fried rice at a Chinese restaurant. (Why? Because they know what's in it!! Y'know those leftovers from the party before you? Well, guess what the restaurant didn't throw out,...) My parents, however, make an exception at Hunan Home's.
Super casual atmosphere; I roll up in sweats sometimes. There's never any problem with getting a table ASAP. The food comes out with a quickness. And the price is just right. Definitely worth a few visits. Yumm.
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Very good Chinese food for team dinners, but I don't know if I'd come here on my own. First, the service is rather spotty. They perk up when you speak to them in Mandarin, but otherwise, they're rude, ignore you, and are rather blase about everything. They did become exceptionally better after they were spoken to in Mandarin.
My team came here a few days ago and because we had a wide range of ethnicities and tastes, we ordered pretty much the standard Chinese dishes that everyone gets like hot and sour soup, peking duck, sweet and sour pork, honey walnut prawns, shrimp fried rice, chicken with orange peel, spicy shelled prawns, and a giant fish (cod? I forget). The food was slow to come out, but when it came out, it was very hearty and junky in the way that junky Chinese food is. The food seemed to pass most people's palate tests (a must for team events) but I think for me individually, I'd rather go to my other 'favorites' like Tsing Tao in Campbell or Pot Sticker King in Cupertino. They're less junky, but still have very good ethnic eats.
At the end of dinner we got mango pudding on the house..but it was very very unflavored, not tasty mango 'pudding.' Really, don't eat it.
BTW, don't drink the water here. As you should know, frequenting a Chinese restaurant is always a sure sign, don't drink the water.
Came here for the first time today for lunch. I came in at 12:30pm and was seated promptly. Hot tea was given along with the menu. There is a full selection of lunch specials, each comes with a choice of small appetizer, soup, and desert.
I ordered the kung pao chicken with vegetable egg-roll and wonton soup. I don't eat fish or shrimp and almost every place makes their wonton soup with fish. They don't make theirs with shrimp and it was really good. The home made egg-roll was also good.
The kung pao was served in a generous portion with oversized portion of white rice. It had just the right amount of spice and good flavor. No funky/salty taste. I surrendered midway through and didn't make it to desert. Too much food, but then again that's a good thing.
The service was prompt and professional. The courses came out at just the right time and there was no waiting. Very good value for the money. Excellent wok hay.
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This is a good lunch place--not as many Asian people in it as say on Castro or Cupertino but definitely more than Chef Chu's. :-) I like the lunch special because it comes with a salad AND soup so that's a fun change.
I would suggest picking the seafood dishes--I liked the 3 ingredients seafood which I believe shrimp, scallops, and conch. The black bean fish and any shrimp dish are also great.
The service is attentive and friendly--always had water or tea filled which is great for a Chinese restaurant.
If I worked closer, I'd come here for lunch more often but since I work in Cupertino, I go to Potsticker King for lunch specials which are a bit better.
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Consistently a tasty Chinese restaurant. The decor could really use some updating - it hasn't changed since I first came here as a kid in 1988. Yep, that's 20 years! I come for the food - good solid comfort food. I always start with the sizzling rice soup (even tho it's a little gooey - either heavy on the cornstarch or the canned Chinese food service soup base) The dishes are very tasty and pretty fresh. You can't stop most Chinese places from using that ubiquitous institutional brown sauce, but Hunan Home goes easy on that stuff. All the veggie dishes are great (especially fresh pea shoots or water spinach), and the sizzling platter beef is fantastic. The silver buns (it may be a secret menu item) are really crisp and tasty. If you can splurge, I'd recommend steamed fish with ginger and scallion (especially the rock cod)
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The food here tastes pretty good, but is a bit overpriced. Their rice sticks (nian gao) are yummy, but I feel like I could make the same dish, and for much less than $8-$9. Their radish cakes (luo bo gao) are also quite delish. All and all, a satisfying meal, but I'd choose other Chinese places over this one due to the prices.
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I couldn't really understand what was Hunan about this place at all. When we asked the waitress to recommend some special dishes from the region, she just pointed to the spicy things on the menu randomly. The menu offered a lot of Americanised chinese dishes and not much else. We ordered Hunan special ham which had okay meat, but came in a thick glossy sauce. It tasted of cheap chinese sauces and very little like I feel the dish should based on the Hunan food I've had before in Hong Kong. We also had fish fragrant pork which can be a really great dish if cooked well, and has a very distinctive flavour, but which here tasted very similar to the ham. The dishes came with a scrawny salad that would never even pretend to be real chinese and two lukewarm spring rolls, also rarely see in China, and too big and greasy to be any good.
Really really really solid good yummy yummy lunch... Not like some crappy greasy lunchtime eatery, but real food. With a real soup, real family style dishes, a real dessert and hell.. even the egg roll was above average. Probably the best work lunch I have had this month.
came here on a Friday night, but didnt have to wait too long to get seated-- I had heard good stuff about the peking duck. we ordered the Peking duck, xiao long bao (XLBs!) , and the 'wet' fried rice with sauce and scallops on top. Overall, everything was pretty good. The peking duck is not as crispy as I usually like it, but it came with all the usual fixings, like the buns, sauce, and scallions.
Hunan Homes has excellent seafood. The absolute best dish on the menu in my opinion is the Spicy Salted Crab. I'm not a huge fan of seafood but I am a *huge* fan of this dish. Another great dish is the Spicy Wontons. You pretty can't go wrong with most of the seafood here. I don't think the non-seafood dishes are quite up to the same level but they are decent. Highly recommend these particular items off the menu.
oh man, I used to go here in the college days all the time. Before I knew what good chinese food was - this was it. I grew up in Jersey, can't blame me. Let me just say that this is not good chinese food!
I love this place. Great seafood dishes. Get the black bean clams, and seafood fried noodles. Yummy! They have great a prix fixe menu as well. They must not load up on the MSG since I don't feel gross after eating here. Will come back!
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I've been here a few times. If you don't think of the restaurant's name or its reference geographical region in China, perhaps in itself it is and can be a decent eatery for simple stir fry stuff.
I don't know what authentic Hunan food is like because after living in the USA for so long and going to places like Tampa Florida and the Midwest, all I can say is Chinese restaurants (Northern) are typically Hunan or Sichuan, with little or no measurement of authenticity.
I'm going to yelp about my grandma for a bit. She's been smoking for 50+ years, almost 90 and full set of black hair (all natural). She's from Hubei, and knows what real Hunanese food is. She can out-eat anyone in terms of spice tolerance level, consume the hottest of chili or jalapeno peppers including the seeds without a beat and no water. Any North American Chinese restaurant that claims to make dishes that are uber spicy, she will give it a taste and say "that's too sweet".
If I had her tolerance level I'd down a bottle of hot sauce, then swim in a pool of Ninji mala hotpot... I'd be a hero.
My guess is that HH won't satisfy grandma's homesick tastbuds and for sure she's not ready to fly down and then drive down to eat here .
Whether HH here or in purportedly Chinatown are run by Hunanese, I wish them luck.
If I remember correctly their menu is in Chinese, English, and Japanese(?). I would think their dishes might satisfy a select portion of Japanese expats who like Japanese style Chinese food, but likely does not come close, but will have to do for the area.
But -1 star, because of the dreaded moo shoo poo poo stuff that's also on the menu. I would have loved to see a special section, maybe even Chinese only, that advertises purely Hunanese specialties, rather than generic Hunan beef, Hunan chicken yada yada, and scattered across the menu. If you look at their fried rice section, there's Fujian fried rice.....uhm sorry that's a dim sum seafood Cantonese restaurant lunch dish, what is it doing at HH's menu?
Doesn't seem authentic to me.
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I'm really not sure how this places gets an average of 4 stars. I would give a zero star if I could.
1. Seaweed and egg flower soup - kind of blan, nothing special.
2. Basil chicken - the basil flavor is not bad, but it's like MSG overload. Not a good feeling at all.
3. Salt and pepper pork - the pork was fried and browned nicely, but some part of it is not cooked completely, salt is not distributed evenly, some are extremely salty and some have no flavor.
4. There are two dead little bugs in my ice water.
5. We felt extremely bloated after dinner and this continues throughout the night. It's already 20 hours after we ate and our stomach still felt indigested.
6. The meat, both chicken and pork, are not good quality. They somehow taste tender but you can tell it's not good meat.
I've already had a bad experience from Hunan Garden, which is from the same owner as Hunan home. We are scarred from the these Hunan places, will NEVER go back and probably will not go to any restaurant with "Hunan."
Oh, and the price is not cheap either, really unhealthy food.
You can't miss this place... just look for the colorful pink and blue awning outside. I've been here twice and the food has been good both times. But this review will be for the most recent time since the last time was too long ago.
What made this visit so interesting is that it was the day my parents and my bf's parents met for the first time. His parents invited mine to dinner, and we ended up going here. For the first 5-10 minutes his parents and he were talking to the waiter about different dishes in Chinese so my parents and I were just sitting there like the lost English-only speakers we are. From looking at the menu online, this is some of the dishes we had (I can't remember all of them at the moment):
Clam with Ginger Soup - tasted very... clean. Simple flavors but oh so good.
Peking Duck - always so good. Except I like the steamed buns more than the actual duck so I usually try to get a little of the duck so I can look like i'm eating it correctly - but am really enjoying the bun.
Prawns Baked in Spicy Salt - yum!
... I give up. I can't remember the rest. One was a sizzling dish that was really good - I suck at reviewing. The staff was very helpful and overlooked my dad's I will use my very limited Chinese but will say the wrong thing and almost end up offending the waiter until he realized what he meant to say and then proceeded to pick on my dad all night. My bf's parents haven't forbidden him to see me anymore so I guess things went okay. hehehe
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This place wasn't bad. I went here with some coworkers some years back and it was pretty good. It had that feel of a restaurant that was converted from something else, but works out in passable fashion. I don't remember the food being especially remarkable, but at the same time, remember thinking that it would be a place that I wouldn't mind going back even though I haven't.
Their crab kicks ass. Also order their Taiwanese fried rice (shrimp & lobster sauce-type sauce over rice), it's tasty. No, really... it's tasty. Peking Duck is excellent. Loved going here with my parents since my dad ordered 10 dishes for seven of us. This is called Chicago-style.
Also you should know this location is far better than the city Hunan Home's. I forgot the story, but I believe they are separately operated by siblings or something. Whatever the story, the city one just doesn't compare.
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With the name and the funky colors and lanterns hanging out front, at first I thought maybe this was a Chinese furniture store. I probably wouldn't have tried it, but a Chinese friend of mine suggested for lunch one day, and I've gone back for dinner, too.
Technically, they do have their own parking lot in back, but it has room for about a quarter of the people that can fit in the restaurant, so just park on the street and be done with it.
Execution is what gives these guys 4 stars in my book. The menu isn't all that different from hundreds of other places in the Bay Area. However, they do a good job at all the dishes. Everything I've had is very flavorful. The deep fried dishes don't come out too oily, and the staff is friendly and helpful. Like many places around here, if you're Chinese and know what to ask for, there seems to be many additional plates you can order.
Great place for lunch.. at least this is where I go for lunch...
It has good vegi options.
I'll tell you what. The owner of this place goes the extra mile to keep live fish, lobster, and giant shrimp alive in those decorative tanks in the main room. Where Hunan Home's shines is in the immaculately prepared dishes involving these items. Sure, you can go and order lemon chicken, broccoli beef, or any other staple item you'd find at most generic Chinese places, but you get the sense dishes like those were put on the menu to appease the masses. Instead, take a deep breath, step forward, and let's do something a little more adventurous than "the usual."
-Fujiyan fried rice. Mind-numblingly good. It's a "wet" style fried rice. Basically a seafood sauce poured over the rice. I have to order this dish everytime we go.
-Peking duck. Served with hot seaming buns for your pleasure.
-Live lobster. If you have a party of 4+, you might want to try the live lobster. They'll serve up the first portion "sashimi" style (ie. raw) - the texture is chewy but the meat is subtlety sweet. The rest of the lobster will be cooked "two-ways" which you have an option of choosing. We usually go for a ginger and garlic style one way, and chile style the other. I believe if you decide to forgo the sashimi style, that they use the portion to make soup.
-Live steamed fish. My god, few things rival the sheer beauty of a gigantic steamed fish sitting in front of you. Order up heaping bowls of steamed rice along with this dish, and you're set.
-Seafood in a hot pot. It's a medley of seafood in a gravy that you can eat over steamed rice.
-Honey walnut prawns. Really really sweet but still seems to have crack-like addictive powers over me. The size of the prawns are enormous.
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Pretty average Chinese fare. I tried their homestyle tofu, and chow mien,and while both were tasty, they were not interesting enough to pique my appetite to return.
***EDIT 12/12/2007***
We went back a hand full of times in the past couple of months the food has taken a turn for the worse. Apparently the owners and some of the chefs had a falling out so the chef's left. We could taste a siginificant difference in the quality and taste of the food. They also tried passing off a dead crab to us when we ordered crab.... Changing my review down to 1 star. Sad that one of our regular dinner places is definitely going down hill.
*****
Best best chinese seafood restaurant in the Peninsula. The parking lot is HORRIBLE, service can be bad depending on which host you have since there is a guy who will keep telling you to add more stuff onto your orders. But aside from him, everyone is great! My favorite dishes are the lobsters/crab/ and steamed fish. Everything comes to you for inspection from the live tank before they cook it up. We've been coming here since I was a kid and they throw in plenty of little perks!
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When I want Chinese food take-out Hunan Homes is where I go. The food is way better then the Chef Chu's a few blocks north. They have dishes with snow pea sprouts which I stumbled on accidentally and love!! They have good food at a decent price.
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Excellent seafood especially the crab! Service is OK and it may be a tad more expensive than its rivals but quality is also better. Tight parking lot so arrive early for lunch
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Good, solid chinese food with really fast service. Passed by this place a whole lot of times on El Camino, but never really noticed it until we had a sudden craving for chinese on a Sunday.
Hunan Home's beef: excellent, but not very spicy.
Sesame chicken with garlic sauce: spicier, but not great. A little spongy, maybe.
While this isn't the best chinese food that I've ever had, it wasn't terribly expensive and the service was surprisingly quick. I'd probably go back.
Hunan Homes is my staple Chinese restaurant when I want to go with a larger group. The prices are pretty reasonable, the service is good, and the size of the platters are decent. I've never had a bad experience here.
My favorites are the honey glazed walnut prawns and ... well... maybe everything. Like I said, I've never had a bad dish here.
I just went last night with a group of 10, and we spent $135 ($15 pp) for 8 dishes + 1 soup for 10. I was a little sad because they didn't automatically give us desserts (when you come with such a large group, usually they just give you the sweet stuff), but one of my friends was assertive enough to ask for it, and they gave it to us "on the house". hahah. Gotcha!
I really like this place. The food is really good and the service is great! The servers and hostess are all really polite and accomodating. It's not too crowded which is surprising but i do see a lot of families come in, so it's a homey place to eat some chinese food. There's lots of places that you can go for chinese food, and this is one that i would reccommend =)
I've had the house special pan fried noodles, potstickers, honey walnut prawns, chow fun, hot and sour soup, garlic chinese croccoli, shrimp and green beans, and stir fry veggies and they were all pretty tasty
Okay, if you're looking for the same orange chicken, beef broccoli-type of Chinese food, don't come here! I've never been to China, so I don't know what authentic Chinese food really taste like, but if it tastes like the food over at Hunan Homes, then I'm booking my plane ticket now!! I usually go with my girlfriend and her aunt and everytime I've been there, the food was not just good, but totally...... ORGASMIC! Haha! Okay, maybe not that good, but pretty darn close. Here is where I would normally write down what you should order, but I think I would run out of characters to type in! Trust me, just try whatever sounds good on the menu and it'll be better than any other place you've had it!
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Perhaps my favorite Chinese food in the area.
The place is a bit more expensive than other restaurants you find on Castro, and maybe the portions are a tad bit smaller too. (but it's worth it)
When I first started going here years ago, the number of Chinese people (or lack thereof) was a bit startling. However, I soon got over this after I tasted the food....and consequently, there seems to be more Chinese people in the restaurant lately.
Must have:
Westlake Beef Soup
Orange Chicken
String Beans a la Hunan
Beef and Tofu (this is only on the lunch specials, but they make it for dinner if you ask)
Owners are nice and friendly. They give you free dessert if you go often enough - and I do! :-)
This is your brain --
This is your brain on a stealth whole dried hot red pepper under a forkful of sizzling beef --
Any questions?
http://www.hunanhomes....
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My sister introduced me to this place when she was at Stanford. Soon thereafter I moved to Palo Alto for a couple of years and this place was near my house and my gym so I got take out occasionally. Everything I had at the restaurant or at home was good. I went back a few months ago for old times sake and it was just as tasty.
