Hunan Restaurant

so, i couldn’t keep this terrific place to myself, and sent a reporter who got even more of the back story about Hunan — here it is:

Hunan is a great choice for really authentic Chinese food. It’s definitely on the higher-​end of your neighborhood Chinese restaurants. Entrees are mid-​teens to low twenties in price.
I went with my girlfriend on a Saturday night early — around 5:30. We happened to be in the area and I had heard that it was a really good place, so we had to check it out. We were debating doing take-​out, but ended up eating in. When we were seated, we were the only two people in the restaurant, but by the time we left, the place was full! Very popular it seems, so get there early.
The only reason this wasn’t a five-​star review was because our server was very busy and couldn’t give us enough of his time. The water was empty most of the meal and we finished and were ready for the bill a good 40 minutes before he could get back to us. I’ll give them a break because I liked the place a lot and want to come back. Probably will do take-​out next time.
On to the food. We got some wonton and hot and sour soup as appetizers. Both were delicious. The hot and sour soup had some great heat to it and a very rich complex flavor. You can definitely taste the chilies in there. Our main courses were Singapore curry noodles, braised pork belly with tofu, mushrooms and cabbage, and kungpao chicken. The noodles were delicious and properly reminiscent of the noodles I had in Singapore. Good curry flavor and tender shrimps. The pork belly was good too. I originally ordered the smoked pork belly, but they were out of that. It was a massive dish and I ended up taking extras home. It was cooked fairly firm, not falling a part, but had a rich taste from the fat. The mushroom sauce was really nice too. My girlfriend had the kungpao chicken and she enjoyed that — it was fairly standard (a safe choice). I was happy to see a good Chinese menu that had dished beyond your typical fare offered in the US. Dessert was Shanghai beignets: tasty little balls of dough fried and dusted with powdered sugar. They were essentially the sweet and sour chicken dough without the chicken, but were a nice choice to end the meal. Orange slices and chocolate dipped fortune cookies accompanied the bill — a welcome treat.
All in all, good food with an interesting menu — worth coming by. Get there early or do takeout when they’re busy.

I was really disappointed regarding Tori review. I would suggest Tori return to her day job, because the restaurant reviewing is not in her wheel house.
First off the restaurant prices of items are extremely overpriced, and Top it off it is not senior citizen friendly by no means! And they really don. t care.The restroom is located on 2^nd floor. The stair case did not have and railings and significant number of steps to transverse.
Back to food, yes it over priced like others have stated here the food quality similar to cheap Chinese restaurant without the lower price.

I love Chinese food! With that being said, it’s all relative. I think the difficulty with Chinese food is that everyone has their own measuring stick… some people like mall Chinese food, other’s take-​out places, other’s more trendy and some more traditional. This is definitely a mom and pop BYOB, with nice door, and casual atmosphere… but there’s something to be said about a place that opened in1973 (heck that’s older than me). Now I’ve been lucky to have spent some time in Asia and I find this place to be very similar to the home cooking I experienced. I mean don’t get me wrong, if you order chicken and broccoli, you’re gonna get just that… chicken with broccoli (I don’t even think they don’t even serve that in Asia)… but if you’re just a bit adventurous our friend suggested their specials and «off-​menu» items… they are fantastic! Look for an Asian style fried chicken… similar to a Beijing Duck… their steamed whole branzino (if you can get over the whole fish thing), and stir fried lobster. Oh and if you like spicy, this is the place. Not that numbing hot and spicy but straight up make your head bead with sweat spicy… fresh hot peppers stir fried with minced pork.

Overpriced, food is just okay. Not even tastes good as American Chinese food, definitely not real Chinese food. Will never come back again.
Anyway service is good

I ordered 3 items for take out:
Chendgu Lamb — very good, could use more cumin. The lamb was tender, but a little light in the meat for $ 16 or whatever it was. Came with a side of white rice.
Dan Dan noodle — pathetic excuse for Dan Dan. It was angel hair pasta with a little sausage (or beef?) sprinkled on top. Little to no sauce, no flavor.
Green beans — delicious! So good I had to put the little extra sauce from this on the Dan Dan. Tender yet crispy, with a little bit of char. Really good!

You have no idea how bad I wanted to love this place. The moment I walked into the door I was greeted by an elderly yet energetic man and what I assumed to be his wife. The place was completely empty at 8:00 PM on a Thursday night but I trusted my Unilocal app.
I love how you aren’t really able to catch an idea of what you’re walking into or what the interior looks like before you enter this restaurant. In most of my experiences, these are the places that are extraordinary… hidden in the shadow of their excellence, no need for any flashy signs or glaring advertisements. They just need their reputation and good food. This… was not that place.
I hate to be so blunt, the menu is bad. There is absolutely no dish that really POPS. I felt like I was scanning through a super-​condensed Chinese fast food menu but with Michelin star prices. Okay I get it, you’re in Ardmore. If you’re going to charge 16 $ for an order of General Tso’s chicken, at least give the customer the decency of cooking it to his/​her liking.
To start off I ordered an egg roll that contained beef and shrimp. For the price of admission, I was expecting something made on premise. It was not. While very tasty, it is the kind of tasty you can get at a cheap Chinese takeout.
So why not go to a cheap Chinese take out place? I found myself asking this throughout my entire dinner.
Ah, the entrees. «I’ll have an order of General Tso’s chicken, can you make that well-​done please?» I don’t know if it’s just me or what but is making a request to get wings or any chicken dish «well done» some sort of heresy? A lot of places don’t take this request seriously but I feel like it is my calling to spread the good word of WELL-​DONE-​CHICKEN! The entrée came out and looked absolutely fantastic. Within a minute I was over it. The chicken was fresh, but not cooked enough for standard General Tso’s let alone well-​done. Even my buddy who is not fond of my well-​done theory gave me an odd look when trying some of my dish. Such an odd texture, so soft, so… weird. To top it off the sauce had almost NO flavor. The dark red, spicy coloring of it was extremely deceiving, it tasted of nothing but salt. My friend ordered the «three pepper chicken». His plate must have contained 4 whole cut up peppers and about a chopped up chicken finger worth of chicken. We laughed about it afterward but when you really think about how much they are charging for these dishes it is no laughing matter.
I hate to really dig into places like this, it has a great atmosphere and the owners seemed like really nice people. My sympathy fades away when I see prices that do not come close to matching the quality of the product.

I think part of our ‘meh’ experience is that we ordered our food for take out. Maybe it would have been better fresh in the restaurant? But, none of us felt very well after eating our different meal choices, so I’m not sure that’s all there was to it. Their site doesn’t specifically say no MSG, so I hope it wasn’t that sort of thing… everything just seemed greasy and oily. The tempura batter looked raw and was very soggy on my shrimp. There was no seasoning on the salt and pepper calamari. The lo mein noodles were really greasy. The sesame chicken sauce seemed to be just pure soy sauce w/​sesame seeds sprinkled on top. None of us were really happy with our food sorry to say. No delivery available, but may be that’s a good thing… this might just be a place you have to go to in order to enjoy.

Hidden gem. We inquired about the exquisitely photographed fried chicken and were told it was just a special, then were prepared a Cornish hen fried the same way and served with beignets covered with condensed milk and powdered sugar — «Chinese chicken and waffles» — insane. Insane. Throw this on the menu (the beignets already are, protip) and I will come once a week. Hopefully the chef can bust out creatively and make this place truly special.

Really cool restaurant. Service and atmosphere is nice. The dan dan noodle was not good at all.

Best Chinese food in the area. I’ve only ordered takeout but the interior looks clean and inviting. Their General Tso’s chicken and orange beef are delicious. Even the egg rolls are something special.

I heard this place was great, and was excited to eat here. Given, it’s Chinese New Year, but the service was ridiculous. We made a reservation. We got here on time (in fact, early), and 40 minutes after our reservation time we were still waiting to be seated. They seated walk-​ins and reservations after ours before us. This is longer than we should have even given Hunan a chance for, but it was cold outside and we didn’t feel like going elsewhere. We commiserated with someone who placed a take-​out order and was told 20 minutes. She left and came back and they still hadn’t started making her order.
45 minutes after our reservation, we were finally seated. The décor is nice. It seems more upscale than what you’d expect from a Chinese food restaurant.

I have been here several times coming to dinner with friends. It sometimes gets crowded so reservations might need to be made on week nights. I like the dark atmosphere on the inside. It feels somewhat classy, even though the restaurant is casual in my opinion. It is BYOB, which is always a plus. The food is also pretty decent. I really like their rice and noodle dishes. The hot and sour soup is pretty tasty as well, along with their dim sum. I would definitely recommend this place for a Main Line eatery.

I went here yesterday with my husband since we were in the neighborhood and didn’t want to drive home in traffic. Ii read reviews and figure to give it a shot. the place itself was very nice clean and simple the food was so so. Nothing really amazing, but when we were done our food no one offered us dessert just some came by and said here’s your receipt. I could of made the mall we ate.

This place is fantastic. I’ve been coming here for over 20 years, the straw mushroom chicken is awesome, chicken lo mein, and don’t forget the shanghai spring rolls! Family owned and operated, wonderful people, and a pleasure to eat there.

If you want a more upscale Chinese food experience, definitely give Hunan a try. Service and food was good. I saw Dan Dan noodles on the menu and got excited since we don’t have those around here. They were different — more sesame than spice, but still good. Service was good and they have vegetarian options.

First time at the restaurant. I decided to go based on the reviews. When I drove up the restaurant, I was disappointed. The restaurant looked old from the outside and you assume that the restaurant will be dingy and dirty inside. Since I talked my family into going there and they were really hungry so we went ahead and went inside. The interior is very modern and clean. Don’t let the exterior deter you from entering and enjoying a great meal. We ordered the pan fried pork dumplings, the chicken fried rice, the work fried noodles with shrimp, the roasted duck, the General Tso’s chicken & the orange beef. Everything was delicious. One word of caution is to eat the crispy duck before it gets cold. Price for meal was very reasonable at a little over $ 80 for 5 people since we are used to eating at $ 100+ our family at Chinese restaurants in the Washington DC area.
The staff was excellent. Very prompt and courteous. Our drinks were always filled and when we finished, the dirty plates and utensils were whisked away immediately. This restaurants pays attention to those little things that will make us come back again. Oh yeah, one last word — get there early since this place fills up quickly.

Tried this restaurant on a Saturday night, it was pretty busy, was seated for a party of 2 pretty quickly.
The service was very efficient and courtesy. The menu wasn’t to extensive typical Chinese food menu.
My boyfriend and I ordered the wonton soup, it was pretty tasty, the broth was delicious and had 4 decent size dumplings in the soup.
We ordered a pot of black tea with our entrees, I am used to have complementary tea at Chinese food restaurants. The tea was good but having to pay $ 3.50 for a small pot is a little steep.
Now for the entrees: I ordered the general tso, it said spicy like all other general tso chicken, it was not spicy in the least bit but it was tasty, huge portion I had to wrap the remainder up. It came with white rice, I wish it was brown rice but I guess I had to specify that when I placed the order. Overall it was a good dish.
My boyfriend ordered the cashew chicken dish, it was olé gift of cashews, peppers, onions and mushrooms. This was also indicated as a spicy dish, it was not spicy at all. It was a huge portion also, he had to wrap the remainder up for left overs.
Overall the experience was good and the food was delicious just wish it was spicer and had brown rice.

Such a shame, i was excoted to try this place. This place is overpriced, the food is not terrible but it is def not worth the price of what they want. Id rather go to panda express than pay for this food again. Much better deals around this area.

Had a delicious dinner with a group of my fellow colleagues at Hunan awhile ago. The food was plentiful, satisfying and just mouthwatering spicy goodness! Chef Foo and staff was very attentive and personable… made us feel at home :) We also had a few special chef additions (off the menu) that we all loved! (peking chicken – yum!) Will definitely recommend for anyone who wants to enjoy some authentic Chinese cuisine!
Have been back several times after my first encounter and they never disappoint! highly recommended by this foodie snob!