Hunan Wok

* HUNAN WOK *
This is the absolute best Chinese restaurant in St. Louis!
The new ownership is amiable, always present and it’s a family business w/​the husband as the chef, the lovely Ada running the front & their son Johnny is always playing & smiling.
We had «Crispy Chicken «(a sliced fresh chicken dish, deep fried, cooked in a chef’s special sweet & spicy sauce)
Szechuan Sautéed String Beans
Hot Tea
I honesty do not understand why this place is not jammed w/​clients.
The freshly painted and clean environment is relaxing and wonderful.
The food quality is Top Shelf !
I realize they do an outstanding «To Go & Delivery Business «, however this is a well keep jewel!!!
Best regards,
John

I am a customer of that restaurant for 30 years. what is nice about food is consistency. You know that you get the dish with the same quality and taste. One more time: Really good food quality and service. Always open! Highly recommended for lunches and dinners as well.

Rolled the dice on trying a Chinese place outside of my comfort zone… here we go. Went here 30 years ago, came back last night during a storm for carry out. Not terrible, not great. As a hospitality person, I can’t help but judge and know certain restaurant «smells» right when I walked in the door. Humid, funky, dirty carpet that needs to be replaced, hanging glassware was dirty and needed to be cleaned, along with mirrors, and why don’t you put away the two snow shovels and the open bag of rock salt at the front door, it’s JULY… but didn’t like my first impression (strike one). The place was totally empty when we picked up for carry out, at 745pm (strike two). I asked the (only) person working literally, where everyone was?
Not the best. Whatever…

When I’m on my deathbed (or when asked by the warden what I want for my last meal) I will ask for Hunan Wok’s crispy chicken. .. .

Food was okay.
The crab rangoon was okay, but it had an odd flavor I couldn’t quite place (I think in the shell or oil used, not the filling.)
Got the General Tso’s. Wasn’t too bad, but not what I normally expect from this dish. The sauce was not very spicy, made my nose run a bit but no tingling in my mouth at all. I will say I could taste some of the subtler notes in the sauce likely because of its mild heat. The chicken that the sauce coated, however tasted slightly off.
The eggdrop soup is the more brothy style. My girlfriend did not enjoy it at all, I didn’t think it was too horrible but it was different than I’m used to.
The location is okay, spacious inside. We were there during an off-​peak time when it was bad weather, and we were one of two tables in there at the time. Service was a little slow, but not inconvenient at all. Very cheerful and gracious staff, they took pretty good care of us.
They are close enough they deliver, I may try a few more things from here when I’m too lazy to go out somewhere else for carry out. This would not be my go-​to however, without future visits knocking my socks off.

Found a piece of glass in our fried rice. The white rice was dry. And the meat tasted like it was microwaved. Not a fan.

I hate Brentwood but I really like Hunan Wok so I make the trip, the place is always empty and there is always a kid there, kinda odd but the Beef and Broccoli is delicious so I venture into that area. There are plenty of chinese places closer but I like Hunan Wok.

I am SHOCKED this place does not have 5 stars! Don’t listen to any of those reviews and let me reassure you that Hunan Wok is amazing! Hunan wok has always been my family’s first choice for Chinese food in the st. louis area. I’ve been coming here for the past 15 years. The owners are very friendly. The food is quickly made. I have yet to have a dish at hunan wok that i dislike. I highly suggest this restaurant for families who are looking for a clean place to eat or someone who needs a quick bite for take out.

I really hate to give this place such a sorry number of stars because it is one of the chinese places that delivers to me in the Brentwood area. However, the food quality was so bad I can’t justify giving it more than two stars. I ordered:
1 of 5. Hot and Sour Soup (for 1) (X2 $ 5.00)
2 of 5. Crispy Chicken (X1 $ 11.95)
3 of 5. Hunan Vegetable Delight (X1 $ 8.95)
4 of 5. Shrimp and Pork Hunan Style (X1 $ 11.95)
5 of 5. Fried Crabmeat Rangoon (6) (X1 $ 4.95)
The hot and sour soup was good and enough for two people.
The crispy chicken was awful. It tasted like old, fried chicken skin in sauce and was so tough.
The Hunan vegetable delight was good.
The shrimp and Pork Hunan Style was marginal. The pork side was good but the shrimp was 6 shrimp in a thin, tasteless «spicy» red sauce. very disappointing!
OMG, the crabmeat rangoon was cold, tough and tasted as though it was made entirely of cream cheese with no crabmeat.
Very disappointing considering the reviews. I don’t know who cooked for me but for $ 50 I was so sorry I ordered from this place. I really believe I got old food from the buffet, if they have one.

Drove 22 min to have a scorpion Bowl to find out they sell no alcohol anymore!!! Disappointed

I work some evenings in the Brentwood area, and somehow manage on a regular basis to forget to bring any kind of meal. Subsequently, I get extremely hangry by the time dinner rolls around and am desperate for any kind of delivery. Enter Hunan Wok.
A few big pluses:
1) Online delivery. If you are like me and hate unnecessary phone conversations, this is a huge plus.
2) Relatively quick delivery (within the frame they gave me, at least. Took about 40 minutes)
3) CHICKEN THAT IS ACTUALLY WHITE MEAT. This is a huge one for me. Nothing is a bigger buzzkill than biting into a gray mystery meat. Also, crab rangoon had real crab meat in it as opposed to just cream cheese. I had the General Tso’s, and it was very good, although following with trends I’ve noticed, NOT spicy.
On the con sides, it’s relatively expensive as Chinese food goes, and if you aren’t a fan of Americanized, you won’t like this. But I’ve never claimed to be a connoisseur of Asian food, so I am more than okay with it.

We have been going to this place for a very long time, through at least one owner change and a long closing which they appear to have survived – they called me to let me know they had reopened!
At the beginning the main outstanding feature of their food was that it was super-​fresh and not heavy on the sauces. The broccoli and other vegetables were always very fresh and crisp. This has degraded slightly over the years but their food is still pretty fresh and pretty good (at the beginning I would have given them four stars).
The other outstanding feature, which they are still doing today, is that pick up orders are usually ready very quickly. (We usually pick up our order to go and have only dined in a couple times so this review is based on the to-​go order experience.) We have never had a problem with a pick up order, I think a large part of their business is pick up orders.

Pretty ordinary Chinese establishment, but they have the best sauteed green beans I have ever had. My husband also raves about their crispy chicken.

I visited Hunan Wok for a late Christmas Eve dinner when my travel plans changed. It wasn’t really what I wanted, but it was 8:30, and I wanted to eat somewhere that people wouldn’t be all twinkly and festive, because I totally wasn’t in the mood. I also wanted something relatively inexpensive and not fast food. I knew this would fit the bill.
Other than a table of four that was finishing up, I was the only diner in the place. Despite that, water service was really, really slow. Asking for extra rice and getting the bill later took quite a while, too.
I started with a veggie spring roll and that orange sauce. The roll was crispy. It wasn’t the most flavorful, but it was fine.
My entrée was string beans in some kind of spicy garlic sauce. These were really good, snappy and packed with flavor. They weren’t drowning in sauce, but there was plenty to drizzle over the vegetables and rice.
The most «Uh, really?» moment came at the beginning, when asked how many in my party, I of course replied one. The man looked behind me as if shocked, and he repeated «Just one?» He looked confused that I was dining alone. Normally, I’m a confident single diner; plop me down with food and a book or The Consumerist on my phone and I’m happy for the solitude. But this guy inadvertently made me feel like a freak. Maybe I misconstrued his reaction, but I didnt like it, especially on Christmas Eve. Yeesh.

When all you expect is greasy Chinese food it’s hard to be disappointed, but the delivery we just got was nothing but bad.
Undercooked eggrolls, stale crab Rangoon with NO crab (real or fake), the Szechuan beef was the worst I have ever had. The beef was mushy and flavorless, no spice and no taste.
The woman who took our order was curt and impatient. We will not order from hunan wok again.

This belated review is from when I joined the beautiful wife and fellow International Supper Club Unilocalers at Hunan Wok in December.
I’ll add yet another «I’ve never been so happy to see a full bar» — actually, I was just happy to see the Bud Light sign in the window.
Service was odd, in that they seemed to want to wait for everybody to show up before even speaking to us. Oh well.
When they finally did, things moved along pretty decently. My Mai Tai, while in a Tiki mug, was overly sweet. Like Nicholas mentioned about his drink, it didn’t taste properly blended. One was enough (did I just say that?)
For food, I had their wonton soup (standard and fairly boring) and the Szechuan beef (again, standard dish). If anything, after a night in the fridge, the beef got better, but isn’t that true with most Chinese leftovers?
Would I go back? I guess if somebody _​really_​wanted to go, sure. Or if the wife and I were driving around in Brentwood and both suddenly had an urge to eat Chinese. But I wouldn’t go out of my way.

This place serves below average Chinese food. For the same quality food at a better price, I prefer Chinese Express which is a block away (next to Schnucks).
They have an option to order your food online which is handy when ordering for an office group.

You have no idea how excited I was to see that our December International Supper Club meeting was at a Chinese restaurant. I *love* Chinese food and will make any excuse to eat it. So than you Allison and Erin for making my last meeting extra special :)
As a former resident of Brentwood, I’ve eaten Hunan Wok before but never dined in. From what I can remember, take out here takes forever. If they tell you 15 minutes, make it closer to 30 ’cause you’ll end up sitting at the bar waiting either way. The food itself is OK — it’s pretty hard to mess up Crab Rangoon and Broccoli Beef, IMO.
I will absolutely agree with Erin on her general excitement to see a full bar. And a side note — drinks here are cheap! A glass of wine cost less than $ 5. Of course, you get what you pay for, but still… Not sure how good the Mai Tai or the Scorpion tasted, but the presentation of both drinks was pretty damn impressive! For those of you who took pics of the food and drinks, post them!
The food and service at Hunan Wok are somewhat mediocre. It took *forever* for our waitress to take our order. Granted, we were a group of maybe 11 – 12 people, so of course that takes some time. And it is only one lady working front-​of-​house (including the bar), so just be patient. Once she took our order, however, food came out pretty quick. Maybe it’s just me, but both of the items I ordered were pretty bland. They weren’t BAD, just kind of tasteless. There were leftovers for sure, but I didn’t even want to take them home.
Overall, it was a relatively pleasant dining experience. Of course the Unilocal Supper Club made it way better :) Maybe I can fly back for the next one?

I’m kind of torn on this one but I’m not sure I’d go back so I’ll have to give it two stars.
Pros:
— Looks a lot nicer inside than outside
— Easy parking
— Full bar
— Service was nice and pretty efficient after an initial slow start
— Interesting drinks
— Really unique, cool presentation of certain dishes and drinks
— Was easy to eat here with a group
— Cheap
Cons:
— What it comes down to was that I didn’t like the food much :(
— The veggie egg rolls had mush inside. Didn’t seem fresh at all — I expect to have some cabbage trialing out when I bite into one, but there wasn’t any.
— The sweet & sour sauce was pretty flavorless
— My dish was veggie lo mein, and while the noodles and broccoli were cooked well (a pet peeve of mine), the taste was «meh» to me.
— My pineapple juice came out warm
— They took forever to come check on us once we got there and getting alcoholic drinks for only a couple people at the table took a long time, huge gap between when people got them.
So overall, I’ll stick to my regular Chinese place and would only come back if someone really wanted to try the «scorpion» drink with its crazy bowl.

Not your normal Chinese presentation is what I experienced.
Drinks served in imaginative holders that started conversations about sacrificing virgins called «Scorpion»? A «Flaming Po-​Po» combo appetizer plate surrounding a fire? I would suggest asking the server for suggestions because this is part of the experience. Sadly, they the did have the ingredients that night to flame the «volcano»
=-(
I ate with the knowledgeable & sarcastic (seems to usually go together) «International Supper Club.» Do not be intimidated; join, sit back, enjoy and listen to & learn to appreciate other opinions and form & decide if you want to share your own. I know I have learned to attempt this through Unilocal (plus other things) & so can you.
Now back to the restaurant–
I ate the «hot & sour» & found it lacking… I have come to realize I want more fresh vegetables & textures in this soup than most places want to serve. I am not an traditional expert, but I have found & I like variety in this soup.
The Hunan Lamb was very good. I really liked the lamb, mushrooms & sauce. The other ingredient was fresh sautéed green onions that I usually like, but this dish (IMO) had them too large & too many by proportion. Green onions, IMO, are chopped up smaller & added to create more flavor & not a major part of a dish. I loved the overall taste & concept of the dish, but I probably should have ate around the amount of green onions… JUST CUT THE CHUNKS SMALLER so not to over power the dish!
Sorry, but the great dish «missed by that much» (Get Smart)
Eating a meal like this without sharing dishes made me realize I did not know these people that much. I was given a dish to eat off & then given my main course with another dish for the communal rice. I am not used to not sharing. (yes, I know that sounds like a double negative!)
Overall, I really want to come back to this clean & friendly place which makes me a fan. (I am so glad I went here without being tainted by the «few review» squad– look for «Elite» or over 100 reviews)