Elegant chinese restaurant at the foot of Castro street.
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1040
Reviewed: 10/11/2004
Rating: 7.5
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Coming off a mexican food weekend, it was refreshing to try a different cuisine. Todays lunch was going to be Szechwan Garden but it looks like they were under reconstruction. We went a couple of doors down to Hunan Chili. First time visit, probably not our last.
We ordered off the lunch menu and the waitors took 4 minutes to bring out appetizers, soup, our lunch dishes. These guys are super fast...almost too fast. Makes you wonder if all this stuff is sitting in the kitchen under a heat lamp. I can only think of one sit down restaurant thats faster, Man Bo Duck (they are up the street on Castro).
I ordered the Kung Pao Prawns and tried Beef with Broccoli.
Kung Pao Prawns - about 10 or so shrimps. Not too large but cooked perfectly. Sauce wasnt salty. Veggies were firm and peanuts werent burnt. It looks good on paper but I dont know why didnt like it? Maybe Im not a fan of the Kung Pao dish.
Beef with Broccoli - Very salty. Beef was extremely tender, probably been marinating for days. Broccoli wasnt overcooked. Hunan Chili knows how to cook their veggies.
Even though we ordered off the lunch menu, it was quite nice to see them bring out a la carte type dishes and big pot of rice. Enough food to share with other people. If you are in a hurry, service is lightening fast and the food is good.
Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 739
Reviewed: 10/11/2004
Rating: 8
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Hunan Chili reminds me a bit of China Chili in Fremont. Same type of food pretty much and same type of atmosphere. This was my first visit here and I found it to be nice and clean. I ordered the Kung Pao Tofu. It arrived VERY quickly along with Hot Sour Soup (nobodys favorite type of soup apparently), and a veggie eggroll. I found the Hot and Sour soup to be just OK. The eggroll was decent, and the Kung Pao Tofu to be pretty darn good. It was a bit spicy (Nuclear on the Cluck U scale). The white rice was fluffy and average. I sampled the Vegetable Deluxe which was also pretty good. It had some kind of corn starch sauce that was a good match with the vegetables. The lunches (soup, eggroll, main dish, ice cream, and fortune cookie) came out to $5.95. Great deal for what you are getting here. Wasn't overly salty in my opinion. Good portion, good price, good service. I'll be going back.
My opinion of Hunan Chili could best be described as mediocre. There was nothing special about this generic Chinese food restaurant.
They have a very reasonably priced lunch menu, but I was disheartened to learn you don't get a choice of soup - you get hot and sour soup. I don't like hot and sour soup. You also get an eggroll, a dish with steamed rice, and ice cream for dessert. I chose the beef and broccoli which made my lunch total about $7. Very reasonable price for the amount of food.
My beef and broccoli was just okay. The broccoli was actually cooked very well, but there was something about the texture of the meat that disturbed me. It was suggested that it had just been marinating for a long time and so was increadibly tender. To me, it made it seem fatty or well...just gross. I ate a lot of broccoli and rice and tried to avoid the meat.
The atmosphere of the restaurant was really nice. It was bright and clean with a friendly staff who kept our water glasses full and responded quickly to any request. I'd go back to this place, but I think next time, I'd try something with chicken.
Reviewer: Eddie
Total Reviews: 47
Reviewed: 10/13/2004
Rating: 7
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Hunan is the providence in China famous for its spicy food and I love spicy food. I ordered Kung Pao Prawns off the lunch special menu. The food arrived promptly, almost too quick. I suspect that they cook a whole pot of each special and when people order them, they just put the dish over rice. A common way to serve quick lunch special. Anyway, the dish was okay, typical American Chinese food. I personally don't think there was anything special about this place but I think it's cheap and clean at least. If you are in a hurry and hungry for cheap chinese food, give Hunan Chili a try.
Reviewer: ne00
Total Reviews: 187
Reviewed: 12/9/2005
Rating: 7.5
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Any Chinese restaurant that serves free ice cream as their desert with their lunch specials deserves an extra half point. Most places if youre lucky you get some type of sweet soup served during dinner or some slices of oranges. The ice cream came in a small cup, was very cold as it sat on our table for at least 5 minutes and it still didnt melt. I was fortunate to have two as one of my co-workers doesnt like ice cream (can you imagine that? Not like ice cream?).
My co-workers and I arrived close to 12pm and the place was already well over half way full with several occupants taking the party tables as well. We were immediately seated and given water and was served tea. We looked over the lunch menus and I decided to go with the walnut chicken for 6.95, co-worker A wanted something spicy and decided to go with the Kung Pao Chicken for 6.95 and co-worker B wanted the same spicy dish without all the added vegetables, so he went with some other kind of spicy chicken, which looked exactly like Kun Pao but without the veggies.
We were then served small vegetarian egg rolls and our bowl of hot and sour soup. The egg rolls were soft as the skin was not crispy; they probably fried it in batches and just let it sit out in a tray. The soup was nothing special as if it wasnt spicy it would just taste bland. While we waited for our food I noticed one of the waiters managed the water pitchers. He made sure all the pitchers were full and chilled in an aluminum pitcher and lined up neatly ready to refill any empty cups.
Our dishes arrived one by one with the Kung Pao chicken to arrive first. The entrees are served on plates and a whole pot of rice is brought out to be shared with everyone. This is good because were getting maximum food and being charged for the rice per person and we can get free rice refills, where as if they served it by the bowl, that would be it or if they served the entrée on a dish with the rice next to it, then we wouldnt get much of the entrée. Most places serve their lunch plates with the rice on the same plate. Hunan Chili has struck the right cord so far in my book.
My dish happens to arrive last and its very similar to the walnut prawn type of dish but only with chicken. There are several candied walnuts within my dish and fried battered chicken chunks with a sweet mayo sauce drizzled on top. The dish tasted decent at first only because I was so hungry but as I got fuller my taste buds kicked in and I began to notice an unpleasant taste to the dish. The chicken was a bit salty, and without the sauce it just didnt taste right.
During lunch one of my co-workers asked for hot sauce and we werent sure if the waiter didnt hear, but he didnt receive it until he asked again. Also my other co-worker finished his meal earlier than us and he asked the waiter to remove his dishes. As soon as his dishes were removed, the ice cream was served to us. I felt this was a bit hasty as only one person out of a party of three was finished, where as the other two was only half way through. Good thing the ice cream remained solid by the time I got to it.
Over all the food was average but a good lunch deal none the less. My co-workers both felt their dishes were not spicy enough for their taste. Normally I would rate this a 7 but with the free ice cream Im bumping it to 7.5 just for that.
Pluses: Accepts credit cards (Visa and MC), great attention to water refill, good and quick service, good lunch values, ice cream for desert.
Minuses: Average tasting lunch dishes, can get busy as this seems like a popular lunch eatery.
