hunan cuisine

Fantastic, flavour-packed Chinese dishes in a calm environment. Helpful staff. Chow mein delicious. Fried fish special delicious. Wood ear mushroom salad delicious. Dumplings average. Give their authentic offerings a try, you will not be disappointed. We'll be back to try their Hunan Cumin Beef/Lamb. And, before I forget, their spice is conveyed by actual peppers and not just chili powder; which is a massive plus!

There are so many Chinese restaurants in Chinatown, but this one definitely stands out. Like many places in the area, it gets very crowded, so don’t be surprised if service is a bit slow when asking for things like extra water or dipping sauce (kakaka). But surprisingly, the food comes out really fast! Ordering is super convenient—you just choose your dishes on your phone, and within five minutes, the staff comes to confirm. Not long after, your food arrives. It’s quick and efficient, which we really appreciated. The food itself is very good, guys! Flavorful, well-cooked, and plenty of options to choose from. Sadly, our lunch was cut a bit short when our son had a random nosebleed at the table (🤣), so we couldn’t fully enjoy the meal. But from what we did eat, it was delicious. Would definitely come back—hopefully next time with less drama and more appetite!

I had a wonderful dining experience at this Hunan restaurant in Boston Chinatown. The salted egg yolk pumpkin was perfectly crispy and rich, and the fried pork belly with chilis had the authentic Hunan spice kick I love. The flavors were bold, balanced, and truly satisfying. The server was friendly and attentive, making the whole experience even better. Highly recommend for anyone craving authentic Hunan cuisine!

Amazing place for some good Chinese food! Great choices of beef, pork, chicken and dumplings. Loved the fried rice and the spicy pork! It was just awesome. The steamed dumplings needed a little bit more of soup in them - they were a bit dry! Steamed shrimp dumplings were amazing! Really recommend this place if you are around or even if you are not!

Good portions of food and my mixed veges were good. I asked for fresh garlic in the sauce and it came sliced raw so it was pretty spicy and I added it anyway. The beef soup was a lot and enough for 2 hungry people. We had leftovers of the beef soup that we didn’t double dip into and packed it up and left it w a spoon for someone who might be hungry bc we were tourists and can’t take it home. I did not however, like how the older male wait staff touched the water cups right on the areas we put our mouths when trying to be attentive and give us extra water so I declined but it was too late bc he already touched my cup at the areas I drink from so since I was thirsty I tried to drink only at the very edge of the cup. Cleanliness and hygiene are most important to me and I will always appreciate a clean place and good habits.

The food tastes pretty good and the cooking is well done. Most dishes let you choose your preferred spice level, which is nice. However, I wouldn’t recommend the spicy stir-fried live chicken — the chicken was quite skinny with very little meat. The restaurant is usually quite busy, but one of the young male servers was especially nice and much friendlier than the others.

Been here once and the dish I ordered had to be one of the best dishes I ever had! Automatically top 10 restaurants I been to the US. Definitely will come back again. Service was great and attentive. I had the fish fillet with special chili sauce. Super flavorful. Crispy batter and tender fish. Loved every bite.

The food here is great and authentic. The problem is the service. They sat us down at a table and just left us. It was only after ~10 min that a staff member remembered we existed and told us that you order through a qr code. That might be on me but as a first timer, I didn’t know. Then, I ran out of water and no one came to refill it. I had to conserve my water throughout the meal. The food was fast and reasonably portioned though, so that’s good. Really authentic stuff.

The food was so good! Service was excellent. The only problem was that there is no changing table there for a family with little ones. Make sure you have a charged phone because you gotta take a picture of the QR code to order.

A solid place for dinner in Chinatown. We came here at 7pm on a Friday night and were seated as as soon as a table freed up (within 5 minutes). The waitstaff were very efficient but friendly, as they were quick to confirm our order (placed through QR code), bring our food out, and refill our waters. The food was good, but especially a haven for spice lovers. In order of spiciness, we got: - Soup dumplings: these were free of spice and executed well. The flavor was savory and delicious, and both the skin and filling were tender. There could have been more soup inside, but they were tasty even without. Would get again. - Eggplant string bean: tender with just the right amount of crispiness on the outside. Had a tinge of spice, but wasn't too much to handle for those of us that are spice-weak. Would get again. - Bean curd with pork: a medium level of spice among what we ordered. Was very tofu heavy with not as many pieces of pork. I would have preferred a higher amount of pork in this dish, so would skip next time. - Black fungus salad: deceptively spicy, even though it does not appear to be. The dish went well with the vinegar for dipping on the side. Would get again. - Minced pork with pickled sour bean: this had our noses running with every bite. My spice-loving friends saw this as the ultimate challenge, so they enjoyed it. I cannot handle spice very well, so personally I would skip next time. Overall, I would recommend this place if you want some authentic Chinese food in a cozy and inviting atmosphere. The prices are very reasonable for the portion sizes ($10-20 per dish), the food is great, and the service is fantastic.

We relished the Chinese food after such a long time. The food was fresh and the flavors were well balanced. Each dish we ordered was just perfect- perfect mix of salt, spices, and sourness. I can eat here every day. The service was cordial and very prompt. The place was clean and ambiance was okay but who cares if the food tastes so good.

Amazing experience! Service was top notch and so was the food! The food felt very authentic and was made with quality products and done with care. I definitely recommend getting the fried rice and the pork dumplings! The welcoming atmosphere and great food makes Hunan Cuisine somewhere I will be going to again!

Every so often I get a craving for Chinese-style stir fried string beans and this time I ended up at Hunan Gourmet. Their stir fried string beans are the best stir fried string beans I've had in Boston! Two of us ordered the spicy happy clam ($17.95), chairman maos braised pork ($23.95), stir fried string beans ($17.95), and chang sha lard rice for 2 ($10.95). This was quite a bit of food and we ended up taking home a lot of leftovers. The spicy happy clam had a nice flavor but I felt that they could have cleaned the clams a bit better because there were some clams that were still sandy. The chairman maos braised pork had soft and savory pieces of pork-- they weren't tender enough to fall apart but were braised long enough that the savory soy-based sauce soaked through all of the pork pieces. My favorite dish was the stir fried string beans. They were prepared in a dry-sauteed way with a lot of white pepper, so the seasoning reminded me a lot of Cantonese-style salt and pepper shrimp. The beans were fresh and crispy and perfectly blistered! If you do not mind rice that is a little bit greasy, I would highly recommend trying the lard rice. It had so much flavor that it could be eaten by itself. All of the dishes are quite flavorful but on the salty side so we ended up chugging a lot of water during the meal. I did not have any issues with the servers and they were super kind to us, although it seemed like they felt more relaxed speaking Mandarin with us as opposed to speaking English with other customers.

It blows my mind when some downtown Chinatown actually has authentic Chinese food and my mind was blown at Hunan Gourmet. As a spicy fiend of course I had to get something that's covered in pepper, chop pepper and steam duck blood $23. And yes the dark thing is blood in solid form. The duck blood is super fresh, with a spongy texture that's soaked with flavor. The fish fillet with pickled vegetable soup $32 is also delicious but not as flavorful as I'd hoped. It's served with fire so it doesn't go cold. But there's not a lot of fish and the soup is kinda bland. The eggplant preserved egg with green pepper $20 is difficult to mess up. It's seasoned well, kinda more umami than spicy. And the eggplant is mashed into a smooth and moist mess, mixed perfectly to absorb the pungent preserved egg flavor. The service is fast and not unpleasant, kinda over priced but it's downtown Boston. Definitely worth a visit if you're craving some spicy Chinese food.

First time visit for lunch. The food was absolutely outstanding and very authentic. The staff was friendly and helpful and we were served very quickly. I had read some of the reviews prior to going so I had an idea of what we were going to order. We had the fungus salad full of garlic and sesame oil. Very delicious. We also had the Green bean and eggplant dish and the mapo tofu both excellent. The portions were good size and we had enough to take home. Looking forward to another visit very soon.

Food was excellent. It came out fast and the service was good. We ordered the beef lo mein (excellent) Kung Pao chicken (good) and the pork dumplings (excellent). First time here and I'll definitely come back if I'm ever in Boston again.

Nah.. waste of money. We didn't like the foo. We actually went to try Avana Sushi opposite this place. Avana Sushi looked like take out only so we left and just walked Into this restaurant.

Convenient China town location, spicy Hunan dishes, good portions, so don't order too many dishes. The taste is good, I would recommend it

The food quality is not bad but nothing too impressive either. We ordered takeout for a family of 4 and had to wait less than 15 minutes which is incredibly impressive considering the holiday rush. They even had a policy of over 15 minute waiting is a free soda and over 30 minute waiting is a free cold dish appetizer! However, past the efficiency of the food, the rest was quite underwhelming. Ordering "beef tripe in chili oil" is always a must for me at any restaurant but this time it was very disappointing, half the amount of meat that other restaurants give and lower quality taste. For 10.95, I was expecting more. On the brighter side, their beef noodles were not bad and the fried buns were fine too. Not a bad place to eat at (especially if you're in a rush) but would not be my first choice.

Step up from last visit! The xiao long bao are actually quite excellent; thin skin with a nice soup inside. The pork dumplings and the shrimp dumplings are also not bad. Weakest were the scallion pancakes which were oddly stiff, and also much too oily. The savory dishes were all excellent. The stinky tofu is a variation of the Taiwanese variety; it could have been even more stinky, but it was nicely fried and came with a sauce that I wasn't quite used to but liked nonetheless. The water spinach ('ong choy') was an upgrade from the last time - it had more leaves material this time around, and also seemed to contain more 'wok hey' this time around. The kung pao chicken was excellent; sauces and flavors nicely coated all over, with a balance of crunchy peanuts that were fried into the dish. The cumin beef was also nicely flavored, with a deep cumin flavor put into the beef dish. Perhaps a bit too oily, but it worked well. The eggplant with meat dish was really good - the eggplant nicely fried (possibly doubly fried) and meat complemented the eggplant really nicely, without overpowering the dish. The flavors were a bit more mild than the spicier flavors of the other dishes. The spicy melon in a sauce worked really nicely. Careful - they require a 18% minimum on the service charge, despite not having that regulation clearly printed or stated in the menu materials.

Our meal at Hunan Gourmet was delicious! The house stir fried beef with peppers was our favorite. The beef was some of the most tender I've ever had. I loved the flavor and the fresh herbs they add. The fisherman's boiled fish was exactly what we were looking for after a cold Boston night. Warmed up right up. Definitely spicy so beware if you aren't the best at spice. The experience at Hunan Gourmet was great because it's bigger than other restaurants in Chinatown so you're able to have more space and breathe a bit compared to being cramped. Just wish they served rice with the meal because we had to add that separately.

It is a solid place to come and get some authentic Asian food. We only ordered a couple of dishes as it was only two of us. We ordered the House Special Stir Fried Tender Beef and Fried Tofu with preserved pork. Both dishes had a good spice to it, but the Fried Tofu one was a bit salty for me. We definitely need more people next time so we can try some other items.

very busy on a sunday night. a fast paced environment with not the best service, but you get delicious food in return. got a new dish: cauliflower with pork. beasted the entire thing

Very authentic and delicious. The place was very crowded. You order from your phone and the waitress comes to your table to pay. The food came out steaming hot. I would recommend this authentic Chinese restaurant to anyone. So glad we stopped here.

Was recommended this place by a friend for their eggplant and century dish, and it was really good. The staff was nice and attentive. The only downside is that it's a bit pricey.

I had a great food and service experience here ! The hot and sour soup was awesome and the chilled steamed chicken was fantastic the staff was quick and efficient and the food came out fresh and fast !Ambiance was bright and spacious!

Go-to takeout food spot when we are craving lo mein and general gaos chicken. Really yummy and d fresh. Service could be more attentive when picking out take-out, we had to wait for 15 min before someone acknowledged us.

We went here on a Saturday and it was a bit chaotic. We didnt have to wait too long for a table of 2, when they seated us, they seated us at table for 4 with a divider in between. My fiance had to sit in a booth, so the only way she could get out is if she asked the diners next to us to get up. They sent us a dish we didnt order. We tried to flag the wait staff to send it back, but no one ever came. The people next to us ( who we had to share a table with, but werent with us) claimed it was theirs. We figured maybe they gave it to us but it was actually theirs since we are at the same table. After we gave it to them, the waitress comes out 10 minutes later yelling at us at why we did that. We tried to flag them earlier no one came, it was am honest mistake, not deserving of being yelled at. The food itself was alright, not bad, but not great either. It wasnt as spicy as we thought it would be. The service needs a bit of work. Not friendly at all. This place was disappointing and its a shame.

soo authentic and good! amazing for spicy food lovers! got the potato shreds with dried pepper, cumin lamb, and pork. the restaurant is always busy but service is usually pretty fast!

The best chicken lo mein I ever had. Definitely would recommend it. General so's chicken is another one I recommend trying.

The food was okay. But the service was horrible. Literally shouted at us to tip her more money. Said boss does not pay her and we must tip her more. I normally tip well but the service was lackluster at best and she changed the tip amount before making me sign. Do not recommend. Way better food places in the area for your money.

This place really isn't good at all. The service wasn't good, the food wasn't good, and most of all, we basically got scammed. My friends and I were looking for a good place to get authentic dumplings since we had a craving. After getting aggravated with each other since we are all indecisive, we just came here. We got the dumpling appetizers (steamed pork snd soup). They were okay at best. I got the chicken and vegetable entree. It wasn't really good. I cant even explain it. One of my friends got the shrimp Lo Mein. The shrimp was insanely undercooked and cold. The Lo Mein itself wasn't so bad. My other friend ordered the Shrimp Fried Rice. There was a mishap with this as we ordered on the phone using the QR on the table. We accidentally ordered the fried rice and when it was dropped at the table, we were rudely told "its too late". I understand, but there wasn't really a need to be rude and blunt about it. To add on to that, it was literally atrocious. The shrimp was, also, undercooked. The overall taste of it wasn't very appetizing either. We got mugs of water instead of cups like everyone else in the restaurant. This wouldn't be that bug of a deal if the water wasn't warm and didn't have stuff floating in it and on the mug. My friend was frustrated with this and asked for cups of water with straws instead. The same problem with the new water, but they were in regular cups. Clearly it was just dirty Boston tap water in mugs/cups that might not have been cleaned right. Throughout this the waiters/waitresses weren't very welcoming or anything. Now, what really sealed the deal was paying the bill. Note that the bill came to approximately $77. Myself and one of my friends wee going to pay our portion of the bill on my card as she sent me the money. So, I told the waiter this and he said it was fine. I told him to please make the first portion of the bill $48. He showed me the tablet screen to pay and it was $38. I explained i wanted the first portion to be $48, not $38. He started going on about "oh its too late I already entered it". So, i said we can just do another transaction for the $10. I pressed no tip considering that we were doing 2 more transactions now and the tip was not going on my card. Also considering that we wouldn't be leaving our normal tip of 15-20% (we normally tip fine). Then, i signed the line on the tablet for my signature and get this, HE CHANGES THE TIP AMOUNT and submits the bill. WHAT? So i get charged an extra $10 for a tip that was originally going to go towards the bill? That is already enough to get me annoyed, but i'm a younger girl that doesn't want confrontation. So i comment on it but he waves me off???? Me and my friends are annoyed at this point, but we decide we will make a fuss in a minute lets just pay the bill so we can make a fuss then leave. What we didn't expect is for him to do the EXACT same thing for my friend. He billed her the remainder of the bill, but then charged her an extra 15% tip AFTER the signed and went to submit. He, again, quickly switched the tip amount. So not inly did he do this once, he did it twice and got around a 30-40% ish tip?? Currently disputing charges as we didn't authorize the actual amounts since he changed the tip amount on us after we signed and he pulled the tablet away. I don't find it hard to believe this place does this to other people. This seems to be happening at a lot of places in the area as many people have had problems with waiters/waitresses changing tip amounts on transactions and/or bill receipts. Absolutely wild. Don't come here not worth the stress. Especially if you're like us and wont stand up for yourself...

The food here is so super authentic! We stopped by Boston last week to meet a friend and he brought us here. Having had multiple so-called Hunan or Sichuan cuisines which are so different from what they are supposed to be, we are really impressed by how authentic the food here are! So, when we missed our train (unfortunately), we immediately decided to come again! Steamed pork, beer duck, preserved pork with bamboo, mao pork, Hunan style chicken(口水鸡), garlic bok chay, cauliflower in the pot, and some fungi appetizer. I don't remember the original name. But they are all very good! Will definitely come again when we come to Boston the next time. The waitress is friendly. The environment is fine, not that nice. The good flavor of food is the most important for me.

This food was average, but very limited portion, for its price. The service quality was poor -- the waitress was eager to push people to pay and leave, and demanded 20%+ tips for the poor service quality. Will not go again.

Interesting menu, not your generic Chinese. Had the stir-fry cauliflower with smoked bacon and sauteed pumpkin with salted egg (deep-fried pumpkin in a salted-egg crust, delicious but different from expected). I plan to return and try other dishes! Busy even on a Tuesday evening--by 7pm, people were waiting for tables.

This place is ok. I heard from my Chinese friends that they are authentic. Came here to try and it's ok. They are popular though. We had to wait for a table for about 30 minutes on Saturday night. 泡椒牛蛙 doesn't have the 泡椒flavor. They put a lot of vegetables and it's kind of expensive. The 湘西烤鱼 is huge. But the fish is over fried and kind of dry. The flavor in general is ok. The dish is big and about the same price as the 泡椒牛蛙. 手撕包菜 is good. 农家小炒肉 is good too. But the food in general is a bit salty and not too spicy. Service is a bit slow. Probably that's because they were busy. We ended up paying $43 per person. The value is not that great for the amount we ate.

The food was good, but at the end of my dining experience, the waiter attempted to force me to tip more. I only speak English, and the waiter tried to use this to his advantage to try and get me and my friends to empty our wallets.