Good food, kind servers! Came on a week day and there was no wait to be seated! The Mapo tofu and another chicken dish took a little while to come out the food was really good. The Mapo tofu is more numbing than spicy, which is very new to me! I can see why this restaurant is popular with people from China. read more

Hunan Impression - Mapo tofu - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

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Must go place if you like spicy Chinese food with authentic taste. Clean and modern interior with young and friendly staff working fast to get you seated and even pack you to-go leftovers for you. read more

Sichuan Delight completely blew me away! If you're a fan of bold, fiery flavors--like the kind of spicy that makes your lips tingle, your forehead break out in a sweat, but you just have to keep eating because it's that addictive--this is the spot for you. read more

One of our favorite Chinese spot in the Bay Area! The menu is usually a little tough to figure out as it's mostly in Mandarin I believe, but in our recent visit we noticed that they had came up with an English translation also.. Its always a very crowded spot, wait times depends, but we've always had a 25-35 minutes wait time.. About their food, its so delicious, and we love their spicy options, and they have the best spice in the States!! Love it read more

It's hot hot! So delicious! This place certainly laid a big impression of many of my coworkers, who planned a social for us to drive over the hill from Santa Cruz just to have some authentic Hunan food. After having lunch together, my mouth and soul were on fire and belly was happy that we had consumed such fantastic food. Hunan cuisine is really known for their hot, kick-your-mouth spicy with a little bit more oily than other types of Chinese cuisine. Fans of dry chili Szechuan cuisine will find it similar but it's still very much it's own grouping. We came on a Sunday lunch which was PEAK wait time. Despite making a reservation, we still waited 20 minutes for a table large enough to be available. Once we were seated, everything on the menu is ordered to your liking on their tablet. Take time to peruse the large menu or ask for recommendations. Some standouts: * Cauliflower with Crackling Pork - Amazing veggies with great seasoning! Our entire table loved this dish. * Fried Pig Intestine In Flaming Pot - the flavors in this dish were incredibly intense and the texture of the intestine was to die for. * Saute Cow Throat & Pig Tripe - a dish known for its textures, it was very chewy and tasty all at the same time * Fried Noodle w/ Chicken - order it spicy to get that lingering burn in your mouth that will impact the water you taste While the wait was long initially, our food came out rather quickly after ordering. They have a whole system built for large tables and handling multiple orders. Hunan Impression left a very good impression on me and I would definitely recommend trying them out if you're in the mood for some spicy Chinese cuisine. read more

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Come if you love spicy food!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Came here with some friends on a Wednesday night at around 7:30pm. There was no wait! Located in a plaza so parking isn't too big of an issue. Decently sized restaurant with some huge tables for bigger parties. Service was fast; we got handed an ipad to order on right away. Super easy to use menu and just called the waiter over once we were done ordering. Got the fried egg, mushroom and pork belly, Flaming spicy fish, vermicelli in XO sauce and the sweet dumpling with preserved vegetables. The vermicelli wasn't my personal favorite because the dried squid (or seafood) flavor was very strong. The rest were delicious!!!! Super spicy though, but I think you can request for them to make it more/less spicy. I usually take a medium spice, and I was struggling a little bit. My favorite was surprisingly the sweet dumpling with preserved vegetables. Sounds super weird but it's basically fried tang yuan (glutinous rice ball with sesame filling in a sweet soup) and has a sweet and salty flavor. The sesame filling isn't too sweet so it's not too drastic of a contrast. Would come back just for that!!!!!!! Definitely coming back to try more food! read more

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Our goto place for hunan food in bay. Lotus root is best in bay. They removed some fish options which are a bummer

Delicious spicy Chinese food! Similar to Szechuan flavors, with a few different dishes. We ordered: Fish filet flaming chili oil Lotus root chili peppers Country style fried tofu Sautéed cauliflower without pork Everything was super flavorful and authentic. Lotus root was really good but a bit redundant as there was already lotus root in the fish dish. I highly recommend the fish dish but it is quite large and oily, so come here on your cheat day because you WILL eat a ton of rice to pair with the food. My mouth is watering as I write this review. Note that ordering is on the iPad, and everything is customizable, including less spice, no meat, less salty, etc. Do yourself a favor and come! read more

Hunan Impression - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

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Wow. I'm literally blown away by this Hunan restaurant. The food is so authentic and delicious and spicy - everything you want from Hunan cuisine. I came with a large group (we had reservations) and the price was insanely decent as well. I'm salivating just thinking back to this meal! Again, I came with a group of like 10 people and we ordered a sizable portion of the entire menu lol. I can't go through everything, but some of the standout items were: Deep Fried Chili Tang Yuan with black sesame filling - !! Yeah I didn't know this was a thing. But I ate like 10. It's SO addicting. Who knew tang yuan could be made like this?! Chili Lotus Root - Amazing. I think the Hunan chili flavors pairs with the lotus root so well. The lotus roots are cut not too thin or thick, and have a great bite to them. Chili Fish - Very spicy but delicious. Fish fillets are fried perfectly, very light and tender. Not too oily. You simply HAVE to try this. Worth a long drive! You won't regret it! read more

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If you haven't tried Hunan style food , this is the place to go for the first time. Located in a non descript strip mall in San Jose. Order by the QR menu , Hunan spicy is different than Szechuan spicy, IMO tastes better. Order the cauliflower and any of the pork dishes, went with the Chairman Mao braised pork this time , but preserved pork belly have had before and is a good dish. Friendly service and food comes out quick. Recommend! read more

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If you like spicy Chinese food, then this is your place! Very authentic Chinese food!

This is one of my favorite Chinese food restaurants. The food are traditional and good! They put efforts on every dish! It is tasty and worthy ! I am 100% recommend to spicy food lover ! read more

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Great service and food. They talked us through recommendations and came by many times. Highly recommend the fish, lotus root, and the beef. All 5 for $111 for 5 people with leftovers for at least another 2-3 meals for a person, so we were happy with the price. Would love to come back!! read more

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Ordered via Doordash. Got my food 70 mins after ordering. No issues with this but other reviews had talked about the slowness and long wait for food. Have been craving ma po tofu but can't seem to find a good one. Saw this on Doordash so I thought I'd give it a try. It arrived extremely, crazy oily, and omg, ridiculously spicy! I could barely eat 2 bites before my mouth felt like a mini fire. There was something flavor wise really off about the dish as well. Idk what I bit into, whether it was garlic or something else, but I didn't like it at all. Upon seeing other reviews, it seems this place was known for their spicy level! There's no indication on Doordash that this could be the situation and there's no spice level indicator on the app as well! Oily and spicy, though pretty bad, the flavor is what really got me unable to continue. read more

Hunan Impression - Ma po tofu - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

This is one of my favorite Chinese restaurants. I love the strong taste they prepare. Service: Good, not too long of wait Food : taste is amazing, their Kung pao chicken and braised pork feet are recommended. Cleanliness: Good Price: $45 for 2 items . Pretty decent in Bay Area read more

Hunan Impression - Kung pao chicken - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

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The mapo tofu and lotus roots are my favorite in the neighborhood. Nothing like it can be found anywhere

This is a Hunan style restaurant that specialize in spicy food and 3/4 of their are spicy. A lot of their are very spicy, so you might want to check before you order if you never been there before. But all their dishes are very well cooked and taste are flavorful and good. I personally went there many time, and food still remain good quality even during this COVID time now. I had order the following good that I will recommend: 1.) Organic Cauliflower with Pork Crackling - This is well cooked, as well as, taste good and flavorful. The spicy level for this dish is on the low side, but still has spicy flavor kick to it. It does has non-spicy veggies dishes. 2.) Boiled Spicy Fish Filet with Pickled Cabbage - The spicy level for this dish is high, but it is one of my favorite dish. The pickled cabbage give a great flavor to the fish filets. The fish filets pieces are big and portion are generous. The pepper (籐椒) used in this dish has a sour taste to it which goes very with the sourness of the pickled cabbage. Overall this dish is spicy, flavorful and goes well with rice. 3.) House Special Live Frog in Stone Pot - This is another very spicy dish. The frog leg is fresh and meat is tender. It is flavorful and taste amazing, but it is very spicy. 4.) Fried Cumin Baby Back Ribs - This dish is relatively not spicy. You will only feel the spicy kick if you ate the red pepper pieces on top. The ribs are very well cooked and seasoned. It is golden/crispy outside and meat is tender inside. The taste of the meat is very balanced, ribs are served in big pieces and portion is generous. Excellent rib dish. 5.) Chongqing Style Spicy Big Intestines - The chongqing serious dishes are less spicy compare to stone pot dishes. And if you like intestines dishes, this might be the least spicy compare to all. All their intestine dishes are very spicy. This dish is still quite spicy, but definitely not as spicy as the fish and frog leg. The pig intestine is very well cooked, crispy outside while still maintain the chewiness of the intestine inside. The flavor is very balanced and not oily at all. Well done! 6.) Sweet Dumplings with Preserved Vegetables - This is a must order dish. You will pretty much only find this savory dessert in this restaurant. The sweet rice dumplings is packed with sesame inside and fried outside. Then it is stir-fried with dry vegetables and pepper to give the extra savory taste to it. It has the perfect balance of the sweetness of the rice ball with the savory addition to it. Highly recommend! read more

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Absolutely the best spicy restaurant around - we haven't had good spicy food since we left LA. The food is always delicious - not too oily or saucy. If you love spicy food - ask for extra spicy and it will not disappoint. read more

Hunan Impression - Hunan style sautéed beef - extra spicy - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

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The spicy chili fish is my go to. I feel like I crave these dishes every winter season and it's just the right balance of spice and flavor

Used to be my favorite Hunan restaurant. We went there quite often. But recently I'm very disappointed by the food quality and service ( phone call to order food). I ordered 4 dishes this weekend. Sautéed pork combination, spicy pork intestine, eggplant with string bean, and shredded cabbage. The eggplant dishes was ok, cabbage was quite tasty. However, they got our pork intestine order wrong, they gave us a spicy chicken instead. Ok, I would be fine if the chicken was good. But no, the chicken dish was pretty much all dry red pepper. Chicken was in such small piece and such small amount that looked like non-existence and we could barely find any. There was a layer of tolerable size chicken piece on top and that was pretty much it. we paid $16 for those dry red pepper that was inedible. Now the sautéed pork combination, it suppose to have 3 kind of pork meat, belly, liver and tripe. We counted, there were 3 thin slice of pork belly altogether. Then the tripe and liver were also in super tiny pieces. It's nothing like the dish I had in other restaurants, but NOT in a good way. Totally not worth it, I would be dumb to pay $20 for this dish again. Now, their website is pretty much useless. The menu on the website is hand hold pictures with a portion of the menu at a time. There's no ordering for pick up option. Why bother to have a website if it's useless? Just to show the phone number and Ads of other business? Then when we call to order food, it took multiple tries to finally get through. Then whoever picked up the phone just sounded like he just wanted to hang up as quickly as possible. Then he got our order wrong. But that's the only way to order. And wait time was super long, they quoted 45 mins for pick up. As a frequent customer, I don't even know if I want to go back, especially I don't live close by. Another star was for some other dishes I used to like but I would definitely NOT recommend the spicy chicken and sautéed pork combination. read more

Hunan Impression - Got our order wrong, gave us spicy chicken instead. And the chicken pieces on top are pretty much all of chickens in that dish. - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

This spot has the best Chinese food I've had in a long time! I always order the same two items: ma-po tofu and sauted string beans. Both these have a unique taste that it's obvious just a few bites into the dish, the tofu comes with a side if rice which is generally enough. The portions served at this restaurant are quite apt, and the staff is extremely friendly as well. Tip for the vegetarians: You can always ask them not to use any meat/related products and I've never had an issue with them "missing" instructions. read more

Hunan Impression - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

Incredible fish fillets in chili oil. The ordering was really simple. And the people weee really helpful

Great food and very tasty selection! I would recommend this place if you are looking for good Hunan spicy food. The service is kind of slow on a busy night but it was t anything out of an ordinary wait time. Portions are big too. read more

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The new dishes are amazing! Came in on New Years Eve, even though the store is packed, the food came out fairly fast. Our server let us know when certain dishes need longer time to prep before placing the order. read more

Where is the chicken??? Watch out these guys duped me for $20. I ordered a Togo only to open the box to this it has red chilli peppers and barely 3/4 small candy size pieces of chicken.I mean what the hell!!! is this some kind of a joke! This should definitely be reported. read more

Hunan Impression - Spicy fried chicken. - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

The waiting can be super long. Come here to wait when you are not so hunger yet because likely you are going to wait for an hour. We came here on a Friday for dinner, to find a parking spot is a challenge. Be careful to park in this plaza, it turned out to be a sketchy area although it doesn't look like that. We park in front of the CVS, while there is still daylight and tons of traffic. Our car ended being robbed. Someone smashed the window and took a bag out of the car. There is no camera in the parking lot. For the food, it has a good variety and the quality is above average. Most dishes are salty by the end of the meal. The service is good. I probably would give it a 4 start if the wait is not that long. read more

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The food is good, but be warned if you are ordering for takeout on a Saturday evening. We were told, when we ordered at 5:20pm, that it would be ready in 45 to 50 minutes. In fact, it was ready in 45 plus 50 minutes! There were many people waiting around for their food, a long time after it had been promised. I think the secret is to wait until they text you that your food is ready and only then go to pick it up. read more

Very yummy and impressive the food. Original did not think can be this good. But the food delivery speed and the taste are awesome. read more

My friends and I came here for dinner on Saturday, and there was already a line when we arrived! But the wait was totally worth it! The food was delicious, and the frog legs were especially fresh and tasty! The service was excellent, with staff promptly providing napkins and refilling water. I recommend coming early if you plan to dine here on the weekend; otherwise, be prepared to wait. read more

It's my first time to try the Hunan fever ,the food is so delicious and amazing,my friend said it's the best food to symbol of the Hunan in China.In this restaurant I got the best service ,it's a nice restaurant. read more

This place is SOOOOO GOOD. The portions are massive and the flavors are amazing. Spice level is a little high so be prepared for that. We ordered the Chongqing Style Spicy Chicken, Hunan Style Sautéed Lamb, and Boiled Spicy Fish Filet in Sour Soup. All dishes were about $20-30 dollars, but it was totally worth the price. The chicken was nicely fried and had the mala numbing spice. The sauteed lamb was good but wasn't stand out. More of a hot spicy and was very savory. The meat was also tender and cooked nicely. I loved the fish. Sour soup was amazing and the pickled veggies soaked up all the flavor. The fish had plenty of flavor and did not have too much spice. All dishes were great and we will definitely be coming back. This place is busy on the weekends. Definitely a must try! read more

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A pretty authentic place. Their good dishes are really good but then others are just ok. It also depends a lot on what flavor profile you like though in terms of balance of spicy/numbing/salty/sweet since Hunan food does blend lots of flavors together - so I'd recommend trying your favs to see if you like how Hunan Impression executes them. I personally like the beef jerky, sauteed veggies with minced pork, and fish soup. I have found enough I like to eat there regularly but the quality control and consistency could be better as it feels like spiciness, ingredient proportions in a dish, veggie crispness, etc can vary. read more

Pretty famous Hunan style restaurant. I like the pepper twice cooked pork, the signature spicy whole fish was good but it seemed to be not a standout, I prefer General pot in Newark better, less spicy when cooked dry. The pork intestine dish was weird. Overall a bit pricey and not creative, I guess part of us not picking the dish of my flavor is to be blamed. Taste wise I actually think it is slightly better than typical Hunan restaurants, and more authentic. read more

Hunan Impression - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

Came here on a weekend with a bunch of ppl and we ordered some spicy dishes shown in the pics. I feel like the dishes all look kinda similar, in either red, yellow or green, or a combination of these colors. I don't remember anything being exceptionally good, but we all liked the only purely veggie dish! read more

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Wow this place is good. They have their menu in Chinese and english on an android tablet. Looks like operated by same owners of hunan noodle. Fantastic food, authentic. Chili fish. Very crowded. Excellent taste.. read more

Great selection of dishes Pros: - Huge menu selection on an ipad with pictures which makes it very easy to know what you are ordering - Lots of tables and can accommodate big parties. Lots of parking in the private lot. - Food comes out pretty fast. The staff is ready for busy hours and very attentive to getting food out and clearing dirty dishes from the table Cons: - Does get packed at times and can only make reservation for 6+ - Mostly spicy items on the menu, so if you're not a fan of spicy or have young children then it would not be an idea place - Some dishes, they are heavy handed on the red pepper to the point where it is mostly red pepper and very little protein (e.g. the spicy fried chicken) WHAT TO GET: Hunan Pork( Sautéed pork with green peppers ) or the fish filet is awesome! WHAT NOT TO GET: I would stay away from most of the non-spicy dishes since the place is really known for spicy food. OVERALL: Great restaurant with a lot of food options to try and one of the few Hunan options in the area. read more

Ok, I'll admit I wasn't too keen about coming to this restaurant when our friends suggested it. Yelp didn't give me much hope as the pictures didn't do justice. I trusted my friends choice and decided to give it a try. On arrival, the restaurant was super packed and we had to wait an extra 30 minutes to be seated from our reservation time. Our friend had pre-ordered the food in advance which seemed to save us time. As soon as we were seated, we were welcomed with our appetizers. We ordered: +Sautéed Lotus: one of my favorites of the night. Crunchy and packed with a lot of flavor. But watch out for the thick bits of chili! (The spice will creep up on you!) + Stir-Fried Big Sliced Asparagus Lettuce: this crunchy green helped cleanse my palette and also brought some veggies to the table. + Kung-Pao Chicken: packed with so many peanuts but the chicken was good + Yang Chow Fried Rice: delicious fried rice which included eggs and pork. + House Special Fried Rice with Smoked Pork: wasn't a huge fan of the veggies and ham in this one. + Fish Fillet Soup (don't know the exact name of this dish): I was super hesitant to try this as I'm not into trying new seafood dishes but I was feeling adventurous and gave it a shot. This was delicious! The fish was super flaky and flavorful. HOWEVER, there were mini little spices which are known to numb your mouth. I ate this not knowing that and I ruined my taste buds for the rest of night. As long as you move those little spices away, I do recommend this. + Hunan Style Sautéed Beef: WARNING. This dish is super spicy. My friends ordered a bowl of hot water for me where I needed to "rinse" the chili off my beef in order to be able to eat it. They made jokes about how that's how they ate when they were kids but honestly, it worked. The beef was surprisingly still flavorful and the cut of meat was tender. There weren't any fatty pieces to this dish. Apparently you can't ask the staff to lessen the spice levels. Most of the dishes are all super spicy; so spicy that I almost lost it at some point. Now that I know the trick on getting a bowl of water, I want to give this place another shot. TIP: My friends mentioned that the dishes don't all photograph well. So with that said, definitely give them a try! read more

The dishes are always good every time I order. Chongqing spicy chicken is the one in my order every time.

Still love this restaurant. Since I last ate here, they now use iPads to order which is convenient because you can make changes to your dish and personalize it to your tastes (ex. Make it spicier, etc). I got their shredded chicken cold noodles and it was soooo good! Perfectly seasoned, it was like a spicy, sweet, salty, umami flavor punch. I would come to this restaurant everyday just to get this dish. I also got their eggplant cooked in shrimp sauce. This dish was super disappointing. Definitely didn't suit my tastes. It was listed under their special dishes so I had high expectations for it. Not only was the dish super stinky, but the eggplant had no taste. Despite this dish being bad, I do like the other dishes at this restaurant. Go before 12 pm for lunch and there won't be a line. I went at 11:45 am and there was no line and the food came out really quickly. I was in and out within 45 minutes. read more

Hunan Impression - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

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Good authentic Hunan style food, spicy, consistent. Always packed, so be there early if don't wanna wait too long. Services haven been average, but their tables and chairs were pretty ugly and uncomfortable. Tho I guess it doesn't really matter if the food is good read more