One of my new favorite spots in the area, I'm always ready to go to Flavortown when I pull up. It's a really great choice for sharing if you come with a group. I also agree that the portions will come smaller if you order takeout or via food delivery. Sautéed eggplant & string beans (5/5): delicious umami flavor, the veggies provide a nice balance to the meal and are a good break from the numbing spicy dishes. The eggplant is super addicting and so good to eat with rice. Fish fillet w/ flaming chili oil (4/5): While the portion was huge, I wish there was less of the other stuff (cabbage, bean sprouts) and more of the fish. The lotus roots are soo yummy and have a nice crunch, and the fish is so savory and packed with flavor. Mapo tofu (5/5): probably my favorite dish. The tofu holds the sauce quite nicely and it's the perfect balance of flavor and spiciness. My only concern is that it comes out sizzling and the oil splatters all over the table. I wouldn't recommend wearing light colored clothes when dining here for this very reason LOL. read more

See all

Great place if you like spicy food! It was busy Saturday night and we had to wait for ~30min, but it was definitely worth the wait. Food came in big portion, so it was easy to share. The fish is a little disappointing because the meat tastes a little bit hard (would expect a softer taste for the most authentic style), but the other two dishes were very on point and spicy ~$40 per person post tax and tip read more

See all

Great food, quick service. Recently food has been misting the wok-hay and char, but delicious still. Go early to avoid the rush. Tried the zucchini noodle dish for dinner and it has a great numbing taste with the right umami and sesame taste. Loved it, cool and refreshing! read more

See all

Food was amazing! Finally some real authentic Szechuan food. Prices are a little high, but all the food was delicious! My favorite was the the Sautéed Spicy Beef Brisket. Spicy grilled fish was also very good. Definitely a must check out if you like spicy Szechuan food read more

Have not been here since 2021 cuz I moved to SoCal, and damn has it gotten popular... rightfully so though! This place is owned by the same group that runs Ping's Bistro and Shang Cafe. I'm a fan of all of them. We got here at 6pm on Saturday, it was roughly a 15 mins wait not too bad. I've had almost every dish here and all of them are good. I'd recommend anything fish (not fish fillet but whole fish), they are always tasty. My fav tho, is 上湯菜苗, basically veggie cooked with thousand year egg and duck egg... one of the best I've had. Highly recommend. read more

I was here for lunch, and there was no wait! Apparently the management changed, so I had low expectations. The service was ok. They speak Chinese and English. The menu is online by scanning the QR code at the table. I forgot, but I think we placed the order online, and the lady confirmed it with us in person. The water boil fish was so good. It didn't have Napa cabbage, but it did have large pieces of cabbage under the fish. I also got a lamb and pork dish. They tasted similar at the end of the meal because they were all pretty spicy and numbing. I enjoyed the meal thoroughly! Rice is $2 per person/bowl and served individually. Gone are the days of the red rice bowl with the matching lid :( For three people, it came out to be about $32-35 per person. Parking is easy to find. They have a decent parking lot and plenty of spaces in front of their business. They do have bathrooms in the back and hand sanitizer at every table. read more

Hunan Impression - Hunan style sautéed pork with chili peppers $18 - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

See all

Very tasty generally authentic Hunan food! We came around 11:30am on a Saturday. Not many people then, but seems to get busier at around 12:30. There is plenty of seating! It's a very spacious interior, has a cool modern Chinese aesthetic. My partner is pretty experienced in Hunan food so I will defer to his commentary on authenticity. His personal opinion is that while it is good, the flavors were not as authentic as he found in the LA area, which tasted closer to true Hunan flavors. We got the Hunan style sautéed beef, pork intestine dry pot, and cabbage + pork belly dry pot. He said that they all had a sweet taste to it (I personally could not tell) which seemed to cater to a more general Chinese palate. We also got the regular amount of spice (not the extra spice) which seemed to not be enough for him (for me, I found it to be perfect). Relative to hunan food, it is a good substitute but not the true thing, for him. My personal opinion: this was really tasty and had the flavors and the ingredients I was seeking! Good spice, the cabbage dish had a slight smokiness which was really tasty. I also love pork intestine so that was my bias going in. I tend to like sweeter dishes, so everything I had tasted really good to me. These three dishes was plenty for lunch + leftovers, pricing is reasonable. Overall really enjoyed and will return when I'm in the area! read more

See all

This place is probably the Chinese restaurant with the best service in the Bay Area. Food is excellent although I would recommend steering clear of some of the more experimental dishes.... The standards are all good , their man tou, fu qi fei pian, braised beef with daikon. read more

I use to order regularly from Hunan Impression, had great experience but not this time. I ordered 酸菜鱼 (boiled spicy basa fish fillet with pickled cabbage) and 烧椒皮蛋 (preserved eggs with grind pepper). It took the restaurant 75 min to get everything done. the preserved egg dish like leftovers, with all the eggs floating over the soup. boiled fish completely dry, 猪都他妈不吃 read more

Hunan Impression - 烧椒皮蛋 preserved egg with grind pepper came like leftover, gross - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

See all

3.5 STARS -- food is good if you are looking for spicy Hunan cuisine but the wait is insane... My boyfriend and I came here on a Friday evening at around 6:40pm, and we ended up waiting almost an hour before getting called to be seated. There were a ton of people also waiting outside the restaurant so definitely keep this in mind if you are planning to dine in during a peak time. Once we were seated, things moved quickly! There is a QR code to scan for you to order off of the menu, and items are brought out shortly after. The only qualm I have here is that the menu on their website is different from the actual offerings via their QR code -- we had planned out what we wanted to order ahead of time by looking at their menu on the website and had to change our mind since some of the items we wanted weren't on the QR code menu. In terms of the food itself, we got the sauteed eggplant with string beans and a country style minced pork dish. The eggplant & string beans was delicious and is a dish we order frequently at restaurants. The country style minced pork dish was a bit too spicy for my liking, but my boyfriend who comes from Hunan loved it. Additionally, we ordered the glutinous rice cake with brown sugar for dessert which was great especially if you love the texture of mochi / rice cakes. read more

See all

They are closed on Tuesdays!!! Love the spices and the variety. Makes me miss home! We got take out, a cauliflower, beef, noodle and eggplant dish. They were all delicious. I wonder if they cater! Would love to use them! Will take pictures next time!! read more

Back after few years....sad to see their fried boiled eggs no longer on the menu. But my favorite the lotus root was still there. The food we ordered was great and definitely spicy! We got our food right away after ordering! The service was very fast! There's plenty of seating but the place does get very at and sometimes there can be a wait. It's a good location for bigger parties of 8-10 people as well. read more

See all

Bae's co worker gave him this sweet place to try. She wrote down a few of her favorites. Typical hours range from morning to noon then reopen for dinner. The employees need a break too. We ordered the hunan beef, eggplant and string bean, country style pan fried tofu and shredded potatoes. Love the spread of peppers. If you don't have a high tolerance for spicy, this isn't the place for you. We've always enjoyed different Asian cuisines. Wanted to do the sea bass and frog but we will be back. I know very beginner mandarin so I ordered in English. All the dishes met our expectations. Every place always offer a different unique twist of flavors and this hit the spot. We even had to open our son's palette. Eggplant was cooked to perfection. The beef was showered with peppers and bell peppers. Numbing shredded potatoes are a staple. Their menu is extensive and explosive so we will come back to explore. Service was excellent too. read more

See all

Love love love this place! My bf and I were craving something spicy so we decided to give this place a try on a Saturday night. We waited about 5 mins and got seated. The second you walk in, you can smell all the spice coming from the kitchen. After we ordered, the server asked us if we wanted it to be less spicy and we said yes because we noticed how everyone else in the restaurant was coughing from the chilis hahaha and we were so glad we got less spicy! The chili oil fish fillet was amazing, lot of pieces of fish and also came with things inside like vermicelli, lotus root, and cabbage. Less spicy was the perfect amount of mala flavor. The cabbage came next and this blewwww our minds! We thought how good can a simple cabbage dish get? But the WOK HAY was insane and this was probably my favorite dish of the night!! Last came the braised pork belly and the fat just melts in your mouth, delicious. We ate everything with some white rice and couldn't stop saying wow the entire meal because it was so yummy. The servers were all super nice, they made sure we had ice cold water the whole time and even packed our leftovers for us. It is on the pricey side but I think the portions are really big so 100% would come back again!! read more

See all

Solid place for Chinese food! My favorite dishes were the sour fish soup (which was even better the next day), cabbage with pork hot pot, and the dry sautéed four season string beans. When I arrived there was a crazy line out the door--- which turned out to be all for delivery. While there wasn't a super clear sign, i ended up going to the staff and asking, which then they promptly directed to one of the open tables. They have a QR code menu you can scan an order online. Someone then came by to confirm the order. Appetizer came out pretty fast, but the later dishes then took a bit of time. The string beans came out a good 15 min or so later, but the sour fish soup took more than 30 min. Overall 4 stars for delicious food, pretty good service and ample parking. Minuses are for the slow service. -- I would think that ordering delivery would be kind of nice, but then it could take a good 45 min for them to prepare all the dishes. read more

See all

Service was efficient. I just discovered a numbing tingle of spiciness is not for me. The restaurant seemed full of happy customers, but my tongue isn't a fan. The food was either too salty or too spicy for me. Sorry! read more

All I can say is DELICIOUS. My friends and I came around 6:30pm on Wednesday and we waited around 20ish minutes. I definitely think it's worth the wait. The food is a little pricey but everything is packed with loads of flavor. I love spicy and numbing foods and this satisfied my spice craving. I highly recommend getting the lotus root and the fish filet with calming chili oil. The stir fried pork intestine had loads of flavor but a little to crunchy for my taste. I'm not sure why the reviews here are so low... possibly for the service but I saw nothing wrong with this restaurant. The food is super authentic and I will be back! read more

See all

This restaurant managed to be my first time It's spicy chicken is done well and right Not only that it's fried rice and steam rice had hit the spot The restaurant is incredible and busy But it's atmosphere adds to the experience I greatly recommend coming at less busier times though read more

Our favorite Hunan restaurant! There are usually terribly long lines here but it is so worth it. The staff are attentive, efficient, and friendly. More importantly, the food is just impeccable! It's hard to go wrong with any of their dishes, but here are just a few of our favorites. We always over-order at this restaurant for that reason, but we are happy to take it back. It's that good! It can be a bit loud for conversation because they're always so busy, but it's ok! You'll be too busy eating anyways. Other that that, the restaurant is very clean and comfortable :) read more

See all

My favorite Chinese restaurant in the Bay! Delicious Chinese food with large portions at a fair price point. Really authentic and reminds me of the Sichuan and Hunan flavors I've had in China. Definitely spicy, but it's a great level that balances out the other flavors. However, when you're ordering, you can adjust the spice/oil/salt level, which is great for customization! I've probably been here over a dozen times, but they have never disappointed me. Get the spicy fish filet, mapo tofu, cauliflower, or the eggplant and green beans. I've never had problems with the service. I think some Westerners may come and expect extremely attentive ("is everything tasting good here?") service, but that's not what you'll get at most Chinese restaurants and I much prefer it. They are efficient, no frills, and quick. All the servers work extremely hard. Overall, LOVE LOVE LOVE! Everyone I've taken here has also loved it. It's the restaurant I missed most when I was away for college! read more

See all

Foods are perfect taste. Big portions! If you want to get togo? 4 togo entree for $45 Not bad! But we dined in! My parents and sister enjoyed all the dishes. I loved their bamboo stir fry dish the most. read more

A Chinese restaurant that refills your water without asking, leaves extra napkins at your table, and packs your leftovers? I'm thoroughly impressed. We started with the chicken in green prepped corn oil appetizer. This was my favorite dish of the evening. It wasn't too spicy but there was a nice amount of numbing from the peppercorn. We also got a dish of thinly sliced pork and another of beef with fresh chilis. Both were pretty good. I wish we swapped one of them out because they tasted a little similar. Come here a little early. There is a line at dinner time. read more

The food was pretty good and delicious. The restaurant is not crowded. The building is much quieter and the packages were blocking the other door. read more

Fuiyoh!!! Bold. Spicy. Liberal use of chilli peppers. Unique flavors. If you love those words you have to try out this place. We've our favorites here. Chongqing Style Spicy chicken: best form of spicy chicken to munch on while you wait for your other entrees to arrive. With every bite you keep going back for more not minding to dig in deeper into the pile of dried chillies. The garlic and ginger too are so flavorful (not too pungent at all). The chicken itself it sweet spicy and crispy all at the same time. A must try! Fish Fillet with Flaming Chili Oil(Basa Fillet): Wonderful flavors of sichuan pepper corns. If you are not a huge fan you can make special request to the chef to sprinkle them sparingly. It does not affect the taste too much. Boiled Spicy Fish Fillet w. Pickled Cabbage (Basa): Lovely flavorful broth. For those who might not be able to handle the pepper corn flavors this one is a very good alternative. Each entree has a unique flavor and I'd recommend giving each a shot. The pickled cabbage tasted delicious with the other veggies and the fresh fish. Kung-Pao Chicken:Again distinct flavor. Not the sweet syrup taste that you get in Chinese buffets. This is the real deal. meat was soft and juicy. House Special Fried Noodles with Chicken and Chili: Probably the best noodles we've had. Unmistakable bold wok flavor in both the noodles and the veggies resulting in a great charred yet delicate taste. Can't get enough of this. Deep Fried Breaded Lotus Root with Shrimp: Had one of these during our most recent visits. Delectable! It is almost like having Indian pakoras with a sichuan twist. Must try! Kumquat Lemon Green Tea with Chia Seed: Very refreshing. Goes well with your entree or after your meal. Ambience: Casual. Well maintained. Sanitizers on each table. Neat and clean. Process: Scan the barcode on your table and order via smart phone. Once submitted a server will come up and confirm your order on a tablet. Food is brought out to your table. Quantity: generous Parking: Just enough Times visited: 3 read more

See all

I went here for lunch. I ordered 1. Egg yolk pork ribs (5/5) 2. Pig intestine in flaming pot (5/5) 3. Hunan style steamed fish (4/5) 4. Yang chow fried rice (4/5) Most of the dishes are good. Staffs were friendly. Services were good. Definitely will come back to this restaurant. It might get crowded during lunch or dinner time. Good for family and friends. The restaurant was clean. Most of the dishes were spicy, if you cant eat spicy food let the staff know so that they can do something about it. CONCLUSION = RECOMMENDED!!! read more

Hunan Impression - Pig intestine in flaming pot - Chinese Near Me - San Jose, California

See all

Hunan impression absolutely impressed me. If you like spicy Chinese food, and by spicy I mean SPICY head sweat rolling down the back of your head but you can't stop eating because it is SO delicious spicy then this is the place to come. My friend and I had a feast! Took home the leftovers and kept enjoying them for days. So so good! But I do have one complaint/request for the managers. Last week I came back a second time to enjoy the life changing cold noodles you had in the menu and was told these were only a temporary menu items and were no longer serving them. Please bring them back They were one of the tastiest things I've ever eaten. No exaggeration. I would eat here at least once a week if the cold noodles were back. Also... can I ordered the Chongching chicken again with less peppers? Loved the flavor but not the work of fighting thru the peppers to find the chicken pieces. Still, I would 100% order this again, and again read more

Perfect spice and in the neighborhood, that's a great combination. The food looks fresh and the place was full , can't ask for more. Seems like we discovered an hidden gem. All dishes ordered were good and best part they said the normal is spicy. It was followed up with abundant green and red peppers in all dishes. One can taste the peppercorns in some dishes and some seemed to have some mouth numbing but not spicy spice. It lasts a second and then clears up and again on the next bite. It also has a peppermint like taste. It's refreshingly nice but something new. They have a good variety of vegetarian dishes. Definitely going back again , especially on cold days. read more

I wish I lived near this place so I can come here all the time. Service was nice and the environment was very inviting. They even allowed our dogs in was a real nice surprise. The spicy frog legs were cooked perfectly and the beef was tender. But what really matters here is the taste and both dishes were delicious. Painfully spicy and but you cant stop eating or else it'll hurt more. The food here has very authentic Hunan flavors, so you gotta know what you're signing up for. Most dishes are very spicy. It's also always packed because for people who love this style of Chinese food, there's not that many great options. There are a lot of options in the south bay, but this place is a great option. Very deserving of 5 stars. read more

My favorite Chinese restaurant in the bay! I don't even like spicy food but this place is just perfect! Love all the flavors of the food and they have lots of non spicy options! read more

See all

Go to place for authentic and spicy Chinese food! Every dish I've had here was extremely flavorful, and spicy. read more

See all

Food is alright. For this area probably one of the best sichuan food to get. Is it worth the wait - not sure :) What to order, ranked from best: 1) Popcorn fried chicken in Sichuan chili 2) chilli oil boiled fish 3) curd beans with chives 4) string beans with sichuan pepper What to skip: 1) ma po Tofu - super greasy and just not convincing at all 2) bamboo shoots with chili read more

See all

The flavors were explosive, no taming for the western palate and I guess unapologetically authentic. The house special fried noodles was a literal mind, tongue and mouth numbing. The sichuan peppers were all pervasive in the noodles and were a little too much to handle. Drinking water to wash it down felt painfully odd as the water tastes weird as well after eating sichuan peppers. It was not my first time eating sichuan peppers but never in this much quantity. Anyway, the fried rice helped clean up my palate and flavor buds. The kungpao chicken here is unlike anything I tasted before with almost equal proportions of peanuts and chilis competing with the chicken. It had several sweet notes which was surprising but nonetheless decent. read more

See all

Hunan Cuisine is simply mouthwatering delicious! The stirfry dishes with 3 types of chili peppers, pickled mustard and bamboo shoots are a treat for the senses. The texture and the interplay of flavors really stands out. I wish there were more restaurants specializing in authentic hunan cuisine closer to us in trivalley or east bay. For now we drive an hour to get to this #1 restaurant. read more

We had a very delicious lunch overhere We have ordered fried chicken noodle ,string beans,fish fillet and one eggplant!there are all good, I have so many special requests for my order the young lady helps me a lot,all the servers here are fast and patient,even the noodles still are a little bit too spicy for me, but no wonder I love the place,definitely will come back read more

Menu changed a lot. Here is the link for current menu. https://www.39miles.com/p/05952761 Staff is pretty rude too, probably very busy. read more

Great food! Highly recommended! One of my favorite restaurants in the Bay Area. We order takeout every week.

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

See all

Tried to give them another chance since it's been 5 years since we last went and the food has gotten even worse! Very very salty and every dish was filled with spicy peppers with chunks of salt falling off each piece of vegetables. Sigh so disappointed - we actually went to burger king after to pick up whoppers on the way home because the food was so terrible 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

See all

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

See all