Sunday, February 2, 2014

Golden Hunan- The Worst Chinese Restaurant in Houston so far

Restaurant: Golden Hunan
1801 Durham Road, Houston, Texas 77007
Buffet or a-la-carte: a-la-carte
Date of visit: 1/30/14



Photo Logo: http://pics3.city-data.com/businesses/p/1/3/2/9/6941329.JPG


Background:
Salam/hey guys! After a pretty long time, I'm back! Today I will be reviewing Golden Hunan, a halal Chinese restaurant inside the 610 loop. I had not packed lunch at my house, as I ran out of the house as I was getting late for my 10 AM class. I continuously  had class until 1 PM, then I had a break until 2:30. As soon as I got out of the class, I came here.



Let The Experience Begin!
Golden Hunan is located at the intersection of I 10 and Durham street in the strip mall. This turned out to be the smallest restaurant that I have been to so far. Never before have I seen so few tables. The interior was dull. It was pretty dark inside, and all that was playing on the TV was the ESPN special on the Super Bowl. No one was walking around and checking on the customers, who were eating the food. I came inside the restaurant and all that happened was that someone peeked out of the kitchen door then went back. I stood for around 3 minutes, then I sat myself down to wait for someone to come and get the menu. If I stood for 5 more minutes, I would have walked out, and this review wouldn't have happened. Only after I sat down and waited did the waitress come out and give me the menu, cutlery, and napkins. After looking through the menu, I was ready to order.



Let's Eat!
I decided to order the Hunan Chicken Lunch combo. The combo came with an egg roll, rice, and "side mixed vegetables", which literally means salad. To drink, I got a glass of water. I paid $8.10 (tax included), which was good for a combo meal. The waiting time was 6 minutes and 10 seconds. To wait, I watched ESPN.



The menu is like every Chinese restaurant. Nothing different than Halal Wok. Pictured below was the lunch specials that are available (Click to view). I do not know why they weren't listed on the website

Lunch Menu and Lunch Combination Plate


The remaining lunch combination plates


Clockwise: sweet and sour sauce with some weird yellow thing, rice, salad, hunan chicken (egg roll I ate up)


The Verdict:
It looked like a meal on an US airline in business class, but it tasted like an economy meal. And the economy meal on US airlines are usually disgusting. Yes, it was that bad. It was as bad as Halal Wok was. Sweet and sour sauce is one of my favorite sauces, but this one tasted like blood and water mixed together. As soon as I tried the yellow thing, I stopped eating the sauce altogether. A sample of it made me wanna spit it out. The rice looked and tasted exactly the same as Halal Wok. The salad had too much dressing. And the main item, the hunan chicken, tasted so badly that my stomach said "Why are you torturing me with this food?!" by hurting throughout the day. Not pictured above was the egg roll, which was the only good thing. The food was drained by a glass of water. Overall, two thumbs down.
The service was as awful as the food. Never before have I had to sit myself down before someone would come and help me. I mean, couldn't they have called someone and told that person that I was here when I stepped into the restaurant, instead of coming out AFTER I sat down? The waitress was very terse and quiet. All she did was repeat the order I gave and said "Mhmm" after I said something. Phone calls were also ignored by the staff. This can cause the people calling that restaurant to not trust that place for its unreliability and call up other restaurants.



Conclusion:
Golden Hunan is one place to avoid. There are other, better Chinese restaurants out there. Those restaurants have better service, friendlier waiters, and better tasting food. If you are inside the loop, and want some Chinese food, then I would recommend you to find somewhere else.



Grading:
Service: 5/10
Food: 5/10
Waiting Time: 10/10
Total: 20/30 = 66.6% (D)
Pricing: $ out of $$$$



Restaurant Information:
Golden Hunan
1801 Durham Road, Houston, Texas 77007
Phone: (713) 880-1688
Website: http://www.goldenhunanhouston.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoldenHunan
Timings: Mon-Fri: 11 AM - 9 PM; Sat-Sun: 12 AM - 9 PM
Caters: Yes

Feel free to comment below!

Cheers!
Zain Mohammed

1 comment:

  1. me and wife visited this place for the third time. I am actually writing this review the second time (after losing all that i wrote when blogpost asked me to login via google :p). i would agree that the service is slow and that lunch hour could have been the reason via. i have come during lunch and dinner. the biggest reason being they offer halal food. we ordered steam dumplings, phoenix chicken (i asked waitress to not cook in rice wine) and schezuan beef (which she also referred to as mongolian beef). i would say for the price and quality the food tasted amazing. my wifw thought they vould have brought the good out earlier as it was a bit cold but i thoughtbit was very tasty. the hot n sour soup had too much pepper so that wan overkill. anyhow, leaving a positive review so people know the flip side of the coin. chinese places can be a hit or a miss. this is a rare Good (neither too bad or the best)

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