Hunan Coventry

It has been a long time since I was so disappointed by a meal. Both dishes came to the table an unappealing brown color, with nary a fresh vegetable to be seen.
This was definitely our only visit here.

Meh. Just, meh.
I have this theory about Chinese food. In the 1940’s and 50’s, leaders in the Chinese community trained immigrants to cook Americanized Chinese: few flavored beyond salty and sweet. Few vegetables. Little color. As our tastes became more sophisticated, thanks to Indian, Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese, old school Chinese restaurants became Mire old school. They just added fat, salt and sugar.
Now, it’s just sad.
I’d love to find a Chinese restaurant that serves fresh, healthy, simple but flavorful food closer to what is eaten in China.
This isn’t it. This would be at home in 1952. Serviceable but not exciting.

Easily some of the best Chinese food on this side of town! I can only speak for the vegetarian options. The veggie fried rice does have egg, though you can of course ask for it without like I did, still tastes great. Veggie lo mein is great, vegetable potstickers were great, a little flavorless, but they were satisfying. For $ 20, I got portions large enough for two or, if you’re eating alone, enough for a large lunch, dinner, and lunch the next day, roughly $ 6 a meal, so not bad! Service was quick and staff was friendly, not busy. Fresh veggies, everything was thoroughly cooked. Highly recommend this place and I’ve tried a lot of Chinese food on the east side.

PROS
Hunan is great for carry-​out! They have a large menu, so when their website is down you can just tell them whatever you’d like and they will likely have it. (Even curry, which we know is not Chinese, but keeps them at-​pace with the expanding market of Asian restaurants.) They are also fast. Even at peak hours (Saturday night) your order will be ready in 30 minutes. They are generous with the meat in every entrée (so tender!) and offer a nice array of vegetables too. Dining-​in offers a nice ambiance, though you might have the place to yourself. It seems that the vast majority of their business is carry-​out.
CONS
We asked about fresh spring rolls with shrimp. They said they have them. They gave us fried egg rolls with pork instead, knowing that they wouldn’t lose our business over it. Profit for them, annoying for us.
Also, Hunan can be stingy in other ways. (And not the cheapest.) We paid for 5 large entrees (and 2 apps) and received only 2 small portions of rice. They charged the next guy $ 1.50 for some sweet-​and-​sour sauce to go with his order.
For the food, expect some very salty dishes which might contain MSG too. They also use frozen peas and carrots in one of their shrimp dishes. (Remember the tiny orange cubes from grade school?)
Overall, Hunan is a decent place to go when you need tender, greasy, salty food for a crowd.

Ordered General Tso’s chicken, fried rice, and veggie rolls. Tso’s chicken tasted like orange chicken and wasn’t all that spicy. Fried rice was bland and the egg rolls were okay. I probably will go back but only cause it’s convenient.

This is a restaurant near and dear to my past and (now) present. I would always come here as a kid for the proverbial Jewish Chinese food meal with my Dad’s side of the family growing up.
This is not your standard hole in the wall junker Chinese food restaurant. I’ve actually found it particularly difficult to parse out decent Chinese cuisine in Cleveland personally. Sushi? Yes. Phở? Yes. Chinese food? No sir.
Anyhow, I ordered the Hunan Beef and my date ordered the Szechuan Beef. My dish was spicy and savory with the perfect water chestnut to peanut to sauce to beef ratio. Rice was on deck all day compliments of the friendly service. My date’s Szechuan had some zing to it and delicious ripe green onions to pair with the delicious brown sauce.
To wash it down I went with the traditional hot tea I’ve always gotten. It had been 10 years since I’d stepped foot in here but the place is still the same go-​to Chinese food.
I’d highly suggest this place if you’re specifically looking for great Chinese. You won’t be disappointed.

Horrible. I even complained about the food and they offered my a 50% store credit. I refused that offer and will never eat there again. Rude too!

Perfect for what it is. We were in the mood for quick Chinese and it did not disappoint! The sesame chicken, egg rolls and pan fried noodles were all delicious. We will definitely be back again!

While I know Christmas night is crazy, I ordered our dinner at 4:30PM and was told it would absolutely be ready at 6:30PM. My boys were home from college and excited for a nice Chinese dinner. Well when I went to pick it up, I was told that our order was lost and our dinner could not be ready that night at all. They never even tried to make it right for us. We used to be loyal customers, but I can honestly say we will never go back. That is not the way to run a business.

There are a few times life that a meal is expertly planned… I have dined here on a number of occasions. I did not find oily vegetables nor centipedes in my food. I walked in to a very nicely lit nicely set restaurant that had great service, a full bar, hot, fresh food served on beautiful China, soft music, great restaurant that was clean and rather reasonably priced. I don’t need to come from China to tell you this. I suspect the food is not that authentic so don’t fret– its a great place and a great place to take a date.

How unfortunate.
I recently moved into the neighborhood and was pretty stoked that there were several food establishments on Coventry. A few weeks ago I had finished up at the gym that left me with a handsome appetite and ordered carry-​out from Hunan Convetry — first and last time.
I ordered crab rangoons, shrimp with honey walnut, Kung Pao beef, and pork chow fun … (I was a little *hungry* :-P). It was a carry out order, and they were promptly ready for pick-​up. I got back home super excited and immediately inhaled the rangoons; you can’t really screw those up: it’s fried wontons with cream cheese and sweet chili sauce.
I don’t think my palate is salt-​biased, but this was the first time (in a long time) that I ADDED salt, among other things, to my shrimp and pork entrees. Chow fun ranks pretty high on my list of comfort foods — the broad doughy noodles full of flavor I expected were nothing more than tasteless oil-​laden folds of pasta. I have my food issues, always cleaning my plate, always keeping leftovers, and never wasting (there are too many hungry people out there for me to be cavalier). Well, these two entrees ended up in the trash (did I mention I was STARVING when I ordered?). As for the beef, I tried my best to salvage my $$$ by re-​purposing it the next day.
I would have done better picking up a frozen entrée by Ina Garten or Trader Joe’s.

This place used to be somewhere that I would eat every few months, but after my last visit I will never be coming back. I ordered the Home Style Bean Curd and about halfway through my meal I noticed something that looked like a bug on a piece of cabbage. Upon further inspection I discovered that it was a CENTIPEDE. I had never wished so badly that I had just found a hair in my food. I called the server over and he apologized and informed me that sometimes they have them in their cabbage and the kitchen must have missed this one. WHAT!!! They removed the dish from the bill, but that was the extent of it. My date didn’t finish his meal either because he was so horrified. Yuck.

Been here multiple times and have always enjoyed the experience. The service is pretty good – the servers are quick! Overall very good quality food and large portion sizes.

Spacious restaurant as an exception to the norm in the area with a less colorful design all over set in soft pinks and beige, conveniently located on Coventry Road opposite from Avalon Exchange. Open for lunch and dinner as well as take-​out.
Not the cheapest, not overly expensive average, same the dishes.
Nothing you have not eaten before and neither better or worse.
Went with a friend who can’t eat MSG and apparently there is the option to have the dishes without that added as she did. I am not sure if that means if you do not ask for it you will automatically have MSG in your food.
Unfortunately the owner tends to park his car (technically illegal but commonly overlooked and for free) behind the restaurant, which blocks entrance /​exit to the parking place that belongs to the apartments behind the restaurant.
Where I used to live a while ago.
As the devil never sleeps it so happened that my father-​in-​law had a stroke last winter and I had to rush to emergency, but could not, being parked in.
I went inside and got involved in a lengthy and tiring discussion, trying to bring my point across why I really needed the owner to come out with me NOW and move his car instead of him keeping doing whatever he find more important doing in there for the evening.
ZERO STAR. Sorry.
Being old-​fashioned and having very high standards when it comes to customer service this is the reason why I would never ever eat there again.
Not that I loose out on anything special.
Some people think restaurant reviews are only about the quality of the food that lands on the plate in front of the patron.
But to give a place a good review I need to be also treated in a polite manner and with respect and not only when I am about to bring business to the place.
Luckily I am not all alone with that opinion, recently ate at an Indian place in Asheville NC that got a 1 star from a guy who found out the place is discriminating to its staff. Right on!
If it comes to a situation that I have to beg a man to make space to leave my parking lot to be able to see a family member that got rushed into emergency there will be no Chinese duck tender enough and no Mai Tai colorful enough that the food quality could possibly compensate the extremely bad service.
No more Kung Pao for me from Hunan.

This is probably the grossest Chinese food I’ve had in all of Cleveland (Trust me, I’m Chinese!). They use wayyyy too much oil. Just imagine a bunch of veggies/​meat floating in oil – that’s how ridiculous it is! Also, be warned that they put chest nuts in every dish.
If you’re looking for some good Chinese food, go to Asian town!

This was my first Chinese food experience in the Cleveland area. My friend and I came here for a very late dinner, and I’m looking at this place favorably to begin with because they were very accommodating, despite us coming in at closing time. The space was large, and simple, well-​kept. Good location, friendly service. The chicken lo mein I had was good, hit the spot, although it certainly was not the best I ever had. Reasonably good chinese food, although a bit overpriced.

This is without a doubt my favorite Chinese restaurant. My family and I drive 45 minutes just to come here and have done so since I was a kid. In 15 years since we’ve been going the food has been very consistent and incredible. There has been a couple times that some of the meat was overcooked but that happens. I gave this restaurant 5 stars because the food is amazing. We always get Sweet and Sour Chicken which is my absolute favorite from any other Chinese place I’ve been to. The Cashew Chicken is incredible and doesn’t have any of those nasty added veggies like other places. We adore the Chicken Fried Rice it is truly amazing! You get a TON of food for your money and with 4 people eating we have leftovers for DAYS!
We usually always order to go but have dined here as well on special occasions. The service is always great, the staff is friendly, very clean restaurant and bathrooms are included.
I’ve tried several Chinese Restaurants and none of them can compare to the wonderful cuisine at Hunan Coventry.

I’ve heard that this place might shut down in the near future (could just be a rumor… I hope not!) so I’m taking the time to give it a 5-​star review in hopes that the universe rewards me and keeps it open as long as possible.
I’ve never eaten in but get take out from here fairly often. The pot stickers are my favorite thing – a must-​try. In contrast to the reviewer who said the pot stickers are doughy and barely fried, I’d call them thicker than some, but also incredibly delicious. My boyfriend and I both adore these pot stickers.
Other favorites: sesame chicken (me) and empress chicken (him). The sesame chicken is unique because the sauce is on the side. Most dishes come in your choice or large or small portion size, except for the sesame chicken, which can only be a large. The large size is more than enough for two very hungry people, so you will have leftovers.
Prices are good, service is good (for take out – have never eaten in), best Chinese food *I* have found in Cleveland*: I hope Hunan Coventry stays open!
*This is actually the only Chinese place in Cleveland out of the handful I have tried that hasn’t disgusted me, and although I am open to other suggestions, I’m happy being a loyal customer of this Coventry neighborhood favorite for now.
Note: closed on Mondays!

Ordered won-​ton soup, postickers, empress chicken and Kung-​po chicken with white rice.
The order-​taker on the phone was abrupt.
Still, I dared to order!
This was, bar-​none, the *worst* Chinese food I have ever had from this place, to date. Everything from the soup (no scallions, very little noodles) to the main dishes (soggy empress chicken, flavorless and un-​spicy Kung-​po chicken) was a disappointment. The pot stickers looked steamed, which is fine; except they were fried (barely). They were mooshy and doughy with very little filling.
This place has gone down-​hill. It used to be the best place for Kung-​po.
The only thing that wasn’t a disappointment was the steamed rice. Go to Li-​Wah.

Decent food with your typical veg options.
The sesame noodles were a little too peanutty, but they were served hot, which was nice. I got the broccoli in garlic sauce and added some fried tofu, which was served as tiny, sad cubes. The vegetable mu shu was ok.
The staff is very friendly, but the food is nothing to cheer about.