Hunan Manor

I am Chinese and I like spicy food. This place has pretty good HuNan style food. They have chain stores in Manhattan and Flushing. Although there is a little different style.
We had group dinner here. Reserved the table with the owner directly and sit at the round table right away. We tried a lot of stuff. The frog, the fish, the eel, the pork elbow, the eggplant, the stinky tofu, the mushrooms, the spicy scramble eggs, the soup MiFen. Pretty authentic stuff.

We came to this restaurant because the restaurant we wanted to go to, Shanghai dumpling, that’s half mile north of here, is closed on Monday.
What a mistake.
Pro: good décor
Con: Dishes with below average, cheapest ingredient, DRIED soup dumplings from supermarket packaged frozen product. And VERY BAD SERVICE.
We were disappointed with all the food been put on our table. The waiters seemed to throw the plates on the table. They have many pictures on the menu, however none of the real dishes look like any of the pictures.
The biggest blow is the soup dumplings. It came when we almost finished our meal. And they are totally DRY. Not only did they not look good, as with all other dishes we tried, they tasted exactly like the frozen product we once bought from supermarket, and never bought again.

food: good, a little bit salty.
service: rude.
why: I HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH RUDE SERVICE IN CHINESE Restaurant.
We two arrived early and there were only 3 or 4 tables occupied there. I told the waiter we wanted to order serveral dishes and might need a larger table. The waiter said you had to order first then he might think about it.
We ordered 3 dishes of entrée and two bowls of noodle. Then I called other waiters and asked for moving to a larger table. BUT no one wanted to response for my request.
After two bowls of noodle were brought to our table and there was no space for another three dishes apparently. They finally let us move to a larger table for four which was available once we entried the restaurant.
It is very uncomfortable for me to pause the lunch and bring everything to another place.
I still gave them a 15% tip just for polite and won’t revisit any more.
AND I doubt that whether the owner will see our reviews cuz I have seen many reviews complained about their poor service.

My husband and I have been coming to Hunan manor for dinner a lot recently. We run from NB to Highland park, get dinner here, and über back home! Food has been great and you don’t have to go super spicy or expensive to get great food. I’m in love with their taro spinach soup and the fish fillet and pickled vegetable soup. My husband, who is American, loves the preserved egg with green pepper dish, which is super surprising! I also love this place because it offers a great variety of dishes and definitely not your cliché Chinese restaurant!

Food is ok. Add review here not only for poor service, but the waiter followed us out and asked for more tips. Its obvious that the reason we gave low tips is the rude service, but the waiter said we SHOULD give more tips because it’s IN AMERICA. We refused. Here comes the best part. «Please never come to our restaurant again». He said. Now it proves that I did right things. I’m not the first person experienced this. It really doesn’t matter if we give 10 20 or more tips on 100 order, what really bad is they knew they didn’t serve you but still ask for good tips. If you don’t satisfy them, they kick you out as you do the bad things.

Food: ²⁄₅
Service: ¹⁄₅
Price: ¹⁄₅
Food: The food was just okay. Its not terrible, but just okay. The fish and cabbage soup was too salty. The shredded beef with green peppers was alright, but too much oil. Pork in garlic sauce was just alright. Their soup dumplings don’t match the quality of the previous restaurant at the same location.
Service: I have both dined in and had take-​out. The service for dine-​in is poor during peak hours. While picking up take out they overcharged me, than what was listed in the menu. When I showed the real price on one of the take-​out menus at the counter, the guy at the counter just shrugged and said the price has increased! Not professional at all.
Price: Overpriced. They increased their prices since when the management changed and the restaurant was renamed to ‘Hunan Manor’. Certainly not worth it.
The earlier restaurant at the same location was better in terms of quality of food, service and price. I miss their soup dumplings! Personally I now prefer Sichuan Spring on 27 over this place.
Disappointed. :(

Very good spicy hunan food in a beautiful environment. Very spicy.

Not bad. Not really for typical western tastes. A lot of, um, unusual dishes. I’m adventurous but this was pretty out of my comfort zone. The place physically has been totally gutted and redone and is beautiful. Service is professional IMO.
Not too much on the vegetarian side, if anything. I asked if a tofu dish was vegetarian and was told they could just take out the shrimp. I’m sure the sauce I got was not vegetarian. I ate it and it was prepared pretty well, but don’t think I’ll be going back myself. My friend had a simple beef and green beans dish and enjoyed it. If you are looking to try entrails, amphibians, chicken feet, stinky tofu, and pig’s reproductive organs, give this place a shot.
Good tea.

Whaaat? 3.5 Stars?! I was skeptical at first but when a friend whose opinion I trust said she’s eaten there multiple times and said it’s very good and authentic, I was sold. Then again she ordered all the dishes so we were in good hands. So now I know where all the Asians in NJ are eating. They have a private parking lot and it’s BYOB. All the dishes we had were yummy: spicy beef tendon (tied 2^nd fav); fragrant sliced thin beef; pork soup dumplings; sauteed dried string beans; eggplant/​minced pork in casserole; duck in dry wok (my fav); braised pork mao’s style; preserved pork with leek (tied 2^nd fav); fish in spicy red pepper soup; & ma po tofu. My least fav was the fish (but I am more of a sashimi fan). The frog legs are suppose to be delicious. They also have a restaurant in NYC.

Poor
My family and I have gone to this restaurant twice. The first time we went because it was the only hunan restaurant nearby. We ended up waiting in line for more than thirty minutes only to have the waiter seat another family of the same size before us. When we brought this issue to their attention, they apologized out of necessity and made no effort to compensate for their mistake. We left immediately after.
Since my mother specifically wanted to eat Hunan style food and this was the only option nearby, we went a second time, only to find a long waiting line and sand in our poorly washed vegetable dish.
If you’re looking for a decent restaurant with acceptable food and a short waiting time, I suggest looking around for other options. For the people craving Chinese food, drive an extra few miles elsewhere. I suggest the nearby Wonder Seafood restaurant. Not too far, it’s worth the drive.

On revisit, I found the service particularly disappointing. The food continued to be very salty, but this is a minor point. There was a broad sense of resignation and capped effort by multiple staff members to address any issue we brought up including delayed dishes and inquiries about their preparation.
For all the staff present, there is an incredible absence altogether. Tea needs to be frequently requested. The bill needed to be self-​brought to the front register since all the staff eating in the back have forgotten you’re there. Someone is on his laptop.
Most notably our braised pork was an insulting experience, whereby more than half out slices were entirely of fat. Brought to the attention of servers, there was no interest in addressing the matter further. ‘This is what you ordered, isn’t it? Perhaps next time ask for leaner braised pork?‘
Next time.

Sautéed string beans with garlic-​very good. Crispy, fresh and juicy string beans. Flavorful.
Fish fillets in hot chili oil-​average. Average quality of fish fillets. Small portion.
Sour green beans with minced pork rice noodles-​good. Very spicy. Tasty soup. I guess pretty authentic.
Braised pork-​very good. Tender and fatty. Fresh raw cabbage at the bottom. Tasty with the brown sauce.
Rice-​bad. Dry and half cooked.

Great décor and great selection of different Hunan dishes. I am so excited to try and have their stinky tofu stir fry, it’s definitely an acquired taste… love it
All the dishes I posted are very good and not overly salty.

Very bad service. The waiters served slow and even did not bother to bring us a pot of tea, which is served on all other tables. We ordered four dishes. They brought the first two quickly but somehow it took them almost an hour to bring the other two. During the long wait, despite our reminders for times, they seemed to be ignorant of us. We eventually refused to get served for the rest of the two different dishes. For such bad service, we refused to tip a reasonable amount. The waiters did not say anything but the restaurant owner/​manager gave very unprofessional comments that he could not understand why we complained while others did not. Plus, he has a very cocky tone implying that food is all matters, and that service should not be the priority. Here is my profound response to the restaurant:
1) I do not care about how successful your biz is in NYC. Your NJ restaurant is located in a neighborhood called Highland Park, where people value the good quality of restaurants in terms of food, service and ambience. I have been to most of your neighboring restaurants on Raritan Ave; none of them deserve a one star from me except for you. Yes, I complained, but this does not mean I am an exception and I should not complain.
2) A good restaurant owner/​manager cares about customer satisfaction. When customers show dissatisfaction, the managers who care would first apologize and then offer to give discounts or bring out another dish on the house. However, I feel the waiters showed more apology than the manager in our case after we walked away in a shitty mod. The manager seem to care less though it is his business.
3) We went to the restaurant to celebrate moon festival with family, not to expect such a bad treatment. When we were waiting for our food, only one of our family members complained, but the rest of us kept calming her down and sympathized how busy the restaurant is, and that we need to wait in more patience. None of the staff stopped by and asked how we were or whether we need anything until we finally gave the ultimate reminder after an hour. I hope you could also sympathize our situation and get to understand why we eventually refused to tip anything.

Maybe because I have not tasted an authentic Chinese restaurant in a long while, which might have caused my taste buds to become a bit less impartial when it comes to judging food. I will have to say that Hunan Manor in New Jersey blew it out of the park on the taste, look, and feel of their cuisine. The food was so delicious that I had to order a couple lunch specials to go. I have included photos of what I had. The only dish I felt they could improve more on was the soup dumplings (小籠包) — their skins were too thick, and there weren’t any soup in them, not juicy at all. The waitress brought out the black vinegar without the string gingers, prompted me to ask for some… I had to stack my own emptied plates and bowls because their waiters were a bit slow on collecting them. Overall, I had a pleasant time there, would come again.

We came here with two friends. There were many people waiting in front of the restaurant already. Their ingredients were very fresh and tasty. The chicken soup, lobster, pork foot and mushrooms are must-​tries. Very fragrance and delicious. One of our friend comes from Hunan, he confirmed their flavor was very local. If you live near here, you have to try this place.

The food is, for the most part, delicious but the service is inconsistent.
I came here for dinner on a Saturday night because my dad wanted to try this place. We ordered: dan dan noodles, xiang gan rou si (bean curds), spicy string bean, bok choy, xiao long bao (soup dumplings), and beef and green pepper stir fry. Everything was delicious except for the soup dumplings. If you want those, go down Route 27 to Shanghai Dumpling House because theirs is so much better. The problem with Hunan Manor is that they don’t particularly specialize in Shanghainese cuisine. The skin of the soup dumpling is too thick, half of them were broken, and the soup was only mediocre.
In terms of service, while our first few dishes arrived promptly, it took around 30 minutes to get the bok choy and soup dumplings. We had to ask multiple times about those 2 dishes and they kept saying that they’re on their way. The soup dumplings are kinda understandable but I don’t think the bok choy should have taken that long to prepare. Also, the water they serve (I know it’s tap water) has a weird aftertaste. I wanted to skip tea (the watered down tea…) for the night but I ended up getting a cup because the water tasted so bad.
Would I come back? Definitely. I’d just avoid certain dishes.
Oh yeah and if you want to bring your own wine, they charge you $ 5. Wtf? Another reason to dock a star.

Great, authentic chinese food. Gets busy and for larger parties, spacing may be limited so definitely make a reservation. Highlights were the eggplant with egg and fish in chili oil, and portions were decently sized. Nice décor as well. Service was phenomenal, especially from the lady at the front desk (owner maybe?). She was extremely nice and accommodating to all parties, and even ran after we left to give me my hat which I had left in the restaurant

Ordered boiled fish for lunch special. Like it. Will come back with my family. Satisfied service. Just go through with the menu. So many dishes want to try.

Didn’t think I’d find something close to authentic Hunan style food in this neighborhood but I’m happy I stopped in. The interior is done beautifully with wooden partitions between tables that don’t necessarily give you privacy but it does give you a feeling of closeness with your dining party. The food overall has been delightful. Be warned, if you’re weak on spicy food DO avoid their spicy dishes (even the cold dishes);though delicious they will likely turn you into a sweaty mess.
I also tried the soup dumplings and found myself a bit disappointed but they weren’t terrible. The restaurant seems to be new so the wait staff seemed to fumble a but with figuring out what orders went where, but I imagine that will be tightened up in no time.
This isn’t the best Hunan I’ve had but I have no doubt that they are the best in the area and I would eat here regularly if I lived in the area. I just hope they don’t end up watering down the menu.