Hunan Diner

Just moved here and decided to test out the local Chinese restaurant. Owner was nice and cracked a lot of jokes.
The food though… The most delicious american-​chinese food. It is extremely rare for me to find a place that doesn’t turn their dishes into a salt mine and still taste good.
The selection is limited and hopefully they can expand the menu to like ho-​fun and signature fried rices.

The best General Tso’s I’ve ever had.
Great egg rolls
Pretty good wonton soup & fried dumplings.
I can’t wait to try what’s next!

Came down from DC for a race and thought we’d try out this Chinese restaurant with great reviews. The hostess was absolutely rude, the good wasn’t anything special or
Good. Just bland and soggy. Don’t have any decent vegan or vegetarian options.

This is the best Chinese food I’ve ever had. So glad to have such a great restaurant so close to home! Some of our favorites are the Crab and cheese wontons, Hunan Chicken and General Tso’s Chicken. Truly the best restaurant in Colonial Beach!

I’m giving five stars based on the quality of the food here. I’ve had the General Tso’s chicken twice now, and it is pretty amazing. This far supersedes the run of the mill dime a dozen Chinese restaurants we’ve all been too. I’m not sure if there are any other Chinese restaurants in town, but I don’t plan on looking for any. This will be my «go to» for any Chinese, be it dine in or take out. Looking forward to trying some other dishes, as I did a repeat with the General Tso’s because it was so good the first time I tried it. Overall great friendly service and the place is nice for dining in. There is also a full bar if you’re looking to get your drink on. Certainly will be coming back here in the future… you should too!

When I was a kid in the mid 80s my mom would take me to Chinese food restaurants. Back then they were filled with Far East décor that included Buddha statues, firecrackers, carved wood furniture, and a slew of other unique Chinese artifacts. I loved to look around and wonder curiously about a culture that celebrates very different traditions. Sometime between then and now those places have been replaced by typical stripmall Chinese buffets. Pay at the door, eat all you can, and get out. All that’s missing is a cattle trough.
Hunan Diner has managed to hold onto its identity. When I walk in it immediately takes me back to when I was a kid and I love it.
It’s nearly impossible to enter without a staff member greeting you with a smile. I would even go so far as to say it is normally the owner, a gentleman named Allen.
The food: It’s not a buffet. The dishes are great and very well portioned in fact, normally I will split an appetizer and one dish wish whoever I’m eating with. My personal favorite is the Mongolian beef but that’s pretty new. In the past you couldn’t take me away from the pineapple chicken or the chicken and snow peas.
Allen stocks a full bar and he’s pretty liberal with his pour. It is one of my favorite restaurants in the beach because of how quick and efficient they are.

The wait staff has always been friendly and the environment is pretty chill. The menu is pretty basic, but for an area without much competition they do a good job with the food quality.
I love the Kung Pao Chicken!

My family and I are locals and we often eat there. We especially love the general Tso shrimp, the Hunan beef with its special sauce, and sometimes, there are sushi on the menu too. That’s the only place in town right now where you can get fresh sushi on special occasions.
Personally, I do not drink, but my friends love the volcano (a house specialty) and the Long Island Ice Tea.

The Chicken Fried Rice here is amazing — perfectly cooked, and the chicken bits actually look and taste like chicken! This is the only Chinese restaurant I would go back to, as I am not much of a fan of that cuisine. Their General Tso’s is pretty darn good, too, with a great sweet sauce with the fried niblets of the chicken. Alan, the owner, is knee-​slapping hilarious, and he’s had this restaurant for years. The locals definitely hit this place up (compared to the other Chinese restaurants in the area); the food here is consistent, and service is great.
+Chicken Fried Rice
+General Tso’s chicken
+holiday specials/​buffets
+ask for Alan: D

Hunan Diner is a small place, but a great one to take a date, or your family. While the food is definitely Americanized-​Chinese food, it is the top class of that type of cuisine.
The owner, Alan, is almost always on site and is extremely helpful and wonderful to the customers. His servers are all young, and a times a bit absent minded, but any errors ever made are fixed immediately with a smile.
I reccommend the Wonton Soup as it is the best I have ever had anywhere. The egg rolls are sublime, perfectly cooked and wonderfully plump with fantastic ingredients.
General Tso’s chicken is also wonderful and not to be missed.
If you enjoy spicy food make sure you let them know you really mean spicy and they will burn you up. Definitely a most visit restaurant when you are in town.
The one issue with Hunan’s is that as a restored diner it is not handicap accessible at all. There are three steps to get into the restaurant and no ramp.

The waitress at another restaurant in town suggested Hunan Diner when I asked if there was any place to get good Chinese food locally. The small restaurant has a full bar and serves excellent Chinese food cooked to order. Portions are large, service is good, and prices are reasonable.

I’m not sure what all of these reviewers ate, but clearly I ordered the wrong dish. I found it to be way to bland, and tailored for a distinctly non-​Asian clientele.
Location is nice, although I kind of wish it was still a diner, like it appears to have been at some point.
I’d stick with one of the seafood spots in town for some fried deliciousness.

We have spent three vacations down in Colonial Beach and only on this last time did we try the Hunan Diner. What at mistake! We should have gone here all along!
Very unassuming from the outside, this place is inviting and comfortable once you get through the door. Seating is pleasant and they have a bar area should you just want a nibble and a drink.
I ordered the hot and sour soup with hot chili oil on the side and double-​cooked pork. I’ve had better soup but it was good. Entrée was awesome.
The better half ordered an eggroll and Kung Pao shrimp. He loved them both. The eggroll is different because it contained beef but he said it was very good. The Kung Pao shrimp was lightly battered and he asked for it extra hot and he enjoyed it.
After our meal here, I can see why this place has lasted so long. We will definitely go back here on our next vacation to Colonial Beach.

I made the drive out here for lunch today. Surprisingly the much touted General Tso’s was not one of the lunch specials. So I decided to have the hot and sour soup and the General Tso’s chicken as an entrée. Complimentary (unlimited) hot tea and water were provided.
Soup: The hot and sour soup was decent. The taste was just a little hearty and the mushrooms were good. It’s not like the hot and sour soup at Szechuan Gourmet in Manhattan (the best I have ever had), but it is certainly worth ordering.
Entrée: The General Tso’s suffered from built-​up expectations. Not many businesses in this rural area show up on Unilocal,but this particular restaurant had several highly-​rated reviews. I truly was expecting a standout meal, but it never arrived. The fried rice was unremarkable, so I probably should have stayed with the white rice. The chicken was of decent quality, but the sauce was fairly sweet and felt cloying towards the end as I was finishing the dish. Also, the sodium content was fairly high, so I was a bit thirsty after finishing my lunch.
Décor: The restaurant is actually a converted diner that sits just about a block off of the water. The walls are simply appointed, and there is a bar on the immediate right upon entering.
As the service was good and the food was good but not great, I would give them 3.5 stars. It is definitely good Chinese food if you are in Colonial Beach, but I wouldn’t make a special drive in for it.

I’m not ready to write up a full review, but I’ll add that the Orange Chicken was damn good… not the typical chicken mcnugget battered globule smothered in pancake syrup stuff, but bite size chunks of white meat. Mmmm… very tasty… I look forward to trying more of the menu!
Also, open ’til 10, which for Colonial Beach, is considered late night.
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3/​1/​/​2009 Update…
Brought wife and parents here a few times since… sampled quite a few dishes. IMO, the General Tso’s and Orange Chicken are the best I’ve had anywhere. Hunan pork hit the spot, as did the dumplings. I wasn’t a fan of the shrimp and water chestnuts (didn’t like the consistency– too buttery/​salty), but nevertheless, I stand by my original 5 stars.

I’ve ventured out of Arlington to sample some off-​the-​beaten-​path places that are also within shouting distance of thoroughbred horse racing simulcasting facilities. This teeny-​tiny beach community, with golf-​cart-​driving retirees, second-​hand shops, everybody knowing everybody else’s business — and where they roll up the sidewalks at about dusk— had the BEST kung pao chicken I’ve had in ages. And in a really cool setting: an old original ’30’s or so diner (don’t know the make/​model but there are websites that have this info). Asked for spicy and it WAS spicy. My brain was producing endorphins at a very high rate, and my taste receptors were comparing the experience very favorably with an Ollie Burger, good half-​smoke, or Peking Duck from House of Dynasty.