Hua — Restaurant in Dushanbe

A majority reviewers have awarded Hua ratings of 5's and 1's so I was curious about this venue -- the "truth," as is often the case, lies somewhere in the middle. By and large, the menu is strange and off-base with little to do with genuine Chinese food. Yes, there is the quintessential Peking duck [not spicy (hot) but good; too bad there was no option for 1/2 order as I might have taken that]; however, I observed that almost none of the dishes are (hot) spicy but cater to the preferences of "sweet-and-sour" palates. China historically is agrarian and many fine dishes are vegetarian e.g. 蒜蓉空心菜 suan rong kang xin cai (water spinach with garlic). True there were some tofu dishes (regrettably, I am not a fan of tofu) but the absence of main vegetarian dishes is manifest from the menu. Fine: beef and lamb can substitute for pork but where are the Hunan-style and Szechuan-style dishes? I ordered one chicken dish (Hot Crispy Chicken). Yes, the chicken was crispy and the dish certainly has an abundance of dried whole red chili cut in 2-3 parts each. However, the superabundance of the chili dwarfed the amount of chicken, which was too finely (almost ridiculously) diced.(See the photo of the dish to get a rough idea.) The dish I was served was in effect kung pao chicken (but with the chicken being crispy) which, of course, comes with peanut; but I did not order kung pao, which is my least favorite of the spicy Chinese dishes from all regions of China. There were simply no other hot (spicy) dishes on offer so I tried ordering fried beef with black pepper sauce and fried lamb with onion and cumin. Black pepper sauce was not even remotely spicy; indeed, the plate should be renamed stir fried beef with slice bell pepper. Anyway, part of the mountain of dried whole chili supplied with the chicken I shifted to the other plates. That helped. (Some more chili I put in a jar for take-away for future use to enliven lame dishes I shall undoubtedly be served in other venues in Dushanbe.) Food bill: 336 somoni exclusive of 12% service charge (but inclusive of a double order of steamed rice). For that money, I would have expected better food. The service is very good (although the waiter may disappear for a while) and the ambiance is excellent except for there being no separate area for non-smokers. Allowing patrons to smoke anywhere -- unfortunately, that mimics the real Chinese approach to running restaurants. I sat in the least desirable area away from others to avoid the smoking. I don't mind the fragrance of shisha (hookah/kaliyon) but I detest cigarette smoke. However, I am happy to report that I did not detect any smoke of any sort from where I sat -- the benefit of a...

I went to HUA, which was on the same street as our hotel, with low expectations but was very happily surprised by the high quality of food I ate. once we discarded the menu (impossible to read) and asked the waiter , who spoke quite good english, to bring a group of meat, vegetable and noodle dishes for our table. The other table of our group decided to choose familiar sounding dishes, fried rice etc. from the menu and it appears that these westernized dishes were not nearly so good or pleasing to the eaters which is the sole reason I downgraded the food.. This place clearly has a Chinese clientele and a cook able to satisfy them, so take...

I went to this restaurant on 31st December around 8.20 pm. A lady who was only person who speaks english guided me to a dark table at a corner. Despite my repeated requests she refused to change the table. Then a waiter came to take my order for food and drinks. After waiting for 15 mins I enquired about my drinks. Everyone including that girl started showing a blank face and refused to serve either food or drinks.

I found it very insulting and absolute humiliating. They shd nt have offered me seat if they had problem. I request all never to visit the restaurant as the staff is arrogant and devoid of any manners....