Hunan Lion — Restaurant in Columbus

I can not figure out why this place has such good reviews, and was packed when I went. Other than staff, not a single person eating here was Asian. Which only means one thing, bad American Chinese masquerading as "gourmet" cuisine. This is the point I should have followed my gut instinct and ran out before being seated.

Food is borderline disgusting, and was not gourmet, unless you count gourmet as questionable origins of meat and tasteless sauce.

We ordered the Crab Ragoons, General Tso's, and Green Thai Curry. The quality of the General Tso's chicken was just OK. For some reason it had a gas or chemical type after taste. My Thai Red Curry's heat level was 0%. The sauce was radioactive green and watery with literally no flavor. Do they not even understand Thai Curry recipes call for full fat Coconut milk? The beef in the curry could not have been beef. It was gray and spongy. There was eggplant in the dish that for some reason dissolved in my mouth like it had been sitting in the sauce for days. The Crab Crab Ragoons were the only decent thing we got. Assuming those were the only thing not made in-house.

I will give the place credit for the restaurant looking nice. The restaurant was very attractive and inviting. Plenty of spaces to park as well. The staff also did a great job serving us.

I really wish these Chinese places serving American food masquerading as authentic Chinese cuisine would start integrating some real Chinese home cooking on their menu and do away with this extremely unhealthy Americanized garbage. Columbus, as far as I know needs a truly authentic Chinese restaurant, and the Lion is not it.

I will never go here again. I don't care if someone paid for my meal. It's that bad.

Uninspired, unauthentic, no spice-having, tasteless garbage, that is for only the most unadventurous of tastebuds. This place is for people that want bad American-Chinese food and therefore know what they are getting into beforehand, and I would strongly argue, there are much better and cheaper places in the area such as Jui-Thai Cafe, Buckeye Pho,...

I feel like it’s important to counter the inevitable crybaby old women that will leave bad reviews because of their boomer mentality and entitlement.

I went here to eat around 5pm on a Tuesday, and there was a line out the door of the blue hair brigade. The place was packed, and the waitstaff and hostess were running around like crazy trying to take care of everyone—they did a great job considering the circumstances.

I had never been here, but I knew that it basically has a cult following and was reopening for the first time in 2 years due to a fire. As any normal, sane person would do, I tempered my expectations.

The blue haired, boomer, patrons I mentioned above are apparently incapable of that and were extremely rude to the waitstaff, and even other patrons. The way they were treating people was pathetic, and they should be ashamed of themselves. I know I’m not the only one who experienced that his as I have seen other comments like it.

They had the nerve to say “they knew it was going to be busy, they should’ve hired more people” as if it isn’t a family run business that literally caught on fire and hasn’t been open for 2 years. They have no understanding of business and just need to keep their entitled mouths shut.

Now that all of that is out of the way, the food far exceeded my expectations. I sat at the bar since the wait was long, and they allowed me to order food like normal. I just wanted to try American Chinese staples, so I got crab Rangoon and general Tso’s. Both were probably the best versions of those dishes I have ever had. The chicken was crispy and the sauce was extremely flavorful.

The atmosphere was great, and you’d never know you were in a previously burned down restaurant. They did a good job redoing the place. Again, I never went here pre-fire, so I don’t really know what it looked like prior.

The staff were fast and attentive, even though they had a lot going on. The bartender was great, and we got our food in a reasonable time (about 15 mins).

Overall, it was a great experience and I...

Took my family and friends (party of 8) to this restaurant we have been coming to for years. I only get to Columbus once a year and this is a usual stop. Today included poor attitude from a poor waitress, an owners wife with no customer service skills, and finally slight redemption from the owner.

The waitress essentially slammed the dishes on the table as some of the food arrived. Our waters were not refilled until one hour into our 2 hour stay there. There was 25 minutes between getting the first dish we ordered and the last dish, without the waitress ever keeping us up to date as to when it was coming, despite me telling her my young daughter was hungry and needing her dinner soon.

The owners wife came out and we told her the experience. Her response was "I tell you we very busy" several times. I told her in no uncertain terms this was no way to treat customers, and she just said 'sorry we busy' as she walked away without any care about the customer. This lady did not care...AND SHE WAS THE OWNER'S WIFE! My thought is if they are very busy, does that mean crappy service is acceptable? This woman usually stands at the front of the restaurant - and should remain there. She has no business or ability to engage with customers, especially if they are busy.

The owner saved the evening by apologizing and acting like someone in the customer service industry should behave. He said he would take care of us after I told him I did not want to see the original waitress back at our table. When the bill came, there was no discount for very poor service. Most good restaurants would do this without being asked. We paid our check, with zero tip, and left. We will not be back.

Hunan Lion management - if you are reading this, I would be very interested in your response to this situation. You are usually a busy restaurant - is this a common occurrence? Is this how you build customer loyalty and repeat business? Four of the people in our party have been going to you for 30+ years...and this is how...