Mencius Gourmet Hunan
Chinese · 7959 Fredericksburg Rd, San Antonio, Texas 78229
★★★★★ 1 review(210) 615-1288
Menu Items
Reviews
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Good Lunch Specials, General Chicken Is Among The Best!
No idea how this place escaped me for so long. Apparently they have been open since 1988. If I'd ever eaten here I have forgotten, and its been more than 20 years.
Mencius Hunan, is located in the Medical Center area, in the same shopping center that used to be home to a black eyed pea, on the corner of Medical and Fredricksburg Rd.
The entryway to the restaurant has framed articles and awards from different places over the years, including Texas Monthly magazine and the Express News.
After joining several food groups, I had a couple people mention this place, so I decided to give it a try, I had no idea it had been around for so long.
The lunch menu was pretty diverse. It had your standard Chinese meals, but also contained a few items you dont normally see on lunch specials. Included were general chicken, chow mein, Mencius shrimp, chicken or shrimp with fruit sauce, and almond chicken. There was even a pad thai dish on the lunch menu.
Since I already have a pretty large General Chicken list going, I decided I needed to add this one to the list.
There was no wait to get in, it was 1pm on a Thurs and the lunch special included tea. The food came out decently quick, and you could tell none of this food was pre-cooked.
The general chicken was thick pieces of chicken, lightly breaded, fried crisp, but very tender and moist inside. The sauce was one of the more vinegary sauces I've had. At first I didnt care for it too much, but it grew on me as I ate the meal, and cleared the entire plate. The quality of meat used on this dish was far superior to nearly every place I've ever had general chicken.
At first the rice didnt grab my attention either, it was rather bland, I added a teaspoon of the red chili oil on the table.. and then some soy sauce to it.. At this point the flavor completely changed and it was actually pretty good. I dont think I left a single piece of rice on the plate.
The eggroll however was probably the most disappointing, the wrapper was great, it was thin, crisp, and freshly cooked. The problem was on the inside, the cabbage and other vegetables were mushy, to the point it reminded me of microwaving a frozen eggroll and then air frying it. I had seen great reviews about the eggrolls, but this was far from the best I've ever had.
Service wise, my drink was kept full, the food came out quick, there was no wait, and when I was done with my meal I didnt feel rushed. They waited for me to ask for the check and then took care of it quickly. Overall it was a good experience despite a rough start to the meal, it was different, but a place I would go back to, to try some more items.
Mencius Hunan
General Chicken Lunch Special
1988 ExpressNews article
Texas Monthly Magazine article.
— Paul