Welcome Back Home —— Hunan Bar & Restaurant

 

Hunan Bar & Restaurant
207 D St,Davis, CA 95616
(530)753-5174
http://www.hunanbardavis.com/

 

Hunan Bar & Restaurant is located near the beautiful campus of University of California. Its owner, Mr. Yang, acquired it as an American Chinese restaurant and added authentic Sichuan and Hunan cuisines to its menu. Selecting fresh and quality ingredients, offering varied tastes and considerate services, in a short period of one year, the restaurant is already crowded with customers and wins the favor of countless local diners.

 

University of California is located in Davis. It has nearly 9,000 Chinese students. Studying in a country far away from home, these students always long for dishes of their home country. However, the Chinese restaurants nearby mostly provide American Chinese food, without authentic Chinese cuisines. So Mr. Yang decided to open an authentic Chinese restaurant here. After collecting students’ preferences, he chose Sichuan and Hunan cuisines. Meanwhile, he also retained the previous American Chinese dishes on the menu, to cater to the tastes of American customers.

 

 

Entering Hunan Bar & Restaurant, customers will come into a clean and bright environment, greeted by the smiles and gentle voices of its waiters and waitresses, who will give you a relaxing and tension-free feeling. There are in total 4 chefs, two for Sichuan and Hunan cuisines, another two for American Chinese cuisines. There are also other cooks, waiters and waitresses to assist them. With enough manpower and by setting clear roles and responsibilities for smooth cooperation, this restaurant is able to serve quality food in an efficient way.

 

 

Customers here prefer Sichuan cuisines. Of all the dishes, hot and spicy mushrooms, Xinjiang Da Pan Ji (Big Plate Chicken), and Xiang La Yu (Yummy and Spicy Fish) are the most popular. Xiang La Yu is a new dish Mr. Yang takes the most pride in. He hopes more people will come and taste this dish innovated by himself and his staff so he made it the signature dish of the restaurant by calling it Hunan Bar Signature Xiang La Yu. Fresh fish, varied accompanying ingredients, yummy and spicy tastes, premier in both appearance and flavors, Hunan Bar Signature Xiang La Yu will surely make your mouth water and let you recollect its flavors long after eating.

 

Customers often amiably call Mr. Yang “Uncle Yang”. Kind and easy-going, Mr. Yang always smiles to greet each customer as if he is the old dad welcoming his kids returning home. Mr. Yang said, he never felt those coming to the restaurant were guests. Instead, they are kids who just have returned back from school for dinner. Whenever your kids come back home, certainly you’ll buy the best ingredients, devote yourself to making a couple of your best dishes. When the kids are enjoying the food and having their desire satisfied, you’ll also feel satisfied. Mr. Yang keeps himself busy every day and is constantly looking to create new dishes that customers like. While customers’ favor and frequent patronage give Mr. Yang a sense of achievement and become what motivates him to constantly improve. His pressure doesn’t come from the competing restaurants around but lies in his desire to transcend his past, to create more scrumptious dishes and upgrade what he has already achieved. These are what makes Mr. Yang feel the pressure and also what he enjoys doing.

 

Back in mainland China, Mr. Yang was once a P.E. teacher. He came to the US in 2005. First running a restaurant, then becoming a masseur, now he is back to the catering business again. Being an easy-going person, no matter running a restaurant or being a masseur, Mr. Yang has been able to attract repeat customers. They enjoy not only Mr. Yang’s first class services but also the pleasant conversations with him.

 

When being asked about the way to manage staff, Mr. Yang laughed heartily. He said he is now over 60 when one should be able to listen to others and tell right from wrong. Rich experiences in life has helped him to become an understanding and tolerant person. Naturally, he’ll be able to get along with his staff, uniting them to make the whole restaurant a warm home.

 

When asked about his experience in running a restaurant, Mr. Yang said location is very important. You need to first understand your target customers. Different customers have different tastes and preferences. You need to choose the location based on your target customers. When he chose the place in Davis near University of California, he targeted at the numerous Chinese students in the university and decided to start his business by catering for them. The most important thing in running a restaurant is your mentality. No matter it’s catering services or other businesses, you need to really care in order to succeed. Every day he will tell his staff that people come to the restaurant not only as a customer but also as one of the family members. They need not only delicious food, considerate services but also your care and love.

 

 

In the restaurant’s over-one-year history, there’s one thing that Mr. Yang will always remember. Once, a few girls had ordered Xiang La Yu in advance. For Xiang La Yu was very popular and that day he had been very busy receiving customers onsite, Mr. Yang forgot who hadn’t got their food served after ordering. When these girls came to the restaurant and found there were no fish left, they were extremely angry. As they turned back and was about to leave, Mr. Yang offered his sincere apologies and stopped them by saying, “it’s my treat today. Just order anything else you want and I’ll serve them to you free of charge.” Later on, these girls became the restaurant’s frequenters and every time they come, they will amiably call Mr. Yang “Uncle Yang”.

 

 

Mr. Yang especially pointed out that if a restaurant only pursues for benefits, its quality will surely be compromised. Probably, it’s just this principle of his that has helped Hunan Bar & Restaurant win today’s status and reputation in Davis. In September 2016, the restaurant was reported by the famous local media Sacbee. In December 2016, in the competition “the Best Asian Food in USA” (organized by Asia Star TV, with 366 top Chinese restaurants in the US participating), Hunan Bar & Restaurant received a score of 91.60 from the gourmets, entered into the final as a TOP 18 among all the entries, was awarded “the most authentic Chinese Restaurant in Davis”, and ranked Top 12 in the final.