Orange Hut

View from 3rd Street by Charles Smith

Orange Hut is a Chinese restaurant. They advertise healthy Chinese food cooked in canola oil, with no MSG. Close to campus and pretty good. Lunch is pretty cheap and it comes with free fresh fruit and won-tons. The food there is closer to Marie's mother's cooking than any other Asian place in town, with the exception of General Tso's Chicken having red food coloring. That's true of most Chinese restaurants.

Their lunch plate ($5.52) includes a main dish, fried rice & noodles, or two main dishes and rice. Their light lunch is $4.92 and includes a main dish and steamed rice.

• Is this true? I thought it was one main dish and a choice of fried/steamed rice OR noodles, also there is an EXTRA CHARGE for credit card orders (under $10 I believe) —ArianeMetz

Also, these guys are AWESOME if you want to study there during lunch. As with every other study spot restaurant, remember to buy something.

If you go there often and at the right time, you might get some special treatment (i.e. a free potsticker or more food for less $).

As of 2003, at least, they sold bags of frozen potstickers.

Comments:

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For those of us unfortunate enough not to have Marie Huynh's mother to cook for us, this may be the next best thing. —SteveDavison

2005-10-31 17:28:49   I used to be in the special group of customers. Then I moved out of town. Sadly, I am no longer "special". I do, however, make sure to ask for "light sauce", otherwise my steamed rice drowns. I <3 the string bean chicken. —JudithTruman

2006-04-18 17:16:47   I've never been able to catch this place while it was open. =p —ArlenKwong

2006-06-05 17:17:39   I liked this place. It reminded me of an independent Panda Express ... with cool chips and orange slices. The food was a tiny bit lack-luster, but mostly very tasty and cheap! I'll definitely be returning. —SS

2006-08-01 18:42:52   NO. —EmilyTung

2006-08-04 09:00:35   orange hut is the local and generic version of panda express. i generally dislike americanized chinese food. as a matter of fact, it gives me stomach aches. orange hut specifically has terrible food because they remicrowave rice and the complementary fried wontons are greasy as fuck. they also overcharged me on my drink. AND IT COSTS MONEY FOR TEA. WTF? —EmilyTung

2006-08-27 19:15:29   orange hut is tasty and cheap and the people that work there are extremely friendly —ZiweiHu

2006-12-02 18:49:57   this place is not very good. The fact that people are comparing the quality to panda express says enough. For better americanized chinese food try noodle express or jade garden. For even better chinese try shanghai town or Hometown Chinese Food—MattHh

2006-12-13 20:56:41   If you're vegetarian don't bother... not a great selection and what little there is, is not that good. There are plenty of cheap places with better selection and taste. —JohnHumperdinkle

2007-04-04 17:05:44   I love the healthy food w/out MSG here, since I am also sensitive to MSG! :( And I think the quality in Orange Hut is good enough! (You can't compare the fastfood restaurant with other real Chinese restaurant, right? At least this place is much better and more variety than Panda) I recommend their beef noodle soup, chips and fruit are great as well! —thebigshow500

• While i certainly don't think orange hut is bad for fast food, i cringe at the thought that someone considers this food healthy. When it comes to americanized chinese food MSG is the least of your wories (obviously not true for you in particular since you're allergic) —MattHh
  

2007-05-04 13:42:50   I had gone 2-3 weeks without Chinese food till I went here. I'm not sure what inspired me to go to this place for the first time after walking right by it for three years. As a vegetarian, there were only 2 dishes that I could order. I had the lunch special of white rice with steamed tofu & mushrooms and fried tofu & eggplant. The white rice was alright, could've been a bit softer but while the tofu & mushroom dish had a bit too much sauce but not too bad. However, the lady who worked there made sure I got a good amount of mushrooms! =) The eggplant was surprisingly better than I expected! The eggplant still retained it's bright purple skin rather than the usual shriveled up dark purple color other restaurants usually end up making. Oranges were plentiful and juicy! Lunch for $6 and a quick Chinese food fix was not too bad. Very close to campus so that's a definite plus!-VT —VivianTang86

2007-07-07 12:53:47   this place is alright, a bit expensive for pre-made food from big vats, some of it having sat there for quite a while, but it is usually really good. i introduced it to my vegetarian friend and he loved it. they were closed last Friday even though there was a giant sign that said "OPEN"... whatev... —GarrettGallegos

2007-11-03 20:24:44   I love their food so much!! Mainly it's because their Eggplant and Tofu dish is to die for!!! Not to mention the prices are incredible. Always a plus in my book. The only thing I have a problem with is the hours. Why oh why can't they be open later and on the weekends??? —StephanieCarlson

2007-12-19 20:32:38   Go there for the fried rice and general chicken. Reasonable, and pretty good. Nice people too! —thelonepiper555

2008-03-05 15:37:27   This place seemed like a respectable joint until they decided to throw the styrafoam tray of now unappealing food into the microwave for a long minute before I paid for it. Had I known that was going to happen I would have never walked in—a sort of false advertising in my opinion. I will never return again. —jchammons

2008-11-10 23:34:19   I am ADDICTED to the spicy (it isn't really spicy...more garlic-y) eggplant with braised tofu. OMG! SO GOOD! AH! I order it with chow mien. Lately I have tried to avoid Orange Hut because #1 it is really addicting and #2 the eggplant is very oily and probably not very good for me. The prices are reasonable, and it is conveniently located just off of the campus (and a very short walk from my office) Their tap. drink is good as well and BOGO (buy one get one), order one for dine-in and another to take to class. Ah...I love Orange Hut...:D Aree Rating: 8.5/10 —ArianeMetz

2008-11-18 11:49:36   I liked it. Simple lunch, free greasy wontons (they're greasy everywhere folks, but they're still good!) and orange slices. Very friendly customer service. Love the string beans! —Zabadu

2009-02-28 01:20:26   Uncle Tom is super nice and friendly to students. I love this lovely place and the food! —yuhsuanchan

2009-06-18 19:33:56   I was charged $90 instead of $9 for a lunch. Honest mistake, but it took WEEKS (and several phone calls and visits) for them to refund me. And I hardly got an apology from the owner (?). He also made sure to subtract the price of my lunch from the $90, to the cent. Ok, I feel better now (I love the food). —IrinaChakraborty