 This entry refers to a departed business that has closed or left town. All information here is for historical reference only. |
View from 3rd Street by Charles Smith
| Location |
| 226 3rd St. , corner of University Avenue |
| Hours |
| Mon-Fri 11:00AM-3:00PM |
| Phone |
| (530) 758-1466 |
| Web site |
| Unknown |
| Price range |
| $5-ish |
Orange Hut was a Chinese restaurant. They advertised healthy Chinese food cooked in canola oil, with no MSG. Close to campus and pretty good. Lunch was pretty cheap and it came with free fresh fruit and won-tons. The food there was 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.
According to Wendy Weitzel of Comings and Goings, a Vietnamese noodle soup place from Sacramento is taking over the space and hopes to open in November 2011.
Their lunch plate ($5.52) included a main dish, fried rice & noodles, or two main dishes and rice. Their light lunch was $4.92 and included 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 was an EXTRA CHARGE for credit card orders (under $10 I believe) —ArianeMetz
Also, these guys were AWESOME if you wanted to study there during lunch. As with every other study spot restaurant, you had to remember to buy something.
If you went there often and at the right time, you might have gotten some special treatment (i.e. a free potsticker or more food for less $).
As of 2003, at least, they sold bags of frozen potstickers.
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
2009-12-29 16:21:59 All I have to say is, they screwed up RICE when I came here. It was too watery and just gross. Shame. —BrookeB
2010-01-06 12:01:52 This is mediocre Chinese food but frankly, compared to what the nearby CoHo offers now that they're remodeling, Orange Hut is a veritable smorgasbord of hot food items. And their lite lunch is not much more expensive than some of the limited food items at the CoHo (except, maybe, pizza, but you can only eat their idea of what is pizza so many times...). Their lite lunch was more than enough to satisfy my hunger and need for spiced up food. —RyanMikulovsky
2010-03-18 18:17:05 Not too sure what is going on at this place, they are only open limited hours of the day but manage to stay in business? Went there close to 3 once (their closing time) and it was the bottom of the pan of the food and definitely not good, not good to the point of not being even comparable to panda express. Prices were ok and staff was really friendly, but my chicken didnt look much like chicken and had a weird taste. —cj2012aggie
2010-03-18 19:15:41 I tend to frequent the restaurants on this street because they are good as well as convenient to campus: Ali Baba, Davis Oshio Cafe, Raja's, Sam's, Ciocolat, Crepeville.
I ate here once. —CovertProfessor
2011-01-25 12:53:09 I don't know if it's just me but I've never had Chinese food that tasted so bad! It's worse than Panda Express! —oopsydaisy
2011-02-13 23:03:41 tricky pricing for lunch special.. but overall a good value —tneeley
2011-07-27 23:38:59 I like orange hut!! I wish they had longer business hours! —stephaniesun
2011-09-30 14:23:24 They closed for good today. Never one of my favorites, but several of my co-workers are crying while eating their last plate of curry shrimp. —LokiAbbi
- According to Wendy Weitzel of Comings and Goings, a Vietnamese noodle soup place from Sacramento is taking over the space and hopes to open in November. —CovertProfessor
- I am excited for another pho place to open. Hoa Viet is getting old. —argyle
2011-09-30 23:09:30 Wow, sad to hear it's gone. This was a favorite for my friends and I when I was attending the university because of its close proximity. Not everything was great, but there were enough decent dishes to make it memorable. :'( —ScottMeehleib
2011-10-05 19:20:40 I was walking past this building today and saw a banner advertising the soon to be opened King 4 restaurant. What will they serve? Pho. How do I know this? A bowl, with the word 'pho' in it, was placed in front of the King 4 Restaurant. Keep it classy, Davis. —ChristyMarsden
2012-01-15 15:00:57 I used to eat here ALL THE TIME when I was an undergraduate. My boss also used to take me here pretty frequently for lunch. The eggplant tofu was always delicious and I loved the fresh orange slices they provided. I will really miss this place. —ArianeMetz
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