Zhangjiajie National Forest Park Restaurant Reviews 张家界

Reviewer: Foodnut.com China

Zhangjiajie is an amazing place in the Hunan Province of China. The scenic beauty of Zhangjiajie National Forest Park is unmatched with its sandstone pillars.  The movie Avatar was inspired there. Zhangjiajie’s Avatar Mountains are located in Yuanjiajie, Wulingyuan Scenic Area of Hunan Province, China. The area is accessible via Zhangjiajie City.  Be sure to pay extra for VIP tickets to cut in line!

The secret is out, they received over 20 million visitors in the first half of 2024.  Here are some places we ate on our China trip in 2025 when we stayed at 3 places (Fenghuang County, Zhangjiajie, and Wulinyuan) in this beautiful area. Dianping and our local hotels were helpful in finding these less touristy spots which do not have English menus.

5/11/25

唤子饭庄 – Huanzi Restaurant

Fenghuang County, Phoenix Ancient City

We ate at the most popular restaurant right near the East Gate entrance to the Ancient City. This multi-floor restaurant was recommended by our tour guide, who also dined with us. Dinner for 4 with a lot of food leftover was RMB 343 = USD$47.

You need to hail servers to get stuff done. Service is drop and go.

Food review

Ribs (¥128) were crude looking and was asked for non spicy version. It was still numbing but good. 8.5/10

Chicken in soup (RMB 88) was a big dish with crudely chopped up boney chicken. Black chicken was pretty good. 8.5/10

Chopped beef (RMB 55) was fairly simple and not special. 8/10

Vegetables (RMB 35) were chopped up finely and fit the bill for some greens. 8/10

Overall – Very Good
Food – Very Good
Decor – Good
Service – Fair
Value – Excellent

Would we return? – Yes

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5/13/25

QinDama

Yongding District, 新华天酒店旁 邮政编码: 427000
Zhangjiajie China
https://www.qindama.com/

QinDama is a Hunan Chinese restaurant with several locations. It is famous for the Pork Belly dish that the owner’s Mother would cook her son. We ate at the location next to the Wyndam Garden Zhangjiajie hotel, not far from the cable car starting point, that EVERYONE takes up the mountain. (Book VIP to skip the lines!) Our hotel recommended it and Dianping reviews were good. Hard to rely on Dianping though, reviews are commonly skewed by free perks given.

The interior decor was nice and rustic with lots of wood and old school benches and chairs. Very clean spot.

Service was good with lots of help from the server while ordering. You do have to hail them occasionally for items.

Price are VERY cheap for this level of restaurant compared to the US. Discount if you leave a Dianping review, which is a pain to do for people with no China Phone number!

Wish there were Hunan restaurants like this at home!!!

Food Review:

Mom’s Stir Fried Pork (¥59) was ordered non spicy. Large slices of pork belly with the fat intact. It is super fatty but proved to have great flavor and lots of pieces. We just bite off the small fingers of meat and skipped the fat. Must order. 10/10

Lotus Root and Pork rib soup (59) had rich flavors and lots of lotus root. Tastes like a long boiled soup. 9.5/10

Leaf Wrapped rice cakes (3 each) we got both savory and sweet ones. Nice thin wrapper. Savory had chopped up cured meats. Sweet had a red bean like paste. 8.5/10

Silky Gourd in Cream sauce (26) isn’t in cream sauce. Pristine thin slices. A vegetarian’s dream. 9/10

Tujia Fermented Bean must (19) is good for vegetarians. An acquired taste. 9/10

Deep fried peanuts (12) are crisp and very salty. Lady almost laughed when I ordered this! 7/10

Overall – Excellent
Food – Excellent
Decor – Excellent
Service – Very Good
Value – Excellent

Would we return? – Yes

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5/14/25

张家界白羽乌鸡体验店 Zhangjiajie Baiyu Black-Bone Chicken Experience Shop

Next to Sunshine bar
Gaoyun road Ground floor
Wulinyuan
Zhangjiajie, Hunan
China
19974415778

This Hunan restaurant was across the street from the Grand Theatre venue 魅力湘西 and was recommeneded by our hotel. It is hidden away, with the front door around the corner, it is facing the river, and has this tall fake waterfall. Definitely a less touristy spot. We were staying down the way at the Lanting Elegant. They specialize in black chicken from hilly areas nearby. The interior was very nice with spacious dining areas. The same restaurant runs the building next door and the open air skewer restaurant. Food here is spicy, even if you ask for not spicy!

We ordered several skewers in addition to the normal menu. The skewers were in a covered frig with no bugs present. No english menu.

Prices are cheap compared to those back home in the US. We were hungry and ordered far too much.

Service was very helping in ordering, then dropped off to require hailing of staff to get things done.

Food Review:

Skewers – Pork, Lamb, and mushroom were all solid. We tried to avoid the ones that required order a bunch at once. 8/10

Pork Belly had the meat and fat separated. This was nothing like the version we had the previous day. 7.5/10

Baiyu (White feather) Black Bone Chicken casserole (¥300) is the most expensive dish but worth trying. Our ‘non-spicy’ version proved to be 6 out of 10 on spicy scale! Very boney with garlic and more. 8.5/10

Pork Dumplings were tender and soft. Good meat quality. 8/10

Tofu was spicy but was cooked just right. 8/10

Blanched greens were pristine and a welcome change from all the spice. 8.5/10

Stir fried caluliflower was also solid. 8/10

Overall – Very Good
Food – Very Good
Decor – Very Good
Service – Good
Value – Excellent

Would we return? – Yes

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5/16/25

罐子里的钵钵菜 – 80%
No. 75, Ciqikou Main Street
Wulinyuan
Zhangjiajie, Hunan
China

https://map.baidu.com/search/%E7%BE%8E%E9%A3%9F/@12306871.45,3399383.13,18z?querytype=nb&c=312&wd=%E7%BE%8E%E9%A3%9F&da_src=shareurl&on_gel=1&l=18&gr=1&b=(12306307.95,3399035.13;12307434.95,3399731.13)&pl_data_type=cater&pl_sub_type=%E9%A4%90%E9%A6%86&pl_price_section=0,%2B&pl_sort_type=data_type&pl_sort_rule=0&pl_discount2_section=0,%2B&pl_groupon_section=0,%2B&pl_cater_book_pc_section=0,%2B&pl_hotel_book_pc_section=0,%2B&pl_ticket_book_flag_section=0,%2B&pl_movie_book_section=0,%2B&pl_business_type=cater&uid=dcd23143b65cac5d43024520&nb_x=12306871.45&nb_y=3399383.13&gr_radius=1000&pn=0&device_ratio=2

It is located across the river on a busy street filled with restaurants and shops.
Our hotel recommended this restaurant. We even got a 8% discount showing our room key! Fun fact: This was the only restaurant where not spicy = not spicy food.

There is English on the menu and we saw serveral Caucasian tourists there.

Service was better than expected. Normally people order by QR code, but the waitress came and helped us out. They actually had a server that came by and looked to see if we needed items.

Food Review:

Dong po pork (¥59) was more of a typical US version. Fatty but nice flavors and soft textures to the meat. 9/10

Stir fried beef (88) was pretty basic. Not quality beef, but lots of quantity. 7.5/10

Eggplant(29) was a green version, but tasted normal. 8.5/10

Okra (23) looks great and was cooked just fine. 8.5/10

Pancakes (16) with raisins was a dish we’ve never seen. Sort of like flatten man taou. Nice. 8.5/10

Kiwi juice was a big jug of fresh juice complete with seeds. 8.5/10

Overall – Excellent
Food – Excellent
Decor – Excellent
Service – Very Good
Value – Excellent

Would we return? – Yes

Restaurant Map: