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Amrose Restaurant Tan Yu Tou Spicy Hotpot
Category: Restaurants Chinese Chinese [Edit]
529 E Valley BlvdSte 168
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 280-8909
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Loud
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
58 reviews for Amrose Restaurant Tan Yu Tou Spicy Hotpot
Review Highlights
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"The main meats are beef and lamb." In 4 reviews -
"This place is a great deal for AYCE hotpot." In 16 reviews -
"...some cheap beer 3 big bottle of taiwan beer for 10 bucks." In 2 reviews
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58 reviews in English
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Review from Jacqueline T.
Diamond Bar, CA
4/11/2012
Food: The place has a wide selection of food... however, they are missing about 5 items from their menu that they neglect to tell you. They have these "miniature lobsters (aka crawfish)" on the order list but they don't have it in stock. BUT supposedy, at one point, they did have mini lobsters. Likewise with all the pancakes I tried ordering. Similiarly, on their drink menu, they didn't have Thai Iced Tea at the time either.
Their fish balls are the kind you make yourself (it comes as a paste). The food is pretty good quality and I thought it was fresh.
Price: $18.99 (without tax) for ACYE. Pretty decent price considering that it's all-you-can-eat and that you can get as much lamb and beef as you want.
I know another yelper said they charge you extra for more dipping sauce, but we didn't get an extra charge.
Service:
Service... or lack thereof, now that's what caused me to give them only 3 stars. Let's see... first off, it seems you have to speak Chinese to get your order taken and understood. There was only one waitress there that spoke English and everyone else barely understood English. At one point my friend ordered something and the guy literally scoffed and had to grab the waitress to get the order.
They were a bit slow on bringing out the food, feels longer considerig that you have to wait for the food to cook too so you just sit there being hungry for quite a while.
When you want to re-order, you have to grab a server to ask for the order list and no one comes to check up on you. They also neglect to tell you that they don't have something in the kitchen, like the crawfish and pancakes, so you just sit there wondering where the heck is your order and when you ask them, that's when they tell finally you that they don't have it.
Ambiance:
Crappy decor, but at least the bathrooms are clean. However, their idea of ventilation is opening their front doors, which can be quite chilly on a cold day and if you're seated by the doors. You only get one pot for a table of 6 which kind of sucks.
Overall:
Good price, good food, bad decor, bad service, and sometimes they don't have items on the menu. Would come back if friends are super hungry but not my first choice. -
Review from Beebe L.
Alhambra, CA
3/19/2012 2 Check-ins Here
I'm taking that this place is a hit or miss with the service cause the service I got was top notch. They were on it. Almost everything was at our table in 2 mins, if not almost right away, of asking and the place was packed. Our waters were almost always filled also. We when on a Saturday, so there might have been more servers.
* Warning* They charge you extra if you want dipping sause, so only order what you need. It's still super cheap over all even with the charging of the sause.
Food: When you order Fish/Beef/Meat ball, it comes unformed and you shape and drop them in yourselves. The main meat is Lamb and Beef. Personally, I like the beef better. The special for the day we were there, we got a pitcher of beer for $5.
Parking: Private lot. Park underground. Save on the headache of waiting for space to open up
Payment: Cash, Card
Overall: I def want to go back. It was a great deal and the food was good. -
Review from Andrew L.
Monterey Park, CA
2/22/2012 1 Check-in Here
This place was previously crappy and was not even worthy of 1-star until they decided to remodel the place and have staff that were 80% new. The service is a lot better and even the food. The beef is quite good. I usually stay away from the lamb since I can't stand the flavor. What's best about this place is that they have buy 2 get 1 free bottle of beer, from Heineken to Tsing Tao to Taiwan beer.
Back then the service was horrible. I am glad they got rid of the ladies. I remember one time they had horrible service so me and friends left a 5% tip. One of the ladies came running out asking us for more tips? WTF? My friend ignored her and told her she's lucky we even left tips. Now that they're gone, I notice the staff are more hard-working and friendly.
I was here on Sunday with my girlfriend and another friend. We had no problem getting our food and the service was great.
1 star down because the food is not as fresh as Flaming Spice, but for less $20 for AYCE hot pot, I can't complain. As long as it satisfies my tummy, then I must say everything is all yummy. Trust me, you won't be disappointed. -
Review from richard l.
El Monte, CA
2/5/2012 8 photos
I been here about 3 years ago, if I remember right, it was a bit gettto back then, the new design has improve the interior and now use eletric pot instead of the traditional fire one.
I think the quality of food had when down especially the meats, the beef is low quality one, the lamb is okay, no pork meat, the chicken claim to be the good one but is too much frozen, in fact most food are a bit cold, the satay sauce is prettyful but has bit too much oils. they don't provided any other sauce, one sauce isn't enough for all type of food. what i like the corn, poratao and the lamb, rest is medicore. -
Review from Heather T.
San Gabriel, CA
3/14/2012
I have been to this restaurant for a total of 3 times. This restaurant has so called all you can eat for ONE price. But when it comes time for you to order more items, they would have tons of excuses, such as, they ran out of bigger dishes, they don't have enough in the back, things have gotten more expensive. Hello, if you can afford people to eat, then you shouldn't called that all you can eat.
Each time we went there, we have been tipping them 20-30%. After the 3rd visit due to unable to get the food we ordered, we gave up going there altogether. Not to mention, during the first two visits, we had a hard time getting the food we ordered. At first, I thought they simply just made mistakes. But after the 3rd visit, I realized the manager was just trying to be cheap. -
Review from Andrew F.
9/13/2011
Came here today for my friend's birthday and was shocked to see that they've remodeled. What used to be disgusting and chopped up carpet with cracking and peeling walls has now been replaced with a black floor and a more chic design.
At $16.50 per person, I see that they've upped the price per head for All You Can Eat. They offer beef, lamb, and fish, but I believe I didn't see pork or chicken on the menu. I guess they leave out the meats that need to be cooked all the way through. There's an assortment of cuttlefish, crawfish, and shrimp you can order on top of the aforementioned proteins.
You can get the Chinese bbq sauce aka Sa Tsa Jiang for 50c a bowl along with their sesame sauce/paste also at 50c per bowl. There is a decent selection and variety of vegetables.
You can choose to have the yin yang style pot which gives you both spicy and normal broth, commit to all spicy, or all normal base.
The tables seem to have the option of giving you your individual pot as there are individual warmers in front of each seat, but I did not see that as an option - perhaps a telling of things to come?
The service is not bad. They don't talk much, but they pay attention to your water cup level, the amount of broth in your pot, and whether or not you need a clean plate.
We didn't wait more than 5 minutes for all of our food to come out, so they're pretty quick about that too. None of the meats were too fatty, which is a definite upgrade from Amrose of old, who used to only give pieces of fat.
The remodeling of Amrose did not stop at the layout and design of the restaurant, but also gave their quality of service and food a facelift. Still only a 3-star review, however, as their menu was still lacking some staple hot pot items that you can get at other places. $16.50/person seems high as well, but I guess you'd be paying more per head at a non-AYCE.
Since Amrose is in the Sunny Plaza, the plaza just west of San Gabriel Blvd on Valley Blvd, there is ample parking, either on the surface or in the structure below.
Overall, Amrose has improved. Not sure when I'd be back though.Listed in: As I walk through the Valley…
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Review from Nicole C.
Los Angeles, CA
2/28/2012 1 Check-in Here
Interesting Hot Pot place and much different from my regular place (JazzCat) but was ok. Seemed to be traditional, hardcore, Chinese Hot Pot, AYCE ($18.99/peson). Everything seemed interesting as they have a lot of variety with meets (chicken, lamb, beef, fish) & veggies (spinach, mushrooms). There's probably more on the menu but couldn't eat more than this....ooohh, we had glass noodles too. The brooth is flavored (chicken brooth we had) but I think there are others. WORD OF CAUTION, I wouldn't wear your best clothes in there because you do come out smelling like whatever you did eat =P Its worth a try
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Review from Ray L.
El Monte, CA
11/18/2011
I haven't been back to this place for two years, ever since a whole bunch of new hot pot places sprung up. But I came across new ads for Amrose that advertises their new $10 lunch combo, so I decided to go see what's new.
$10 lunch combo gets you 1 soup choice (spicy or not), 1 sauce choice (satay, garlic, or sesame paste), hand made noodles (you need to ask for them), and a BIG plate with 13 different things on it. The food you get to cook in the hot pot are: meat (beef, lamb, or chicken), 1/3 of corn, 1 shrimp, 1 stick of imitation crab, enoki mushroom, wood ear mushroom, fried tofu, white tofu, pork blood pudding, napa, lettuce, potato slices, and winter melon slices. It is A LOT of food. Apparently the noodle is AYCE. The soup base definitely got better then before. This is a great value for $10 ($13 including tip & taxes), and you will get VERY FULL.
Great value for lunch, I'll be back for sure, especially now the temperature is coming down. -
Review from Brandon Y.
Long Beach, CA
1/4/2012
I've been here two times now. The first time I came here with my friend around 9pm. A lot of vacant tables; we could sit practically anywhere. On Tuesday, Jan. 3rd, at 7:50PM came in again to find that the restaurant was packed. Packed on a Tuesday night, you say? Where are the people at Taco Tuesdays and Popeye's?
Got seated fairly quickly, as two or three groups left. Some items from the menu are crossed off, such as beef balls and shrimp balls. I didn't really care though because although those taste good in soup, I don't bother with them in hot pot. I stick to my lamb, beef, mushrooms.
Last time, I had a language barrier with the servers. If you're not a Chinese speaker, you will have double the hard time. A lot of the servers speak Mandarin. Although I am Chinese, I speak Cantonese, a different dialect.
Last time I didn't understand when they were asking which dipping sauces, how many and additional costs. This time the server came and I tried talking to her in my broken Mandarin and she asked if I spoke Cantonese. Awesome, YES! I was told that each person gets a choice of one dipping sauce and there would be an additional charge if you asked for more. I don't know what that price is. We picked garlic and satay dipping sauce; there is also sesame.
My friend and I got a choice of splitting between ginger broth and spicy broth. The soup was a little watered down compared to the first time I came. I don't know if it was rushed due to the high volume of people.
Servers come around a good amount of times to refill your broth.
This meal costs $18.99 for an All You Can Eat dinner.
There is a parking lot with ample parking spaces on the plaza itself. -
Review from Michelle N.
Pasadena, CA
1/21/2012
Worst service ever. I would have given this place 3 stars but I'm going with 2 because of a particular female server. This place is suppose to be all you can eat but she was so hesitant to take our order. On top of that, when she handed us our receipt so we can sign, she stood there yelling at us to sign it. The kidney and corn tasted like it's been frozen for a year. But the meat was decent. This place is more like a $9.99 all you can eat instead of $18.99.
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Review from Kevin W.
Los Angeles, CA
8/3/2011
Pros:
-All you can eat for $17.
-Ample parking
-Food selection is decent for an all-you-can-eat restaurant.
Neutral:
-Servers can be hard to locate at times.
-One of the staff can be pretty rude so its also kinda like the luck of the draw on which server you get.
-They do not card for alcohol so decide whether that is a plus or minus on your own.
Cons:
-Food is extremely disgusting. Soup tastes bland. Meat is brown and isn't fresh.
-Food are all served mashed up and squeezed on plates. Even dog canned food has better presentation than that.
-Restaurant isn't clean. There are leftovers on the ground, below the stoves, etc. and the staff doesn't really clean up.
-Plates, bowls and especially cups are often dirty and not adequately cleaned.
-Tap water has a funny taste to it.
Overall: will NOT come back definitely. Food is too disgusting. I really don't get how they even made it past the health and cleanliness inspection. They have a C rating by the way and I think it's pretty amazing how they even got a C. I would give it a F if I were the health inspector. -
Review from Teresa C.
4/19/2011
AYCE (all you can eat) comes in two categories- expensive and delicious (quality) or cheap and filling (quantity). Amrose comes in a clear winner in the second category. At about $17 (+ tax/tip) a person, you get a pot of herbal soup base, a paper with all the things you can order (and a small amount of premium items you can add) and a pen. The service is close to non-existent but I don't care. Just wave down or holla at whoever is closest when you need something refilled or to get another paper to order more stuff. If you need to pay and can't find anyone, walk to the counter.
Everything meat/seafood is previously frozen and slightly defrosted, veggies are usually fresher. Their selection isn't humongous but you can try a little of everything since it's AYCE and they do bring the stuff to your table. I like getting half-spicy and mixing the two but the soup base is alright too. They charge for sauce (50 cents). Try not to look at the cleanliness of the food or place (especially the place) but the food isn't terrible although don't expect premium quality. You're here to eat okay food at okay prices and you get what you pay for. At least their quantities are good.
(They have beer! BOGOF)Listed in: Chilly Day Comforts
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Review from Jonathan C.
Monterey Park, CA
Straight up GHETTO!!!
You walk into here and the servers give you the feel of sketchy taxi drivers waiting for their next victim at the airport. They immediately start asking you what soup you want without even seating you like their hurriedly trying to hook you up with cheap ho.
We sat down and tried looking over the menu, which has prices for individual dishes. Nowhere along the way did anyone explain the place was all you can eat. My fault for not consulting Yelp first.
The tables were dirty and when they brought the food they just sat the tray down on a chair next to the table.
The bill obviously came out more than the dishes we ordered. The bill was rounded up and when we asked why the bill was so high, the waitress finally told us they were AYCE only. She was complete unapologetic. The worst part is as the waitress walked away you could here her calling us names in chinese cause we didn't know it was AYCE only.
The sauces are an extra $.50 each on top of the $16.50 price. They sit in rice bowls on the counter so the freshness is suspect but you don't really need more than one of any for the table, especially if you're eating the spicy pot.
They didn't have "Xiao Bing" pancake, which we ordered on the sheet but they never told us they were out off until we asked where they were.
Initially, we had some male servers and it looked like their shift was over as we were asking for our bill. They just walked out yelling back at the counter that we wanted our bill. We had to ask the lady again to get the bill cause we waited 10 mins and no one came over.
Overall, the food is mediocre but the service is just plain bad.
Food:2
Service: 1
Ambiance:1 -
Review from Jamie C.
1/10/2011
I honestly didn't know the name of this restaurant until I found it on Yelp. My family and I always just call it the all-you-can-eat hotpot on Valley.
I'm a fan of it mostly because it's a GREAT value and I LOVE hot pot. At about $17 total per person, I think it ends up being cheaper than doing hot pot at home. As long as it tastes great I'm not that bothered by its ghetto-ness. I actually feel that adds to the atmosphere of what hot pot should be: a big rowdy family gathering.
So food I'd give 5 stars. Service I'd give 1 or 2 depending on the server. I also don't like that they don't have a good selection of sauces, which is sort of what makes/breaks hot pot sometimes. It's not very clean and all the tables and chairs are sort of haphazardly placed so they can fit as many people into the room as possible. There's usually a wait, which sucks. But with all that said, I still love it. I hope I can convince my family to go again soon. -
Review from James H.
3/24/2011
It was cold and rainy last Sunday so looked for some hot pot to really hit the spot. My friend recommended this one because hot pot is generally always expensive and this place was all you can eat for 16.50! That's ridiculously cheap since I never really get full off hot pot without spending WAY more than that.
For starters, you have the option of either spicy, chicken, or half and half broth. This is pretty cool if you and your group have completely different tastes in food.. They also have a huge selection of different types of meats but in reality you only want to the beef and lamb.. I was kind of grossed out to find that a piece of my beef had some black stuff.. my friend said it was meat marking pne.. but I wouldn't really trust that. Also the mini lobsters are actually crawfish, dont try to trick us!
They also had buy two beers get one free here! Not only that but they have TAIWAN BEER.. if you haven't tried it, it's the best asian beer. Down side is their beer that day was all warm.
All in all.. you get what you pay for. The hot pot is cheap and it is kind of grimey but if you're looking for a place to just fill you up when you are starving fro some good broth and hot pot food, this is the place!
If you want better hot pot for a much higher price hit up fat sheep or somehting... -
Review from Alex K.
Pasadena, CA
11/5/2010 2 Check-ins Here
All-you-can-eat (AYCE) hot pot. Cheap. I don't care how dirty the place is, it's all-you-can-eat! And they actually bring it in a timely manner! I've been to a couple of places where they're like "finish first and we'll bring more," and then they disappear for an hour or so. Screw that. This place is like "don't finish if you don't like food. We no care. Order more."
Saw these 2 teenagers (one boy and one girl that can't be more than 16 y/o) order plates and plates of food, and then left $1 tip. Made me kinda mad.
PROS: Plates of food and beer for cheap. Makes me feel like a king in some third world country. I'm ok with that.
CONS: A lil dirty, but then again, I'm ok with that. Actually, this might be a pro bc I'm actually more comfortable in ghetto places.
Other thoughts: $16.99 per person. Beer is $3, buy 2 get one free. Sauce costs money so order one bc it's enough to share between two ppl. -
Review from Yi Z.
2/2/2011
1.5 stars, but I told my bf that I'd round up to 2 just for him.
I LOVE HOTPOT and this place was pretty disgusting. The worst part is that it wasn't even that cheap. I mean, I don't eat THAT much and I'm pretty sure if we had gone to a normal hotpot place with better quality food, it would've only cost a few dollars extra. Plus, I wouldn't have been worried about the amount of sauce I was using.
THE MEAT: There are really only 2 types of meat; beef and lamb. The beef tasted like freezer burn and looked like it had been butchered again after it was butchered. The lamb was at least edible. I've never seen meat this bad at any other hot pot place.
The SEAFOOD: Everyone knows how I feel about krab with a K so I don't need to elaborate. But the crawfish was gross, the shrimp balls looked tasteless. The shrimp seemed ok, though.
THE VEGETABLE: We ordered napa cabbage, winter melon, and potatoes. These were probably some of the better items of the meal, although the napa cabbage looked terrible.
THE NOODLES: The absolute best tasting item we got were wide glass noodles. They had the right chewy consistency and they soaked up the sauces well.
THE SAUCES: I think it's wrong to charge for sauces. After all, when I go to AYCE KBBQ, no one charges me for sauce. Anyway, I decided to go with the sesame paste-based sauce. They mixed in other condiments as well, but the sesame paste-based sauce that I blend at home is way better.
The service was actually pretty decent. There were a ton of servers roaming around so you could always get someone's attention. They also constantly filled out pots with more water so we had enough soup base. The portions were humongous and we could barely finish any single item.
The lesson I learned is to not trust the bf again on hotpot recommendations.Listed in: Hotpot, Shabu Shabu, and the…
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Review from Laurie Z.
Arcadia, CA
11/18/2010
Worst service ever!
I've been to many AYCE places, this one is the worst for their service!!!
It's cheap, but their vege is not fresh, place is dirty, you've better NOT bother the waiters or waitresses if you're going to ask for refills for water or drinks.
one more thing, they will rounded up the bill for you.
call me cheap, but $0.49 is not equal to $1.00!!!!!!!!!! -
Review from Jackson L.
Cheviot Hills, CA
5/15/2011 1 Check-in Here
My 4 star ratings are reserved for places you should try. 3 star for places that you can eat at. This place deserves a 4 star rating. Get the original soup, stick with safe meats, and order your water, napkins ahead of time. Beware, this place is probably not the cleanest place or best decorated place you've been to, but it's definitely tasty!
I come here often, and the people I bring also like to come back often. I usually stick with Beef, and Lamb. I generally avoid seafood because they take too long to eat. I have to cool it, peel it, eat it... In the time it takes me to consume one craw fish, or shrimp, I could've consumed like 15 slices of meat.
Stick with the original soup, the spicy soup is the bland soup spiced to the point where the only thing you taste is burning. If that's your thing, then by all means. The original soup has so much flavor, it deserves it's flavor probably from chicken broth, aromatics, and herbs. It's much better than the ultra bland watery soup than some of the other hot pot places I've been to.
I haven't been to a place that serves hot pot, for less than this, but that isn't really the reason why I gave this place a 4 star. I give it a 4 star because I like the broth, and I like to consume things that have been soaked in that broth.
This is NOT an upscale place. This place does have HORRIBLE service, combat this by ordering your stuff in bulk (water, napkins, and etc). If you need a place to eat a lot of stuff, hang out with friends while drinking and dining, quality food for a low-price. This is the place to be.
Btw, if any of you guys know a better place for the same or lower price, let me know. But for now, this place is above my average bar for it's genre. I love it when my bar is raised. -
Review from Jenny Y.
This place is a great deal for AYCE hotpot. Find me a place with a better deal, in LA. It's good for those cold nights. Just, don't pay attention to the dirtiness of the place. The boiling water will clean it all =) Saying that, please know that my rating is more towards a 3 star, it's just that this is my default hotpot place, so I don't feel right giving them a 3 D=
Tips about this place:
1. Order one sauce and it's enough for 2+ ppl to share =) Depending on how much you dip. They charge by the sauce D=
2. If you like tendons, order it in the first round and dump them all in. These will be ready by round 2 =)
3. The fish doesn't really overcook too badly, like other places...don't know why o.O
4. When the broth is "dirty", skim it with the spoon (not slotted please-_-) and pour it into a bowl to clean your pot =D
5. Order ice and pour tea into it, *I* feel it's safer than plain water =)
And...that's all I can think of for now...update possibly pending =) -
Review from Charles T.
La Puente, CA
12/20/2010
The moment I stepped into this place I knew I wasn't going to like it. The heavy aromas and stuffiness hit me like a ton of bricks when I walked into this place. The food was nothing special, tasted like a family hot pot where annoying aunties and uncles overflow the pot with foreign veggies and meats.
What I didn't like about this place was the service. The waitress roll their eyes when they see a hand raised. Also, they just stand at the front of the restaurant socializing and gossiping with each other. They don't refill the tea pots or waters and yelled at us for not using the "spicy" side.
When writing this review I changed the rating around, switching between 1 or 2 stars. But after considering that my sweater had that awful smell lingering from just being in the place, I decided to stick with one star. For 16.99 you can grab a hearty Korean BBQ AYCE somewhere else. -
Review from Gary K.
San Gabriel, CA
10/8/2011
In my opinion, you should just come here for the lamb. Get mushrooms and tofu for the soup. If you get hybrid pot (hot/mild), cook your veggies in the mild and then finish with spicy. The spicy get spicier with time. The new design is very nice and I don't have to carefully select friends to bring anymore, what a relief!
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Review from Agent J.
Los Angeles, CA
11/26/2010 4 Check-ins Here
The amount of food their throw in your face can get a little overwhelming. I always eat till the point where I start to wonder how they can afford to offer you such large amount for the price you pay, then I know its time to stop.
its about $15 per person. Hard to find a better AYCE hotpot deal anywhere. However if you are a clean freak this might not be the place for you. -
Review from Tony Y.
Rosemead, CA
10/22/2010 1 Check-in Here
Wow!!! If you looking for Hot Pot deal, this is the place $14.95 per person.
The give you alot of food. There are 2 kind of soup you can choose, spicy or non spicy. Good place for a big party too...Word of advice, come early because it gets pack at dinner time. I am not a hot pot fan because i dont like the soup they have. I am more of a shabu shabu fan!!! This place is CHEAP!!! -
Review from Jasmine c.
Coppell, TX
11/24/2011
I don't even want to give them a one. That place practice unfair pricing, even on thanksgiving day. We went in wanting a few hot pot items, ended up being charged a full buffet price. No one told us it was only buffet today. Why the heck did they list out individual prices on each item if it was buffet. Since we are on vacation we just gave in. I am gonna file a complaint to BBB! It's my worst dining out experience!!! Rick Zhao the sever/manager there had a horrible attitude.
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Review from Lily J.
11/21/2008 2 photos
ALL YOU CAN EAT Chinese Style Shabu Shabu for $15 per person!
On the 1st floor in the corner of Sunny Plaza with no English Name.
The nice thing is they are open pretty late...
They give you choices of broth and the spicy broth is much spicier then their Japanese counterpart! Yet much MORE YUMMY!!!
MY YUMMY LIST:
Fish
Mushroom
Crab
spinach
Sea Weed
Shrimp
Pork
fish
noodles
dumplings -
Review from joz joz j.
Los Angeles, CA
4/25/2010
I'm still on the troll for a good hot pot place and this one is a 3.5 star place.
On the advice of Bill P, I corralled a bunch of friends for a Saturday night dinner/meeting here. $20/person after tax & tip + booze. (Take advantage of the buy 2 get 1 free deal on beers; rounded up to 4 stars for this alone.)
We had the combo hotpot (half spicy/half regular) and ordered beef, lamb, glass noodles, tripe, chitlins, shrimp, shrimp balls, blood cake, corn, seawood, beancurd sheets, napa cabbage and "Chinese vegetable" (which is similar to spinach). Try to order everything up front because service pretty much sucks-- they come out with the food once in giant piles so they don't have to come back and check on you. Every so often, they send someone around with a kettle full of broth to fill up your hot pot. We were drinking water at our table and our waters were refilled only once (even though some of us were needing water to offset the spicy side of the hotpot).
Signage is not in English so take a good look at the pictures on Yelp or check carefully for Suite #168, which is on the first floor. Uncle Chen's is no longer next door, so look for "Shengji Noodle House" next door.
I'd come back again, but I am still on the lookout for the best hotpot in the SGV and I don't think this is it. -
Review from Carol L.
Los Angeles, CA
2/21/2011
ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT hot pot!
Sounds great when you're super hungry and the weather is gloomy, but actually it isn't that great. This is a cheap alternative for hot pot,but I think they're lacking in some areas. Their soup tasted bland to me, and good thing there were sauces except they charged you extra for them. Their food is alright, and they don't have much compare to other places but it's still a decent amount (meats are good - lamb and beef).
I think the only perk about this place is that it's cheap. The total came out to $20 per person (including tip and tax). I might come back again. -
Review from Sarah W.
4/6/2010
So I found my way to this delightful Asian hotspot in a curious way. Was visiting my friend in UCLA aaaand she was like, "let's take you out. let's do hot pot!" I was like "coo coo." Then I find out we're going with her fellow super exercise-hyphy friends who can eat 4x more than my papa! So at $18 it's a steal...especially for them!
We got like one of everything practically. I highly recommend ordering the lamb with napa cabbage. I do not recommend ordering the "superior mushrooms" since they are sliced too thickly nor the bamboo shoots which are equally ginormous. -
Review from Issey Miyake M.
Los Angeles, CA
8/1/2008
This is an all-you-can eat place. Very cheap BUT I will never return. Service is terrible, place is very dirty. They leave the sauces and water unattended, and not covered.
They put some nice seafood in the menu and supposedly customers can order all they want but later I found out those are gimmicks.
They want the menu to look nicer. But everytime you order the certain seafood, they will end up telling you "Oh we don't have it"
Worse of all, there is a waiter who has a very long and filty finger nail [pinky]. Usually those who keep such nail lenght, is to use them to "clean up their ears or nose" Yucks!
I saw him used his long nail finger to remove some bugs from the pitch of water before serving to the other customers. It was too gross for me...oh no! -
Review from Angela Y.
4/8/2010
My friend wanted to go to hot pot one night because her friend (Sarah W.) came to visit her, so I tagged along. I've been looking for a place that has good hot pot and she had been talking about this place for while. Yes, I am one of the "super exercise-hyphy friends" who can eat 4x as much as her papa.
We got there around around 9:00 PM and the place wasn't packed at all. My favorite was the lamb and the beef tendon. Well, it really depends if you like tendon -- but I love it. While it isn't as good as mommy-made tendon, it was pretty decent. Downside? Their meet is frozen and not as fresh. The meat wasn't as good as I've tasted in other places in the San Jose/Fremont/Milpitas area which is why it didn't get 4 stars, but it isn't bad at all. But what I was disappointed in was their Sacha sauce (the Chinese BBQ sauce). I like to put the raw yolk with some soy sauce and green onions in mine. But the Sacha was too runny for my taste and cost extra (not part of the all you can eat!)
I'm a huge fan of spicy food so I loved the fact that they split the pot into spicy and not spicy. I liked the non-spicy broth after cooking beef and lamb, cabbage, bamboo and mushrooms in it. It was delicious and my terribly sick friend who somehow made it there loved it, too. It wasn't the best spicy broth I've had, but it was still good.
All you can eat for $18 is pretty good. Service was not bad at all, nothing to complain about. It's a fun place to go with a group when the weather is chilly and you're hungry. -
Review from Julia K.
4/10/2010
I've been here twice, and both times I was satisfied from the all you can eat. One order of fish means about 30 pieces and one order of shrimp meant about 30 as well! Good portion size on these items. The broth is one of the reasons why I come all the here. You can get their spicy broth and regular broth split in the same pot. They kindly refill the broths when it runs low.
We ordered almost everything on the menu.
Loved:
*lamb - even though they freeze their meat.
*loads of vegetables
*fish fillets
*price
Disappointed in:
*mushrooms - not evenly cut
*giant bamboo - should've ordered the smaller shoots
*sauces - $0.50 per order, didn't like this
For all you can eat at $14.95 + tax, it's great place to go out to eat with a group of friends of family on a chilly night in LA. -
Review from Shirley Z.
Los Angeles, CA
2/8/2010
Yelpers generally gave this place mediocre reviews, so I waited until after my second visit to review, since my experience with this place was so good, I thought it might be a fluke.
Being from Sichuan, I am very picky about hot pot.
With that being said, while the broth didn't have the numbing "ma" effect, it is one of the best I have had in LA. Their mild broth has a lot of ginger, which I love, and the spicy broth was very flavorful, although I had to ask for more chili to bring it up to par.
They had a great selection in meat, seafood, and vegetables! Also, the portion sizes were HUGE, I had to ask them to give us half-sizes since we probably wouldn't finish it all!!
Service is actually pretty good for a Chinese restaurant, my soup was filled up several times through the meal, and the staff checked up on us often to see if they could be of help.
This place is fantastic for groups since everyone can get what they want!
I will be back, and this may be the only hot pot place in LA I ever go again!! -
Review from jaccee c.
Alhambra, CA
12/30/2011
based on the previous reviews i've read, i kind expected bad things to happen at the place.
but...it wasnt.
many people stated the place was dirty? it was nowhere near dirty. someone said they had a C rating? I looked and they had an A rating.
the price for ayce hot pot raised tho. 19$ now.
the lame thing was when they handed us the menu many items on the list were crossed out. so there were basically no fish balls, meat balls and etc. -_-
they had shrimp balls tho and so we got that....we expected it to be shrimp balls, but no...it was shrimp paste...it tasted really nasty.
the tofu wasnt as good either. it was very rough?
i also felt a bit ripped on the lamb meat. the first round it was nice giant red slices of meat. the second round we got lamb meat it was kinda shredded and had fat. seemed like the leftover pieces they had when they were slicing the lamb.....
also some people said the meat was previously frozen....well obviously its previously frozen. a lot of places serve previously frozen meats...how much fresher do you expect the meats to be? do you srsly expect them to cut off meat from a cow in front of your face and serve it to you?
oh another complain about the shrimp. the first round we ordered an order of shrimp, they gave us 4...we thought that was too little and so the second round we ordered 3 orders of shrimp and they only gave us 3 shrimps wtf. -_-"
some also said the service was bad. honestly, i didnt think it was that bad. the waiters would walk around and they came by many times to refill the broth for our hot pot.
overall, i have to say this place is okay. not really worth the money if you dont eat a lot. the soup is average too... -
Review from Duke F.
Alhambra, CA
11/7/2011 1 Check-in Here
great hot pot place. get the all you can eat so if you don't like certain portion; you can get other ones:)
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Review from Oshi Y.
Los Angeles, CA
10/13/2007
This is a Chinese Shabu Shabu place that is all you can eat.
Its around $15 a person and is open pretty late.
Its inside the Sunny Plaza.
You can get the regular broth or the spicy broth, and then order whatever you want, meat, vegetables, noodles, and then cook it, and you can order sauce to dip the food in or just drink it like soup. The only thing about the All you can eat is that the sauces arent included. They are 50cents each..but i definitely recommend the sesame sauce and the bbq sauce.
I came here with a bunch of friends and it was a lot of fun. Good for groups, couples, etc. The menu is in chinese and English, though some of the things are kind of weird, like Sunflower Mushroom, which is really Enoki Mushroom.
but for 15 bucks? i think its pretty good and you can cook the way you like it.
Parking is in the lot. -
Review from David H.
Glendale, CA
4/3/2009
Another Chinese style one pot (well two-half-divided pots) shabu shabu.
Likes:
- all you can eat
- affordable
- flavored base soups
- divided pots for divided palettes
- big portions
- good food selection
Dislikes:
- slow service; often ignored
- some staff are rude
- fatty food (need to scoop up the oil during the meal)
- all foods are piled on one pan, seems unsanitary (but shouldn't matter if u gonna cook em anyways)
- tables are small
- wait can be long
This is a typical "Chinese" style eatery....
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAID FOR, SO DON'T EXPECT TOO MUCH.
which is great if you want to get fed and keep your wallet.Listed in: LA Good Eats
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Review from Carol L.
San Gabriel, CA
3/1/2011
AYCE HOTPOT. $16/person. sauce is an additional 50 cents. you can tell them you don't want any and when their not looking you can go over to their counter and reach for some :), B2G1F for alcohol. wait is a bit longer when you come after 6ish, try to send someone to wait for a table to avoid the wait. the servers are really sloppy. they just lay your food on a tray and leave it on an empty seat. the tables/hotpot/enviroment look really china like. dirty and slugggish. but you pay for what you get. to get better hot pot experience try the one by 99 ranch market. has outdoor too and it's a big bigger.
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Review from Yoke Y.
Diamond Bar, CA
11/19/2010
Love their spicy broth, very huge portions, and best AYCE there is for hotpot around. Very generous with refills. For a Chinese restaurant, they are not that dirty, I have seen worse. 5-stars!
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Review from Kassidy C.
Los Angeles, CA
2/8/2011
If you are on a budget for ayce hotpot come here.
