The service was good. You'll just have to flag them if you need something. They were all helpful…read moreand nice. Food wise - everything we ordered was great. The cumin lamb was flavorful and spicy. The Mao Cai was spicy, full of meat and the broth was tasty. The boiled fish was my second favorite - spicy and fish was not overcooked. The fried intestines were really great! The shrimp fried rice is ok. I wanted either a whole fish or a whole crab but they ran out - on a Saturday night. They have a good Asian beer selection. $35 for corkage. $6 valet parking with validation. Free for 1 hour only with validation. It's a very casual place. Clean.

My kiddo is a big fan of sichuan food especially fish fillet in chilli sauce so we came here for…read morelunch out of her recommendation as this is her favorite Chinese restaurant in town. The reception wasn't warm as the girl was on the phone and she just waved at us to get in. Food was scrumptious. Their basa fish fillet in chilli sauce had to be the best I've tasted. The fish was tender, sauce yummy, veggies fresh! It was excellently prepared. Husband and Wife beef and tripe slices was another outstanding dish. It was so good I had to order more rice to eat with it therefore happily broke my diet again. Steamd eggplant with pickled condiment on top tended to be on the salty side, it was soft and tasty. I loved it! Service was lukewarm at best. The girl performed her service in a convincingly nonchalant way. But at least I got lemon infused water refilled twice. :) Well decorated with Chinese cultural elements. Very spacious, clean and peaceful ambience. We had a lovely time and will return.

Omg yes!!! Delicious Sichuan food! First of all, the service…read morewas fantastic and the staff were very accommodating! I really appreciate how kind the staff were when our family dined here. It's a casual place, very homey and cozy. Def suits the home cooked style meal served here! We came during their summer combo special! And Man! what a steal! For all of the delicious food we had, it was an unbelievable deal! My favorite was the Boiled fish and the Sichuan fries! I can come here for everyday! Check them out!!

Came here for the last day of Dine LA. Wanted to check it out since this place is Michelin Bib…read moreGourmand! The Alhambra location specifically is the bib gourmand. And the Alhambra location's Dine LA set was $72, the cost is slightly different based on location. We joined the waitlist via Yelp ahead of time. Long lines on a Friday night, and since it was the last day of Dine LA. Impressive dumplings 7/10: boiled well, good texture of the wrappers. The filling seemed to be only pork, no veggies, which would have been nice if there was more flavor from vegetables. The sauce was mildly spicy and mildly numbing, slight sesame flavor. String beans 8/10: wok hei flavor and savory. Could have had more garlic flavor and crispier texture of the beans. Din tai fung beans are still #1 for me! Mini lamb skewer 7/10: strong cumin flavor which I liked. The lamb was a bit dry/lean, could've used some pieces with more fat Boiled fish in pickled vegetable 8/10: fish cooked well, flaky and soft. Sour soup was balanced. Vermicelli inside Fried rice 9/10: yummy wok hei flavor Not included in Dine LA deal: Shredded potato 7.5/10: good texture of the potato, not overcooked or undercooked. We ordered the sour/vinegar flavor, it came out smelling vinegary, but didn't have much vinegar taste, mostly spicy. Definitely Sichuan style leaning Sweet potato taro ball dessert 10/10: free dessert if you follow them on Instagram and DM them (see menu photo I posted). Crispy outside which stayed crispy even as it cooled down. Sweet potato and taro were cooked well, smooth, and strong in flavor, not artificial. Not too sweet. Had a mochi like texture Overall a great deal, generous portions. Definitely could feed 3-4 people for the Dine LA. Free parking structure behind. Would definitely come back for Dine LA if they offer new dishes on the deal!

My friend Jordan H. turned 50 last month, and I told him I'd take him out for a belated birthday…read morelunch. We'd been talking about getting Chinese food, and he picked Xiang La Hui, his go-to spot for classic Sichuan. I'd never been before, and was more than happy to try a new spot in the SGV. We met up at noon and stayed until the restaurant wrapped up lunch service and gently pushed us out the door, sometime around 2:30. The space was nice, instantly recognizable as a Chinese restaurant in Alhambra. It was pretty quiet the whole time, a good place for a leisurely catch-up. Service was fast and polite, though the combination of QR code ordering and poor Verizon service was a bummer. I had to cross the dining room to take down the wifi password posted on the opposite wall. We ordered a sizable spread for two people: Chong Qing fried chicken, dan dan noodles, wontons with chili oil, and pea tips with garlic. Everything was delicious, most of all the Chong Qing fried chicken, crispy nibbly bits of breaded chicken stir-fried with green onion and hot pepper. I love dan dan noodles and wontons, and thought both were great, if not the best I've had in the area. The pea tips were lovely, bright green and not spicy, but abundantly flavorful. I'd love to come back to Xiang La Hui and try more of the menu. It seems like a restaurant that does everything well, and I'll keep it in mind whenever I'm craving Sichuan.

~ food: wok fried string bean: 7/10 overcooked but flavor…read moreis good sizzling eggplant: 8/10 yummy veggie dish but nothing special chicken with chili and pepper: 8/10 i'm not one for cold dishes but this was not bad- filling and tangy boiling fish with red chili pepper: 7/10 this was not numbing at all... spice is also pretty mild even though the color looks like it would be spicy. and i wish it came with cabbage like most places rather than bean sprouts ~ service: 5/10 server was at a different table on the phone the whole time. only came by to serve us food since we could order on the qr code ~ parking: street parking available

Yes all day to this place! Just moved into the area and was looking for a Chinese food place for my…read morewife and I to check out. Found this place on Yelp and said "sure, why not?" Boy oh boy, were we rewarded! The atmosphere of the place is quaint but also bigger than you'd expect looking from the outside of the restaurant. We got seated at a table, and the server was very nice and observant to our needs. As for the food? 10 out of 5! The pork friend rice is easily some of the best I've had in L.A., and the sweet & sour shrimp and Mongolian Beef we got with our orders were also cooked and seasoned to perfection. The portion size was also hella generous, meaning we were able to enjoy it at home days after we had gone to the restaurant. All in all, a welcome surprise, and a new addition to Chinese food hot spots I'll be revisiting soon!

This place is an institution. After I wrote that sentence, I felt like I was trite. And like I said…read moresomething but not really. Like, one time I was watching Project Runway, a season finale episode, where the designers make their own creations, and do not have to make their ensembles from shredded newspaper or bird seeds or pinata remnants. And after a so-and-so of the fashion industry said, "I wanted to go and rip that jacket off the model." This other time, I saw a poster for a coming musical and it said, "stop everything you are doing, and go this musical now" says this important person in the theathre world. What am I am trying to say is that the comment I wanted to do this immediately or drop everything and do this immediately is so overwrought and widely used that it lost all meaning. Kind of like calling this place an institution. So I will call this place what I should to not be drown in my own trite. One time I went to this place and I went cause I was invited to a birthday party. And it was a large group of people. Me and a friend debated if Penny, from the Big Bang, had eaten at this place. She was also in Charmed--- it is a household name, I can't remember it. So this place is famous enough to be a go to move, and it has many pictures of celebrities that have gone there. The food is also super good, so this place, like I said is an insititution. When I went there a second time, I was more aware of the place I was visiting and kind of was ready to receive its Chinese fare with an unhinged jaw. I was dining with a friend, the same friend that I had the is that Penny from Big Bang debate? It was not. She eventually one. But like she and I ate here again, without knowing we were going to the same place. I would say its a small world but.... She and I ate with gusto. It does not take a lot to know that the speciality of the house is their slippery shrimp. They also have slippery chicken and slippery tofu. Super good, sweet, sour but it was not sweet and sour sauce shrimp, it had differences. I am not sure what. There were some heat notes but not like terrible heat. So I am not exactly sure what this place does to make their slippery sauce but let us just that it was delicious and different than other Chinese food sauces. Ronnie and I had the works. Rice, Beef with Brocoli, Pan fried dumplings, and dumpings. It was the type of Chinese food that was so good a coke was needed to balance the decadent saltiness of the fare. Yeah, that might not make sense but I wrote what I wrote. We had eniugh food to share between the two of us. It was that type of meal, where leftovers were welcomed and made sense. They were not left over, they were left untouched because it would be a shame to not enjoy them later. The service was great. The place felt traditional, and like it took you to an alley in China to eat a grandmother's food who knows how to use a Wok and pinch dumplings so they stay close for good. I saw this bad review that skewered this place. And I am like wow! How can we be so different. Not like Ying and Yang Different, more like flutter and flatten. But taste is subjective, so decide for yourself if this place is a peacock worthy of its feathers or a tiger with its claws clipped.

Bang!!! Your head will explode this place is mind blowing. I'm here on my 494th Diners Drive Inns…read moreand Dives visit and I was blown away! First off the place is sleek and cool. Very modern and welcoming. So was the lovely lady behind the counter. The menu is sleek just Chien and fish sandos prepared a handful of ways. They have chicken strips and fries and an additional caviar topping. I wasn't trying that today but to each his own Surprisingly they have special beverages, today I tried the blood orange lemonade, it was a must with the spicy level of the chicken sandwich. Gang! This place is a MUST TRY!!!

This was somewhat of a big mess. Let me say upfront that everyone I dealt with was friendly, and…read morethe chicken sandwich was probably the best chicken sandwich I've ever had. Even so, I probably won't go back. We showed up and the place was pretty much empty, with just a couple of tables occupied. We ordered, sat down, and waited. And waited. I couldn't help but notice that all of the tables that were there before us had been served, while bags of food kept going out the door for takeout orders. I understand that this isn't fast food, but seriously, I have an issue with waiting 35 minutes for a fried chicken sandwich, especially when the restaurant isn't busy. Adding insult to injury, when our food finally arrived, the server said, "Thank you so much for being patient!" That made me wonder if this kind of wait is normal. Instead of acknowledging that something had gone wrong, it felt like the long wait was simply being brushed off. The frustrating part is that the sandwich and fries were excellent. The chicken sandwich really may have been the best I've ever had, which makes the whole experience even more disappointing. Great food, friendly people, but a 35-minute wait for a chicken sandwich in an almost empty restaurant is enough to keep me from going back.

My friends took me here since they said the food was really good. I was visiting them for the…read moreevening, so we decided to stop by and give it a try. We got the Boiled Fish in Green Pepper Sauce, Toothpick Lamb, and Mapo Tofu. Everything was definitely super delicious. The dishes weren't too spicy for me, and I actually wish they had a bit more heat, but they did have a nice numbing kick to them. I do have a pretty high spice tolerance, though, so my experience may be different from others. My friend thought the dishes were pretty spicy, so keep that in mind if you're more sensitive to heat. The fish was super tender and soft, and honestly pretty addictive to eat. The Toothpick Lamb was pretty much the same--you just pop one in your mouth and then immediately want another. It had a nice salty, spicy flavor that made it really easy to keep eating. The only downside is, well, the toothpicks! They definitely slow you down. I also really enjoyed the Mapo Tofu. It was nice and flavorful and went really well with the other dishes. Overall, everything we tried was really good, and I can definitely see why my friends recommended this place.

Food-wise, this place is easily a 4/5 stars. Service-wise, not quite there…read more When we first walked in, everyone was friendly and we didn't wait long at all, especially considering how packed the restaurant was. They definitely know how to get people seated and keep the crowd moving in, but getting out was another story. Kept getting passed up when we were done and simply trying to leave. The food did take a while, but I can understand that when everything is being made fresh. Just know that if you're on a time crunch, this probably isn't the place for a quick meal. The gentleman who seated us and took our order was really nice, but after that, we pretty much felt forgotten about. Once the food arrived though, it was Good. Very flavorful, authentic Chinese food, and definitely worth trying. The atmosphere is loud and busy, no music, just the sound of a completely packed restaurant, so don't come expecting a quiet, relaxing dinner. Also, fair warning, some of these dishes are Spicy, and I mean actually spicy. If you love some heat, you'll probably love this place. Overall, I'd recommend giving it a try for the food. Lots of dishes to choose from. A good variety too of proteins, vegetables, noodles and Wonton soup.

Always a great experience with pine and crane To go orders…read more The parking there stresses me out so I ended up door dashing. The food came well packed and was delicious as always. The BEEF ROLL and the DAN DAN NOODLES are my go to. The quality and flavor is always consistent. I tried the MAPO TOFU this time. The flavor was good and the portion was bigger than i expected. As always, can't wait to come back!

Food was delicious. We got the bean curd salad (standard and good), three cup chicken (so flavorful…read moreand their rice is soft and fluffy), wonton noodle soup (great wontons) ~ I ask for the thicker noodles, and beef rolls. Beef rolls and wonton noodle soup were my favorites of the bunch. Service is really friendly. You order at the front and find a seat but when it's busy they'll help you find seats so no stress. It was a super hot summer day in LA and their AC was there but it still felt pretty warm inside the restaurant. Parking can be tough around here.

Every dish we ordered at Meizhou Dongpo was packed with flavor and tasted like true comfort food…read more The fried rice was simple but incredibly well executed, with perfectly seasoned rice. The braised pork in brown sauce was rich, tender, and melted in my mouth. My favorite of the meal was definitely the garlic vermicelli shrimp. The shrimp were fresh and cooked perfectly, while the vermicelli soaked up all of the garlic sauce. It was easily the standout dish and something I would come back specifically to order again. The Kung Pao chicken was tender, and a good balance of savory, sweet, and tang. The restaurant isn't that big but it does have tables suitable for larger groups. This is a decent spot for lunch. The only thing is the dishes are a little more expensive compared to other restaurants. The staff were attentive, efficient, and made sure everything arrived promptly which I appreciated.

The Peking duck is still the reason to come, but nearly everything around hasn't kept pace with the…read morecompetition. The space feels worn -- menus tattered, décor dated, the whole interior overdue for a refresh. For a restaurant positioning itself at the higher end of Chinese dining, Meizhou Dongpo is sleeping on the finer details. No complimentary tea service, and rather than offering a pot for the table, they serve individual tea by the mug -- a comically oversized Western mug at that. Chopsticks arrive without spoons, and when you ask for one, you get silverware instead of the porcelain you'd expect at Chinese restaurant. The Peking duck accoutrements came with a little plastic spoon on the tray. Small things, but they add up.The fried rice was a letdown too and looked nothing like the menu photo. Spots like Din Tai Fung and Lunasia Signature are operating at a different level and the gap shows. Meizhou Dongpo has the bones of a great Chinese restaurant. The duck alone proves it. But until they invest in the experience around the food, it's hard to recommend at this price point.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​