Hot Kitchen

Nope. Don’t come to this place at all. Their service are bad and rude. I order two bowls and they both came out wrong. So I asked them if make a new one. The waitress took the bowls and all she did was pick out the meats from each bowl and put it in another to get the order right. It still came out wrong again so we ask her if she made a new bowl for each and she did so we just left the place.

this is my second time here, after choosing the food we want, we told the guy make it no spicy at all .but when we got the our food, it had a little bit spicy. but we cant eat any spicy food at all, even it was just a little spicy.
then we asked the waiter remade our food.
ok. this time it was not spicy, but the food was not the same as what we chose, where is my fungers, and
was not as the same value as the food before .and i dont eat any blood, please!

Our First time (cause we like to try) and Last time (cause pricy and $ is not transparent) here.
Pros:
1. Good for people who love spicy.
2. Rich flavor and tasty.
Cons:
1. They ask us to pick food before seated.
2. Then we were informed that «everything» is charged by «weight», but they didn’t show/​tell you the weight that you ordered.
3. Vegetable is charged by «basket» $ 7.99, we realized this when we got the bill. But our basket was about ½ loaded.
4. Final Bill: Meat $ 4.51; Seafood $ 5.71; Veg $ 7.99; turns out our «half loaded basket» was charged by «full basket» price. How surprise !!
Total about $ 25 plus tips, and we both still hungry after eaten.
For people who like to try: you might have to keep asking how much after you ordered, if you don’t want to be «surprised» by your bill. Vegetable is charged by «basket», maybe you should have it «full loaded» to make it worth $ 7.99 for ur wallet.
For people who are rich and love spicy: just order whatever you like and enjoy.

Bad service. everyone was playing on the phone… and nobody even asked us drinks. the food was ok… mild spicy is pretty spicy already ! So be carful of the spiciness !

This place rips you off. Never go back to this one, there are so many other good restaurants around the area. The service is horrible.

The service was absolutely ridiculous. They have a waitress rather heavy set, does not smile and extremely rude. They are very understaffed on a Sunday evening, with only 2 waitresses serving about 20 tables.
Never recommend this place unless u don’t expected to be served
Food is avg

NEVER COME TO THIS RESTAURANT, I MEAN IT! Today I went to get some take-​out dry pot to home, I ordered beef, mutton and fillets as usual. BUT GUESS WHAT? I didn’t even find out where beef, mutton and fillets were from the start to the end. I called the restaurant about the situation and the lady were not sorry at all and offered me a discount for the next visit. WHO will ever go to a restaurant again if they can’t at least offer honesty?!
I used to go to the place a lot with my friends, but after what happened today I will NEVER visit it again. I get it why there’re fewer and fewer people eating at this place. The price goes up ridiculously, and meanwhile cutting out the food we order out of nowhere? That is unacceptable. This is the first time I comment on Unilocal,and I wish there’s 0 star to give!
So if you want to get what you order, don’t go to this place, don’t fool yourself as well as being fooled.

Last night we were served with undercooked chicken, the manager took the dish to the kitchen and told us the cook said nothing wrong with the chicken. Undercooked chicken might be contaminated with bacteria, and the manager thinks it is not a big deal.
I will not dine at Hot Kitchen again.

THIS IS PLACE IS HOT!
I am not sure if it was because i was STARVING but this place was REALLY good. It is a nice, clean, modern restaurant.
You go in and pick your meats. They have a wide variety of meats. Then you go over to the vegetables and pick what you want. They charge by the basket. You then choose the hotness level. They go to the back and cook it for you and bring it to your table.
The meat quality was delicious! The vegetables were fresh. They were celebrating their 1 year anniversary and drinks were only .99!
The service was better than most standard chinese places.

To be honest, I can be described as a super loyal customer to this restaurant. I kept eating at least once a week in this place, and I believe the staff there knows me already. I had wonderful experience there before, and I have recommended this place to many of my friends. The food is very good out of the question, and the service is okay. However, after reading all the reviews, I would like to bring up one questions I had for «Hot Kitchen» recently, which is I realize they might cut off the portion of food before cooking.
Every time I went there, I usually ordered around 2 pounds of meat, and eat half of them, and save the rest for dinner as I lived in west LA. I am allergic to seafood, so I only order beef, chicken, and chicken wings. Once when the food was done, and the staff handed the pot for me, I could make sure of it, I HAD NOT EATEN ONE SINGLE SLICE OF BEEF!!! I remembered I ordered at least 2 pounds of meat altogether. I started to think maybe they cut off the amount before cooking. However, since I already started eating, I just pretended everything was okay.
The next time, which is today, I went to this place again with my friend. I ordered 10 chicken wings and 1.9 pounds of beef and chicken again. The same situation happened, before we started, I can clearly see there were only 4 – 5 pieces of beef in the pot. THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!!! The customers are not foolish, and this is way too obvious. I can tell they definitely cut off the food but they charged from what I ordered. If possible, I will suggest them re-​weight the food after cooking, and make the kitchen glass transparent so that customer could see the chef put everything the customers ordered into the pot.
Ahhhh I was still shocked and angry. I did love spicy food, and I used to be such a big fan for Hot Kitchen, but now they are just keeping disappointing me by cutting off the food amount. I really hope more and more people can notice this, and I hope hot kitchen can do business in a genuine and sincere way.

I was impressed when they first opened (food was good and service was fast)… but now this place is just disappointing. Good luck getting anything here if you don’t speak Mandarin. Service is slow and sloppy and apparently no one speaks English. Needed to ask for water 3 – 4 times before actually getting water. Food took 30 minutes to come. Never coming back.
The only plus side is that they got free wifi

They only sell one item and that is spicy dry pot, also known as 麻辣香锅。The staff’s english language capabilities are limited so I’ll suggest going with someone that speaks Chinese. I love spicy food so I always get medium to hot for my dry pot. I love the tofu they use, the same one at shabu shabu places or hotpot places.
I get:
Thick Glass Noodles
Seafood Balls
Tofu
Mushrooms
Lamb
Beef
I’m giving it ³⁄₅ because it’s pricey for individuals but alright for groups. Came up to about $ 30 when I ate it on my own and about $ 60 with a group of 3. Their pudding milk tea tasted terrible, I’d prefer coco or half & half to it so I always get their watermelon juice whenever they have it available. Also, they charge you for rice. wtf?

As an Alhambra native who endeavors to support small businesses AND as someone impressed with the cool architecture of the building, I went to this eatery with high hopes only to be dashed. The menu, to use the term generously, is cryptic to all but those absolutely literate in Chinese. The ordering process, even when described by an English speaker, is equally vague. The food, even after I conservatively requested «medium spicy,» was difficult to eat – but I soldiered on because the price is so high. My friend, who has an even higher tolerance for Sichuan food (which this purportedly is; I’ve been to Sichuan and my meals were not like this) daringly requested «as hot as you’ve got» and was presented with something I am sure I would consider inedible. (I wonder if the kitchen staff just made both of our dishes equally scorching!)
The staff is inconsiderate and perhaps acting illegally; on a recent clear and cool afternoon, we decided to dine outside. We also were motivated by a desire for privacy so we could chat and catch up. Only one other person was seated outside, a man who appeared to be on a break, and eventually he was joined by another staffer AND BOTH MEN PROCEEDED to smoke foul, heavy tobacco-​smelling cigarettes from China. (I saw the packaging because they were seated next to us and neither one seemed to notice when I tried to clear my throat or throw stinkeyes their way.) I had an upset stomach all night and the next day.
On a lesser offense, my friend specifically asked for Diet Coke and ordered one after being reassured they carried it. Our food was delivered with a bright red can of regular Coke but before we could tell the waiter, he’d already gone back into the restaurant (which was not busy or crowded, even at peak lunchtime. Now I can see why!) We were overheard talking about the probem by one of the smokers, who said regular Coke was all they carried. But I guess that besides being hooked on tobacco, he’s also misinformed because we eventually did get the correct drink order.
If you really crave good Sichuan food, try somewhere else. Learn from my mistake. Don’t be lured by the modern architecture. This storefront has undergone multiple incarnations in the past few years and if more people share my view, the Hot Kitchen won’t be serving for much longer.

Well, it didn’t suck, but I have had way better… especially for the price. A few pieces of Chicken and Beef and a bunch of veggies for $ 21.00 bucks! Very steep.
You pick your items, pay by the pound for meats and seafood, and another fixed price for a basket of veggies, and still another price for steamed rice. The rice should be free, it’s steamed rice!
The spices are hot, like super hot so be careful if you don’t like it spicy. But that’s not the issue. There’s a certain spice in there, I think anise, that shouldn’t be there. Sort of sweet… I don’t know, but it shouldn’t be in the food. That jacked it up. Then, everything is stir fired so you can’t really see what you’re eating.
The place is clean, and the staff is friendly, but the price is not right.

This is a Szechuan style stir-​fry place. You order & pay by the pound for Meat and Seafood, and you can fill up a basket of vegetables for a fixed price. The food is cooked with Szechuan peppers, so it’s a tad spicy even if you select «Non-​Spicy» for the hotness level.
I used to go to this place because it was affordable and I liked the portion size for the price, however the prices have skyrocketed since last time I came here. I came here today, and I found out there’s an automatic/​mandatory $ 3.99 charge just for flavoring the food (labeled Soup Base), and rice is $ 1 per person (which used to be provided for free). I understand about the rice, but $ 3.99 for adding flavor? They’re treating it like it’s some super market where I just pick the meat, and they’re providing a additional service by cooking it. Come on, this is a restaurant, you’re suppose to cook and flavor the food.
So something else that occurred when I stopped by today is that I was charged for Vegetables though I specifically only ordered off the Meat selections. Their reaction when I brought this to their attention seemed to imply they were hoping I wouldn’t catch it, but I guess it could have been a mistake.
The food itself isn’t bad, but the handling of it is pretty questionable. They use the same tongs for chicken and beef, and I don’t see any kind of refridgeration. It’s also on the pricey side now, so it’s no longer worth it to me. I was a frequent customer to this place, but now I don’t think I’ll be going back.

4.5 star
I lose my appetite for several days due to jetlag so i was really craving for spicy food to increase my appetite.
If you never try dry pot, it may be confusing for you to order at the first time. We first pick our fav veggies, seafood and then meat, the sever will put what you chose in a basket and you can ask them to increase the quantity if you want more of the food then they will cook the material for you in hot spicy broth. You can choose the extent of spicess. They charge you based on the lbs u chose.
My bf chose spicy for our food. Which is a nightmare for me. I love spicy food but their spicy was way too much for me and i barely feel my tongue. However, i love the broth and flavor of the food. They put alot of dried chili and spice which add the flavor to the dry pot. The meat was well cooked and yummy and I love the veggies cooked here. You can also order 2 drinks its buy one get one free however the taste of the drink was just ok.
I would def come back here again and this time ill get myself a mild for my dry pot!

I’m giving 4 stars for their food and 3 stars for their price. We ended up paying $ 70 for four people with our bobaless drinks. Pretty pricy for some Great Khan if you ask me!
This place is pretty flavorful, but let me warn you, don’t get the spiciest one on the menu. I eat a ton of chili with every meal, but their spicy level is ridiculous here. I couldn’t taste anything. My tongue had lost all of its ability to feel and the waiter told me there is a secret level which is spicier than what I had.
The reason how I know this place is good is that I ate some of my husband’s mild spicy food and it was pretty darn good.
I took out all the chilis from my bowl and put it on a separate plate. Don’t take my word for it, you be the judge.
In case you were wondering, this place has pretty good drinks, but no boba! I don’t know why they do this, but I need my boba!

Unilocalers, u didn’t trick me this time! Even with only a few reviews, I still really wanna try this place out cuz I’m a super fan of dry pots! This new Szechuan style restaurant is replaced by the waffle place… It’s weird how everyone opens up a business here will end up being a failure. But I believe that this will last longer I hope?!
–parking: plenty! Maybe cuz I come for early dinner that’s y
–menu: easy to understand and u get to choose what u want into the pot! All veggie in one basket: about 8 bucks but with a great variety. I love the lian oh (rhizome?) sooo much! We pick seafood first, then meat (i got lots of lamb but comes out fairly cheap) then veggie.
We pay after and we just wait for them to fry the food! Another special: $ 1 all drinks since it’s grand opening, What a great deal! I got peach yogurt– refreshing and tastes better than I expected
The pot comes out after 15 mins we ordered the ingredients, my first bite– amazing! I already knew i will be coming bak really soon. We chose medium spicy and it’s actually not that spicy! A lot of red chili goes into the giant bowl tho, but it’s still really tasty. At the end there’s free salad /​fruit buffer! What more to say? I had a super satisfied dinner with the bff :)

More of a 4.5, but Unilocal doesn’t give that option.
First of all, you have to know how the system works to get what you want. It wasn’t that difficult, but I was still a little bit confused.
It was great, and the food was tasteful. The milk tea mixed well with the spiciness and was way better than I expected. I would definitely come again, but to get more vegetables!
The only put off is that they didn’t have boba or taro milk tea. Another was that they gave me the wrong level of spiciness, but it’s okay. We said mild, and was given mid-​level spiciness, but it did make me enjoy my milk tea more.

Taking over the existing location for the Waffle restaurant, I rolled by last week and noticed they were taking down the sign for the waffle house and changing it with something else. This peeked my interested, so I drove by again a couple days later and found out the signage read Hot Kitchen.
The Chinese on the sign indicated it was some type of spicy restaurant, so I came by last night to give it a try. When I walked in, there was a glass display case showing a case of seafood, meat and veggies. There was no signage showing how it worked, I grabbed a menu and it said they charge you by the pound. The veggies were a flat rate of $ 7.50/basket but the seafood and meat were by the pound. It’s a pretty interesting concept, as I’ve never seen a restaurant like this before in the area.
I decided to ask the guy behind the cashier how it worked. Basically, you pick what you want, they put everything in one large bowl, stir fry and bring it to your table. You’ll need to find out which table your setting, since they will bring the cooked food to you directly and you pay at the end of the meal.
I picked my stuff and waited for the food. It took a while to get to me, since it was a soft opening, so I would give them the benefit of the doubt since they have kinks to work out. After waiting about 15 mins, I got my food, it was pretty good in flavor and texture. The vermicelli noodles were really tasty! I ordered mild but they had tons of chili in there still and it had a little kick in there! The chili is the mala type, which numbs your mouth after eating for a while. You can get free rice as well if you ask the server for it. They don’t charge you extra for it.
Also, there is a promo for the soft opening with all the drinks being $.99. I tried to order the freshia fruit tea but they were out. Many of the items on the list were either sold out or they didn’t have it yet.
I would recommend this place, as the whole bowl with 2 drinks was about $ 16. I couldn’t finish it, so I packed it to go. I’ll be back!!!