Hop Louie

Hop Louie is just classic. Everyone should check this place out. It packed at all hours of the night.

My wife and I have been going to Hop Louie for lunch regularly for many years. Bill, the owner always greets us warmly when we arrive. Lucy is usually our waitress and we always chat with her about her family and ours. We always enjoy the food. We especially like the hot and sour soup, the spare ribs and the egg foo yung. It is a very old fashioned place, and reminds us of restaurants when we were young. We always look forward to going, and I hope it will be going again soon!

Old school restaurant since 1941. This is an American Chinese food establishment so this is perfect for the people who like the Panda Express type of cuisine. I love old classic restaurants and this place fits the bill, old waiters, old furnishings, old décor, and forks instead of chopsticks. You have to ask for chopsticks. If you like stepping into a time warp this is the place to go, and some of my friends love the bar scene here.

I have been going to Hop Louie since the 1960s, when I was a kid and went with my parents. I go to LA at least 4 – 5 times a year, and always make it a point to go to Chinatown with my mother, and specifically to this restaurant. The nostalgic ambience cannot be beat, and the food is a great value for the money. The Scorpions are fantastic, and the bar downstairs is so cool. The place has a great history, and although it has seen better days, it is a completely unique LA classic and both my mother and I would not consider eating anywhere else. Going to Chinatown automatically means lunch or dinner at Hop Louie. The sweet and sour fish and pork dishes are just wonderful, but anything you may order from the menu will be just fine. We always have a great time at Hop Louie!

Go here!!! I’ve been going here my whole life with my grandma and every time I come visit her we go! The serious is good to me there like family! I love the pork fried rice and everyone loves the almond cookies at the end! Don’t let this great place die!

I had heard good things about this place, but that was years ago. I was pretty disappointed needless to say. Maybe years ago it was good. I dropped by for dinner, and I regretted it immediately. I expected a lot more from this place and wanted it to be all the good thing I had heard. I didn’t have any issues with the staff or their service, the food just wasn’t any good. Maybe ill order a scorpion next time I’m in the area and see if that changes my mind.

This was my first time at Hop Louis but the main squeeze had been here many times in the past. I must say that while the staff was «very» attentive the food was very disappointing. I had the egg foo young that was almost all bean sprouts which made it very crunchy and tasted very earthy. The other dishes were so lacking flavor. Although the portions sizes were plentiful, the pricing should command better tasting dishes. Yes, the décor is quite dark and outdated and their A/​C was not working but, if the food was of a better quality, then it would make up for it… otherwise, don’t bother.

Hello. Um this is a bit out off norm… But I met an awesome guy tonight. His name is Brian, Bryan, or Ryan. Your friend spilled a drink on me before I could give you my number. They had the summer night thing, and you were from la Verne and in construction. If you were feeling the vibe like I was, we never got to dance! Please email me. Use you’re other friend, not your roommate’s name as the subject. It’d be awesome to dance and off-​road with you. (Not necessarily in that order.)

Do not waste your time and money on this place. The food is not good and my friend and the servic is very poor. We had to flag the staff down for tea l, utensils and to order our meal.
It took over an hour to get our food and it was very disappointing. Very salty Mongolian Beef, flavorless chow mein and the rice was undercooked. The sweet and sour pork was just okay but that might be because we were so hungry by the time it came out.
Our food only came out one dish at a time with 10 minutes spaced between each one being placed on the table. Our guests at this place were upset with the service as well. I will never come here again.

As we were enjoying the Chinatown Summer nights, we were hanging out in front of this iconic building-​the look and feel draws you in!
The food is ok– all the traditional chinese staples are there but could use a boost in flavoring! The prices are inexpensive–
My kids loved being inside– we recently went to Beijing and the décor took them to that experience–
Food alone, I would go with 2 Stars but the cool feel you get, bumps up my rating!

Love this place old school all the way. $ 5.50 lunch special and the warmth that only an old Chinese waiter can give. «hurry you eat now». I feel like this is the last stronghold Chinese restaurant left in Chinatown. Please keep Chinatown Chinese.

Pretty bad!
Run down, stinky old carpet, rude elderly man (owner?) at the door. I asked if the restaurant was open upstairs and he yelled at me LOL. When I left I said good-​bye and he scowled at me.
Downstairs bar– Super busy due to Chinatown Summer Nights Festival and dumb and dumber were behind the bar. They were arguing so no one was getting served any time soon.
Crappy beer selection — Coors, Bud, etc.
This was a very short visit. Moved on quickly for obvious reasons.

There are different ways to judge this place in my opinion.
First, if u are used to fast food Chinese, this place is an improvement for sure and u should visit, you will like it. Good way to step up level of food.
Second, if U are used to great Chinese food, like some places in San Gabriel, than you may not like this place much. You might say it is horrible.
Last way to judge this place is if u go get some drinks, like in the jazz place nearby, get a solid buzz and than go there before heading out to more bars, if this is the plan, this place will be a good experience.
Overall, I give this place a B– in food and C+ in service, waiters are watching TV often or reading the newspaper.
There is a bar on first floor, total hole in the wall… my type if bar so drink before u eat for healthier digestion so I’ve heard from the guy outside the bar. He looked totally credible so…

Come and see the picture of Pat Morita (Mr. Miyagi) with the owner and other pictures with Hollywood stars. This used to be the hottest spot in town. However, the food is still great and the service excellent. They also have a full bar and the drinks are strong. Come here and be treated like a VIP with beer competitive prices. Quality is great. Also the restrooms are very clean!

A friend from out of town wanted to see the sites so I took him to Chinatown As long as I’ve been in LA I never been to Chinatown.
We saw Hop Louie, seen it in countless movies, and decided to give it a try. As you walk it it looks a little gloomy and the carpet could be replace or shampooed. We took the stairs up to the dinning area and found it to be very clean and decorative. We sat near a window and have a good view of downtown. We ordered from their lunch specials and it was good! For under $ 6 with had a good lunch with a great view.

Hop Louie reminds me of my favorite SF chinatown dive bars (Mr. Bings, Buddha Lounge, Li Po) with dark lighting and strong cheap drinks.

Good food, reasonable prices for downtown Chinatown. Service is ridiculous. The servers are not very nice and they hand you hot plates vs. putting it in front of you. Other than bad service, I love this place and the food. I got the shrimp fried rice, fried wontons and fried shrimp. Fried shrimp tasted a little tasteless, but everything else was great.

How sad this place has become. The décor is shabby and worn out. The place is dingy and smells terrible. The food used to be good but today is awful. The sweet and
sour pork was bland, the «fried rice» was steamed rice with little cheap shrimp and the noodles had something the claimed was chicken. Nothing had any flavor except the almond cookies they give you after the crappy food they served you. Don’t use the restroom, it’s pretty dirty. The place was a Chinatown icon… Not so much anymore. I was so disappointed!

Came here toward the tail end of a pub crawl with a group. Most of us were three sheets to the wind or nearly dead. The highlight of this place was the bartender. He was a portly gentleman, who looked sleep-​deprived. Upon talking to him enough, he struck me as possibly clinically depressed or maybe he was just having a bad day. We asked him what kind of beers they had and he gruffly said something I don’t really remember, but I do remember getting a Tsingtao. It was ok and he did a good job with opening it. Then we ordered some food — the sweet and sour sauce was pretty good and it restored my will to live.
There was a lonely-​looking, unaccompanied pack of Marlboros left on the bar, and I was like «oh, did somebody leave these?» And reached for them. He said, «oh those? No, it’s a patrons, don’t touch it! Leave it alone.» I accepted that answer because his whole demeanor was just so homicidal, so real. I slowly dropped the pack, like a criminal who drops his weapon right before he is shot by the police anyway. He was keeping things real for us.
About five minutes later one of my friends came up behind us at the bar we and my friend were sitting at, and said, «what’s up?» I told him «we are getting some food, and look, I have this Tsingtao, it’s ok. See those cigarettes on the bar next to me? Don’t touch them.»
So my friend of course picks them up and investigates them, there seemed to be about ten or twelve cigarettes in there, and then the bartender immediately becomes enraged. «What are you doing touching those? They’re not yours. They’re another man’s cigarettes. Put them down. Get out of here. GET OUT OF HERE!!»
My friend puts the pack of cigarettes down and kind of backs away out of the bar (for like three minutes, but then he came back in). My other friend and I side-​eyed each other and took knowing swigs of our Tsingtaos. We had stumbled onto this bartender’s at least pet peeve and possibly his raison d’être. Maybe it’s a cultural thing that we were too inebriated to understand but it was surreal and I’m glad we were part of it. That bartender is a Hall of Famer. You and me, all of us, we need to get our shit together.
I still remember that sweet and sour sauce.

I travel to China pretty regularly and I have to admit, the Chinese restaurants I’ve tried in Southern California, just don’t do it for me. This was the case for me a few weekends ago, when I stopped in for dinner, at Hop Louie. Note — I didn’t hit the bar.
From the service, to the bland food, it wasn’t a positive experience for me. I get it — how restaurants will cater to the tastes of the masses and I should have lowered my expectations when my friend and i walked in, as there were no Chinese people eating there. I looked the most Chinese of all the patrons.
I’m not trying to be funny — just frustrated that it’s hard to find good, authentic Chinese food in Southern California, in LA’s China Town for that matter.
I guess it’s good if you like Americanized Chinese food, however, if you’re looking for authentic, skip Hop Louie’s.