Hip Hot

Absolutely a great find in the San Gabriel Valley. Not only was the food delicious, especially the Crab and Dan Dan Noodles, but also the service. We were there with a small group last night and the young owner came over to our table at the end of the night and performed a Chinese Tea ceremony. She was proud of her restaurant and it showed in her demeanor. Thanks for a great night and educating us about your journey in opening this restaurant. Will definitely highly recommend.

VERY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE！！！Eventhough this place food is ok，but their workers are very rude！ They serve the «bigger customer» which are those who order variety of foods. I’ve had a bad experience here. They do not follow «first come first serve» I ordered the food first，and I wait almost an hour for the food. And for the bigger party who was behind me， they got all of their food before me. And the server give me that «so what» face. Would never come here again.

Ambiance: modern and stylish decorations, they have different underneath table concepts, like chess, Lego, mahjong, pai gow etc. high ceilings and soft lighting.
Service: most waiters were very friendly and fast, patient with requests and gave proper suggestion
Food & Drink: in general good
Szechuan style bun with pork — *** spicy and tasty
Scallop in shell with garlic — *** average taste
Abalone with house special soy sauce — *** chewy and salty
House special fish stew with pickle — **** sour and flavorful, recommend
House special stir fired crab — **** $ 35.99 fresh Dungeness crab meat with chili sauce, potato fries, sticky rice, spicy and tasty, recommend
Boiled beef — **** tender and juicy meat, recommend
Brown sugar rice cake — **** sweet and mouthful, recommend
Plum juice — *** average taste
Watermelon juice — ***** $ 18.99 the container is an entire watermelon, very interesting and refreshing, highly recommend
Price: a bit pricy but generous portions, expect $ 40 each person if u order crabs and their specials drinks

Must try dishes the spicy crab. It is the most feature one for this restaurant.
The taste for most food is delicious, but try to avoid the vegetables only dishes.
Also, some dishes is a little bit hot for non-​spicy fans.
Try their drinks, like green beans, pineapple, and watermelon.
Cons, it is really pricey that there is only a little bit crab or meat for each dishes with a lot lot of potatoes and onions.

This is the place to go to at Atlantic Square! We’ve had the pineapple drink. It’s really good and the portion is enough for two. Hubby finally got to try the beer with dry ice. It gave him a quick buzz so he’s happy. We’ve tried the standard stir-​fried with different main ingredients: with shrimp and with pigs feet. I liked the pigs feet version much much more. The dish comes with lots of ingredients like bell peppers, peanuts, potatoes, and onion. I wish they would make the potato part shoestring and crispy because it would kick the dish up another notch. Still, it has good flavor. I didn’t like the mixed veggie stir fried, but it was probably because I didn’t fully understand what I ordered. In any case, this place is great: authentic, big portions, and almost always flavorful.

Food tastes good. I’m from Szechuan so I know how authentic Szechuan cuisine tastes like. I would give prob 7.5÷10 in terms of food, among Chinese restaurants in LA.
However, services is kinda bad. You have to ask the servers to get tea, get to-​go box for you. They didn’t even ask if you want water or not! We were just sitting there after we came in and we had to ask for water! They were not even busy.
Service xxcks, even in Chinese restaurants

I love spicy, and this is really good restaurant for our of spicy lovers, you’ll love it. The seafood here is really great. I always come this plaza to watch movie, because here is AMC, and there are lots of Chinese restaurants near by, think this is the greatest one!

Oh, man. .
if you like spicy. .
if you know what «ma la» means. .
If you can handle, even dream about, hard core Chinese cuisine dishes like pig or duck blood and kidney. .
If you like cool and hip interior design that transcends cultures and genres, i.d. that somehow is a successful mashup of styles and elements that intuitively would, should, clash. .
You must try this place.
I’ll let the pictures (and comments) speak for themselves.

Hip Hot is definitely hip and the food was definitely hot! We order the following:
Beef Dry Pot — This is like a szechuan style lomo saltado which is a Peruvian dish. Complete with beef, onions and potato I felt like I was experience cross cultural foods. It was delightful.
Szechuan chicken with dry chillis was tasty, but my friend was disappointed because he wanted it to me spicier.
Dan Dan Noodle (6.99) — Pass on this. It wasn’t that unique and is oddly categorized as a dessert.
The pineapple drink cooled my taste buds. Love this place for the youthful energy and authentic dishes.

WHAT — THE FAWWWWWWWWK HIP HOT.
I am diggin’ yo set up and yo grub but I gotz to tellz youz that your name is wickity wack like my attempt right now to sound hip and relevant. Where did you get your name from?
Name aside. WOW.
Chengdu Taste on Valley better hold on to their butts because this Szechuan food is some BEAST. It’s like their food was delivered by angels but meant for the spicy tongues of HELL. It’s just so SINFULLY delicious and a SHIT FIRESTORM in your mouth. It has been awhile since I found a unique Chinese dining experience like this that caters towards my Millennial tastes.
If your date can handle Szechuan hell fire you should take her here on a date.
1. ENVIRONMENT
This place is some cray cray shit. Cool setup. Tables got interesting knick knacks inside of them. They serve beer in towers that bubble with what I believe is dry ice. Even the plates they serve the food in is beautiful. Presentation. It’s as if this restaurant was aiming to please white people but decided to go for the Chinese palate.
2. FOOD
FOOD IS SOME DOPE ASS SHIET. I got the lamb chops that was expensive as fuck but delivered me an earth shattering orgasm when I bit into it. IF YOU A CARNE you’re going to enjoy biting into this thing. It’s like tender but at the same time it caters to that SAVAGERY of ripping meat off the bone. OM NOM NOM. I also got the fish in the red chili pot. It’s not as spicy as Chengdu but I ain’t hatin’ on it. It’s fun fishing for stuff in it. It has lotus root, wood ear fungus, and bamboo which made for a delicious, hardcore Chinese dining experience. White people, you may not be ready for this jelly.
3. BEVERAGES
I got a coconut. Like… a real coconut. They did a perfect circle cut on the top and gave me a spoon to carve out the meat inside. THAT’S SOME DOPE ASS SHIT. I DON’T KNOW WHY I’M SO IMPRESSED WITH THIS BECAUSE I COULD JUST GO TO THE MARKET TO GET A COCONUT FOR LIKE THE QUARTER OF THE PRICE BUT SHIT FOOLZ THAT COCONUT WATER REALLY MAKES THE SPICE OF THIS SZECHUAN MUY CALIENTE BURN IN MY MOUTH DISAPPEAR. They also serve pineapple beverages.
This place has all the fixings. Such presentation. Much yum. Wow.
Hip Hot… It’s like you decided to serve white hipsters but decided to serve Asians instead and I’m so glad you did. In the future I’ll be expecting you to light my food on fire, have a monkey serve me, and cure cancer BECAUSE YOU NEED TO KEEP UP THIS DINING EXPERIENCE. My heart is full. *tear*.

I love eating spicy, but for some reason Schezuan is not my cup of tea. But because my boyfriend and I wanted to try something new in the area, we decided to give this restaurant a try.
First off, the restaurant is very spacious and has that casual atmosphere. Everyone was talking loudly with their family and friends, and everyone seems to enjoy their food. Good vibe!
Menu is not too overwhelming like a lot of Chinese restaurants. Everything was under a specific categories: you either get your seafood, your land food, your vegetables, or appetizers. We opted for the sea urchins (not on the menu) for $ 15 and the green bean jelly noodle for our appetizers. The sea urchins were served on top of cucumber slices, which sat on top of a pile of ice, which was stuffed in the sea urchin shell. This was not worth $ 15 for 4 pieces. The presentation cost $ 7 and the actual 4 piece unis were $ 8. The green bean jelly was not as delicious as what a lot of people were saying. The chili paste was a little too over powering and the jelly was just weird. But if you like this Schezuan taste and a slimy jello-​y texture, this is for you.
For the entrée, we ordered a spicy fish pot and fried chicken. Of course, everything will be covered with chili. Now, do not be afraid of the presentation because little ¾ of the plate or pot is literally RED, but it is not as spicy. The fish pot is extremely HUGE. It can be shared by 3 – 4 people. I like how this dish is filled with lots of fish and seaweed. The seaweed is supposed to cleanse your pallet, but I guess not in this case, since it is drenched in the oily pot. Even though the pot is oily, it does not give us that oily film in our mouths. The fish portion was very generous and was cooked perfectly. The fried chicken is super delicious as well. Every little piece was deep fried perfectly. The thing about this is that the chicken pieces are so tiny. The pieces can even be considered as crumbs. But these are delicious crumbs haha.
We ended paying around $ 75 for our meal. We even brought home leftovers for my parents and lunch for the next day. For portions and prices like this, it is best to bring at least a family of four. Other than that, great vibe and food.

Goldilocks Zone
You spicy lovers probably know there’s about 3 types of spiciness. First, there’s the mouth numbing, stomach clinching, butt burning, call in sick the next day type of spicy food that’s comparable to that hangover that made you wish you never drank again. Not for me. Then there’s the day to day Tabasco drenching, Cholula addicted, kim chi hoarding type of spicy lovers who can’t eat a Totinos Pizza (Yum!) without painting it red with Sriracha. Noble, but also not for me. Finally there’s the adventure loving, flavor blasted, slow cooked chili heat, true depth of hot flavor inventive type of spicy food that’s godly and would taste like getting a lick of Channing Tatum in Magic Mike, that’s what Hip Hot is all about.
It Hurts Soooo Good
Spicy food isn’t just about the taste or about how you can sneak it in someone’s burger to make them regret being your friend, but what that taste represents. It’s a jolt, a shock, an awakening. In the midst of monotony, spicy foods add that bit of heat that life can many times be missing. You hate that it burns but you keep going because as you get through the heat the flavor finally kicks in and you get it, it all just makes sense.
The double cooked pork and beef dry hot pot in combination with a pineapple smoothie to top it off might be the best 3 hit combinations out there, it’s perfect together. All those 2.3.4 star reviews didn’t touch on these items. Your welcome world.

If you like spicy food, you have come to the right place. This is a Szechuan restaurant located in Atlantic Square. This place is modern looking, unlike a lot of the Chinese restaurants in the area.
I came with a big group and we got to try many dishes. Most dishes were spicy. My favorite were the razor clams and the pork. I didn’t like the uni steamed egg. Uni was not very fresh. The rest of the dishes were okay. The best part was that there was no corkage fee! It was a good dining experience and will return with spice lovers!

BOYCOTT HIP HOT! The spicy clam dish (see photo) made me sick!
My boyfriend took me to Hip Hot last night for what was supposed to be a nice Valentine’s Day meal.
At first, everything seemed to go pretty well. The servers were rushed, but they did their best to take our orders and attend us.
When the spicy fried chicken and spicy clams came to our table, they looked O.K. I thought that the clams just tasted O.K., not spectacular, but I did not think that anything was wrong with them. The spicy fried chicken (see photo) actually tasted pretty good, but we both had to drink a water after almost every bite.
We did not order a mini-​keg of dry iced beer (see photo), but the one at the table next to us looked pretty interesting with the changing lights inside of the foggy dry ice container.
It was not until about two hours after our meal that I got so sick that I had to have my boyfriend take me home because my tummy hurt so much. I still am sick today!
AVOID!

Hip Hot is one of the many new-​ish dining spots that have cropped up in Monterey Park’s Times Square megaplex. I came here a few weeks ago on a «chilly» weeknight in search of hot pot. Because 65 degrees is chilly and hip hot = hot pot. No?
Well, there was no hot pot. What we did find was a lot of semi-​overpriced, «elevated» Sichuan food. The price points here were considerably higher than what one would find in surrounding SGV eateries. But I suppose there are more overhead costs to consider here. Plus they’re kind of going for a different aesthetic (ish?).
We ordered a few small items to share:
— Sliced fish soup with diced ginger and thousand-​year-​old egg
— Spicy liangfen (mung bean noodle) salad
— Stir-​fried cabbage with Sichuan peppercorn and black vinegar (one of my favorites)
The food was all fantastic. Flavorful, generously portioned, and tasted pretty damn authentic. I am a picky douche when it comes to Chinese food, as is my husband, so Hip Hot was a pleasant surprise. Can’t wait to return to try all of the other deliciousness on the menu.

The interior decoration of this place gives off a modern and hipster vibe, which is a big contrast to most Szechuan restaurants that more traditional. The food here is decent, but not comparable to the hole in a wall places.
My boyfriend and I were not thinking straight because we were too hungry and ordered the four dishes. We got the string beans, beef dry pot, pork belly, and Dan Dan noodles. My favorite was definitely the Dan Dan noodles. It’s very flavorful and the spiciness just gives it an extra kick to it! Pork belly was good as well but it’s kind of hard to go wrong with that because of the extra garlic that brings out the flavors. The beef dry pot was ok, the beef could be a little more tender and it was a little more on the spicier side so it was harder for me to handle. But the potatoes in that dish was pretty good. It’s just like French fries but better! Lastly the green beans were ok. Flavors were there but I just thought it should look a little more flat and should be a little more dry, at least that’s the way I like it.
We obviously didn’t finish the whole thing and to go everything that was left. It became my lunch and dinner for the next five days which I enjoyed and have no complaints. I just like Szechuan food a lot in general. Despite the good food here, I’m probably not coming back anytime soon because there are a lot of other really good Szechuan food out there to try!

I can see why this place is popular with it’s target demographic of mainly young well off chinese patrons. The décor is pardon the pun «hip» and there are a variety of gimmicky items such as the watermelon keg (a whole watermelon cut open on the top, blended, and then inserted with a tap so it looks like a mini keg). The overall vibe is that of a trendy eatery rather than a more traditional chinese restaurant.
The actual food is only OK if you ask me. Being that this is located in the heart of SGV, there are plenty of good chinese food everywhere… and more importantly, plenty of good AND cheaper chinese food. Chengdu Taste comes to mind. The stir fry chicken with dry chili was meh… the chicken pieces were smaller than average. The «fresh» uni was also meh… EMC seafood has way better uni. I know dungeness crab prices have been high for a few years now but 36 bucks for what looks like a 1lb crab is pretty pricey.
But seeing as how every other table is ordering the 140 dollar King crab I guess these guys know what they are doing with their pricing. And heck, these «King» crabs look more like «baby» crabs.
Anyways, the bottom line is that this place is not bad but for the price it’s pretty bad.

I must say Hip Hop is on my favorite list of szechuan restaurants. The boiled fish was different from Cui Hoa Luo or Spicy City. The flavor was closer to Szechuan Impression.
Overall the food was quite spicy and there was noticeable amount of szechuan pepper corns. Dishes of note were the Spicy beef tendon, the mung bean noodles, the lamb dry pot hot pot, the mountain yam with black mushrooms and the fried cabbage.
The price was moderate. It was slightly more than Spicy City or Cui Hoa Lou but this does not look like a hole in the wall. The décor is modern with spots lights and futuristic spherical lamps. The furnishings and furniture is quite tastefully appointed. The clientele seems to be the younger Chinese crowd. Noise levels was much higher with the larger space and no sound absorbent surfaces.

The Service: Great! Very attentive. Good customer service!
The Food: If you LOVE spicy food, this is the place for you!!!
Rice Cake with Brown Sugar — HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Deep fried rice cake with brown sugar sauce. Not too sweet, crispy outside, chewy inside.
Dongzhikou style green bean jelly — Very refreshing! Small order though.
I love all the dishes with intestines… thanks to my Chinese parents for raising me to be «fearless» when it comes to food! :D
The Parking: Underground parking in the plaza (free)

HOT AFFAIRS
I thought this place is a hot pot place, but it’s not the case which is not a big problem for me as I enjoy Szechuan dishes anyhow.
Parking: FREE in the complex’s parking structure
Location: next to Green Island restaurant (the GPS from Unilocal is not very accurate but it’s easily located)
PLACE: bright, high ceiling, family style feeling, each table has different decoration theme, beautiful wall art with cute lightings.
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FOODS:
#DAN-​DAN NOODLE: Interestingly, this item is categorized as DESSERTS in the menu. When asked, the waitress said the local people in Szechuan will eat this noodle after they savor the main dishes. OK, good explanation, but why it’s served to us at the very beginning of the meal if this is a dessert (?) Anyhow, we’re in the USA.
#UNI STEAM EGG: the egg was quite watery though but in overall good taste.
#DONGZIKOU STYLE GREEN BEAN JELLY NOODLE: for you who expect it coming as green color, you will be disappointed because the color of this mung bean jelly noodle is milky white. Taste: Delish (light fresh with soy sauce, green onion, sesame oil, roasted sesame seeds).
#STIR-​FRY IN HOUSE SPECIAL CHILI SAUCE DUNGENESS CRAB-​the whole crab: tender flavorful, the meat has sweet flavor, it has been crushed, just need a bit effort to pull the meat out, not too much hassle and mess. We also got plastic hand glove to keep our hands clean. However, to our biggest disappointment, the restaurant had removed all the creamy innards and the sweet juices including eggs which somewhat look like caviar. That’s my favorite part of Dungeness Crab!!! When confronted, the waitress said they encountered 1 (one) sick customer in the past, so they decide to remove that part. Next time, we shall tell them not to remove it when ordering (but how we know beforehand as this is our first time)?
#SZECHUAN STYLE FISH POT: big portion, tender juicy fish. It has Sezchuan pepper taste which is unique aroma and very spicy. The spice (a light citrus flavor) will tongue-​numbing you and give tingling sensation. Very good!!! I totally satisfied with this dish!!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for anyone wants to taste real Szechuan dish.
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DRINK:
#Pineapple: when order 1, you will get the pineapple drink inside the real fruit including 1 medium cup since they have to remove the juice from the pineapple and adding some ingredients. Taste good refreshing.
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DESSERT: RICE CAKE with BROWN SAUCE: warm sweet and delicious
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SPICY SPICES GALORE!!!