Huolala

Driving back into town, we made a stop off of 10 and found easy parking in a big lot behind the restaurant. We ordered way too much food for 2 of us and had to box most of it twice cooked pork belly with veggies was tasty although too salty for our tastes. Mental note to self to ask to withhold msg next time. The fried fish with spicy peppers came out piping hot and so light and flaky breaking. Fried duck with garlic, we could have skipped. Deep fried was tasty though. And the garlic sauce was so good. We even dipped the fried fish nuggets in it! Last but not least the garlic beans was very garlicky and our favorite dish. We ordered medium spicy and it was the perfect spicy level.
Service was friendly. We would definitely come back to try more dishes.

The restaurant itself is small and kind of easy to miss. Parking in the back. Everything was delicious. Full of flavor & spicy, just how I like it! Attentive and friendly service.

Ate here last night because it is close to La Granada salsa club and had great ratings. We ordered Eggplant and Garlic sauce, Beef in Cumin sauce and Sautéed Grean beans with garlic. All the dishes were good but had a little too much salt and the cumin in the beef dish was overpowering. The level of spice was perfect. The service was great and food came out fairly quickly. I would go back and ask them to tone down the salt on everything or leave it out and use a little less cumin if I got the beef dish again.
Oh and there is tons of garlic which we love but make sure you have some mints in your car!

Huolala is a legit Szechuan restaurant. I’m surprised they aren’t more popular. The restaurant is never busy so I can always find parking right in front and get a table right away. The service is also pretty good for a Chinese restaurant.
Take note that this is very much a Szechuan restaurant. You won’t find the more typical Chinese dishes here and most things on the menu are very oily and spicy.
My favorite dish is the rice noodle with spicy and sour soup. This dish is actually not a noodle soup at all, at least not in the traditional sense. It’s a clear noodle that comes in an extremely oily broth that is too flavorful to drink. You are just supposed to eat the noodle and leave the oily soup.
Their dishes are reasonably priced. It was actually even cheaper before they started selling groupon deals but I believe the price went up a little bit since. The portions are large though and the food is pretty good so overall, it’s still a good deal.

They somehow forgot our water fish order (they apologized!), but that was okay– we ordered waaay too much food for such a small group.
Green beans weren’t actually all that spicy, and the twice cooked pork, while veggie-​heavy, was surprisingly good.
And the dan dan noodle… mmmmmm good. Stir it up real good, enjoy the flavors and the slow burn along with the proper hint of peanut and peanut butter buried in all the heat and spiciness.
Service is pretty decent for a Chinese place, the interior is decidedly low-​rent but well maintained, there’s a big parking lot in the back, and the sign on the door still says Chung King. *grins*

I’m told that this restaurant’s name translates to «Fire — Hot — Hot».
«Fire — Hot — Hot» are redundant words that aptly describe their food, and also what I’d be yelling if running out of a burning building.
I love fiery Sichuan food, and like everyone else, that’s why I initially came here. But ironically, my fav after several visits is a delicate dish called «fish cubes noodle». The first time I ordered it, the lady boss warned me – almost apologetically — that it’s NON-​spicy.
I feel like I’m the only guy who orders this non-​spicy item at this fire-​breathing restaurant. I’m writing this review so more people will order this oddball dish and ensure it stays on the menu… for me. It’s selfish.
One tip: this soup noodle is best when ordered to go. it’s easier to appreciate the textures of the ingredients (crisp bamboo, slippery wood ears, al dente noodles) when lukewarm. Time also deepens the broth’s flavor.
At home waiting for the noodles to settle, I put it in a nice porcelain bowl and dressed it up with lacquered chopsticks. Doesn’t it look delicious? Yes, get in your car. Not my house, to the restaurant.

**important note: this place has no booze**
However this Sichuan food is f*cking excellent and it’s rare that I end up not being able to eat food because it’s so hot and that happened with their cumin beef. Which again, was excellent.
Also the food portions were quite large. The Dan Dan noodles appetizer was like a whole meal. The spicy, crispy chicken was fantastic and the side of green beans we had was also pretty spectacular.
Also not entirely sure how they would have bad service but it seemed verging on over attended to so didn’t see any sign of that. We were some of the only round eyes in there but a young abc decided to translate for us with no invitation. Great! Really appreciated the quality of food and how we were treated. I think they were also having a chuckle at how many peppers we took down although all in good humor.
Highly recommend.

Food was delicious and the service was great too. I came to eat around 8pm and the place was empty. We were the only ones in the restaurant. I used a Groupon I had bought online. Crispy garlic duck was a favorite because it was so tasty and easy to eat since it had no bones. Beware though, you’ll smell like garlic for the next day. The spicy lamb was good and the string beans also hit the spot. Prices are on the higher side.

Quite some time ago I purchased a Groupon for Huolala. We had been running errands ALL day today. So we decided we would take advantage of one. I had already checked out the reviews and was so undecided because so many of the dishes sounded delicious. We were NOT disappointed. We had the Fried fish filet with hot peppers, House special fried rice and the string beans. All 3 were so good. But my favorite was the fish. We’ve already decided this place is definitely a do over and over again. But I will say you will have to like SPICY!!!

I was looking for a Sichuan restaurant open past 9 in the area this past weekend and somewhat randomly came across Huolala.
For those addressing an MSG problem, I did not notice one on my visit (lots of MSG makes me sick).
Between the two of us, we ordered the mapo tofu, sauteed lamb with hot peppers (aka cumin lamb), spicy fish (which we asked to modify to do half beef — aka water cooked beef and fish), cold jelly noodle, and rice ball with wine dessert (aka tang yuan). It was way too much food.
The lamb was incredible. I had the spiced lamb at Cassia in Santa Monica last night, and they were basically identical in flavor profile (though cooked differently). I basically devoured the entire lamb tray on my own… including the fried rice crispy nuggets. It was tender, perfectly crispy on the outside, and extremely well seasoned. I didn’t notice the gaminess at all.
The mapo tofu was similarly one of the best I’ve had. It had a bit more of the black bean flavor than I’m used to, which I found uniquely delicious. The water cooked fish and beef were also on par with similar establishments. Just note that the beef was stewed beef (like the kind you see in beef noodle soup) rather than the thin strips you usually see at other restaurants. The cold jelly noodle was also a standout. The sauce was much better than at Yunnan Garden, my usual go-​to, though the noodles were actually noodles and thus denser and less gelatinous than I’d prefer. All in all, the meal was one of the best Sichuan meals I’ve had, and I’ve had MANY. This may have replaced Yunnan Garden/​Restaurant as my new favorite.
I highly recommend getting the tang yuan for dessert, as it really helped me deal with the heat, which was intense.

We had the Groupon and paid $ 24 for $ 48 worth of food. We ordered:
1. House Special Fried Rice
2. Twice Cooked Pork Belly — Must Have!
3. Chef Special Fish Fillet
4. Chicken in Dry Pepper
5. String Beans
They tasted pretty good. The portion is regular size for Szechuan restaurant.

It seems like they toned down on the MSG level this time. Yes! The food was delicious. We were all panting from the spice level in the fish dish. Service is attentive and friendly.
It is really easy to miss the driveway to the restaurant’s back lot so pay attention when you’re looking for it.

Get the groupon! It is $ 12 for $ 24 worth of food. I went a little overboard and got way too many dishes for two people. Here’s what I ordered:
1. Crispy duck with garlic sauce-​I highly recommend getting this dish. It’s boneless duck fried with a light batter. $ 13.99 for quite a small portion. Sauce was not needed because the duck tasted great by itself.
2. Egg tomato soup with noodles-​pretty good. Quintessential Chinese comfort food.
3. Jelly noodles– very spicy! My husband liked this one.
4. Green beans-​A+! Must order
5. Spicy lamb– Never had this before but this was quite delicious too. Lamb stir fried with lots of dried red peppers and crispy rice on top.
Will revisit!

Fair warning: don’t try this at home.
Their hot pot is the stuff of Balthazar’s stomach. Like acid. If you love spicy food this is beyond spicy.
Good place to test your might. their unique chili oil beef is so spicy.
Good service they are really hospitable and the food is really surprisingly good.
However yes this is a real NIGHTMARE if you’re not into spicy food. I mean burning hot. They have siuchan authentic flavors.

Came in with a Groupon, told them before ordering and that might have been a mistake.
Ordered the glass noodle chicken and they literally gave us all bones and neck. The dish was 11 or 12 bucks at menu price and they gave literally the amount of meat equivalent to a single chicken leg. Every piece of chicken had about 2 millimeter of meat as if they carved the meat out for another customer’s dish. Some of the pieces were just bone and skin. LOL kind of funny in retrospect but it wasn’t funny for us when we were eating it.
I feel kind of bad for writing this review because their service was great and the food was decent. But come on!
I don’t use Groupons much but I’ve never felt so dirty using one. Definitely not using them in Chinese restaurants anymore. It’s not like we got some great deal because this place isn’t cheap, ended up spending $ 45 bucks for two main dishes and one side dish. Rice was extra. With the groupon it was around $ 32 after tips. None of us were full.

FOOD:
Lamb is super flavorful and isn’t overbearing with the mouth numbing spice — the meat was super tender and didn’t taste «gamey» at all. It has Rice Krispies (yes…) in it and is stir fried with peppers, ginger, garlic, and chili oil. The portion was very fair and fed about four of us.
There is also a chili fish which is deep fried and there is a chili sauce thrown over it with green onions, chili, garlic, and chili oil. Fish tastes decent given that it is probably frozen and not live. Once again not overly mouth numbing which allowed me to enjoy all the other flavors in there.
Eggplant with garlic sauce was our last dish which was just OK. I don’t really care for eggplant but the garlic sauce that they make it with is delicious. The eggplant wasn’t overcooked which was a huge plus — I don’t enjoy eating soggy/​soft eggplant!
Sauteed seasonal vegetable with garlic sauce — once again another garlic featured dish! I really enjoyed the sautéed vegetable because they put an ample amount of garlic in it which I love. You can’t go wrong with this dish!
SERVICE:
The service here is just OK. The waitress came around two or three times to check on us but we had to ask for more water because she only asked if the food was OK — but did not refill our water. Parking could be better but there is some street parking available.

I have been wanting to check out this place for quite some time. Once I saw the Groupon deal $ 24 for $ 48, I jumped on it and headed over to Huolala.
The staff were all super friendly. Our waitress actually started speaking Mandarin to us, then quickly apologized and switched to English once she saw the blank stares on our face. She was also very welcoming and didn’t mind us using our Groupon.
For our group of 5, we ordered the minced beef soup, satueed lamb, braised fish, seasonal vegetable, and eggplant.
The soup was good, tasty and not overly salty. Minced beef and peas were cooked nicely and the broth was a good consistency. Came in a huge bowl and had the perfect amount for about 5 – 6 people.
The sautéed lamb was definitely the best dish. It was very flavorful and lamb was fried to a perfect crunch. Wasn’t too spicy but definitely had lots of red peppers and peppercorn.
Braised fish was a little small for the price but was very tasty with its sweet and sour sauce. I also liked the fried skin and flakey soft meat.
The seasonal vegetable was regular baby bok choy and was cooked nicely but didn’t have much taste.
Eggplant was a little too oily and also a little bland. Definitely have had better eggplant in garlic sauce before.
Huolala was a cute little place with great service but the food was just average. May come back to try some of the other dishes in the future.

We found this restaurant both by Groupon and by Unilocal.We bought a Groupon for $ 20 for $ 48 worth of food. This restaurant is located on Garfield just north of Newmark and right across from Cocary Shabu Shabu. When we arrived, there were quite a few people in the restaurant. We were greeted by the nice lady who speaks both English and Mandarin.
There are about 3 round tables that fit about 5 – 6 people, 4 rectangle tables that fit 4 – 5 people, and a few small tables that fit 2 people. We had a party of 5 so we sat at the round table and we sat comfortably with ample amount of space on the table for food.
We ordered 5 dishes…
Minced beef soup — good, nothing special, not too salty. The peas were slightly on the harder side. The meat was slightly dry.
Seasonal vegetable — more on the bland side. It is stir fried with garlic, but didn’t taste too much of the garlic in the dish. Nothing special.
Lamb with red peppers — This was probably my favorite dish. It is served with crispy rice and was perfectly spiced. There wasn’t too much peppercorn so my mouth wasn’t numb after eating it. The lamb was NOT gamey at all. In fact, I wasn’t even able to tell that it was lamb.
Dry braised yellow fish — This was also pretty delicious. Not too spicy and it was flavorful. The meat was pretty moist as well.
Overall, I may come back here again for their lamb with red peppers and dry braised yellowfish. I could probably pass on the other dishes. It was totally worth it with the Groupon. Service is excellent, the lady was very nice and pleasant.

Huolala is a hidden gem in Monterey Park. Located a slightly south of Garvey Avenue on Garfield Avenue. There are non-​spicy dishes available (such as Beef Noodles, Tomato-​based Soups, and Vegetables) but they are known for their spicy dishes. Don’t be expecting anything fancy. I came here on a Tuesday evening, and they don’t even have the AC on! You can imagine the sweat coming down my forehead as I was satisfying my spicy cravings.
= FOOD =
Generous serving and great flavors!
1) Hot and Spicy Rice Noodle Soup ($ 5.99): This was delicious. Topped with crushed peanuts and green onions, they have the spicy and sour flavors of the soup base just right. Enjoyed every last bite of this dish.
2) Cabbage with Small Dried Shrimp ($ 6.99): Generous serving of vegetables. This dish is definitely welcome when everything else you ordered is covered with chili pepper!
3) Cold Jelly Noodles with Chicken ($ 10.99): This dish is one of their signature dish. However, I am not too crazy about it because the cold jelly noodles didn’t really pick up the spiciness. The chicken was chopped in a way that you have to be careful with every bite because they are bone pieces everywhere. Flavors on the chicken was good, but there wasn’t much besides skin and bones.
** If you don’t eat rice, remember to tell your waitress you don’t need rice because they charge $ 1.00/person **
= SERVICE =
Restaurant was not busy during my visit, and waitress was attentive.
= PARKING =
There is a parking lot behind the restaurant, I believe you can enter through the backdoor via the kitchen. Street parking is also available in front of the restaurant.

My GF and I always have trouble deciding where to eat without driving too far. After browsing on Unilocal for about 30min, we found this place. The low reviews and good ratings didn’t bother me. It was a new restaurant and I love spicy food so we decided to come check it out. I do not believe there is a private parking lot, just street parking but I might be wrong.
We entered the restaurant and we were immediately greeted. The inside is pretty small but clean and tidy. We got seated and were handed out menus. I didn’t do the ordering, my GF did.
Cold Appetizer: It was about $ 5 and you get to choose 3 cold appetizer items. My GF chose pickled cucumbers, seaweed, and tofu. I love the picked cucumbers and the seaweed — very fresh. The tofu was a bit dry and tough, but very tasty.
Pig Blood Hot Pot: Huge pot that came with Pig Blood, Tripe, Fish, Beef, Been Sprouts. Really delicious and spicy. You MUST order this and get it with plain white rice. Although spicy, you can definitely taste the other ingredients. I would come back for this again and again on cold nights.
Napa Cabbage with Shrimp: Since we had a spicy pot, my GF ordered this side of veggies to cut the heat. Very tasty and fresh
What I enjoyed the most here was the service. SUPER FRIENDLY staff. Always asked if everything was okay and if everything tasted good. Food was really good as well, but it was service that did it for me. It is always a plus eating at a small family owned restaurant — food is good, price is right, and service is spectacular.