Xiang Wei Lou

This little hole in the wall is perhaps a diamond in the rough. My family oftens frequents the place and for good reason. First and foremost their Mapo Tofu is to die for. After 3 years of searching I can’t seem to find any other Mapo dish that even comes close. The sweet yet mild spiciness of the sauce pair perfectly with the soft tofu. The dish practically melts in the mouth and compliments the rice is pure harmony. Secondly, the Shredded beef’s sweet juiciness works well with the slight bitterness of what i assume is baby celery. That on top of the hot fiery flavors of the chilli is enough to sear into your memories for years to come. I highly recommend this Shangri-​la hidden among the commonplace restaurants of the San Gabriel area.

Xiang Wei Lou is my favorite restaurant in the SGV. I’ve been coming here for six years now, and every single time I cry a little inside because I just can’t get this kind of food where I’m going to school.
I might be terribly mangling the names of these using my limited Chinglish, but my favorite dishes here are: Szechuan Chicken, Twice Cooked Pork, Wild Pepper + Chicken Giblets, On Choy, Shredded Potato, Green Beans, and Wild Mushroom in Hot Pot. I’m a huge wuss so I usually get these with low spiciness.
But what really takes the cake is the Wild Pepper and Beef dish. Neither the English nor Chinese name of this dish mentions Celery, but the dish is 50% Chinese celery, a type of celery that’s smaller and much more flavorful than the stuff you can get at Ralph’s.
The beef strips ooze with flavor but taste light and very tender, complementing the crunchiness of the celery. The peppers add a spicy kick that makes you shovel rice in your mouth. The wild mountain peppers are soured from pickling and give an extra dimension of flavor to a dish that would otherwise be only salty and spicy. Each ingredient packs so much flavor that it’s almost surprising that they work so well together. It’s such a clever mix and so delicious that I’ve ordered the dish every single time I’ve come here.
The bad news is that the service sucks. There’s a newish waitress who seems pretty unhappy and bored all the time. It’s probably because this place is open almost to midnight every day, but never gets a full house. Better for you, though — come in, sit down, order, and you’ll get top-​tier Hunan food in minutes.

Food here used to be good, not sure what happened. We ordered the mushroom pot, Kung Pao chicken, spicy fish filet and eggplants… If you order less spicy, the food turns out to be tasteless… the eggplant was OKAY. The waitress never smiles and isn’t very attentive. When I asked her what she recommends she told me to read the chefs special… Not very into working here I guess.

Just ate here on Saturday, and as always the food is great. I LOVE the fuqi feipiam here, ordered zhong la (medium spicy). It gives a slight burn, and they make the mala sauce fresh with sichuan peppercorns (you know when the slight burn is accompanied by a slight numbing of the lips!) I brought my 79-​year-​old lao wei mother here Saturday to try her first Hunan food, and she loved it. We had fuqi feipian, green beans with smoked pork belly, spicy fish head, and cumin lamb. All excellent. I have been here dozens of times, and always try to bring friends and guests here, and everyone likes the food. It probably helps if you can speak a little chinese, or bring a native with you, but I can get by well enough, particularly since I know how to order spiciness level, and can order my favorite dish — fuqi feipian!!!

I had very very bad service here, their owner was very mean which have short hair ! I really don’t recommend this place here !

The food was decent but the service was hooooooorrible! To begin with, there was no air conditioning on an almost 90-​degree day. The waitress offered no services — she just went through the motion with a bad attitude. We did not think she deserved any tip but she «demanded» a 15% tip. When we decided not to tip her she became confrontational. It was a very unpleasant experience and we’ll never go back there.

Holy-​cow! The food here is great. Xiang Wei Lou has authentic Hunan cuisine and if spicy hot is your thing, this is it! Warning though, if you do order very spicy, you’re looking at a double burner from mouth to… well…you know.
I have too many favorites dishes here to remember or list them all. But here are some of my favs:
— steamed spicy fresh whole fish
— braised fish with cabbage
— cumin lamb
— spicy pork intestines
— spicy julienne potatoes
— spicy string beans
— fried tofu
Excuse me, I had to stop the list to keep myself from drooling on my keyboard as I type this review.
Note that this is a cash only business and the waiters/​waitresses I have encountered do not speak English very well. Great service is delivered though along with awesome food.

Great food and open late. The eggplant, spicy fish soup, and stir-​fried hollow green vegetable make it worth the trip.
Once we called ahead to order the whole fish and were underwhelemed. Sure it was good, but I don’t know why everyone on here raves about it.

It’s not Hunan style taste, not even close. They just make their food spicy and try to sell it to those who probably have never been to Hunan and have no idea what the taste should be. I am wondering how this place got 3.5 stars. It is just terrible and does not deserve to be associated with Hunan food. Will never come back again.

Always Love this place. I used to live around this area, here was my routine restaurant. They cooked and sent dishes quickly to each table and the dishes taste sooooo authentic. Today ordered fish head with spicy hot pepper, called them 30 mins ahead and they would get it done before you walk in. Delicious as usual! PS: make sure to order mild spicy if you are not comfortable with spicy food. But I enjoyed the feelings of what medium spicy brought.

After so many years, i still love this place.
When we have time to wait, we would order the spicy fish head under the chef special (30 min wait).
Everything on the menu (including weird stuff like frogs legs) are delicious!
Cash only

Good food and its open late, what could be better?
We ordered the braised pork with brown sauce, boiled sliced beef, chicken chow mein, and sauteed tri-​delight. Most of the dishes are heavy on green onions and/​or ginger slices. The braised pork was nice and tender, but much of it was hidden in green onions. The boiled sliced beef was by far my favorite. The beef was tender and I loved the spicy soup that accompanied it… it was «soup“er good with rice (haha!)
The chicken chow mein left much to be desired… it was small, with maybe like 6 pieces of chicken and a ton of bean sprouts. Meh. The sauteed tri-​delight was a nice and spicy… my favorite part was the eggplants.
You can also specify the level of spicy you want in your dishes which is nice.

Came here because I just happened to be in the Hilton plaza. I have to say from the outside, this place did not attract me either. I had the house fried rice and broiled fish and they didn’t live up to my already low expectations. This area has much better Chinese food, go elsewhere if you don’t want disappointment. The staff look bored and uninterested which didn’t help and I heard them requesting a 15% tip from the table behind me. wth?!
And they only accept cash, and claim to not have a card machine (really?). I won’t be back.

Introduced by a friend and went for dinner gathering even after seening all the low star reviews. We ordered 3 dishes: beef and beef offal, Fish head with spicy hot pepper (little spicy), stir-​fried shredded potato. Not really sure if the fish head’s flavor is authentic or not, but the fish is very fresh. The flavor has a little of tabasco kick in it,
didn’t confirm whether they actually added in there or not. The stir-​fried shredded potato wasn’t oily like it was mentioned by one of the reviewer. The restaurant is not very big, but what amazed me was the low noise level in the restaurant. Normally the Asian people have the tendency to speak loudly even in public. Not sure if it’s a one day kind of thing. Overall experience was good, would go back again for the fish head for sure. Be sure to call in and order the fish head in advance or you’ll have to wait.

My coworker recommended and bought me to this place. It’s located in the same plaza as Ajisan Ramen and Papawalk. Since he’s been here, I let him pick all his favorite dishes. We got cumin lamb, steamed spicy whole fish, and dried turnip with smoked Hunan ham.
I can’t comment whether their Hunan dishes tasted authentic or not, but to me, the flavors didn’t stand out. We ordered everything medium spicy level, and I don’t think they should even be considered mild. Not sure if the waitress misunderstood us since they didn’t seem to know English too well. If I have to pick a favorite dish, I’d go with the steamed fish. Nothing too spectacular. My mom makes better steamed fish.
Two stars because none of the dishes I had that night would make me want to come back again.

I stopped by Xiang Wei Lou on a Monday. I ordered the whole fish for $ 9.99. I had forgotten that fish takes longer to cook.
I ordered the spicy level. It wasn’t spicy at all. I didn’t like the flavor at all. I found it to be inedible.

I love spicy food and was so looking forward to eating some yummy Hunan food. If you just order the steamed fish, I would rate this restaurant a 3.5 star… that dish is perhaps the only flawless dish I’ve eaten here. I have come here twice now and both times, the steamed fish was excellent. The problem is that all the other dishes I’ve tried are just awful. Overall, I would rate it a 2.5 stars.
The Ma Po Tofu was disappointing to say the least. Watered down, broken tofu pieces, wasn’t flavorful or spicy enough (Go to Chung King for the real deal)
Cumin Lamb: I was looking forward to this dish based on the reviews but was disappointed. The meat is hardly visible, you really have to fight your way to the bottom of the plate to get any lamb… it’s full of celery and even the meat pieces are too chewy for my taste. Would not order it again.
Spicy Pepper Beef: Surprised to see that it has the same flavor as the chicken/​lamb dishes. I think most of their meat dishes taste the same… again, full of celery and not enough spice or flavor… disappointing. I hate that they slice the beef in thin strips and then it’s overcooked, making it too chewy.
Hot and Sour Noodle Soup: Not hot and not sour enough. Felt I was having ramen noodles with some mild broth, again meat is cut into thin strips and overcooked… wanted to kick myself for ordering this one.
Service is ok and both times even though I tell them I love my food spicy, the lady server always says «no, medium is good for you». I don’t get it, I keep telling her that I eat really spicy food, yet my dishes are always medium spicy! Guess you have to be Chinese to get the real spicy stuff here…:)

I love spicy. Spicy is good. Spicy is yummy. Spicy is not just hot, but can be very flavorful. Once you’ve had it, you can’t ever go back. A few of my favorite Hunan style foods include twice cooked pork and cumin lamb. Looking for diversity, my Maggie C and my buddy met me here for lunch. The restaurant is small, but fairly clean. For some reason, I can’t stand bone in my food. The chicken dish here was loaded with tiny bones. just not my thing.
Cumin Lam was good. It was AOK. I have to admit, I like the Hunan place one minute away from here… Hunan Chili King much better. Regardless, this place is different and the staff is nice and friendly.

I was craving hunan and picked this place after reading Unilocal reviews for the area. I texted Nick H and another buddy to join me here.
The restaurant wasn’t packed when we got there and finding parking was super easy.
Ordered 2 chef recommended dishes (Szechwan style chicken and house special brown chicken) and cumin lamb.
Szechwan style chicken ($ 7.99): this dish was delicious. The chicken was spicy, tasty and crispy. I would come back again just for this. My favorite =)
House special brown sauce chicken ($ 8.99): my least favorite dish because of the bones and its bland flavor. Hunan food is not supposed to be bland! Unidentified friend’s favorite =P
Cumin lamb ($ 9.99): not as spicy and tasty as Hunan Chili King. I saw more celery than the chili itself. Nick H’s favorite =P
I ordered the dishes mild and mild here was really mild. Mild @ Hunan Chili King was tongue-​numbing spicy. I prefer going to Hunan Chili for its cumin lamb.
Cash only!
3.5 stars!
Xiang Wei Lou’s Szechwan style chicken is yummylicious!

Warning: It’s Hunan cuisine and dishes here are yummy and very spicy. The restaurant will make it very mild to mild, medium, spicy and extra spicy so be honest to the waitress
The name of the restaurant is a mouthful and so is the intensity of the flavors here. I love the spices and combination of fresh and dried chile peppers in most of their dishes. Unlike Szechuan cuisine, the seasonings here rely on boldly delivered hotness from lots of serrano and dried peppers mellowed out with lots of celery so your tummy doesnt go into revolt— that is if you are sensitive to lots of spice from peppers. I love spice and love the feeling after your senses have had enough, that plateau, that DMZ, that sensation when your palate says, «Stop!!!». You count to 10 and then you dont, LOL, you keep going, LOL. After that, you can eat as much chili as you want and it does not bother you, one bit, no siree at least not me. Have you been there? A-​huh, I love that feeling too! :)
Love the Sauteed Triple, this is a super, super, super good stir fry of crunchy veggies, celery, crunchy bean sprouts. The Szechuan Style Chicken was out of this world (serrano chiles, whole pieces of garlic, dried chiles, ginger, loaded with more chiles and crispy bits of chicken). I loved the steamed fish with chiles preparation, but I hope they’d serve cod or bass or something better than Tilapia next time. I’m tired of Tilapia, it’s everywhere even Olive Garden, LMAO. Cumin Lamb rocked my yummytummy meter!!!
There was a steady stream of customers coming in and out of this very busy restaurant. I will be back.
Note: This is very spicy food and if you can eat spice and take yourself past that plateau I talked about, this is truly an amazingly good experience.