Hop Li Seafood Restaurant (Chinatown, LA, CA)

Located at:  
526 Alpine St
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Date of Visit: 09/06/2013




     Well the first stop on my trip around my neighborhood and neighboring-hoods is Hop Li. I can't tell you how many times I've passed by this place, by car or by foot. And every time that i do i would (as you've figured) say "Hmm I gotta try that place out.". Although my family have said we've been there before multiple times for multiple occasions, i don't recall much or anything. Which may already be a bad sign. But nonetheless I want to pig out here. I remember it being called "fancy" or just expensive by my family a lot back in the day when they ate here... must have been a long time ago since they're doing lunch specials like all the other Chinatown joints starting at 6 bucks.

      Well it may have been a big mistake to bus it down here and walked 4 big ol blocks without shade on a sweltering hot day. The friend who i dragged along almost had to end up dragging me along to the finish line. But I made it alive. REALLY sweaty... but alive. We went inside and basked in the glory of the air conditioner in the lobby.

       Once inside, I noticed the decor was more modern than what i was expecting. I expected it too look like it came from the late 80's early 90's chinatown era i remembered from some other restaurants. But contrary i think they remodeled not too long ago. Nice, clean and bright.
      There wasn't anyone at the host/hostess counter. So we waited for a little while even though a lot of the waiters saw us waiting there. My initial thought was maybe they didn't want to serve us since I was a big sweaty mess. Eventually someone came and took us to our table. I noticed that a lot of the waiters here were rather... "grumpy looking". And there was a lot of rushing and dashing around. So i already knew what to expect of the service here. I understand the fact that this may be their lunch rush and all but this place is only half full and they got a good number of waiters. It felt like they were rushing to take our order, rush out or food and send us on our merry way. And on top of that i got a bit uncomfortable with all the bad mouthing they do here in Catonese. I speak Cantonese but i ordered in English and spoke in English the whole time since my friend isn't Chinese. But guess they didn't know that about me. So i just heard them speaking a lot of trash about other patrons. Like how prissy some patrons are about their food or how they don't want to put up with that table. Or even how all those "white guys" at the other table drank all your beers.  But the one that kinda made me laugh was when one of them picked up tray and loudly stated how stingy some patrons were (guess they didn't leave a big enough tip) even though those patrons were like 2 feet away. Guess that Asian lady didn't speak Cantonese otherwise some words might have been exchanged. I get how some patrons may be overbearing, but you should have some decency to be able talk smack about them out of sight from other patrons. Other than that its just the typical: take your order, drop off your food, and fill your glass of water with no smile or eye contact type of service. Now onward to the food!

      They started gave us some complimentary Hot & Sour soup. It was actually quite good. It had a good bit of heat to it (I'm a weenie when it comes to spicy foods) and a amazing kick of flavor.

     Sweet and Sour Pork, yea i know super typical Asian dish. The sauce was good but the pork was rather tough to chew. And the batter was soggy and kind of rubbery like as if its been under a heat lamp for a while.

     Scallops w/ Garlic Sauce. It came with some sliced bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and snow peas! This dish was good, but the sauce they used for this dish tasted like the soup they served us at the beginning. Perhaps they used the same base?     

 

    Deep-fried Squid w/ Spicy Salt. I've had this dish a lot at different locations. That being said the one this place served up wasn't bad. The squid here was really easy to chew unlike some places where its like chewing a rubber band. And the batter on the squid was still very crispy and light. However I felt that it just needed more of the "spicy salt" seasoning.
    Overall, I'd say this restaurant is alright and I'd go again if i was looking for a place with pretty good parking and a quick in and out Chinese lunch where i don't want to interact with a waiter. But i definitely would not be coming here if i was looking for atmosphere or a date.