Hop Woo Barbeque Restaurant

Doesn't Recommend

g33kgurli

Joined 7 years ago

Used to be my favorite spot - Now just another passable meal/. I started coming to Hop Woo about 6 years ago until yesterdays visit it was my #1 choice for a meal in East LA. Now it's my last choice because they've done something horrible - they started putting MSG into their food.

Yesterdays lunch was at best passable - the service horrible, and the food left a lot to be desired. It seems like they've started to Americanize their food for tourists and it's now all fried and gummed up with sticky sweet sauce (not to mention MSG!)

The MSG usage was so heavy that both my husband and I felt horrible for the rest of the day; and I proceeded to get a migraine. It's sad - what used to be a favorite has become somewhere I'll never visit again :(

Doesn't Recommend

kidhendrix

Joined 7 years ago

Horrible service, unhelpful staff, food is good enough. Tried Hop Woo for the first time, and will not be returning.

The food is fine. Nothing memorable by any means, but not horrible. The duck was very dry, but the shrimp with snow peas, kung pao shrimp, and beef and broccoli were all fine.

The service, however, was atrocious, especially considering the restaurant was relatively empty. While we placed our orders, the waitress was incredibly rude and short tempered. We ordered steamed dumplings for an appetizer, 4 entrees, and drinks. We asked for rice, but were told that they charged for rice. After about 15 minutes, two entrees were brought out (before the dumplings). I asked about the dumplings, and was told they would come soon. We sat patiently for the dumplings and two remaining entrees, but it took over 5 minutes for the next entree to come out. It then took almost 5 MORE minutes for the next entree, and still no rice or dumplings.

A few minutes later, a waiter walked out and said "I have pan fried dumplings, take these instead." We politely told him that we ordered steamed dumplings, and he replied "just take these." We told him we didn't want them, as we ordered steamed dumplings. He stood there silently staring at us for a few moments, and then sulked away. We flagged down a waiter and asked for our rice and refills on our water. 3 or 4 minutes later, the waiter returned with neither, but gave us a handful of napkins (we already had plenty). We asked him again for rice and for new dumplings, since about 45 minutes had passed since we sat down and probably 25 minutes since our entrees arrived. The waiters met, and finally rice arrived. Just as we finished our meals and had no use for an appetizer, our steamed dumplings arrived. They most certainly were not worth the wait.

We tried to pay with credit cards, but were rudely told by the original waitress that they do not accept them (what sit down restaurant doesn't take credit cards?) We paid and left, never to return.