Little Fatty — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Hi David, I'm an avid foodie in the West LA area. I had the privilege to dine at the Mar Vista Little Fatty last night with my friends. We indulged in your famous Dan Dan noodles, Beef Roll, spicy Wantons, and a slew of unique cocktails. The service, the drinks, the food were immaculate - the servers were ultra friendly and down-to-earth. As a hearty fan of the Asian food scene here in LA, I have to get this off my chest - I was rather disappointed with the Mapo Tofu dish that was served last night. I understand that this is a vegan dish and so the meat, which is a key ingredient, is swapped out with mushrooms. However, I feel like this does not excuse Little Fatty from serving a mediocre dish, especially a dish like Mapo Tofu, which arguably is one of the best dishes to pair with rice, the bedrock of many Asian cuisines.

At a high level, the Mapo Tofu was overly salty and spicy. Specifically, the Mapo Tofu dish at Little Fatty was overly saucey (the sauce being the source of the saltiness and the spiciness). The thickness of the sauce disappointingly overshadowed the flavors of each ingredient and was saturated with mushroom flavor (from a sauce packet), which I believe distracted the essential flavors of the dish. At a practical level, this made the dish unpairable with rice and it made me turn my attention to the spicy Wanton and/or the Dan Dan noodles in order to satiate my appetite for the deep Taiwanese/Asian flavors. Another component that was missing (or overshadowed by the saucy mushroom flavor) is the "ma" (麻) flavor. To me, a Mapo Tofu dish's "ma" numbing flavor is what defines the dish, vegan or meat-based, and is what brings the diner to experience the Sichuan roots of this dish. I understand that this is a strong flavor and should be added with caution, but to not have the "ma" flavor discernable and be overshadowed by a deep mushroom "saucy" flavor feels lazy, as a Mapo Tofu dish.

I am by no means an expert nor chef. I just want to personally share my thoughts on the dish, and feel like this dish could have had so much potential if executed correctly. In my humble opinion, a mouth-watering Mapo Tofu dish should have a palatable balance of spicy, beefy/umami (meaty), and "ma" (麻) flavors. I believe all these should be present, but should not overpower each other. I understand this must be difficult to achieve since these are all strong flavors, but I think one way to make sure all these flavors are distinct, yet balanced, is to tone down the "sauciness" of the dish. The redness of the sauce should be kissing each ingredient, but not coating them. The umami flavor should be coming from the bean sauce (豆板醬), and not exaggerate the mushroom flavor. From afar, you would be able to make out the tofu, the redness of the chili and bean sauce, the grounded as well as whole Sichuan pepper corn, the ground beef/diced mushrooms, and spring onions. When paired with rice, it should be a tofu-based dish, and not a sauce.

I offer this critique with the best of intentions (maybe it's tough love?) as I love how inviting Little Fatty is to authentic Asian/Taiwanese soul flavors to the western pallet, and would hate to see this being in the way due to the lackluster Mapo Tofu dish. Please do not take this critique personally and I love to continue indulging in Little Fatty's flavorful dishes as a regular...

Service: Server forgot to bring drinks until I had to remind him 10 minutes in. He also brought in one of our four entrees and forgot about the rest of the food until I reminded him again. Took us over 20 mins to get served with all our food (which is unreasonable because it's not gourmet). I also had to ask for napkins twice, but the server forgot my reuqest, so I ended up asking the busboy who was kind enough to bring it.

Quality of Food: Entrees are mediocre. The only decent entree is probably the Three Cups Chicken, and that's because it's very hard to screw up chicken. The beef is way too chewy and I kept having to spit it out into my napkin every other bite. (Poor grade meat?) Same thing with the vegetable dishes. Also, the rice is way too soft and mushy--nothing like rice from the regional style this restaurant purports to serve. The Apple Sidra (basically carbonated apple juice) will give you diarrhea two hours after you drink it, which leads me to believe that it's not fresh. I have a very strong stomach and RARELY (if ever) have reactions to restaurant food or drinks, but this place had me sitting in the bathroom as soon as I got home, and I know pretty sure it was from the apple sidra. I can prove that it was, but the details would be too grotesque.

Atmosphere: Noisy as hell even though there's only five or six tables. Small and uncomfortable wooden tables and chairs packed too close to each other so you have to deal with noise from both left and right and you can hardly talk to the person in front of you. What a terrible ambiance.

Price: Very unreasonably priced (~$13-$15) for the tiny and average-tasting portions you'll get. We ordered 4 entrees and ended up having to pay almost $60. PF Chang's (which isn't even real Chinese/Taiwanese food) will get you a lot tastier food for the same amount of money, and you'll go home with a full stomach and not a full urge to use the restroom.

Verdict: Holy crap, this place sucks. I rarely if ever leave one-star reviews, but I would give this place 0 stars if I could. I wish I had one nice thing to say about this place, but I don't. Well actually, the server seemed like a nice guy, but that doesn't excuse any...

Where do I begin?

830 reservation- as we approached the host/mgr, has her head down so we had to greet her, not the best first impression for first time diners.

Great space and lively guests.

QR menus are annoying, but that's a personal thing. We were greeted with silently delivered water and notified that our server would be with us.

Our server arrives about 2 minutes later and is very underwhelming. No warmth, welcome or recommendations. I think her greeting was, " did y'all have time to look over the menu." We received no guidance or help from our server. We ordered 4 items, definitely too much given the size of them. The server never checked on us during 1st course, and then checked before we even took the 1st bite of the second course. Support staff prebussed the table and offered a change of plates.

I look over and the bartender is taking lemondrop shots with his patrons, no surprise given the lack of leadership and poor execution throughout our dining experience.

The food was all amazing. The kitchen and support staff are clearly what keeps this place open. Quail is a steal at that price and super crisp. Scallion pancake on beef roll is a 2 for 1 special! Fatty noodles surprise you when you receive them and understand the name and zest on the orange chicken in to die for!

Both myself and the table to my left are looking for our server to leave and she's engaged in side conversations with the host/mgr at the POS terminal. (No surprise) I finally get my check, place the cash on the table and box my food. The server never picked up the money before we left (server rule #1- get the payment), or thanks us.....oh but she wrote thank you on the check.

I'll never return, but I'll order take out. Extremely poor execution from the top down. Hire a leader that sets the standard for the shift and desires to create a warm, welcoming dining experience, not just feed people.

Everyone I spoke to raved about this place , but they're clearly resting on...