Pixiu Mala Hongtang — Restaurant in Los Angeles

For the longest time, I have always been going to the San Gabriel area (30+ miles from home) just to get a drypot or MalaTang as I live in west LA. However, Pixiu has come to my rescue! The place is extremely clean (restroom included), customer service is great and food is served within 5 minutes.

Now let's talk about the food. For those of you that don't know how this restaurant works, you first pick what vegetables or meat you would like from the self-service counter and then go to the cashier and ask for either malatang (soup based) or xiangguo (dry pot). Personally I would have malatang for the vegetables and xiangguo for the meat (at the cashier you can request for more sliced beef).

Malatang: Very savory and healthy choice. The vegetables are juicy and fresh. I would recommend squeezing out excess water on the vegetables because they charge your food from the self service counter by the weight.

Ma La Xiang Guo (drypot): This is my favorite and also the reason why I celebrate this place. The seasoning was just right (spice with a hint of salt). As I've mentioned earlier, have your meat cooked in drypot flavor because that's how people I know enjoy drypot. Having vegetables in drypot would make them dry.

Shou Zhua Bing (Indian Tortilla): This is also great. I tried it with Mayo spread and wanted to get a second one every time.

Overall, if you know drypot, try Pixiu. If you are new? PLEASE, come and have these great dishes and you would definitely be coming...

Stop misleading! Almost everything in this shop is typical of Chinese food and culture.

First of all, the shop name is purely spelled in Chinese Pinyin: PIXIU 貔貅, a special Chinese Myth animal which does not exist in the real world, MALA 麻辣 numbing and spicy, HONGTANG 红汤 spicy soup.

Secondly food TANG HU LU also pure Chinese spelling in Hanyu Pinyin, 糖葫芦. This fruit candy stick originated from China. It has a history of a few hundred years. In Chinese it is called Bing Tang Hu Lu or Tang Hu Lu. It was introduced to South Korea recently by Chinese students studying there, so it is becoming popular now in SK.

Thirdly the several main dishes being served in this shop are Chinese dishes too, and their English names are also spelled in the pure Chinese Pinyin like Guo Bao Rou 锅包肉 a speciality in Northeast China ， MALA XIANG GUO 麻辣香锅 a spicy Sichuan food, MALA HONG TANG 麻辣红汤, also spicy Sichuan food, YANGZHOU Fried Rice 扬州炒饭 from Yangzhou China, SHOU ZHUA BING 手抓饼 from Xinjiang China, Deep fried Gyoza is 炸饺, where Gyoza is the Japanese transliteration of Chinese dumpling - 饺子 Jiaozi (Jiao = Gyo & Za = Zi).

What a shame! Shame on you. Now you are using Chinese food and name, you should not audaciously claim they are Korean. In fact, LOL, you are being sinicized, how funny. It demonstrates again, what China has is the model or fashion...

Dined here on 9/16 around 7–8pm for Mala Xiangguo and had one of the strangest dining experiences ever.

I’m certain I picked at least four pieces of fish fillet for my bowl, but when the dish came out, none were there. At first I didn’t notice because I was hungry and started eating right away. About halfway through, I realized something was off—I hadn’t tasted a single piece of fish.

I brought this up with the female server, but she insisted I was mistaken. I asked her to double-check the camera, and she eventually confirmed that fish had indeed been added during cooking. Still, she didn’t believe me since I had already eaten half the dish, and said there was nothing she could do.

I understand her point of view, but honestly, we were just arguing over a few pieces of fish—it wasn’t handled right. Another staff member seemed open to adjusting the bill, but the female server insisted I pay in full.

In the end, I paid, said “thank you,” and decided this would be my last visit. The food itself was fine, but the service and handling of the situation were disappointing. Hopefully they take better care of their customers...