Cui Hua Lou — Restaurant in Monterey Park

We came here because our friends from China thought this is one of the best places for lamb dishes, in particular the lamb scorpion stew/soup (it is basically a pot of lamb’s spine with tofu and veggies and the reason it is called a scorpion is because the spine itself resembles a scorpion). It was a long drive for us just for a dinner in hole in the wall place. While dinning here, I began to enjoy myself very much as the waitress, the patrons and the basic set up truly reminded me of tiny mom and pop places in the alleys of any city in China. In China, people eat lambs during the winter months as lamb is the best way to keep you warm from inside. So, dining here in a cold night, it was pretty special considering that we were 10,000 miles away from Beijing. So, even it was a hole in the wall, I gave a 5-star on the atmosphere because this place looked its right out of an old Chinese movie. As far as the food goes, we had a scorpion pot and a lamb meat pot, both were pretty good, but on a salty side for me (which was actually quite normal for this type of dishes). The lamb meat pot was more tender with tendons and some fat. The scorpion (spine) has a lot of bones (obviously) and the meat was bit more tougher. Most people seemed to enjoy the scorpion more than the meat itself, but I prefer the meat with no bones. We also had the lamb skewers and they were very good and meaty unlike those one you get from a street fair. Finally, we had ordered “mild” for spiciness and it was pretty tame, though some prior reviewers thought “mild” was extremely spicy. I guess the level of spiciness is really very subjective. If you would like to experience a true authentic Chinese street food, then this is a good...

I came here for the $1.00 lamb skewers that my friends were bragging about and they did not disappoint. Not only were they only $1.00 per skewer, if you ordered ten skewers, then you got one FOR FREE. WOW. Like their prices weren't already crazy low, they gotta throw a complimentary one in there too? Impressive.

The place is tiny, maximum capacity of 13 people, according to the fire department. Restaurant is clean though and not cluttered at all. Service is friendly and excellent. When you walk in, the ladies are there in the corner sliding the raw meat onto the sticks, so you know they're super fresh.

I would totally make the drive for those skewers again. They were cooked to perfection- slightly fatty, moist and perfectly seasoned with the right amount of...

Food is SO good here..the first time we came we met the owner who is a sweetheart and made sure we had a good experience. The second time they were soo packed! The other servers are not as friendly, but its what you expect from Asian restaurants haha..food is great..so far I have tried their skewers, lamb casserole hot pot and their hot and...