Hunan Chilli King

Been eating this place for years, but haven’t been in awhile. It’s changed a lot, in the sense, I don’t see as many chili decorations adorning the windows and they actually have paper to go menus. As for the food, it’s still the same spicy burn-​in-​your-​stomach, make-​you-​sweat, use-​a-​lot-​of-​napkins fiery hell. So if you like spicy like I do, get Da La (Big Spicy), mix with rice and it’s like an endurance marathon for your mouth. Otherwise, get Mild Spicy, cause that’s already spicy enough for lots of people. I really like this Hunan place because their spiciness has a lot of textures to it, due to the various chili’s that cook with. Some of your dishes may even end up being comprised of 50% chillis. Here are the items I especially enjoy:
Vegetable Dish: Either A-​chai or Sauteed Fern/​Fiddlehead w/​Chilli.
House Special Sauteed Beef (most people get lamb, but I can get addicted to the beef version of this, as long as it’s done right)
Pork with Preserved Vegetable — at mild spicy, it’s a good complementary dish made up of thin slices of pork belly and potato
I also like the Sauteed Intestines in Hotpot.

I grow up by the seaside and had tasted so many seafoods. I can readily discern the quality of any seafood. The other night I ordered 剁椒鱼头(chili fish head). Worst decision ever. The fish felt like dead a week ago, and the taste was extremely unpleasant because there’s not even a single bit of freshness in it. All the spice on top of the fish head can cover up most of the staleness to fool most people, but definitely not me. After I complaint, the manager was herself aware of the bad quality and voluntarily cancelled the charge on the fish head. I really wish no more people get fooled.

Be ready to challenge your taste buds. Hunan food is well known for being spicy, and Hunan Chilli King is about as spicy as it gets. The food isn’t the cheapest but it is good Hunan and Sichuan food, AND, it’s SPICY. Food is good… and service was decent as well. Would recommend if you are looking for a spicy meal. You won’t be disappointed.

Came in the other night really wanting spicy Chinese. I loved every dish we got.
Hot and sour soup was super good. Lots of veggies, ground pork, with just enough sour to make it really balanced.
Green beans were awesome! 2 types of fresh chiles stir fried with water chestnuts and mushrooms in a light soy.
Cucumbers were sooooo good! Cilantro, chile, and soy. Highly recommend.
Chicken wings were on point. Super light batter with lots of garlic and cumin.

First time eating here. Arrived around 7:40pm. Got seated in around 10 min, but food took around an hour to arrive after we ordered. I’m not sure if they had forgotten about us since my 12 yr old son was getting so tired of waiting that he went to the register to ask the hostess when our food was coming (the anticipation was made worse by the arrival of our tub of rice about 15 min after ordering). Nothing spectacular about our food once it did arrive at the table. The mapo tofu was vegetarian & saltier than any I’ve ever had and the hot and sour soup was not like any I’ve ever ordered. Perhaps the authentic version from Hunan is supposed to be thin broth soured with Chiang King vinegar, heated with red peppers instead of ground white pepper, and replete with mung bean threads, diced daikon, chopped long beans, and ground pork. No egg wisps, no wood ear fungus, no bamboo – like nothing my 12 yr old son or I had ever seen or ordered. The best dishes of the meal were the fried pork chop with lemongrass and chili & braised chicken with tamarind that I picked up from M Delivery across the street while we were waiting for our food to arrive. I realize that this is poor restaurant etiquette, but a restaurant shouldn’t keep you waiting long enough after ordering that you have the time to walk over to another one down the street and bring back their food before yours arrives at the table.

This place is legit.
Met my friends at Hunan Chili King and walked by a woman sifting through a huge box of chilis. 2 other boxes sat in waiting. Every occupied table had plates of colorful chilis. Halfway through the meal, I had to go next door to get a mango milk because my face was on fire.
The cilantro lamb, chili chicken, fresh fish, pot potato chili, potato strands with chili were my favorites. They really should offer some yogurt or juice drinks to stave off the fire. They have plenty of items on the menu to balance the heat — the braised tofu and lotus were my favorites there.
Located next to Green Zone and Milk and Honey with private lot.

Very terrible and disappointed. this is second time called for an order take out. they close 11:00pm called at 10:15pm they refuse my order say they closing. I understand why their hours of closing 11:00pm and I can’t phone in an order to go.

Arrived in the late lunch hour a bit before 1:00pm or so. Didn’t notice the B-​grade health rating at first, but for the most part, these things aren’t so bad as to warrant avoidance — especially at Asian restaurants — most of the time. In this case, however, not too long after we were seated, some weird black ooze fell from the ceiling onto my friend’s arm. Not okay at all. It was sticky and kind of scary. The restaurant, however, did have someone there to help fix the ceiling, which was good, but still begs the question: why did they seat us if they knew there was an issue with the ceiling in the first place?
The food we had was quite delicious. We ordered their pork intestine, lightly fried fish fillets, and minced duck dishes. While quite oily, I very much enjoyed the pork intestines. Good balance of flavour between the meat and the chilies — and the leek was a nice touch as well. Very chewy, yet still tender enough to go down easily. The fish fillets were, by far, the best dish we had. They weren’t nearly as oily and, while there was no sauce, the fillets were very much packed with delicious spicy flavour. There was a wonderful complement between the sweetness of the fish with the heat of the spice. We were, however, quite disappointed with the duck. The meat was so minced to the point where it was difficult to spot it out of the mountain of chilies on the plate. Also, I’d say at least half of that dish was mostly duck bones — not a satisfactory dish.
This restaurant is definitely not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. You most certainly must have a decent tolerance for spice to properly enjoy what this place has to offer. All dishes we ordered were at medium heat, which was probably closer to a ⁴⁄₅ star spice at other restaurants. I, for one, would like to come back here again, sans black ooze, and with much more fish fillets present at the table. If not for the dripping ceiling and deceptive duck dish, I would have been much more satisfied. The fish is very much the saving grace of my experience here.

If you like spicy food you should try. I’ve been here for the past few years. It is a little bit pricey but it is worth it.

Sautéed lamb is so good, but medium is pretty spicy. The pot glass noodle was wayyyyyy toon hot

This place has (had? Appears to maybe be under new management) great food. Unfortunately, after the second time waiting at a table for over 20 minutes with no waiter, I’m gonna have to say that their service negates any reason to come back. Not only that, but this time, as soon as we walked in, we were given the stink-​eye from the wait staff. Definitely not an auspicious start to lunch.
Disappointing.

We hunted this place out after watching the episode of Andrew Zimmern where he tours Chengdu (capital of China’s Sichuan province known for its spicy cuisine).
This restaurant did not dissapoint. We had the lamb meat stir fry and the #42 chicken stir fry requested extra extra spicy (it helps to go with soneone who speaks Mandarin). Both were excellent and spicy and the chicken dish had the unique «numbing spicy effect» one only gets with the Chinese peppercorn.
Portions were huge, one dish is plenty for two people. Rice is ordered separately and the beer bottles of Tsing Tao are the large size.
The décor was festive Chinese red with red chili peppers draped all over the place.
Was a fun experience. Defintely coming back.

The dishes are all spicy; there wasn’t a break from the spice aside from the rice. The pot of tea they served had one used teabag, which resulted in a pot of hot water.
Flavor was decent, but overall it felt like we weren’t welcome.

I’ve been craving this place for a min. It’s was amazing to eat on a chilli day like this. I felt like I was a fire breathing dragon towards the end but it was good hot. I wouldn’t do this everyday but once in a great cold night like this, it’s amazing to have. If u love spicy food you must come try this place out.

Used to be my favorite since I lived in LA 8 years ago even if I moved out of country. I still make sure I visit this place everytime I come back to LA.
I probably set my expectation too high this time but overall I still believe it’s the best Chinese hunan spicy restaurant in Los Angeles area. Come after 9pm to avoid the crowd even on a weekday.
The portion is decent amount so try to get more people to share more varieties.

It’s always a good sign when I’m a Chinese food lover but don’t get enough of the good stuff living on the Westside. You know you’ve found a good spot when you see sheet pans of chilies drying in the sun. I think we’ve picked a winning lunch place! Here’s what we ordered:
Cold Cucumber: An amazing starter dish. Sometimes it’s the small vegetables dishes that surprise me as some of my favorite Chinese bites. This one was great. The cucumbers were crisp, cool, and tart from being lightly pickled. Don’t hesitate to get this. 5 stars.
Spicy Fish Filet: I’m seeing a few reviews saying that theirs was too oily, but we didn’t have that problem at all. The sole was lightly fried — the perfect combination of crisp and chewy. The flavor was great and the different varieties of chilies in the mix gave it some good heat. 4 stars.
Mapo Tofu: The only other version I’ve had was Sichuan. This style wasn’t very spicy, had fresh chilies rather than peppercorns, and was very saucy. That being said, I enjoyed it! 3 stars
From what I’ve eaten, I prefer Hunan Chilli King to the more popular Hunan Mao nearby.

So… ready to have a delicious fiery meal that you know will probably rip your stomach apart but you keep eating anyways since it’s so damn good?
Well my dear friends, come on over to Hunan Chilli King.
When they name this place CHILI king. they’re not joking. All in all, all dishes are hot, spicy, scorching, but damn the flavors are good and awesome. If you’re someone like that me that could tolerate a bit of spice, do yourself a favor and get MILD. I repeat MILD! Otherwise your body is just going to have a hard time figuring out what you’re trying to do it.
On another note. the food was quite yum. Reasonably priced and decently portioned. I came here with my roomie Chariya S. who loves spicy food and shared two dishes.
As non mandarin speakers (yea i’m a canto girl), order from the menu and the pictures were a bit difficult. Thankfully the waiter just told us what were the most popular dishes and we went with that.
Spicy Dry Frog Hot Pot
We ended up getting the spicy frog dry pot, medium level. There was a lot of food in this dish and A LOT of chili… practically so much chili that i started scooping and picking them out cause my body temperature was starting to rise with each additional bite. Besides that fact, the dish was really amazing with loads of flavor, complex selections of veggies, and succulent frog. I will downsize the spicy grade next time though.
Spicy cabbage:
OMG this was good and so simple. Chili oil, sautéed cabbage, peanuts. Uh delish! I’m not sure what else this is seasoned with, but the flavor was out of the world and smothering that baby over rice was heavily.
Would I come back? Oh most definitely. probably with a mandarin speaker so we have a better sense of what to order and with the knowledge that medium is way to cay cray for me.

This is one of my favorite Hunan spice spot. It is so hot, I could eat a couple bowl of rice with it!
They purposely arrange the place so it felt more like walking into a Chinese family house more than a restaurant. Describe that in a nut shell, red, festival colored lucky knots all over the wall, and crowded choreographies along sides (I am sure that’s a part of how they display their most popular menu items), not the «American cozy».
Some dishes I would recommend if you are new to this type of cuisine, turmeric lamb is not very spicy in level of heat, but it is rich with spices and flavor. If you are down to try some seafood, the snail is quite good – go for mild or lightly spicy. There is a fish dish that is fresh and just the right amount of cilantros, and of course very spicy and a bit oily. When the dishes arrive, you will be surprised because the meat of the dish is forested by chili, fresh chopped green and red chili peppers. I always take the left overs home, so that I could stir fry some more meat and toss all these chili pepper in it to recreate the excitement.
Word of the wise, unless you are the type that you accompany your slice of pizza with half of a bottle tobacco, order medium to mild.

— — — — — — CHILI ALERT — — — — — —
If you are someone who loves Chili and Chinese food, this is the place for you. Just about every dish from the appetizer to the main entrée, all have chili on it. If you do not like spicy food, do not come here period. This is not you average spicy food. This is type of food you need to get used of eating it. At top of that, you would need several cups of water or tea to cool off the heat!
Parking can be a nightmare here, suggest you just park near the supermarket nearby during the peak hour. The first thing that I notice when I walk to this place is the enormous amount of chili smell. You will notice just about every dishes people order contain S&*T Load of Chili. At top of that, they hang the chili peppers in the wall. Just show you this place is very serious about Chili.
Food here is good, every dish do have chili. They got some exotic meat like frog legs, snail etc… Those are actually great fit with chili. Just do not order the basic dishes like string bean and chicken, those was disappointed. I heard their fish head is also very popular, but I have not tried yet.
This is not the place I would come weekly, but would be good during cold weather. This place definite deserves to call them Chili King. From the décor to the food, it got more chili than you could count it.

The service is pretty efficient. We ordered the steamed fish head to compare to Hunan Mao’s since it’s cheaper. You can see why it is. Where as HM services the entire fish head, Chilli King only gives you half. The chilli topping over at HM is more flavorful and fragrant. On top these deficiencies, it came out under cooked. They had to take it back to steam it until it was fully cooked. I would shy away from this dish here.
Their twice cooked pork isn’t bad. I’ve had better and worse. The pork belly is cut a little thicker compared to others.
Our best dish of visit was the steamed eggplant, which is topped with chopped chillis and garlic. Very tasty dish.
The parking lot is always a nightmare. Unless you get lucky, street parking is probably the way to go.

Superior to Del Taco in every way.