Lu Gi Restaurant

Service is bad, food is very bad. The spicy sauce u can’t taste except the herbal stuff that’s in it. And I had to wait and wait for more hot water to be pour in. $ 19.99 special and the $ 23.99 prime. The meats they gave u the $ 19.99 one and u could tell the difference. So beware.

We saw a video by the Fung brothers and decided to come here. Bad Bad again bad decision.
Environment — it is located in a very small shopping complex. And, the restaurant itself is very tight and small. Not much room.
Service — very good. Waitress checked on us regularly
Food — this is where the 1 star hits it. We have been to MANY hot pot places across the US. The broth here was by far the worst. If the broth is bad, it makes the whole meal bad. It was smelly and had a horrible after taste. Trust me, after our dinners, we came back to the hotel and still could not shake it after multiple listerine washes. It stayed with us for 2 freaking days.
Meat quality was okay. It was not bad; however, it was not very good. Issue was that they advertised AYCE, but it requires an upgrade for other meats, plus another upgrade for seafood. Here is my advice. Have a AYCE and then ONE upgrade.
As for the sauces, it was located in a small corner. Honestly, there were not many choices. I ended up just going light with the soy sauce and called it a day.
After dropping 60 with tips, we will definitely never come back. The service was good, environment ok, but the hot pot itself was too bad to overcome. I would recommend a pass on the restaurant.
Cheers,

Thank god I found a good spot for Cantonese style hot pot (read: communal pot)! Their broths are less MSG-​packed as the other places and they offer tons of different ingredients and meats for the basic 19.99 menu. The service is Chinese-​style so no high hopes there, but everything was taken care of whenever I flag them down. Be prepared for a long wait during lunch/​dinner hours as the restaurant is small and a normal wait is 45 minutes.

We enjoyed a good Taiwanese hot pot with our friends. The attendants were courteous enough. Considering the price and the quality of the food for AYCE, I think it’s awesome place to enjoy spicy hot pot.

It’s a close second for a really good hot pot joint before Boiling Point existed in the SGV but lately I’m wondering if their version of extra spicy has toned down a bit. More like mild. Love the quail eggs which I perfect for hot pot and the nice cuts of lamb were not super thin slices which I find is the case at most HP spots.
I strategically call ahead to only eat here when it’s not crowded like late afternoon. For two people, it would still come out to $ 50 + tip I stick to the premium. Two words frog legs. It may be better to go a la carte if you have a small appetite.

I give them one star because of the terrible service my boyfriend, my friend, and I received BEFORE we even got to order! Before I go off, I just want to let you guys know that we’ve been here plenty of times, even when it was super busy, and never encountered any bad service (not that the service is even that great, but still good enough for us to come back). This was one of our favorite places to eat on a nice cold day.
We arrived at about 8pm and it was pretty packed, there was only 1 woman there taking care of all the tables so the lack of attention she gave us was understandable (I would know, I’ve worked in plenty of restaurants), so we just sat ourselves down like we usually do. She was busy bringing food, cleaning tables, and taking orders so we didn’t mind waiting a little bit before she had time to help us out. But then a table of 2 sat down 15 minutes after us, and she proceeded to bring them the soup, a menu, and an order sheet. So obviously we were like «What the ****?!». So I went up to the front when she looked less busy and politely asked her for an order sheet since we usually order the same things, all I wanted was an order sheet LOL. She ignored me numerous times and when I went up one more time she said she needed to go clean a table? Not only that, but she rolled her eyes and gave me unnecessary attitude when I was asking politely. Uh, okay. We were sitting at a table with nothing, no service, no soup, no menu, nothing for about 30 minutes. How are you gonna help out a table that came in after us?! And then ignore me and give me attitude when all I wanted was a ****ing order sheet?! So we just left, we would’ve had spit in our food anyway if we ended up waiting for her to finally come to our table. We weren’t rude, we just wanted to order. Bad ****ing service and a stupid waitress. We felt bad for her at first and understood her situation, but when she proceeded to help out that other table and treat us like sh*t, we were mad as hell. We probably will end up coming back, but probably when it’s less busy. And if that same lady is our waitress, she’s not getting any tip. If negative tip were real, they’d be paying us instead. Really f***ing ridiculous, how incompetent. This review does not nearly justify the level of anger and disrespect we felt. Just thought you guys should know, so have fun.
Thanks.

I like this location a lot more than the one on Valley. They actually get your order right, and everything is clean and seems fresh… no dirty tables or utensils, no shady/​rotten looking veggies… Yep, this is how it should be. Broth is as usual, good – not overly salty or filled with MSG and perfect for dipping your goodies in. Oh, and the employees are actually friendly and SMILE! English is not the best, but I’d take that over grumpy employees any day. Great place for any time AYCE, though lunch and dinner prices are the same, so keep that in mind…

A very good ayce hot pot place. I’m a big fan of their spicy soup base, this soup was great with all the meats I ordered, maybe not so with the seafood. The napa soup may be a little bland, but nothing a little salt wouldn’t fix. They offered 3 menu alternatives which is great, an a la carte option, standard ($ 20) and premium ($ 24) ayce. Most everything we liked was on the standard and it’s an extensive selection. There are a few things on the premium option that are very popular but for us it was a pass. There was a self serve sauce bar that had the basics, the service was good, there is lots of parking in the shopping center and the restroom is very clean. Lu Gi is worth revisiting.

Great service! Ok hotpot. The waitress was so nice enough to bring me an extra chair for my purse =)

I eat A LOT of hotpot, and this is one of my favorite hotpot places ! There’s also another location on valley as well. I think they both taste the same, the only difference is their original soup. This one is more on the bland side so we always have to add salt to it, which I don’t mind because they already have salt laid out for you at their sauce bar.
I used to always get ayce for $ 20, but now I’ve realized that I always over stuff myself with ayce, so I just choose a la carte instead. That way I can take it home to eat and eat it the next day. Their portions are very big and I can never finish it. The items I get are frozen tofu, shitake mushrooms, thick glass noodle, spinach, Napa, bean curd sticks and enoki.
Their spicy soup super spicy. They have their own spicy tofu that they have in that soup and it’s so yummy. You don’t need to order extra of it because they put a lot in there. For their original soup, it already comes with a lot of Napa and a few pieces of frozen tofu. I love how clean it tastes, so I like mixing the original with the spicy soup together and drinking it.
Service is good here, they’ve gotten better in my opinion. They always refill my water without me having to ask (that’s a big plus for me).

Best Taiwanese hot pot ever! Their spicy ma-​la tofu is to diiiiie for. I always get the split pot: half spicy, half not. Satay dipping sauce is also provided.
Two options: AYCE or by plate. I’m definitely not worth the AYCE so I order by plate and the prices are decent. Service is good here also.
Place is small so there could be a wait. Every single hot pot dish imaginable is available for order here from quail eggs to several cuts of beef.

This location isn’t as busy as the other one. It’s a little cramped in there, but there’s not really much of a line most of the time. You’ll get a little close and have to say «excuse me» (or not) to get to the sauce bar/​bathroom.
I don’t feel that the «Premium AYCE» is that much of an improvement at $ 23.99, which is a $ 4.00 increase from the regular price of $ 19.99
Definitely get the «Yin Yang» Hot pot which is half spicy (Ma — Lah) and half sour napa.
Best things on the menu:
All of the meats here are great — I particularly like the beef, lamb, pork loin, and pork belly — all thinly sliced and great. So get all of the thinly sliced meats!
Pig Intestines were great!
House Spicy Tofu is good — but they give you plenty to fill you up.
Veggies are of okay to good quality — get the tong ho!
ProTip:
You will need to order more sour napa cabbage with every order to keep your sour napa broth sour. It’s a great palate cleanser and I find myself filling up on some broth and sour napa between bites. Be weary of getting too much oil in you on the spicy side (and avoid putting veggies into the spicy side — it will hold onto all of the oil!).

I really want to love this place. Love the spicy broth, spicy tofu, and sour cabbage broth. I think it’s the best in the area. Without these items, it would get a –3 stars. To start off, I know it’s Chinese and most Chinese people don’t care about service or cleanliness. But, this place is really really terrible.
The walls, tables, floor have splatter of broth and the seats are super sticky. They may not have cleaned this place since the 1800’s. The bathroom is right next to the sauce table so just pray no one used it before you get your sauces. The service is worst than most Chinese restaurants. Only have 1 or 2 servers for the entire place. If you don’t order AYCE, they put you on the bottom of their list. Sometimes we don’t get the food for 30 minutes… raw food that they have already prepared in the fridge. I could have gone to the grocery store and prepped the food faster. Servers also get testy with customer. Starts off by rolling their eyes and ends with mouthy comments. I know they are busy and they are swamped. The owners need to pick up on that and get some help.
All the food items are store bought. The only item they make is the shrimp balls (which is not great and not included in the $ 19.99 AYCE). Meat is poor quality and fish balls are just frozen from the store. I have given up on dining in. Just buy the spicy broth with spicy tofu and go home to make your own. You will save yourself a lot of headaches.

Their hot pot base is amazing!!! I was a big fan of Haidilao when I was in China. But the Haidilao in LA is a disappointment… Other hot pot places are even worse then Haidilao… After trying so many places, I finally came Lu Gi. And it totally blows my mind! Their hot and spicy soup base is great! I don’t know what spice or herb they put in there, but it really go along with the lamb slices.
BTW, their lamb slice is fresh and tasty, very «lamby».
TIPs: order two plates of lamb and eat them first. It will add flavor to ur soup. Then you can add veggies and tofu into the soup.

For $ 20, it’s ayce with normal items such as chicken, beef, pork, lamb as well as all the different meat balls, tofu, veggies.
$ 25 for premium ayce which includes fish balls with roe and more expensive items.
Broth: you can choose from clear broth or ma lah or both. Not a fan of ma lah, so didn’t try that. They don’t have all the different flavors of broth that you find at boiling point, jazz cat, etc. But I understand that it’s a different type of hot pot. And actually I like the clear broth hot pot. But my problem is that if the broth is bland, then the sauce better be good. Which it wasn’t.
Sauce: peanut sauce was very watery and bland. Spicy bean sauce tasted too much like chili and not enough bean flavor. Sa cha sauce was good and normal. I tried so many combinations of the sauce (open sauce bar), but couldn’t find any I liked.
Meat: nothing special. Not horrible. But not great either. Not tender, not flavorful… But not super chewy and super bland. Just basic and meh.
The only redeeming thing about this place is the selection and the fact that it’s ayce. There are a lot of items you can choose from. But everything else is just alright. It isn’t the worst but it isn’t something that would make me want to come back. I would rather have it not be ayce and have better tasting ingredients. Or just stay home and eat hot pot :)

My friends and I had a hankering for some Hot Pot and decided to stumble through the «Hot Pot» of Unilocal and discovered that in some way, good or bad, Lu Gi Restaurant came up. It was either peoples favorite or left lacking, but all together it sounded like for the money — Lu Gi was the place. Plus since my mom is from Taiwan I had to see what «Taiwanese» hot pot was.
Not very appealing to look at, no fancy décor or flashy signage, it really does look like a place in southeast Asia but slightly larger. Think simple home style family owned restaurant, let the food do the talking not the décor.
The broth was ok, we got the duo pot, half spicy half not, and the slicy was good! The non spicy side was a little timid, but after cooking the meats and veggies in it made it a very flavourful broth. What makes this place worth it is the AYCE factor — those who say that $ 24.99 for an AYCE shouldn’t do AYCE because you’d be throwing your money away — where as a group of carnivores such as my group made our money back in how much red meat we ate.
Overall I’d probably go here again if I were in the SGV, but for the hour drive out I may have to come when my mom comes down to visit to get her opinion on the diggs here. Worth a once over, but we’ll see if next time something new catches my eye.
Enjoy.

I been to both Lu Gi hot pot and tested both the AYCE and regular menu hot pot. I not a very big fan of taiwanese and Mongolian nor chinese hot pot just because the meat is not a tender as Shabu Shabu. For what is worth, if you have a big party and able to eat lots, than AYCE the way to go, there a choice of 19.99 and 22.99, personally the 19.99 is enough for me and has most of the meat, fish balls, noodles and veggies.
They are little cheap with the satay sauce as it only place on the table and not on the sauces area where you can mix and match as you like. If you want more satay just have to ask.
Service like any other Chinese restaurant is not attentive but the ladies did check once or twice to bring us more water.

Delicious, authentic hot pot! We went for the AYCE option and were satisfied after two rounds. I’d recommend the lamb, however we tried the beef and pork as well with regards to meats. The cabbage is already added into the pot so you don’t have to worry about ordering it. We also ordered tofu, seaweed, shrimp won tons, mushrooms, tripe, & more. For around $ 20 the price isn’t cheap, but you do get an authentic experience and I’ll have to say the spicy broth was so good! Flavorful and bold. Not the light, flavorless broths of other places.

typical AYCE hot pot. you get 3 rounds to order whatever you like — i’m generally done by the 2^nd round. they have a deluxe section that will run a little higher than the normal menu. i like to go for the deluxe for the Prime meat cuts as well as the fish tofu (LOVE!). i load up on the spinach and pea sprouts and lots of meat. I’ve heard the spicy broth is actually very spicy, so beware. There is a sauce station in the back (near the restrooms) that has garlic purée and sesame oil. I’d load up as it makes the meal infinitely better.
the one MAJOR downside to this place — nobody speaks english. i made it evident numerous times that i cannot understand and yet they continue to only speak to me in mandarin. if you can deal with the elaborate hand motions and confusion, i’d definitely make a stop here. good quality hot pot at an affordable price.

For $ 19.99, you get an all you can eat! AYCE! Can I have a woot woot!
At 5pm on Sunday, this 12 table place had only another couple dining. By 7pm, it was a packed house with people waiting.
Conservative in décor, it’s pretty nice. A «B» rating on the door means something, but in my mind it means, «authentic». For $ 23.99 you can have a handful of premium items, but it was just fine for the lesser.
With the checklist process, you mark down how many in your party wants of each item, round 1. My friend Alex and I marked 2 for 12 – 15 items. We were stuffed! Plate after plate was brought to our table, raw, and we cooked it in boiling spicy broth, much like shabu shabu.
The quality was the meat was very good, and the veggies were cut beautifully. The best of the meal was probably the meats and the mushrooms. I tried the Prime Beef, Chicken, and Pork — fantastic with the sauce buffet offered, got a little dish of each: chili, cilantro, sesame, and peanut. MMmmmm.
The other location at 539 W Valley Blvd I’ve heard is nicer, so it probably accounts for the higher rating… but it’s great. The service was more than wonderful, too.