As someone who cannot eat too spicy, I have always been intimidated by the term "MALA," but little did I know how much have I been missing out! So this weekend was my first experience with a Malatang, and I think Hibiscus Tree did an amazing job with the broth flavors, no matter how big or small you added those bar ingredients into your bowl. I could assure you because my family came for lunch twice in a row lol. I got the same broth and the flavors were consistent! For those who are also a mild eater, I highly recommend the Creamy Beef Bone, mild spice. The broth is also perfect for beef lovers since it has a rich and beefy flavor. My favorites to add in the bowl: rice cake, quail egg, fishball with roes, duck blood, gizzard, beef throat, calamari, wood ear mushroom, instant noodles, and lots of beef :') The Szechuan Style Dessert (free with Yelp Check-in) was such a perfect dessert at the end. The sweetness will cool down your tongue after the numbing meal. Hibiscus Tree is definitely climbing up my new go-to MPK list! @tableformin read more

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Pretty good food, specially their small dishes. The down side about this place, is that just a bit heavy on MSG. read more

First time trying a place that lets you create your own dry pot and I was pretty excited! The variety of ingredients they had seemed fresh and while I was picking out what I wanted, the employees would often come and refresh the selection. I went during an off-time so the wait for my order was around 10 min which was not too bad. The price is not too bad, around $30 for a portion that could feed 2 people. I think personally, there are some heavier filler items here and I would get those ingredients myself and incorporate it into the dish when I get home. The flavors are quite intense no matter how much you get too. Parking is a bit difficult as this plaza is small and full of restaurants so if you're doing takeout, parking in the market parking lot next door isn't too much of a problem. read more

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After getting deliveries from here too many times, we finally made an effort to drive out to San Gabriel! We picked out our ingredients (not possible when getting delivery). The place was clean and organized. Food came out fast. I can't believe I got 2 lbs. My eyes were bigger than my stomach for sure. But to my surprise, I finished most of it... took very little back home. It was perfect for a rainy day. The restaurant was not as busy as I expected on a rainy day. Maybe they are busier at night. Parking was hard to find because of the restaurant next door, so we had to park on the street. read more

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I enjoy coming here for the self-made hot pot section and come here very often. They recently added more broth options, including the creamy beef bone broth and a dry hot pot stir fry. For $13.99/pound, you can make your own hot pot with a variety of ingredients to choose from. I like to get mushrooms, bamboo shoots, tofu skin, some veggies, fish fillet, beef slices, and beef balls. My go-to broth is the red chili with medium spiciness. I usually add a pack of ramen in it as well. The broth pairs very well with Ramen and rice, although a bit salty alone. With the creamy beef broth, it tastes less salty and seems more acceptable to sip on. It comes mildly spicy already, but I'll have to ask for medium spiciness next time. Not a bad choice if you want to change things up a bit. They also have good teas, my favorite is the lychee green tea. They also allow outdoor drinks in here as well, in case you want yi Feng next door. read more

Hibiscus Tree 芙蓉樹下 - Creamy beef broth - Szechuan Near Me - San Gabriel, California

I've already been here three times and still can't wait to go back! Cool hotpot concept that allows you to create your own individualized pot for $12.99/lb of ingredients and they will cook it up for you in the back. They also have fixed hotpot combos, but I like to create my own depending on how hungry I am (~0.9-1lb Is my sweet spot). The chef will add cilantro and minced garlic at the end, so let them know if you don't want these! The ingredients are standard Chinese hotpot ingredients. My go-tos are tong ho, beef, lamb, wide clear noodles, bamboo shoots, mushroom, fish cake, gizzards, and heart. I've tried the tomato soup and numbing soup, and I thought the numbing soup was WAYY too intense. By the second or third sip, my mouth and throat were completely numb. I like getting the tomato soup and asking for a side of numbing chili powder (green powder) to add to my soup. Check in for a free brown sugar jelly dessert! It's topped with Hawthorne bites, small raisins, and peanuts. A little too much going on for me, but still a nice dessert to have if you want to get rid of some of the spiciness from the soup. read more

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Favorite local hotpot restaurant; really hit the spot; We go there and Uber eats all the time. Smells are not too authentic for Koreans; we can't do that for boiling pot; I think this place has a good balance read more

Hibiscus Tree 芙蓉樹下 - Szechuan Near Me - San Gabriel, California

was craving some malatang and found this spot! this spot offers a variety of broths and even a dry pot option. i went with the beef broth and it was good, wish there was a bit more flavor though. the price wasn't too bad as well 1lb for 13.99! if you check in, they also give a free dessert! read more

Hibiscus Tree 芙蓉樹下 - beef broth - Szechuan Near Me - San Gabriel, California

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This place is a gem! Outstanding food and exceptional service. Highly recommend dining here. They've earned several regional awards from top food channels in China and beyond--well deserved! read more

Wow!! I think this is my favorite Chinese Hot Pot. Both times I've visited Hibiscus Tree, I've dined indoors without many other customers. There were several takeout orders waiting for pick up at the entrance though. We ordered the Hibiscus Combo # 1 and although it says it's good for one person, I thought it was pretty filling for two. The hot pot is loaded with ingredients and is super flavorful, even with mild spice. When you check in, you can get a free Szechwan Style Dessert. It's basically a clear jelly with dates, goji berries and nuts on top. It tasted kind of bland and I wouldn't mind if we skipped on this item. Not only is their hot pot delicious, but also their drinks! I always compare the passion fruit green tea at all tea shops, and Hibiscus Tree does it right. At the end of our meal, they always give us tiny, fruit flavored cool mints which makes me so happy. read more

Hibiscus Tree 芙蓉樹下 - Combo #1 - Szechuan Near Me - San Gabriel, California

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My go to dry pot place is YinTang but my wife prefers this place. I do agree that the flavors here are better but they do not offer the sauce bar that YinTang does. Food is good and ingredients are fresh. Check in for free dessert! read more

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Their House Broth and Green Peppers broths are insane. Probably my favorite self serve hot pot spot I've found in SGV. Feels a lot more chill and local compared to YGF (which I also love). read more

This is my new favorite schechuan restaurant in the Area! Must order their chicken gizzard mao! Cold skewers in sauce is also good! They have a self serve station where you select ingredients you want for your dish and they have 4 kinds of soup base that you can choose to cook the ingredients. I've only tried their red oil soup base which is just pure delicious. Another shoutout is their oil dipping sauce. Totally worth it! Order if you have picked the red oil soup base! read more

Hibiscus Tree 芙蓉樹下 - Szechuan Near Me - San Gabriel, California

My wife loves the Hibiscus Tree Combo #1 loaded with marinated beef, shrimp, beef tripe, crab stick, fish ball, spam, quail egg, bean curd, bean sprouts, enoki mushrooms, black fungus, winter melon. So much great stuff inside. We use DoorDash for food deliveries. But I've came by twice to pick up takeout. The parking lot is always full and hard to find parking so we prefer DoorDash and let them deal with the parking situation. read more

They have a $12.99/ lb buffet bar with veggies, meat, and all the goodies u want to put into a spicy hot pot. Separately they do have set bowls of u are lazy to think about what you want. We went during Wednesday lunch! They had no one there! From a covid cleanliness perspective they have all togo utensil and container. They have hand sanitizer on each table and disposable chopsticks and spoons. With us as the only customer I would have expected better service like constant water fill but o guess they are so scared of us! The flavors are great so I will be back! read more

Hibiscus Tree 芙蓉樹下 - My pot! - Szechuan Near Me - San Gabriel, California

this place had high reviews & i followed frenz lead 2 give it a try but honestly wasnt thrilled w da flavors & we cant order mix/match certain dishes but that limits wut we can order since da portions seem big ~ perhaps they can reconsider 1/2 portions of pig ears & 1/2 portions of chicken feet food is a 2-star, while service is 4-star ~ da server actually deserved 5 stars but he was da only staff member inda entire restaurant servin customers during dinner, so we had 2 wait & flag him down several times, which is not his fault read more

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I ended up eating here because Hunan Chili King was too crowded, and I didn't regret one bit! This restaurant is cozy and clean. Servers were polite and very friendly. I also liked the fact that our food was served in less than 5 minutes! Not to mention, the pricing is very reasonable (If you have been to multiple Chinese restaurants in this area, then you would know how unreasonable their pricing is! However, this restaurant doesn't follow that trend which I really appreciate! No chasing for more tips like Dong Ting Chun! ). As for food, here are what we ordered: mala tang/ dry pot - You would go to the counter to get your vegetables, meat, tofu and so on. Next, you would go to the server and select how you would want your dish to be cooked (soup or dry based). Boboji (spicy cold skewers (MY FAVORITE DISH )) - Choose the skewers you want, and they would bring them out for you. Spicy Pork Intestines - I noticed almost everyone that comes here would order this dish. It's really yummy indeed! Overall, if you are a spicy food lover, this restaurant wouldn't disappoint you as I have been coming here at least once every 2 weeks! read more

Hibiscus Tree 芙蓉樹下 - Boboji - Szechuan Near Me - San Gabriel, California

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Good is okay, price is reasonable,environment is clean, service is okay, and it is mostly self serving. Nothing stands out or particularly for me to go back. It is good for even just one person with the varieties that I can choose. read more

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Really enjoyed this place! This replaced Green Zone in the small plaza off Valley. It was our first time dining at a restaurant with this style of Szechuan food, so it was really nice of the waiter to explain the whole process to us. We opted for the build your own hot pot bowl, and all the ingredients you want in your bowl are at the side of the restaurant. They provide you with a bowl, and you can put as much veggies and meat as your heart desires. My friend and I both got a little excited and our total ended up being $50 for the both of us haha but honestly it's so worth it! They charge by the pound. Bonus tip - if you share the same sauce (they add this in after you hand them your bowl), then they'll just charge for one instead of two. Also just as a note, the sauce that looks like soup for your bowl is really just a bunch of oil, so it's not recommended to drink it like a broth! Definitely worth trying if you're in the area! read more

Hibiscus Tree 芙蓉樹下 - Build your own hot pot! Super good. - Szechuan Near Me - San Gabriel, California

I was very, very disappointed in both the presentation and the taste of this place. Saw this place under the "hot and new" category and although the reviews were a bit off ( a person literally wrote "I have never been to this place but it has good reviews" and give it a five star rating) but still decided to give it a try. This place is where Green Zone used to be in San Gabriel. Walked in around 6:30 on a Saturday night and was a little crowed, but was seated very fast. Menu was a little confusing, but basically boils down to this. For entrees, you can have the chili oil cooked mixed pots, either with preselected menus or the a la cart option (called Mao Cai). In addition, skewers of different veggies and meats are a la cart at 68 cents per. Menu was helpful in explaining the ingredients and appropriate portions for the amount of people (they have pri-fix Mao Cai dishes for different party sizes). We picked the $24.95 for two pro-fix menu, which I considered to be quite pricy for one dish. But I also am a big skewers fan, so I thought i might try their skewers(bo bo skewers in Chinese). Let's start with the skewers. Skewer station was not well stocked and no signage to explain what each skewer is. Half of it was empty, and the other half did not have enough chili oils to soak the skewers like it is supposed to. The portion of the skewers are tiny at best, averaging one to two pieces each for 68 cents. That is just ridiculous. I get that a restaurant needs to be profitable, but two piece of tiny chicken meat for 68 cents?! The taste was mediocre at best, and seems like the skewers just came out of the freezer because they were ice cold. When the Mao Cai came out I was surprised. This places boasts that the Mao Cai dishes contained a variety of ingredients. However, when the dishes came out, a lot of the ingredients are either missing or only a piece(yes, one piece) was in the dish. For my dishes, there were supposed to be spam, quail eggs, enoki mushrooms, shrimps, and crab sticks in there. There were no emoji mushrooms, and exactly one piece of spam, one quail egg, one shrimp, and one crabs stick in the dish for something that I paid $25 for and supposedly for two people. However, dirty Napa's, and cucumber peels (yes, cucumber peels) were plenty in the dish. I called the waiter and asked him if the ingredients were correct and if one piece of basically everything other than Napa cabbage was supposed to be what is in the dish. He actually, physically stirred the pot for 3 minutes, trying to verify what I was saying. By the end, the entire dish was basically ruined because of his stirring, yet he still could not find where the "rest of the ingredients" that was supposed to be in the dish were. At the end, he brought over three more shrimps and three more spams, however still insisted that they have a standardized portion that is strictly enforced. By that time, I have already almost finished my dinner and was too tired to argue with him. The dish was also, mediocre at best for taste. We didn't even finish half of the Mao Cai. Honestly, I don't know why this place have such good reviews (or maybe I do, when reading the existing reviews in detail) because the service, and quality of food requires significant enhancement.I have no problem paying premium for a good dish (at times, even bad service is okay). But it needs to be worth it. To me, I basically paid 25 bucks for a pot of Napa cabbages and cucumber peels. But YEMV, maybe. read more

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Wow everyone here's sichuanese lol. Not to mention the many offerings they have: I love the soft drink selection, sichuanese bing fen iced jelly, counter pick your self and weigh by weight veggie, meat, and all the best sichuanese food bamboo, fish fillet, wo sun lettuce stem, gong Cai ... authentic. Omg read more

BEST MALATANG EVER!!!! the absolutely most flavorful and amazing soup, no need for sauce at all and absolutely delicious with rice. I could eat this for days. read more

I'm glad this place isn't crowded, but the parking is... when you go in, you can go directly to the corner and build your own pot. They charge $13.99/pound and they do have good topping options. The broth is pretty light and I don't feel guilty drinking it while eating- (some places make it very salty and heavy). The servers are pretty fast on bringing our your food and it's a peaceful sit-in restaurant! I love the pork blood and it has a nice texture and consistency! Would go again! read more

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Excellent hot pot location. Not cooked at table but delicious. Kids loved customizing their bowls and the rich beef bone broth. Adults enjoyed the selection of ingredients and the Szechuan broths. Kids in particular were raving the whole meal, and mine are picky! read more

Hibiscus Tree is famous for maocai and I ordered the beef, bamboo shoots, and potato maocai for takeout. I was surprised that the soup base was only mildly spicy and even my kids had a few bites without complaining about it being too spicy. The base was fragrant with herbs and spices, but not as flavorful as other Sichuan dishes I had in the past. Each dish also came with way too much cheap bean sprouts filler. Overall, there are many better choices in San Gabriel. read more

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Attention spicy lovers! If you're looking for ring sting, you've come to the right place. I usually just stick with one of the combos, which is a hodgepodge of different foods inside a really spicy, oily sauce. It is not a drinkable broth. Your bowl comes with shrimp, veggies, meat, tofu, and much more. It goes so well paired with a bowl of steamed rice, but be warned... it will burn coming out. read more

Hibiscus Tree 芙蓉樹下 - Hot pot noodle - chewy and spicy - recommend - Szechuan Near Me - San Gabriel, California

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They can't even take an order right. First time ever placing an order but got tons of push back.

First time here. I am a fan of Mao Cuisine. The price is reasonable. It takes us slightly over 40 dollars.(you can check the photos). The food all tastes great. The food masterials are fresh. When the food is served, the server will open a can of red oil and pull it over the cuisine. It feels good and make the experience better. I really appreciate the service as well. read more

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3.5 Star. Ordered delivery. Wished it was packed a bit better. Half of the oil/soup spilled when it arrived. The app didn't have an option to build my own bowl, so I ordered a combo bowl for one. Got it for extra spicy but wasn't really spicy for me. It was pretty numbing though. Flavor was really good. Loved the radish, potato and veggies in it. Beef was a bit dry. Will pbb be back to eat in the restaurant, so I could try more stuff. read more

One of the best MAOcai restaurant so far . Food were great and tasty , not bland at all. compare to other few restaurant like this kind, they are price is totally fine. They serve their food with a small can of (homemade?)hot oil which is sooooo good will bring up the flavor. Services are nice. We got our dine in food pretty fast , but take out takes little longer which it's okay for me, cuz I did see they got a lot take out orders. 味道非常好～ 服务员小姐姐也很热情。食物的量和价格非常ok， 2杯饮料2份自选菜（没吃完）还有两个小外卖加起来65左右， 这个味道配上这个价格完全可以接受。 read more

Hibiscus Tree 芙蓉樹下 - Custom dish - Szechuan Near Me - San Gabriel, California

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I am from Sichuan. This is so far the best Szechuan hotpot I've ever had. The food is fresh and authentic Also the ingredients they chose were faithful to the original recipe. The chili oil they add in the end is the boom. Loving this place..definitely gonna come back next time.(*^o^*) read more

Hibiscus Tree 芙蓉樹下 - Szechuan Near Me - San Gabriel, California

This place is new and I went to try it for the first time -- not disappointing but nothing surprising. It's good food, don't get me wrong. Definitely will get your spicy hotpot food fixed if you're feeling some chengdu good. The chuanchuan can get pretty expensive if you're not paying attention to how much you're eating. Each stick doesn't have a lot of food - just 2 pieces of broccoli and one quail egg, for example. All sticks are $0.68 each. The hotpot tastes decent, but I actually liked the tomato paste flavor better than its signature spicy pot. I suggest you try it too! Overall, good service and nice environment. read more

Hibiscus Tree 芙蓉樹下 - Szechuan Near Me - San Gabriel, California

Heard about this place for a while now but never had the chance to try it. We were in the neighborhood and finally decided to come. The store used to be Green Zone located inside Valley Plaza. Not hard to find. Food: we offered Maocai by the weight, Mao Maodu (Tripes), Mao Naohua (Brain) and Bobo chicken. The bobo chicken is by far my favorite. Definitely equivalent to what I had in Sichuan. Very authentic and legit. Maocai wasn't spicy enough though I had asked for most spicy (coming from someone who eats spicy food on a daily basis lol) but the staff quickly brought additional spices- it was perfect. The tripes and brain need to be soaked in the sauce for a while and make sure it's well mixed before eating, they both came out to be very flavorful! Service: the staff were extremely helpful and attentive. Definitely a place worthy of a try! read more

Hibiscus Tree 芙蓉樹下 - Szechuan Near Me - San Gabriel, California

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Oh I love to order Hibiscus tree when my company has any food meeting! Everyone love to eat this! I feel it's a little bit spicy, need to drink more water, but I still love it! read more

Hibiscus Tree 芙蓉樹下 - Szechuan Near Me - San Gabriel, California

Came here recently and OH MY GOD I can't stop thinking about it. The hot pot with Creamy Beef Bone broth was AMAZING! I'm coming back again this weekend because it's the only food I'm craving read more

Found Hibiscus Tree right next to Hunan Chili King(which is my favorite restaurant for spicy Chinese food), and since this place also serves spicy food, so I thought maybe I should give it a try. Their dishes are mostly Szechuan-based. I ordered the self-serve Szechuan hot pot, which has a large variety of meat and veggies you get to pick yourself, with the choices of hot chili or Szechuan pepper or tomato soup base. I also ordered the Szechuan skewers, which has a great selection too. And since it's my first time here, I had the mild spice level, everything tastes so great, should have go for the mid spice thou. (They do have tomato soup base if you can't eat spicy food) I give a 5 stars in overall, everythings so great about this place, it's a restaurant that I would definitely come back in the future. read more

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One of my favorite restaurant, spicy and tastry. Recommend duck blood, A-choy, quail egg, sliced lamb, marinated beef and duck gizzard. read more

Hibiscus Tree 芙蓉樹下 - Szechuan Near Me - San Gabriel, California

Love the food, spicy enough with different broth selections. Service is friendly, we comes here multiple times and never disappoints.

Bean sprouts and celery account for 70% of the entire dish. It makes me think I just ordered celery and bean sprouts. The soup has no taste, but the seasoning on it is too salty. Never gonna come back again！ read more

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My go-to takeout mao cai place where I always get a Hibiscus Combo #2 for 2 people and although it comes in one bowl, they somehow jam-pack it full of veggies and beef and it's plenty of food for two hungry people. If you call in, you can avoid the online surcharge on their website and they're always so nice and friendly!! Most recently I called at dinner time around 7 and was still able to get my food in 10 minutes. The parking lot can get quite crowded because the small plaza is entirely all restaurants. Make sure not to accidentally walk into the spicy noodle store next door; it's embarrassing, trust me. read more