Is That a REAL Branch of Little Sheep Opening Up In Hacienda Heights?

[Chandavkl]

Many of you are familiar with the tale of several restaurants calling themselves Little Sheep Mongolian Hotpot that started opening up in the LA area six or seven years ago. The assumption was that these were branches of the famous restaurant chain back in China, and indeed local newspaper restaurant reviews were written stating such as a fact. It was only three or four years later that it was discovered that these were all knockoffs and unrelated to the Chinese restaurant chain, and the local restaurants were forced to change their names. (I see the automatic Chowhound "places mentioned" function is still fooled.) Well it appears now that the real deal is opening up, ironically in the same shopping center in Hacienda Heights as one of the original imposters. The real Little Sheep is opening up right next to West Coast Seafood in the 99 Ranch Market shopping center on Azusa Ave. It sports the real Little Sheep logo (well, so did the imposters), but it also has a contact phone number with an 858 area code, which is the location of the closest genuine Little Sheep hot pot on Clairemont Mesa Blvd. in San Diego. I'm guessing it'll be a while before they open--there's a conspicuous "now hiring" banner hanging in front of the site, as well as a good number of blank employment application forms. So L.A. finally is going to have a chance to see what the real Little Sheep is all about.

[K K]

Very cool, glad to hear it. LS's website hasn't updated this location yet for their listing of US locations

http://www.littlesheephotpot.com/finder.asp?id=2

This article linked on the website describes one of the NorCal locations

http://business.globaltimes.cn/commen...

where the business owners purposely took out pictures of offal for hotpot off the menu in fear of offending.... so if this is also the case for you guys, make it known to them early on especially if you are into that stuff, so they don't dumb it down with too much Mongolian BBQ type dishes and very limited offal offerings in return.

[Tapeworm]

Cool...I ate lunch at the San Mateo location last August, which I really enjoyed, and haven't had a reason to drive down to San Diego to eat at that location.

[exilekiss]

Hi Chandavkl,

I just called the Little Sheep's headquarters and they said that this Hacienda Heights branch is real. Nice. :)

[SeaCook]

exilekiss

Did thet say when this branch will be open? It's near me and I looove laaaamb

[exilekiss]

Hi SeaCook,

I didn't ask, sorry. If I hear of anything I'll let you know, but I'm sure Chandavkl will let us know first. :)

[Chandavkl]

The permanent sign is up at the entrance to the shopping center, but the banner at the restaurant site itself still says "Coming soon". Interior work may have been completed, so it should be pretty soon.

[dharmathug]

so what? You can get XLB in 20 restaurants and they will all taste different but recognizably the same. Seems pretentious to think the "original" is any better than these.