Imperial City Opening Next to San Gabriel Hilton

[Chandavkl]

In what has the potential to be a whopper of a restaurant, Imperial City is getting ready to open in the shopping center adjacent to the San Gabriel Hilton. Now this is not a new restaurant space, as the site was previously occupied by the fake Little Sheep restaurant and its successors. which despite the succession of restaurants names, I presume to have been one continuous operation. But that space is quite large, quite possibly underutilized by the Fake Sheep restaurants, and it looks like a very sizable restaurant is going to emerge in that third floor space. They may be a ways from opening, but the exterior signage is up and it caught my eye such that I climbed up to take a peek.

[Chandavkl]

Thanks to TonyC for the heads up that Imperial City has quickly built out and opened up. This is a hot pot restaurant like its Fake Sheep and subsequent successors at this location (indeed the smiling fake sheep etched on the door is still there), and I would advise TonyC to put this at the top of his watch list. I walked in a little after noontime today, and I was their only customer for the entire time I was there. Nothing particularly remarkable about this place, except perhaps for the size (perhaps exaggerated by the fact that it was empty). Choice of 3 broths--I had the house broth and I only remember one of the others, ma la. House broth was OK. Can get pricey as ingredient cost adds up quickly--even with cheaper ingredients my lunch tab was almost $15. The paper thin bean curd skin was the best of the group I chose. But unless they do a lot of promotional work, I don't think many people are going to climb up to the third floor to dine here. Address is 227 W. Valley Blvd., #348.

[TonyC]

But didja like their uniforms? It's tres authentic Beijing fauxpulence isn't it?

[Chandavkl]

Well for us older folks it reeks too much of the Hop Sing stereotype.

[Tripeler]

However, very good of you to use the word "fauxpulence." Impressive!

[TonyC]

If only I would've thought it up 3 weeks earlier I would've trademarked the portmanteau : https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid...

[Mr Taster]

First the Shanghainese fauxpulence of No. 1 Seafood Village, and now this...

Mr Taster

[TonyC]

Take the Mrs, and take 1 for the team. Maybe they'll have good SJB. But maybe we still won't care.

NB: someone related to Shanghailander Palace posted a 1-star review on Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/user_details?user... so yah, the war is on.

[JThur01]

Taking the "there can be only one" a bit too literally perhaps? I would think Shanghai No. 1 and Shanghailander would have their own piece of the dim-sum and dinner pie, ESGV vs. WSGV.

[granadafan]

How long do you give these guys?

[Chandavkl]

Well if they don't create some kind of buzz, maybe 3 months. But TonyC is the expert on things like that.

[TonyC]

ipsedixit beats me on the over/under accuracy.

It'd be interesting to see which pot crumbles faster: Imperial City, or My Way Hot Pot

Then again, H&H is still open...

[Chandavkl]

And Loving Hut.

[ipsedixit]

Loving Hut is not going anywhere.

[Chandavkl]

No, but it was on the watch list when it opened.

[JThur01]

I'll go with My Way simply because of the location. With Happy Garden closing, it takes out the only stability in that plaza (well, aside from Lee's).

[ipsedixit]

Gawd, I hope it's not related to the Imperial City in Texas.
http://www.imperialcitycypress.com/in...

[Chandavkl]

On the other hand, that jalepeno shrimp dish looks rather interesting.