Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot & Grill
4718 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117
(858) 274-2040
www.littlesheephotpot.com
Boyfriend and I went to Little Sheep the other night for some hot pot. Little Sheep is a famous chain of hot pot restaurants, with many locations in Asia and in the US. I’ve always loved hot pot, but never had Mongolian-style hot pot until Little Sheep opened a few years ago. San Diego is usually one of the last places to get chains I’m interested in trying, so I’m surprised we even have a Little Sheep.
I really enjoy the food at Little Sheep, but don’t go often because it’s pretty pricey. You have to pay for each dish, and it adds up. While I was waiting for a table, I noticed a sign that Little Sheep now offers a lunch special. For $9.95 a person, you get a plate of various green vegetables, tofu, mushrooms and your choice of meat. It’s a pretty good deal because dinner ends up being close to $30 per person every time I go.
Mongolian hot pot uses a broth that is filled with lots of herbs and other “healthy” stuff. It gives the broth a very rich, distinct taste that I enjoy. You can choose from original, spicy, half and half or vegetarian. The spicy is really spicy. Sometimes we get half and half, but this time Boyfriend and I opted for original.
One of the reasons that hot pot ends up being so pricey is that they charge $3.75 per person for the broth. I don’t like how they do this. You get the same big bowl of broth no matter how many people you have, so I don’t know why they have to charge per person.
There are some cooked items you can order as well. We decided to try a sesame pancake.
I didn’t really like this. The outside was fried and crispy and I enjoyed that part. But the inside dough was pretty flavorless.
We also tried a Mongolian meat pie.
The dough is very similar to green onion pancakes, except without the onions. The pie is three layers, with ground meat tucked in between. The meat has very distinct seasoning, much like the broth. I enjoyed the meat pie. Boyfriend enjoyed it even more than me.
Now onto the hot pot items. The meat here is a highlight. The lamb is really good quality, thinly sliced, and oh so flavorful once cooked in the broth. It practically melts in your mouth. The beef is good as well.
We also really liked the thick noodles, which are very chewy. Yum!
Here are pictures of the other hot pot items we ordered:
Here’s our pot full of food:
Here are some close-ups of our cooked food:
I love drinking the broth at the end. It’s so rich with all the different cooked items.
We were given some tapioca for dessert.
Our meal was delicious, but too expensive in my opinion. Next time I’ll try the lunch special.
I love their lunch special! I just wish I could take advantage of it more, or if only they offered it on weekends! I don’t get to go often, so when I do, I always have so much I want to order…hehe. And I can’t ever finish what I do.
I’m a Little Sheep regular. Their lunch special is more than enough to fill you up. In fact, when the weather was chilly, I was there roughly 3 times a week! I’m pretty good and don’t go all out ordering like you (I can barely finish what I do order–which usually ends up being around $35-50 for two). I love Little Sheep and plan on going even during the summer. =) They turn up the AC when it gets warm.
You know I never noticed that, but now that you mention it, I do remember other ones I’ve seen being called Little Fat Sheep. For a while, there were a bunch in the Bay Area with some sort of sheep in their name, but they’ve all disappeared for the most part! I don’t know if they were affiliated or trying to copy the franchise.
I wonder why they don’t name it Little FAT sheep.. like they do in LA… Then again, the LA Little Fat/Happy Sheep naming disaster isn’t exactly the greatest model.
Hehee. I don’t usually go all out, but it’s been so long since I’ve been to Little Sheep, and there were just too many items I was craving. =) we had a bunch of leftovers.
I don’t like how they charge for dipping sauces too! So I usually don’t get them. Though I do like them.
It’s too bad about Shabu Shabu. Now I know to avoid it.
I haven’t tried the lunch special at Little Sheep yet. I’ll let you know how I like it once I try it out!
Happy Thanksgiving Kirbie! Funny I thought the exact same thing about the sesame pancake but I’ve yet to go all out here like you guys. Thanks for the post. 🙂
I went here awhile back and also thought the place was really expensive. It was really painful to keep ‘ticking’ off all the individual items we had to pay for!
What did you think of their dipping sauces?
Do you think the lunch specials are decent? I went to Shabu Shabu house the other day and their $9.99 lunch special was terrible (food was good but we all left sooo hungry).
The only thing i remember LOVING from Little Sheep was their meat pie. I think it was b/c it tasted like a green onion pancake crepe cake w/ meat (hey – maybe that’s something you can try to make next time!!).
Wonderful post –
Happy Thanksgiving!
I need to try the lamb wontons. I don’t know how to spend less at Little Sheep…there’s always so many items I want. I can’t imagine a satisfying hot pot without having napa cabbage, tong hua, fish balls, fish, lamb, beef, tofu, noodles, mushrooms…heehee.
I’ve never had the lamb wontons before! I need to try them.
Hey Kirbie – It does seem like hot pot weather right now, doesn’t it? Funny, we don’t seem to spend nearly the same amount that you do at Little Sheep. That lamb is fantastic…..just a realy quick dunk so as not to over-cook it, delici-yoso! Love the lamb won tons as well.
Yum, love Little Sheep! I was just thinking how nice a big bowl of their lamb wontons would be right now.