Chef David Kuo is the owner and 'Head Fatty' behind the popular Los Angeles establishments Little Fatty and Fatty Mart. He is known for his Taiwanese-American comfort food, offering a unique blend of flavors and...
Little Fatty offers a Taiwanese-American fusion dining experience with a lively ambiance and an impressive bar program. It's considered one of the best restaurants and cocktail spots on the westside of Los Angeles, specifically in Mar Vista. The restaurant aims to provide a fun and energetic dining atmosphere.
Customer Perception
Customer perception is generally positive, with many praising the delicious and flavorful food, particularly the Chili Wontons, BBQ Pork Shank, and Orange Chicken. The cocktail program receives high marks for its complex and strong drinks. The ambiance is frequently described as lively and fun, and service is often highlighted as attentive and helpful. However, some customers have found certain dishes to be bland, over-seasoned, or salty, and there have been isolated reports of issues with seating and perceived discriminatory service.
Additional Details
The restaurant is associated with a 'Fatty Mart,' suggesting a potential retail component. It's recognized for its excellent cocktail offerings, with specific drinks like the 'Pineapple Boi' and 'Jesuit Tea Party' receiving praise.
Weeknights, especially later in the evening, can be a good time to visit, as parking might be free after 8 PM. Arriving right at opening (5 PM) might lead to seating challenges due to reservations.
This is a restaurant slash bar. So it's not your typical Chinese place. We walked in and were seated at the bar. The bartender was friendly and gave us great recommendations. I love their complimentary rice crackers. So nutty and great. The beef wrap I thought was going to be small but turned out it's giant. I love the crunchy cucumbers in it and it was huge fed 3 people. It came with a soup kind of like a when you order birria and you get the consome. The dan dan miam noodles were more like giant pasta and the sauce had a lot more flavor of cumin/tumeric. It was not your typical Chinese dan dan mian but it is spicy. Not my favorite. The fatty noodles were chewy and perfectly seasoned. Fried dumplings were so yummy and not greasy. Hanian chicken is so soft and tender. Loved the picked cucumber side and ginger oil. The rice I didn't care for because it had the same Indian flavor the dan dan mian noodles have. I think with everything so flavored packed it needed plain rice. I would say this is heavy food. The food came out fast not a long wait at all. All the food was hot. They have clean restrooms. I would come back.
Peter waited on our family of six, welcoming us and giving us advice on dishes and proportions. He was quite conscientious and helped us both to avoid foods we don't eat as well as to realize when we could have the original version. He was really friendly and helpful, checked on us frequently, and made a little conversation without being intrusive.
The food was delicious and full of flavor!
5
Absolutely enjoyed my meal and experience. Would definitely go back! Oh a whim, made a late reservation on a weeknight. Went early to see if anything opened or if walk-in would be faster, surprisingly they actually had something come available sooner. We opted to sit inside and loved the ambiance.
Food - amazing! I read reviews first and watched a couple IG videos so I knew a general idea of what we wanted to order. Glad the server suggested the orange chicken over the walnut shrimp when we were debating it. Chil wontons, absolutely a must get, different from DTF, not crazy spicy but full of flavor and richness. XO fatty noodles, perfect chewiness on the rolled noodles and the flavors were well balanced, we enjoyed them with a little chili paste and the orange chicken as the protein. Orange chicken, soooo much more flavorful than your average Panda Express orange chicken, good sized nuggets of chicken that were crispy and tender at the same time, and the zest livened it up. BBQ pork shank, our server did warn us it’s not the easiest to eat, but it’s worth it, hard to see cutting it off the bone because it was so dimly lite in the restaurant and your hands will get sticky but once you get chunks off the bone and your bao bun built it’s delicious especially when you get the lacquered crispy skin yummm! Only skip for the night was the mango sticky rice. Much rather would’ve spend $8 on something else. The mango was tart/sour. The sticky rice was too wet and mushy. It was a pass for both of us.
Service - our server was awesome. From greeting to end, he was the right amount of attentive and was super helpful with suggestions. Everyone from the food runner to the busser, they were all so nice. From getting us chili paste or to go containers, customer service was on point.
Parking - love love that are a few parking spaces right out front. They’re metered. But after 8pm it was free so perfect for us. Other than those spaces, there’s a lot across the street if you want to risk it or also side streets parking too.
4
Excellent restaurant and excellent prices. Definitely get the BBQ pork shank for 2. We also got the XO fat noodles and the beef scallion pancake plus the crispy wontons. The food was delicious but the drinks were next level. Mine was the pineapple boi, outstanding complex and strong. My lady got the Jesuit tea party which she ordered twice. Great place to dine and drink
2
If you like over seasoned, dry frozen food that leans super salty, batter-fried Cauliflower made of frozen veggies and Fatty Noodles doused in soy sauce then this is the place for you!!! Orange Chicken was aight and actually edible. Mos def leans towards the American in the Taiwanese/American Fusion palette. This place has a long way to go and a lot to live up to. Stick with Liu’s Cafe, Pine & Crane, Joy, Woon for legit Taiwanese / Taiwanese-American. Mos def a Wesside crowd. Fatty Mart was nice tho.
