Amazing service and food, very fast and fresh ingredients. Ambiance is very cozy, very helpful staffread more

The food is good. Staff very nice. I liked the songs they played in the restaurant. My friend, our…read moredaughters and I had a great time.

I was super excited to try Tanghuo Kungfu Mala, and it did not disappoint! My friends and I came…read morearound 1pm on a Saturday and had the whole place to ourselves. It was our first time, but the process was pretty straightforward grab a bowl and tongs by the entrance and start picking from a great variety of meats, veggies, and more. I went with the signature spicy hot pot broth (medium spice), and I highly recommend it so flavorful! Prices were fair for the quality and amount of food, and I'd definitely come back. Only downside was that a few ingredients in the freezer weren't fully stocked, but honestly, still an easy 5 stars from me.

"Hot Pot, Mongolian Grill style, in downtown Berkeley"…read more Came here on Black Friday evening at 6:45pm, and it was pretty empty in the restaurant. The place is BRIGHTLY lit, but I confess I would have been confused on protocol without coming with two past diners. There are some large bowls on the side and tongs, and you stack the meats, veggies, and starches from the adjacent fridge/ freezers in the bowl as you walk in, then hand it to the cashier and note which broth you'd like. They then cook it up and bring it out to you. Because they cook it with materials you picked (rather than then giving you ingredients and you cooking it), that's why I call it "Mongolian grill style". The process was a bit difficult-- I don't know Mandarin, and some choices were only labeled in Mandarin (or were clearly mislabeled). For instance, I saw something that looked like fake crab meat sticks, but later discovered it had some sort of meat filling that was not obvious. I picked as best I could though, and everything looked to be in good shape/ quality. The choices were broad-- many veggies and meats, some starches like ramen or other noodles, etc. I got the signature spicy with a setting at mild, and it had some zing but was very doable for me. One of my dining partners had the tomato and asked for "no" space, and she got what she requested-- said it tasted like Campbell's tomato soup. Meanwhile others with us got the Sichian spicy and were sweating hard. The food took maybe 10 minutes to come out, which was fine. The price was about what you'd expect for the downtown Berkeley area-- not "cheap" but reasonable for what it was-- cost about $150 for the 5 of us. Overall, I enjoyed it. Not something I see myself craving and running back to, but a decent choice in the area.

great food REALLY great staff. I enjoyed the goat and beef, and the cook mixed two of their soup…read morebases for me to make a spicy chicken oxtail! was great.

Went on a Saturday afternoon and we were the only customers. People did stop by for to-go orders…read more The lady who worked there was so sweet and hospitable. The soup base (hot spicy) was DELICIOUS and so flavorful. The self serve area had a solid range of items but wish they were all labeled. Overall, great food, great ambience, and great price for an AYCE hot pot restaurant.

We came in on a Thursday night and the place was pretty empty. We sat right away and placed our…read moreorder using a QR code. They have a bunch of options that seem over priced, but they offer so much. They even came to our table to let us know that veggies were included and that they can take what we ordered off. They made sure we had everything we needed. The sauce bar is not included but for $3.95 you get drinks and the sauce. We also ordered popcorn chicken. That was my favorite. This may be our new hot pot place.

Met here with a couple of friends and left very happy!…read more This location is in a "shopping mall" and has plenty of parking. I have had hotpot plenty of times but not here and I'm very happy I found it! Firstly the price! Some places charge an arm and a leg, while here they have plenty of broth options, large portions and it can truly feed 2-4 people. Got the popcorn chicken - delicious Soup combo - very good portion Service was quick and the food was flavorful Only issue I had was that you had to pay almost $4.00 to use the sauce bar. Yes that price includes - fruit (looked a little mushy) and two drink items - lemonade and winter melon tea. Overall 100% would come back

Love this place!! My son said it's one of his favorite places in Berkeley so we were excited to try…read moreit and weren't disappointed. We went to the Irvine location and it was a completely different experience. This place was so clean and the restaurant was much lighter and inviting. The guys at the counter were super friendly and then you get to the food. Soooo good. I got the tom yum broth and it was just really amazing. It's like "I can't wait to go again" good. What can I say.. I can't wait to go again.

I was one of the people with the two UC students who got banned from malatang because we couldn't…read moreafford to tip that one time. I find it completely unreasonable that my friends got banned that day because of tipping issue, I just want to say that my two friends were basically normals at Malatang and have tipped before. My friend who paid tried to find a reason as to why he was getting banned but the worker did not want to tell us, so we just assumed that he was upset that we didn't tip. He told us to hurry up and get out rushing us, whilst giving attitude and throwing a napkin or rag on the table. As well as everyone who has also said a review, this is a self-serve hotpot place as the waiters do not do much as just bring us our bowls and clean up every now and then. But most of the time you will just see them standing there staring at you, if anything the people in the kitchen probably deserve more than the waiters out there. I just find is severely disappointing that they treat customers like this and over a one-time tip they decide to ban regulars at said restaurant. I find it shameful that they act like this in broad daylight, where was the professionalism, of an adult, nonetheless. I enjoyed the food myself as well and even though I was one of the people they didn't "Ban" I will most definitely not return just because of this incident.

Great service, good food. A great find and I'll be back to try other stuff. Love the restaurant has…read morea very family feel and vibe. Please try and help them get more business.

In the past, I really enjoyed dining at the restaurant, but yesterday I ordered food via delivery…read more I got two kinds of dumplings: shrimp, and chive, and spinach. And they both were really good. I especially like the spinach dumplings. I also got the mixed vegetables and they were exquisite, and the salmon and tofu dish which melted in my mouth, and was truly excellent. I will happily order from them many times.

My husband & I came here for Mother's Day, since their vegan menu looked AMAZING!…read moreJust note, they only take cash or Venmo, so make sure you have one of those payment options. It was pretty busy with not a TON of tables, but the service was still fairly quick. Our rolls came out faster than our appetizers, but at least we got everything eventually. We each ordered a miso soup, which was honestly kind of bland. We added some of their red pepper-type seasoning to it & it made it a little better. We also ordered their vegan bao buns & they were SO delicious! Super doughy, & the stuffing was seasoned really well. Their vegetable tempura wasn't bad. Didn't have the same assortment of vegetables most places have, but it still tasted pretty good. Ours primarily had yam, broccoli, & green beans. For our rolls, we ordered: The Cha-ya Roll (The entire sushi roll, filled with asparagus, yam, avocado, and carrots, is lightly battered and deep-fried, Tempura style. Served with special house sauce.) This one was my personal favorite! We also got the Vegan Roll (A large roll with spinach, atsuage tofu, cucumber, broccolini, pickled burdock, seasoned shiitake and campy gourd, and pickled ginger.) Lastly, we ordered the Haku Roll (Sushi rice with fried yam, shiitake mushroom, rolled up with an outer layer of avocado.) All the rolls were so fresh & flavorful! Next time we are in the area, I'd love to go back & try other things. I wish their menu had pictures on it, because some of the items were hard for us to imagine what it would look/taste like. But their menu online has a lot of pictures, so maybe I'll write down what interests me for next time!

We had a pretty heavy dinner the other day, so today, I was looking to balance that with a greener…read moremeal while we were out. I ended up choosing Cha Ya since it was around the area where we needed to be and it turned out to be the perfect choice. We happened to come around noon on a Monday so it was pretty empty. Parking can be a little hectic around the area, but you can get lucky with residential parking as well. They accept cash or Venmo at this time only. Between my partner and I, we got the Senroppon Salad, Hasami Age and a Hana Gomoku. The Senroppon Salad came pretty quickly. It's composed of a lot of shredded root veggies, some tofu strips, edamame, sprouts and seeds mixed with a light soy vinaigrette. I found some inspiration while having this. It's a very refreshing, non-green, healthy salad. Quite unique! The vinaigrette gets a little stronger when you get to the bottom of the salad since those have been sitting in the dressing for a while. Next, the Hasami Age was something my partner was intrigued about. It's almost like a sushi roll, but made the filling is just corn and tofu. They're wrapped with a soybean sheet and nori and then lightly battered and fried. It turned out really delicious! The batter was indeed on the lighter side and it didn't feel heavy or oily at all. The corn and tofu mix was a little bland, so I wished they put a bit more veggie variety in there for different taste and texture. The almond sauce worked really well with it. If I have to describe this dish, it's like the offspring of a sushi roll and spring roll, haha. Lastly, the Hana Gomoku! This is like a very healthy Buddha bowl. All the ingredients were laid out neatly on top and there was a lot of veggie varieties! I love that they mixed hijiki into the rice, so it not only added flavor to the base, but also some texture. It was beautiful and delicious. We had a nice, quiet, and enjoyable meal here. I hope to try some of their other menu items when we're around Berkeley again!

Me and the wifey couldn't decide on a place to eat and wound up in Solano Avenue. We looked up a…read morecouple of Yelp spots and decided to give this place a try. I am glad we did because I was not disappointed. The place was busy but the service was prompt and excellent. We had ordered three dishes to share family style with rice. First off let me start by saying the portions are generous. All three of the dishes were a hit but to me the star of the show was the garlic chicken. The sauce was excellent! If spicy is your thing then order the beef, it was loaded with peppers! Finally the walnut prawns were nice counter to the garlic and peppers. We also ordered steamed rice to go with the meal. This was an excellent choice and we will most definitely be back.

What a surprise! I stopped going to this restaurant before…read morethe pandemic hit. I had disappointment after disappointment, both in house and to go. Tonight I was craving good local chinese food and decided to give this place another try. I don't know why. I always felt bad with each previous sad serving. It was terrific! The order was ready on time. The containers were bulging with food when before the servings were getting skimpier and skimpier. The chow fun was not swimming in oil. The cumin lamb was no longer 90% peppers but a generous portion of lamb and a good ratio of peppers. The crispy chicken appetizer was delightful. The dry green beans had a snap. It was such a complete reversal from the last experiences that I'm glad I went back and we will certainly continue to satisfy our Szechuan cravings with this place. I had braced myself expecting in these dire times with many food places closing or gasping with high costs, a less than stellar experience. What a wonderful surprise!