Tried the beef hot soup at Tasty Pot and it was so good. The broth was rich and flavorful, and the…read morebeef was tender and cooked perfectly. Everything tasted fresh and comforting--exactly what you want from hot pot. Generous portions and price was decent as well!! The service was very friendly, which made the experience even better. Staff was very friendly and attentive when you need something. All the tasty pots we have visited had hit or miss servers but not this one!! Overall, a great spot for a satisfying meal. I'd definitely come back and recommend it to anyone craving noodles soup!!!

I come to this place quite often but never left a review, so I decided to write one this time…read more The food is decent, but personally I prefer the Concord location -- somehow the food there tastes a bit better to me. My favorite is the Lamb Hot Soup, and today my husband ordered the Curry Flavor Hot Soup -- he said it was delicious. For the service, I have to say the lunch service wasn't great this time. We had to grab most things ourselves. I could've asked the staff, but since our table was behind the counter and the staff didn't seem very friendly or smiley, I didn't really feel like calling them. When we came during dinner time before, the service was much better. I like that this place has a reward program, and the restaurant itself is pretty clean -- including the restroom. Overall, it's okay. Not bad at all, but I do hope they can improve their lunch service.

First time here! Everything was fresh and delicious. We came from Hawaii and chose this place for…read moreour dinner and do not regret it. We enjoyed a lot! Thank you!

Plenty of options and tasty hotpot selection! My family and I got the 2 sets of the two person…read morehotpot which is plenty of food to share amongst our family of 5. I got the miso broth and personally it was a bit too salty for my liking but my family enjoyed the other broths they got (the tom yum & tomato). There were a lot of broth options as well as meat selection and the sauce bar comes with a wide variety of options too ! Service was speedy and our server Minh was very friendly and accommodating. The restaurant is quite large and well lit, a perfect ambiance for hotpot. Overall my family and I enjoyed our meal and would recommend.

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.

Definitely check them out! They have a great sauce bar and a special for 2 people. The quality of…read moremeats is great and also the broth selection. I ordered an extra plate of meat so the special only included one plate but still worth the try! I will go back again.

I went to this hot pot restaurant recently, but unfortunately, I wasn't impressed with the…read moreexperience. Some of the food didn't seem very fresh and had an unpleasant smell. The service was also quite slow, and there was only one person serving the customers. I wouldn't really recommend this place, but if you're curious, you can give it a try and decide for yourself. Personally, I definitely won't be coming back.

Good selection of fillings, good broth, easy service…read more Bathroom light shut off on me!

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.

Hotpot/Shabu Shabu spots in the east bay are few and far in between, especially ones that are AYCE,…read moreso when a spot hits it's palpable. After having been a few times over a year or so, I can safely say Azure is in my top for hot pot in the east bay. The tom yum soup is a must get, I enjoy the sauces they provide(especially the spicy chili and cilantro sauce), meats are good quality and service is great. They also have a QR code to make ordering quick and convenient. They also had the best Thai tea soft serve, hoping that comes back one day. Thanks for making a great go-to spot for those hot pot cravings!

Some street parking which is not terrible to find on a weekday evening. It also wasn't very…read morecrowded so getting a table was easy. Food comes out fast which is good. So you don't have to worry about ordering everything on the first round. The meat options are fairly good but not abundant in good quality. There's a good amount of options for mushrooms and veggies which is good. I wish there were more options of meat balls and seafood. Broth was usual, nothing spectacular but glad we could get two different flavors for one table. Overall a good option for hot pot ayce.

The honey walnut shrimp was delicious! I kept popping them into my mouth like popcorn, it was…read moreunstoppable really The noodles were alright, I feel the sauce was lacking in flavoring, it was just oil and garlic - maybe a little spice would help? Ambiance is nice and chill, honestly feel it would make a cute date night with the dim lighting, calm and intimate atmosphere. But while there - there was plenty of solo diners, dates, happy hours, and family gatherings. Definitely an all rounder place!

This is our new favorite Chinese restaurant. The salt and pepper eggplant dish is awesome.read more

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!

Great spot for any vegetarians looking for Japanese food with plenty of options! The eggplant roll…read morewas extraordinary, and all of the vegetables were really well prepared. The sukiyaki was a bit one-dimensional for me, and the udon was on the blander side. The inside of the restaurant was intimate and cozy, and when I walked by the kitchen, I noticed it was spotless. Service was also relatively fast. This didn't affect my review, but I did find a twist tie in the sukiyaki, probably from some of the veggies. We let the staff know and they apologized. If anything, I guess it means the veggies are fresh!

I love SiChuan Style! I've been supporting their restaurant for over 4 years now and always find…read moremyself coming back to this spot. I even introduced this restaurant to my friends and they also love the food quality as well. I recommend their spicy sichuan water boil special. There's a perfect amount of spiciness and flavor that pairs well with a side of rice. I also like their beef shank and tripe appetizer; their portion sizes are always huge and perfect for family style sharing. Servers are very attentive, friendly, and fast. It's also always clean and affordable.

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.

I didn't realize there was a Japanese market in the area! I wanted to make poke nachos, but didn't…read morewant to drive to the fish market in Albany. I was able to find almost everything I needed at this market. They have sashimi, seaweed salad, imitation crab sticks, packaged and prepared food, meat, snacks, etc. It's a nice little store with a lot to offer. I'd come back again.

This is a small, what looks like a family-run spot, that I really enjoy visiting. The staff are…read moreconsistently polite, welcoming, and always happy to help, which makes a big difference every time I stop by. I usually come here to pick up snacks, and it's become a favorite for my little one, they absolutely love the Meiji chocolate, and this is the closest place where I can reliably find it. Even though the store is on the smaller side, it should meet your daily needs. You'll find essentials like dairy and fresh fruit, along with more specialty items like miso paste and a variety of Japanese seasonings. It's compact, but thoughtfully organized, and has most things you will need without feeling overwhelming.