A filling malatang experience! Plenty of fresh veggie/meat options to choose from. They charge $15/lb. The broth had a great balance of mala, salty, and savory without being too skewed to any. All of us got Medium spice, which surprisingly wasn't spicy at all. We had to manually add chili flakes to increase spiciness. Recommend stopping by read more

Best malatang in boston!!!!!!! the first time I went, it was so good that I went back 2 days later. The broth is like a bone broth, and it's so creamy and delicious! They have a good selection of veggies and meat, and lots of noodles. I recommend getting rice instead of noodles because it pairs so well with the soup. The service is really quick and the owner is really nice! They have free iced tea so that's a bonus. Lots of seating inside, so there's never a wait! Love love love this place :) read more

Tasty malaban+malatang. You choose your own ingredients, pay by weight ($15/lb), then wait for it to be made. Both the soup and the less-soup versions are tasty, but on the mild side in terms of spice. The extra spicy was definitely fine even for someone with limited spice tolerance! The self-serve ingredients area is clean and well-stocked (esp in variety of fish balls/tofus). Service is nice and efficient. We'll definitely be back! read more

I come here at least once a month, and I love it! You pay by weight, and there's a great selection of veggies, meats, and tofus. I have my order dialed: broccoli (soaks up soup well and is the perfect texture when cooked), Napa cabbage, baby bok choy, 1-2 pieces cilantro, bean sprouts, 1 slice sausage, lots of whatever mushrooms they have, a few rice cakes, a little bit of several types of tofu, 4-5 rolls of fatty meat, 1 slice tomato (I heard it gives it umami, but I really just like having variety), and a few types of noodles. Sometimes I add fish cakes. The self serve setup makes it really easy to experiment with ingredients, and I've sampled almost everything on the menu by adding a bite or two of something new to my bowls. I get the soup medium spicy, then add more chilli flakes to adjust the spice to my liking. The broth is delicious and creamy. I like to get their soy milk on the side. The restaurant experience is the reason I don't order this as takeout (that and I like getting to pick exactly which piece of cabbage etc goes in my soup). When you walk in, an employee immediately sets a place for you with a cup of water and a straw. The owner (I presume) is also the cashier, and is delightful. Since I've been going there, he's recommended me ingredients, remade an order when I asked, given me drinks on the house, and remembered me between visits. Make sure you take advantage of the free drink (I've seen tea, juice, lemonade, and soda), which helps to mentally offset the $22 you've just spent on soup. I recommend KungFu MalaTang to any and everyone! read more

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Definitely hit the spot! As with typical MalaTang places, ingredients are self serve and you pay by the pound. There's also a little scale in the corner where you can check your weight before paying, which I thought was nice. I got the spicy broth and my friend got the dry mix, which was like a peanut sauce. The male staff that was there recommended it to us, and he was very friendly! Both were delicious and we left feeling satisfied :) There is also complimentary soft serve at the end! Atmosphere was okay - it was empty when we went and it felt stale with the dim lighting. But food was good and I would come back! read more

KungFu MalaTang - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

For a quick Sunday dinner I decided to try KungFu MalaTang. Upon entry, I was informed of the ordering procedure. Take a bowl and stuff it with ... stuff from Chest freezers with hot-pot style thinly sliced meats, refrigerated shelves w/vegetables, fish balls, etc. The bowl would be weighed and charged at a rate of $14.99/lb. I ended up getting around 1.1lb of stuff. Then I had two options - to have it served as either noodle soup (malatang) or as a saucy mixture with a bowl of rice on the side. I decided to try the latter since I was already familiar with the soup format. My bowl of raw ingredients was then taken into the kitchen, transformed into stuff cooked in a sauce mix, and presented. I wasn't a fan of the sauce mix, which was a peanut sauce that was barely spicy, even though I ordered it medium spicy. Might as well have called it mild. Why even bother calling yourself "mala / 麻辣" if this is going to be neither ma / 麻 nor la / 辣. Otherwise, price and the convenience of counter service are the only reasons to come here. read more

KungFu MalaTang - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

my new go-to spot for malatang! this pay-per-pound dry/hot pot restaurant in allston has a mom n pop feel with kind and friendly service. great for casual meals and small groups! you fill up a bowl with all the ingredients you'd like and they have a good but decent variety of veggies, meats, noodles, etc. to choose from. when you check out, they weigh your bowl ($14.99/lb) and you pick from 3 spice levels and whether you'd like it as a dry pot or hot pot. they cook it for you and bring it out to you pretty quickly! also free tea for dine-in customers. i got the extra hot dry pot which was peanut-y, a good amount of mala, and satisfying!! read more

KungFu MalaTang - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

good flavor and the portion is good. Just wish it could spicier would taste even more better. 8/10 Also ubereat this, the packing was good nothing spilled. read more

KungFu MalaTang - MalaTang-Spicy Hot PotSoup -with fatty beef & beef tripes - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

So underrated, I never hear people talking about this place but they should! The style of this place is kind of AYCE, but you make a bowl and pay by weight- then they cook it for you and bring it out. They have a bar of food to choose from with great options, then they weigh it and you choose your broth. They only have 3 options for broth (mild, medium, and spicy) but it's CRAZY delicious! Definitely the best broth I've ever had. I get the mild one bc I can't really handle spice and it's amazing. Only downside is there isn't really a sauce bar (I think there might be one by the door-? But there's only like 3 sauces) and the meat is all frozen, but that's typical because it's included in the self-serve part and it's sitting out with everything else. It's a cozy little place and the service is quick and great. I love this spot!! read more

The malaban (dry version of malatang) had a great variety of ingredients and is a perfect way to fulfill spicy food cravings without too much oil and sugar. Ordered delivery and everything came quickly and well packaged. Prices are fair and I'm looking forward to coming in person! read more

KungFu MalaTang - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

We Family very Like This Restaurant. Food Is Amazing. Here is 100% Original Chinese Hot Pot. I LIKE Soup One Malatang. read more

KungFu MalaTang - I Like Malatang - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

Great food! I really like the food here and I wish I could come more often. Sooooooooo good. read more

KungFu MalaTang - Great food! - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

Very tasty and filling food! Definitely worth the money. The service was also very friendly and would remove some of my noodles after I overfilled my bowl. A nice place to hang out for sure, I also enjoy the free orange juice. read more

KungFu MalaTang - Tiny spicy Malatang - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

This is my favorite malatang spot in Boston. It's not your traditional malatang - it's a Korean take which is going to be less of that traditional straight numbing mala spice. Get the medium if you like a good slightly spicy sesame-y/nutty chili flavor, get the spicy if you want it at the level of a Shin ramen level spice. Please give it a try! read more

I bring my service dog here, the restaurant is empty but they force me to seat in a small table in the corner just because I have a dog... this is totally discrimination against service dogs... the waiter was rude and refuses to contact the manager... I can't imagine how they operate this restaurant Update: their manager contacted me to apologies their attitude to my dog so I'm changing this to 3 star. I understand they are worried about some customers might allergic to dogs, but that's not an excuse to refuse it. They really need to come up with a solution to balance this, many other restaurants do this well and I think they should too read more

Very lively and smells good inside. Food is good. Drinks are unique and is very clean

Got Mild, i enjoyed it alot. Broth was nice. Service was helpful and quick. I did add sum more spice tho

Stopped by for dinner per a friend's recommendation - and I'm so glad I did! There are a lot of great restaurants in the area, so I've passed by Mala Kungfu loads of times, but I've just never found the chance to give it a try. I'm sure other reviews cover this in detail, but the tl;dr of this place is that you assemble a bowl of ingredients and they cook it into a hot-pot-esque soup - you're charged by the weight of your bowl. My bowl was so delicious - the broth was tasty and not too salty, and all of the veggies/fish balls/etc. were just so nicely cooked. The beef (which cost $4 extra) was amazing - tender, juicy, and flavourful, complementing the noodles and lighter ingredients in the soup so well. I particularly loved the many different type of fish balls - cuttlefish, ones with filling, fish cakes - a lot of variety to choose from :) I'm not actually sure exactly the per unit cost (by weight) - but my bowl came out to be around $25 after tax/tip, which is definitely more than I would have expected, both for this type of cuisine and for this neighbourhood around Allston. That being said, my meal was amazing regardless and I will definitely be back soon! read more

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Location/Parking: easy to spot on the corner of brighton & harvard. there is metered street parking all along harvard street that takes card. you can usually find a spot within a 3 minute walk of the restaurant (which is useful for all of the other yummy places in Allston as well). Food: for people not familiar with mala-tang (southern chinese soup dish), the restaurant is run on a pretty cool concept where you pick ingredients you'd like out of a buffet into a big bowl. It is then weighed/priced and the kitchen cooks it up for you into a warm & spicy broth! The fact that its choose-your-own and priced by weight can be good and bad. Certain things that aren't usually pricy can be heavier and cost a lot, while other things can be a good deal, so I definitely recommend factoring that into your choices. My recommendations for tasty & bang-for-buck are: lotus root, tofu skin, bok choi, fresh japanese noodles, seafood items, and meat which is also by weight during happy hour. Price: usually comes out to $20-30 everytime I've went, which is a little pricier than the average for Allston restaurants. However, I think the broth is A+ and you end up with a ton of food so I usually eat it over 2 meals. Overall, definitely recommend trying at least once for the novel experience, and there's a decent chance you may get hooked and end up as a repeat customer like me! read more

KungFu MalaTang - Mala-tang (their main item) with beef (by weight during happy hour), fresh noodles, fish cake, and veggies - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

I did takeout for the mala soup and got a big thing of tasty soup and hefty bowl of the ingredients I ordered. The soup is tasty ! I ordered it to be mildly spicy and it's good and tasty. If you want it to be numbing, you have to order it spicier. Also the soup did not come with a thick layer of oil on top, which I personally like bc it feels less greasy to me, but I know some other people like that oil layer. The soup is still plenty flavorful without it though. They also gave me a free rice! It might be because I ordered a lot. Overall I'm very happy, it's like hotpot but I didn't have to leave my house. Also I didn't order any greens so that's why my food is all brown, but what I did order (meats mushrooms tofu) was all very yummy. Edit: also the rice is VERY GOOD. I usually don't care about rice bc rice is just rice but this rice is soft and bouncy and sticky and idk just not your typical takeout rice. read more

KungFu MalaTang - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

I visited this restaurant before randomly, and it left a lasting impression on me so I came back only two days after. I missed the malatang I had in South Korea, and this restaurant is set up just like it! You can choose your own veggies, meat, noodles, etc as much as you'd like, and they weigh it by the pound. You can also choose the spice level; we got the medium, which wasn't that spicy. We got a total of 3.4 pounds, which came out to about $47. The broth was very good and warm, although I was expecting more of a mala taste (it was a bit too faint). The service was fast, and the Korean server was incredibly kind and receptive to our needs. Overall, great service & good food. read more

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I love eating here when I'm craving malatang! Briefly, this is a place where you pay by weight of ingredients that you want to put into the soup, and then you pay for that and indicate a spicy level and then they take it back cook everything for you and then bring it out! I do want to just disclaim that with that one of these bowls it can get pretty expensive, around $30-$40 depending on what you put in it. However they give you a lot of soup especially with it, so when I come here I usually split one bowl with my friend and it is definitely enough for the both of us, and very cost efficient too!The soup is also very tasty, it tastes like it has a peanut/sesame-base with spice on top! Also protip: you should get the fresh handmade noodles because they are the best here! Also since it's weight based, getting things like potatoes may not be worth it, but getting vegetables is pretty worth it if you like them! read more

Come on! It is so delicious! I have to say that and everyone need taste it because it is the most delicious food for me to eat in Allston. read more

KungFu MalaTang - wow it is so delicious with all food in it！I have to eat it every week! - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

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Amazing food! Really enjoy eating the mala here and will be coming back! Some of the best in the Boston area. read more

KungFu MalaTang - hotpot - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

I love this spot! It's basically a build your own bowl of soup. They have items buffet style that you put what you want into a bowl and then you give it to them to weigh and choose the spice level. They are super nice here. Everytime I've gone, they were always really welcoming and the service was great!! It's a cute corner restaurant, great for casual dining. I'm 100% coming back again. read more

Staff were incredibly nice and friendly as always. The manager always makes it a point to greet people in or give them a meaningful goodbye on their way out. I got in while it was empty so the self serve bar was fully stocked. Their broth is really the way to go, it's a nice balance of spice and creaminess to not give you too much of either. My bowl came out to $~25 before tip. They weigh you on what you pick and then meat is an add-on, maybe $4-$6. I love getting the fatty cut pork to balance everything. I would definitely recommend supporting this small business and tipping well whenever you visit! read more

KungFu MalaTang - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

Review for delivery only: Despite the 3 star rating, was craving a dry hot pot and found this spot. Their broth/sauce contains the sesame/peanuty taste so you don't need additional sauces. And the flavoring is on point in my honest opinion. It is little milder in spice compared to other Szechuan places but I actually prefer the different spice levels offered here and seems more accurate to people's tolerance levels. I got both mala tang and mala ban. Both are good. Mala tang is more soup like traditional hot pot. And mala ban (or spicy hot pot on ubereats) was more concentrated and was more like a brothy stir fry. Actually preferred the latter because the ingredients were better soaked in the sauce. But the mala tang's soup was actually very comforting during a cold day so best scenario would be to order both with friends. I included a screenshot of my order because it was a pretty good combo. read more

KungFu MalaTang - Sample order! Wish I took a photo of the food. I was so hungry. But take my word that presentation and portions were good! - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

This restaurant is situated in the corner of Brighton Ave and Harvard Ave. I've passed it so many times and am glad I got a chance to drop by! The owner is very warm and welcoming when you enter the restaurant. I got the build-your-own-hot-pot option (hot pot mala tang) with beef. When you enter, you get to grab a big bowl and fill it with whatever you want in your pot. They have a variety of vegetables, frozen fish balls, noodles near the cashier, and meat (beef, lamb, etc). The meat is separate from the hot pot food bar and will be added on top of your total bill. This place is a bit on the more expensive side of hot pot places, of course it also depends on what you fill your bowl with and how much of each ingredient you get. You can customize the level of spice for the broth. I got medium and it was perfect for me (the owner also told me the medium spice level is a popular choice). The broth was very flavorful so I had a few sips of it. I did find that I was pretty thirsty a while after my meal. The highlight of my meal was the broth and the friendly service! read more

KungFu MalaTang - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

KungFu Malatang is on the corner of Brighton and Harvard Ave right across from Meet Fresh. As you walk in you're greeted and shown how you pick your food. You basically get a big bowl and tongs and are told to pick and choose what you'd like in, since there are no signs the people there tell you what is what for things that might be less obvious like the different types of fish balls. It's about $15/lb of food so you get what you pay for. I got a variety of items from glass noodles, meats, and veggies. Then you have the option of choosing your bowl to be cooked with soup or dry (just sauce) and then pick your spice level. I chose tiny, which is 1 pepper with soup and thought it was the perfect amount for me. I really enjoyed the variety of items and loved the super chewy noodles. I wished they had a pitcher of water at our table or were better about refilling out glasses because I definitely needed more water from all the spiciness of the dish. There were a few other tables dining in as well, but they also had quite a few takeout orders that got picked up as well. Overall, this would be a great place to go to warm up in the winter with a nice hotpot soup. read more

KungFu MalaTang - MYO hotpot - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

Create-your-own hotpot with a wide selection of fresh vegetables and other items (fishcakes, fish balls, tofu, rice cakes, noodles, etc) which you pay for by weight. You can also choose to add meat for $4/order. The default is a hot pot soup but you can also ask for a semi-dry pot. The soup base stays the same but you can choose how spicy you want it. They have extra mala chili on the side if your pot is not spicy enough. There is a sign which says that there is a $10 minimum, but the pay by weight concept actually adds up quicker than you'd expect. The first time I came here I somehow ended up with a bowl worth $40 (I added two orders of meat), but it also fed two of us very well and we walked out of there stuffed. The ambiance here is... Interesting. They play Korean songs which sound like k-drama soundtracks but they also have a large TV screen where they play a playlist of epic fail videos. Not necessarily the cheapest meal but you also get a lot of food. read more

KungFu MalaTang - Soupy pot with beef and lamb, came out to around $30 including an order of rice on the side - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

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Great service :) the lady who took my order was very nice and spoke both Chinese and English 很流利的 :)

Very friendly owner. There are many restaurants where the owner just leave the store to the workers. Which typically leads poort customer services. The owner greeted us and offered some free offers. The foods are fresh and taste good. Definitely coming again! read more

KungFu MalaTang - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

Be aware: there is a mandatory 10% tips despite being a self-service restaurant. I was denied service for not wanting to pay the "tips" before food was given to me. Tips should be a gratitude for great service, not to add extra fees for no reasons. Be aware: there is a minimum weight for pick-yourself hotpot (1lb, $13.99). There is no sign, I only learned there's a minimum at checkout. The choices are mostly vegetables, instant ramen, and spam. Meat are not included in the minimum. I generally don't give a one star as I always see something positive. Not in this case. Manager even threatened to call the police when I refused to pay the 10% "tips". Between the demeaning manager and his poor attitude towards customers, I give it one star. read more

I had not had Malatang for years! I think the last time I had it was in Shanghai 10 years ago. I was on the way to have ramen but saw this place while waiting at the red light. Out of curiosity, I came here instead. I enjoyed the broth and the freedom to pick my own ingredients but it was a pretty pricy place to eat. I did love the k pop playlist they had going. All k pop legend songs. Thumbs up! Fast service. They put water on the table before you even sat. Though it was weird they picked a table for you while you were at the cashier. read more

Best customer service!! weighting scale with the marks at the weight which one portion should not exceed just to let the customer made aware of one's right portion. The owner himself explained how one should take and weight. My husband got it exceeded the mark and it is really a lot when it comes out. he regrets not taking the owner's advice seriously. read more

KungFu MalaTang - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

Would not recommend, the food is pretty good but not really worth the price. The manager offered us milk tea talking about how special it is. The milk tea was nothing more than powder mixed with water. Overall, the manager's talk is much bigger than the product. read more

KungFu MalaTang - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

Despite this restaurant has a 4-star review on Yelp, I have to tell my honest opinion here: 1. Service is extremely slow. We ordered on 7:40 pm and we are still waiting for this one bowl of vegetables. There are fewer than 5 tables of customers sitting in the store during our time here. I am not sure what takes them so long. 2. Staff are very rude. There's a guitar performer playing the guitar for the customers, and suddenly the staff in the kitchen yelling at her at discretion: "STOP!" Well, you have other ways to ask her to stop playing. Yelling is not the best option. The staff also get impatient when we ask when our food will be ready (after 50 minutes of ordering it). 3. We end up not eating anything because we are concerned about the sanitary condition. read more

KungFu MalaTang - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

Probably the kindest service amongst all Allston Asian restaurants. The vegetable is always really fresh and the vege station offers a broad variety to choose from. The noodles are well cooked. The protein is always fresh and in good quality. They offer food in giant amount. You can be sooooo full with $25 per person. And their house noodle sauce is soooooo good, rich and flavorful. Been here multiple times and never got disappointed. 良心食材 而且真的算是Allston服务最好的亚洲餐馆之一了 老板和店员人都超好的 read more

KungFu MalaTang - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

This place has a lot of potential! The owner just needs to install ac. Summer will be bad for business if there is no air conditioner. Like seriously dude, you need to install an AC because even though I really enjoyed my food, i could not fully enjoy it because I kept sweating my butt off. That experience is not pleasant. So please please install ac otherwise you're my go to place during the fall and winter. Anyhoo besides that, I love that you can pick your own ingredients for your spicy soup and you can also pick what level of spicy you want. So that's cool. But watch out for your portions. You pay per weight and I think it was $12.99 per pound or $13.99 I forgot. I paid about $31 for mine. That was a lot of food. Got too excited with the options I guessed. So watch out for that. Overall it was good. I just wish the restaurant had air conditioning. read more

KungFu MalaTang - Love the potato noodles!! Also the broth is good too - Chinese Near Me - Allston, Massachusetts

TLDR - An authentic Chinese food experience that is rarely seen in the states Mala Kungfu is small store on the corner offering a style of fast casual food very common all over China. You walk in, grab a giant bowl, and toss in all the ingredients (meat, veggies, noodles, etc.) you would like for them to cook in a broth. You tell them how spicy you would like it and they whip it all together for you. Finally, you pay by weight and patiently wait for your food. The soup came out really good, and the ingredients were quite fresh by appearance and taste. I couple areas of the restaurant I think that can be improved are the speed of service and the pricing. I know I got a lot of food (though it's all just veggies and I didn't even add a meat), but I ended up spending the amount I would at a decent Italian restaurant. Close to about $22. The speed of service is tough, because they had one person working the counter and one person working the kitchen. When the line got even a tiny bit long, it was just so much for two people to handle. Ultimately, I enjoyed my meal and this restaurant has a lot of potential to be even better than it is. read more