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Respectfully, I come to Malatang for the fish balls, and I know others come for the meat. Both were horrible. Noodles and veggies? Great variety and cooked to perfection. But the protein was abysmal. The fish balls with roe aren't fresh, they're the orange swirled ones that taste like egg yolk and have a rubbery outside. I know other malatang places either don't offer these at all, or specify that they're orange yolk roe. The shrimp balls and crab balls are mushy yet dense? Maybe you'd like it? But no it doesn't taste like imitation crab/fish cake like ANY OTHER malatang place offers. I've never had to do this before, I spit every single one of them out into their paper water cups. The meat was extremely over cooked and dry. My mom and I only tried the Angus beef slices. Mine was cooked better than hers, hers might as well been one notch from cooked ground beef, so it's inconsistent too. But, the rice cakes are also kept so frozen that they were still hard when in my soup. Someone needs to figure that out, other places do it, it can't be that hard of an ask. They have a 0.8lb limit (~$13.50). We both got the beef bone broth, my mom got mild and I got medium. Medium is definitely spicy enough and I was told that "Hot" just has a lot more oil. We took the broth to-go and made our own noodles with the soup to salvage our $. Employees we nice enough, 2/5 we interacted with spoke english, the rest spanish. The place was relatively empty during Sunday lunch.
I really like the concept of the place. It is simple, you have a choice, and they provide delicious savory soup. As you enter the establishment, it's obvious you have to make a little bit of decision what you want on your soup. So, grab a big bowl and a tong to get started. There are veggies, toppings, noodles, seafood, & meat sections. It's $16.99 per pound, so get only items you think you will eat, or it will add up. After you pick all your ingredients, they will weigh it for you, and they will ask you what soup you want. They will then give you a number, and basically, you can pretty much sit wherever you want. I enjoyed everything about this experience, and I can see why people rate it pretty well. I can picture us coming back real soon. While this review is not too detailed, I will give a more detailed update during my next visit. Stay tuned.
Food was really good, and the service was great! Didn't get the name of the cashier but he was super helpful
I like the wide, shallow hot pot bowls， they're spacious and make it easy to cook and scoop ingredients. The beef bone broth is rich and flavorful. However, the beef itself wasn't very tender. The sauce bar was also missing Thai chilies, which was disappointing since I prefer a spicier dipping sauce. Overall, the meal lacked the level of heat I was hoping for.
Went on a Saturday afternoon, been a fan of Malatown for a long time! This time around I wasn't too thrilled with the service. My order was served to someone else and a minute later was tried to be served to me. They claimed that it was brand new and even offered to remake it which was nice. But at this point, I have been waiting for so long that I've lost my appetite. While I try not to let one bad experience ruin my whole perception of a place, it was pretty disappointing how they handled it. Not one apology was said to the other person who was served my order or to me. Probably won't be back for a while at this location. I definitely urge you to try Malatown at their other locations! Malatown is still delicious overall and have been happy with all of them
Stopped by MalaTown in Pleasanton and built my perfect bowl - you grab everything you want (and they have everything) and pay by weight. Had to load up on my must-haves: fish balls with roe, enoki mushrooms, quail eggs, udon, veggies, and LOTS of beef belly + premium beef. Then finished it off with sesame paste, chili oil, and green onions from the sauce bar (they didnt have ponzu ) I went with the tom yum broth (spicy + sour = my fave), but my fiancé got the spicy dry pot with this peanut sauce and it was too flavorful with the perfect kick. Super clean space and really friendly staff, which always makes a difference.
Went here for a quick lunch during my work break, and it was delicious Mala Town is located in a cute plaza full of fun Asian cuisines, where is there is plenty of parking. The restaurant itself has a lot of seating available, and the employees are kind and polite. The ambiance is very chill, especially since I went for a Monday late lunch. There are numerous food options that are very yummy. There is an assortment of meats, veggies, noodles, and more! There is also a DIY sauce bar with a handful of sauces and toppings like cilantro and green onion. Personally, I like to load it up so that way I have enough for 2 meals. If you have enough for leftovers, they have containers available for take home. They also offer to-go which is awesome if you're on a time crunch. Overall, love going here for my malatang fix. It's so good!! :)
Food is delicious. Service is good. Ambiance good. Lots of selections. Love the meet. Fresh. Long line.
Food: It's $16.99 per pound. They have a good selection of meat, seafood, veggies, and noodles. The meat was tender and the veggies were fresh! I got the tom yum soup base. It wasn't too spicy, but very coconut heavy. Staff: They staff here is super friendly and attentive! I accidently dropped a beef ball and after picking it up, the lady staff member offered to help me throw it away and gave me more napkins!
after more than a year, i came here again and found out that this store improved a lot, mostly for the soup taste. seriously, tom yum soup is always the best!!! i think i miss the drink that i had previously. something like tea, sweet one??? and now no longer available ~ so sad though. lol... oh not to forget, the staff's name christian ~ he is great and always very energetic and full of smile. great service...
The staff is very accommodating for our party of 9 on a Saturday! We came at 5 PM and they helped set up the tables for us. Very clean and spacious setting with plenty of tables for big and small parties! The staff is attentive and checked in for more water and napkins. You pretty much get all the ingredients you want at the start and put it in a bowl (theres meats, veggies, noodles, and more!) They weigh it and it's priced based on that. Then you choose the broth and they cook all the ingredients in it. I got the mild signature beef broth which is a good standard soup to get! It was actually milky and had a good flavor with the veggies and meats I got. Since it's called Mala Town the mala flavor is def there. Def would come back!
LOVE Mala Town and the concept! YOU get to pick what you want and how much. You walk in, grab tongs and a bowl and go through a line of different food items that you can add to your bowl. Anything from greens (spinach, cabbage so forth), mushrooms, proteins, other vegetables, and noodles. Then you choose if you want it to be a soup or stir fry and they weigh your bowl and you pay. While you wait they have a sauce bar with an assortment of options to add. I appreciate the aesthetic of the bowls and how the whole location is decorated. Customer service is ok, but I come here for the food which I 100% recommend.
Did you go down to Mala Town? Well we did. And we kind of wished that we stuck with our regular restaurant across the freeway, Zhangliang Malatang. Lol! Seriously though, there were some hits and some misses. Let's start with the good. The restaurant itself is large and spacious. The buffet bar area is also more spread out and it was easy to pick the items we wanted. Selection of toppings was also pretty good. Staff were polite and helpful, but they were not very cheerful. There was an ample amount of sauces to choose from. I really liked the beef bone broth base (mild) - it had good flavors and didn't seem horribly greasy. I will say the mild is still pretty darn spicy. I would not recommend it to kids or other people who are spice intolerant. We really loved the beautiful metal bowls that the soup came in. The food also came out pretty quickly and it was steaming hot. But the restaurant was very empty on a weekday for early dinner. The hand cut noodles were some of the best noodle offerings. I thought their Ramen was a little too soft. Things that were not good: missing tags on some of the toppings. We had no idea what some items were. And dirt on some of the vegetables and mushrooms...I wanted more of both, but it wasn't easy to locate clean pieces. One of the worst things were the prawns with the heads and shells still on them. These were clearly not defrosted properly, and likely soaked in water, given how incredibly mushy they were. They would not even stay together after you took them out of the shells! We were very sad that we wasted our precious ounces on them!! We threw some away without even eating them. Definitely avoid these. The de-shelled shrimp were better, but they still had a strong preservative taste. They were missing green onions in the toppings station. The cilantro was also looking kind of wilted and yellow on the edges. The minced garlic looked really good though. The fish maw chicken broth base is very weak and lacking in flavor. However, it is actually mild. The tomato broth base has a little bit of flavoring in it that kind of reminds me of rhubarb. It is not a pure tomato soup if that is what you are expecting. One kid was okay with it, the other one was not. It seemed kind of expensive for what it was. For three bowls of soup and toppings, it was nearly $100 after tax and tip. We did have some soup left over for the next day, but we added more noodles to it. There is some loyalty program you can join that will probably give you a better discount. Overall, it was okay, and we will probably not be returning, but trying out some other malatang places or going back to our usual spot, Zhangliang Malatang.
27 days ago
30 days ago
Excellent food and environment! Very fresh! Will definitely recommend to friends. Love it!!!! read more
28 days ago
3 months ago
20 days ago
Respectfully, I come to Malatang for the fish balls, and I know others come for the meat. Both were horrible. Noodles and veggies? Great variety and cooked to perfection. But the protein was abysmal. The fish balls with roe aren't fresh, they're the orange swirled ones that taste like egg yolk and have a rubbery outside. I know other malatang places either don't offer these at all, or specify that they're orange yolk roe. The shrimp balls and crab balls are mushy yet dense? Maybe you'd like it? But no it doesn't taste like imitation crab/fish cake like ANY OTHER malatang place offers. I've never had to do this before, I spit every single one of them out into their paper water cups. The meat was extremely over cooked and dry. My mom and I only tried the Angus beef slices. Mine was cooked better than hers, hers might as well been one notch from cooked ground beef, so it's inconsistent too. But, the rice cakes are also kept so frozen that they were still hard when in my soup. Someone needs to figure that out, other places do it, it can't be that hard of an ask. They have a 0.8lb limit (~$13.50). We both got the beef bone broth, my mom got mild and I got medium. Medium is definitely spicy enough and I was told that "Hot" just has a lot more oil. We took the broth to-go and made our own noodles with the soup to salvage our $. Employees we nice enough, 2/5 we interacted with spoke english, the rest spanish. The place was relatively empty during Sunday lunch. read more
Business owner information
Chloe C.
Hi Alison, we’re really sorry that so many of the protein items fell…
I really like the concept of the place. It is simple, you have a choice, and they provide delicious savory soup. As you enter the establishment, it's obvious you have to make a little bit of decision what you want on your soup. So, grab a big bowl and a tong to get started. There are veggies, toppings, noodles, seafood, & meat sections. It's $16.99 per pound, so get only items you think you will eat, or it will add up. After you pick all your ingredients, they will weigh it for you, and they will ask you what soup you want. They will then give you a number, and basically, you can pretty much sit wherever you want. I enjoyed everything about this experience, and I can see why people rate it pretty well. I can picture us coming back real soon. While this review is not too detailed, I will give a more detailed update during my next visit. Stay tuned. read more
I like the wide, shallow hot pot bowls， they're spacious and make it easy to cook and scoop ingredients. The beef bone broth is rich and flavorful. However, the beef itself wasn't very tender. The sauce bar was also missing Thai chilies, which was disappointing since I prefer a spicier dipping sauce. Overall, the meal lacked the level of heat I was hoping for. read more
Went on a Saturday afternoon, been a fan of Malatown for a long time! This time around I wasn't too thrilled with the service. My order was served to someone else and a minute later was tried to be served to me. They claimed that it was brand new and even offered to remake it which was nice. But at this point, I have been waiting for so long that I've lost my appetite. While I try not to let one bad experience ruin my whole perception of a place, it was pretty disappointing how they handled it. Not one apology was said to the other person who was served my order or to me. Probably won't be back for a while at this location. I definitely urge you to try Malatown at their other locations! Malatown is still delicious overall and have been happy with all of them read more
Business owner information
Eric G.
Hi Lj,…
Stopped by MalaTown in Pleasanton and built my perfect bowl - you grab everything you want (and they have everything) and pay by weight. Had to load up on my must-haves: fish balls with roe, enoki mushrooms, quail eggs, udon, veggies, and LOTS of beef belly + premium beef. Then finished it off with sesame paste, chili oil, and green onions from the sauce bar (they didnt have ponzu ) I went with the tom yum broth (spicy + sour = my fave), but my fiancé got the spicy dry pot with this peanut sauce and it was too flavorful with the perfect kick. Super clean space and really friendly staff, which always makes a difference. read more
Went here for a quick lunch during my work break, and it was delicious Mala Town is located in a cute plaza full of fun Asian cuisines, where is there is plenty of parking. The restaurant itself has a lot of seating available, and the employees are kind and polite. The ambiance is very chill, especially since I went for a Monday late lunch. There are numerous food options that are very yummy. There is an assortment of meats, veggies, noodles, and more! There is also a DIY sauce bar with a handful of sauces and toppings like cilantro and green onion. Personally, I like to load it up so that way I have enough for 2 meals. If you have enough for leftovers, they have containers available for take home. They also offer to-go which is awesome if you're on a time crunch. Overall, love going here for my malatang fix. It's so good!! :) read more
28 days ago
Food is delicious. Service is good. Ambiance good. Lots of selections. Love the meet. Fresh. Long line. read more
Food: It's $16.99 per pound. They have a good selection of meat, seafood, veggies, and noodles. The meat was tender and the veggies were fresh! I got the tom yum soup base. It wasn't too spicy, but very coconut heavy. Staff: They staff here is super friendly and attentive! I accidently dropped a beef ball and after picking it up, the lady staff member offered to help me throw it away and gave me more napkins! read more
1 month ago
after more than a year, i came here again and found out that this store improved a lot, mostly for the soup taste. seriously, tom yum soup is always the best!!! i think i miss the drink that i had previously. something like tea, sweet one??? and now no longer available ~ so sad though. lol... oh not to forget, the staff's name christian ~ he is great and always very energetic and full of smile. great service... read more
6 months ago
The staff is very accommodating for our party of 9 on a Saturday! We came at 5 PM and they helped set up the tables for us. Very clean and spacious setting with plenty of tables for big and small parties! The staff is attentive and checked in for more water and napkins. You pretty much get all the ingredients you want at the start and put it in a bowl (theres meats, veggies, noodles, and more!) They weigh it and it's priced based on that. Then you choose the broth and they cook all the ingredients in it. I got the mild signature beef broth which is a good standard soup to get! It was actually milky and had a good flavor with the veggies and meats I got. Since it's called Mala Town the mala flavor is def there. Def would come back! read more
LOVE Mala Town and the concept! YOU get to pick what you want and how much. You walk in, grab tongs and a bowl and go through a line of different food items that you can add to your bowl. Anything from greens (spinach, cabbage so forth), mushrooms, proteins, other vegetables, and noodles. Then you choose if you want it to be a soup or stir fry and they weigh your bowl and you pay. While you wait they have a sauce bar with an assortment of options to add. I appreciate the aesthetic of the bowls and how the whole location is decorated. Customer service is ok, but I come here for the food which I 100% recommend. read more
Did you go down to Mala Town? Well we did. And we kind of wished that we stuck with our regular restaurant across the freeway, Zhangliang Malatang. Lol! Seriously though, there were some hits and some misses. Let's start with the good. The restaurant itself is large and spacious. The buffet bar area is also more spread out and it was easy to pick the items we wanted. Selection of toppings was also pretty good. Staff were polite and helpful, but they were not very cheerful. There was an ample amount of sauces to choose from. I really liked the beef bone broth base (mild) - it had good flavors and didn't seem horribly greasy. I will say the mild is still pretty darn spicy. I would not recommend it to kids or other people who are spice intolerant. We really loved the beautiful metal bowls that the soup came in. The food also came out pretty quickly and it was steaming hot. But the restaurant was very empty on a weekday for early dinner. The hand cut noodles were some of the best noodle offerings. I thought their Ramen was a little too soft. Things that were not good: missing tags on some of the toppings. We had no idea what some items were. And dirt on some of the vegetables and mushrooms...I wanted more of both, but it wasn't easy to locate clean pieces. One of the worst things were the prawns with the heads and shells still on them. These were clearly not defrosted properly, and likely soaked in water, given how incredibly mushy they were. They would not even stay together after you took them out of the shells! We were very sad that we wasted our precious ounces on them!! We threw some away without even eating them. Definitely avoid these. The de-shelled shrimp were better, but they still had a strong preservative taste. They were missing green onions in the toppings station. The cilantro was also looking kind of wilted and yellow on the edges. The minced garlic looked really good though. The fish maw chicken broth base is very weak and lacking in flavor. However, it is actually mild. The tomato broth base has a little bit of flavoring in it that kind of reminds me of rhubarb. It is not a pure tomato soup if that is what you are expecting. One kid was okay with it, the other one was not. It seemed kind of expensive for what it was. For three bowls of soup and toppings, it was nearly $100 after tax and tip. We did have some soup left over for the next day, but we added more noodles to it. There is some loyalty program you can join that will probably give you a better discount. Overall, it was okay, and we will probably not be returning, but trying out some other malatang places or going back to our usual spot, Zhangliang Malatang. read more
Business owner information
Eric G.
Dear Kari,…
10 months ago
Ambiance is very roomy and spacious. Not my first time here but always like to come once in a while. I really like the fish maw soup. Also ingredients are fresh. Service was quick and accurate. read more
Business owner information
Eric G.
Hi Christy,…
11 months ago
I've come here twice now and I left unimpressed both times . The first time I came I had the sichuan flavor soup, the 2nd time I had the sour soup . The variety here is great but the soup flavor here just isn't that savory or tasty . The sichuan soup is spicy but lacking any umami ness. The sour soup was tasty but the soup lacked any flavor or depth . YFG and zhangliang both taste significantly better to me . I like how they have free drinks here ! But the soup base just isn't for me , it's really light and I had to add a lot of chili oil / other flavoring to have taste . read more
Business owner information
Eric G.
Hi Tiffany,…
1 year ago
I went there twice now to give it another shot and order a different broth but, mehhh. The first time I went i got sichuan style malatong, but it wasn't flavorful. Just oily and spicy. So I deicded to try it again last week and get beef bone broth and get medium. Still same thing! It was just spicy but no flavor. It wasn't savory at all. It is almost like spice and water. My friend got the sour and spicy soup which was pretty good. But how can they fail on two soup bases and these two are my favorite ones. I still gave it a couple of stars because I do like the variety of noodles and fish balls and veggies. However, I wont be coming back here again. There are other mala places that I enjoy a lot more. Service and ambiance were okay. Nothing to complain on those parts. read more
27 days ago
I was craving malatang and decided to try Mala Town since I've been to Zhangliang Malatang before but never this one. This spot is in a plaza across the street from the Livermore outlets, which has a bunch of Asian restaurants and a 99 Ranch Market. The inside of Mala Town is nice and spacious, which I liked right away compared to Zhangliang. We grabbed our bowls and tongs, but as I started picking ingredients, I realized they actually don't have as many options as it looks. There were quite a few things missing that I usually get at Zhangliang like tofu skin, fried egg, marinated egg, quail eggs, pumpkin, and a few others. Another thing that bothered me was the weighing process. When they weigh your bowl to meet the minimum, the amount they see and the amount you see is different because they say they have to subtract the weight of the bowl. Honestly, I think that's unnecessary since other places already include the bowl weight to make it easier for customers. I ordered the beef bone broth with medium spice. It wasn't very spicy but it was definitely oily. The condiment station was fine, and they have self-serve water along with a complimentary strawberry drink, though the drink was way too sweet for me. Overall, I don't think I'll be coming back. The lack of ingredient options and the weighing process make it not worth it for me. Zhangliang is much better in my opinion. read more
27 days ago
I ordered a mala xiangguo to go and when I tasted it, it was not mala xiangguo at all! There is no mala, the sauce was basically peanut butter, and half of the stuffs were not sauced. The tofu skin was clumped together. I ordered beef but lamb was put in instead. I went back into the store, the employee was very apologetic and made me a much larger malatang. She was incredibly nice and professional but the second time she still gave me lamb instead of beef. I also realized that the chef in the back was also not Chinese. This Mala Town branch clearly failed to train its employees well for them to be making these mistakes! It really is a shame considering how good the other Mala Towns in the Bay Area are. The manager of this branch ought to be ashamed. read more
Business owner information
Fico C.
Hi, Leo.…
First time trying Mala Town and took my whole family! Each of us got a different broth and I would have to say the classic bone broth was most impressionable. Other places usually have super super light bone broth but this one has the most flavor! The signature bone broth is slightly salty especially when it cools down . I would say the tomato broth is at the bottom of the list for me (still good). Very spacious parking lot and in a great location too. I do wish they had more toppings options but still more than some other places! Would recommend if you're already in the area and looking for a new place for try read more
I was SUPER excited to hear that a Mala Town was opening near me because this is my favorite malatang spot in the area based off the locations in Milpitas and Union City. However, I was super disappointed my first time here. It was near their grand opening so I thought they would try harder, but the vegetables I saw were not fresh and I ended up not getting much vegetables in my bowl although I wish I could have gotten more. On top of that, we were there around 2 hours before it closed but the sauce bar was completely unstocked and running out of some of my favorites including peanut sauce, green onions, garlic, etc. They had free sweet juice/tea available though, so that partially made up for it. I would recommend staying away from the Sichuan base, because it's purely oil (in my picture). My dry pot wasn't made the best either, and the sauce they put on it tasted slightly disproportionate (a bit too much peanut sauce and not as much of the other fun stuff). I know what standard to set because I have had very pleasant experiences at the other Mala Town locations. Hopefully they step up their game with the veggies and sauce bar. read more
29 days ago
6 months ago
The restaurant has a clean, open space with plenty of seating. Prices are reasonable, though I wish I had gotten their signature soup at medium. The mild version had barely any spice (the mildest I've tried among malatang soup bases). They have a sauce bar, good service, and a wide variety of meats and vegetables, making it easy to customize your meal. read more
4 months ago
Food was so yummy! The broth was super flavorful and well-balanced. It was hot outside, but somehow we decided to eat hot pot:) Honestly, I have no idea what we were thinking, probably just craving mala tang that badly. Thankfully, the A/C inside was nice and cool, so it was actually the perfect place to enjoy a hot bowl of hot pot. It's self-service too, so you can grab as much as you want and customize your bowl exactly how you like it! Just don't forget your wallet has a limit lolol. My first visit was $32, but the second time I managed to keep it at $17!! Definitely coming back again! read more
27 days ago
1 year ago
Mala Town is my favorite hot pot restaurant out of all the ones around the Bay Area. When I found out they finally opened one in Pleasanton, I had to try it out, especially since the other locations are a bit further away and set my expectations high. When I visited, it was a Friday evening and it wasn't too crowded - literally no wait time, just walked in. The restaurant was fairly clean; however, around the table areas there was food on the floor but I'm sure this would be cleaned up when the staff has a moment to clean it up. There were customers eating inside, but it was nice that I could take the time to choose the ingredients I wanted without feeling rushed. The tongs and the bowls were ready for use and the first ingredients to select were the vegetables, then tofu and seafood, noodles/carbs, and then the meat was last. One of the biggest differences I found with this location was that it lacked the variety of ingredients available. The Milpitas location was well-stocked with many different ingredients to choose from so it was a bit of a let down that this location didn't stack up. Hopefully Pleasanton can add more choices to their menu! One important thing to keep in mind is that they charge $15.99/lb! As you gather your ingredients, your bowl's weight will be measured so it's super easy to eat with your eyes! :D After you gather your soup ingredients, you can select a beverage for an extra fee, which they have a decent selection to choose from otherwise tap water is available. Once you reach the check-out counter, you'll pick your soup broth. There are 6 types of soup flavors and 1 dry mix you can select as well as choosing the level of spice level. If spice is an issue for you, start light and know that you can add chili oil or spice to your soup separately. Some of the soup broths contain peanuts or dairy and they have vegan options. After you pay, head to the sauce bar to build out your sauce or toppings for your meal. The food comes out relatively quickly, especially if it's not too busy. It probably came out within 10ish minutes for the entire table. If after you finish eating and you have leftovers for home, they have to-go cups you can utilize with no additional charge. If it's cold out or you're just craving something warm and comforting, Mala Town is an excellent choice to satisfy your hunger needs. read more
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More info about Mala Town
2717 Stoneridge Dr
Ste 101
Pleasanton, CA 94588
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(925) 750-7713
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http://malatown.us
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