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Amazing atmosphere and spectacular service. I enjoyed my time there. I ordered some tofu dish and my friend ordered a sweet and sour chicken dish with sesame seeds.
I'll be very honest, the quality and the taste of the food was a 3/5 at best. There were more misses than hits. The huge chicken with taro dish we ordered felt a bit cold in the middle; the bbq skewers and the spices they used felt subpar; and the non-bbq eggplant dish felt underwhelming. The huge chicken soup ($45) was forgettable. The taste reminded me of ramen instead of pork and chicken broth. The highlights were the pineapple fried rice, the pig brain, and the bbq eggplant (we ordered two different eggplant dishes). The mala dry pot was not bad either. Overall, the serving portions were huge. The service was pretty good too. The price for the portion was great. 3.5/4 and I bumped it up to a 4.
My boyfriend and I love coming here, it's one of our favorite local casual spots for mala and Chinese skewers. Service is always quick and food is consistent (at least the mala pot/dry pot and skewers). Def reccomend (:
We enjoyed all the dishes we selected. The big plate chicken was a good portion size to feed 2 people along with flat thick noodles at the bottom. The chicken was cooked soft. The chicken and fish maw soup was creamy and rich with 2 small abalone. The boneless chicken appetizer had a good amount of spice. The Sichuan beef flank noodle was my favorite. The meat was cooked very soft and noodles at the bottom were the perfect paring for the soup. The make your own mala tang was also nice and you can ask them to make it less spicy. We added rice on the side to pair with the extra soup.
Located in RTC so there's garage parking (free for 90 mins then paid after 90 mins) and minimal street parking. I liked their interior design a lot giving it an indoor outdoor feeling. They have a very large menu to cater to what everyone wants from drypot to noodles to skewers. I normally get their create your own drypot and skewers and sometimes their branzino. They season everything very well. This time we also got the cumin lamb Chinese hamburger (rou jia mo) that was very flavorful and the bun was so flaky like a croissant. They also have an extensive section on drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic for a decent price. We got a miller lite for $3.50 which is uncommon these days. It's always busy whenever we go for dinner but the servers were still attentive to us making sure we got what we needed.
Service is still warm and welcoming. Atmosphere very casual. Food is still delicious. Can be spicy; even at the baby spice level due to the tolerance level of some. The peppercorns can be numbing if not careful. The sichuan stewed beef flank soup with noodles was surprisingly tasty in flavor. In addition to beef, it had black mushrooms, tofu skin, and spam. The lamb skewers are always a hit.
Finally got a chance to try this relative newcomer to the "square", aka Rockville town center. Because of its name, we knew that most items on the menu would be spicily numbing. However the waitress told us everything can be prepared with degrees of spiciness which is good to know. The interior can be considered as casual but clean and nicely spaced out tables. Prompt service and substantial menu with good nonalcoholic drinks and beer/wine. We ordered a cold noodle in chilled broth which is quite unique in taste and accompaniments. The noodles are the kind made with mung beans so they are delightfully chewy. The place also specializes Skewers so we ordered two kinds/ pig intestines and lamb shank. Both have strong cumin seasoning. I would come back again to try other items and may try items with 1-2 peppers next to them.
Came here with some friends to try the mala tang. We got to add as many portions to our hot pot as we wanted. Opted for beef and a bunch of veggies. As for the flavor, I honestly was not a huge fan. Strong sesame or peanut flavor, which is fine with me. Good amount of spice too. But for some reason the soup tasted super gamey like lamb or goat. I'm guessing and hoping this was a one time thing because maybe they cooked the soup in the same pot as before or something it just tasted SO gamey. Every bite just wafted of lamb (i dislike lamb). I'm guessing it's not normally like this but the lamb really threw me off. I asked a waitress if there was lamb in here and she said no, so I'm guessing just a case of cross contamination with soups or maybe meats, idk. Really enjoyed the oil spill wide noodles though. Super cheap but absolutely delicious. A massive portion of flavorful stir fried noodles with some spicy oily sauce made me salivating. Definitely next time I come here I want to try more of their other dishes instead of the mala tang. For the price too, these noodles go so hard! Also the interior is pretty cute. The seating boots are large and can fit like six people maybe but they're super nice. Def can imagine inviting friends here for a meal.
I came for a quick dinner with a friend! The interior was nicely decorated and I really liked seeing the succulents in the corner. The staff was nice and efficient and ordering was really simple since we could just scan a QR code and order online! They still bring a check at the end of the meal but the initial ordering can be done on your smartphone. Malatang: it's fully customizable! The minimum requirement is 5 items and I got 2 meats and 3 veggies. Overall it was really satisfying and the broth had a lot of body and was a bit creamy from some kind of nut butter. The total came to be about 15$ Oil spill noodles with an egg added: the oil spill noodles were really good with a lot of that numbing spiciness! They're definitely oily since that's where all the flavor comes from but overall for around 9$ it's a great price to come and try
Food was really good here! It's located in Rockville Town Center so there's street parallel parking as well as garages with free first 2 hours. The noodles and eggplants were definitely my favorite and I would be returning for these dishes! I'd consider my spice level to be a little less than moderate so the lamb was a bit spicy for me but I tolerated it okay. Enjoyed my time here and would return again! Also their plum juice is really good too.
The restaurant specializes in hot pots and skewers. We have had both the Mala Tang (in a soup) and the Mala Ban (dry - not "dry" in a bad way, it's a mixture of ingredients - meats, veggies and spices that are moist - not dried out. It's called dry.) I really like the Mala Tang soup. To me, it's almost addictive. One thing I will suggest is that you talk with the server about spiciness. They have a non-spicy soup that I don't find very interesting (I had it once) and a "spicy" version. I told the server that I did not want something ridiculously spicy (as an aside, we went to one Hot Pot place in Gaithersburg and ordered "spicy", Neither of us - and my partner LOVES spicy - physically could eat the soup or any of the veggies or meats that touched it. It was absurdly hot. The manager came over and diluted it down with broth so we could eat it.) Here, the server immediately suggested I order the soup "baby spicy," which I did. And it is perfection. With each mouthful, you get the complexity of spices and it is delicious. Maybe one day I'll try full spicy here. Since you decide what ingredients you include in the Mala Tang and the Mala Ban, you control how much you eat. I usually get 5-7 items, mostly vegis, and am completely satisfied, sometimes with leftovers. My partner goes heavier on the meats (5-7 items), and always has some to take home. To be honest, we first started coming here for the lunch special ($9.99 for most items), which is a more traditional chinese food combination plate. Most recently, we ordered take-out of these combination plates on their convenient app - one order of Curry Chicken ($9.99) and Kung Bao Chicken ($9.99). Each order comes with a large box of white rice, two spring rolls and a can of soda. You truly can't beat the price for lunch. (The price for these items goes up to $13.99 each for dinner, which is still a good value. For some reason, we ordered at 5 pm on the app and were given the lunch price. But I digress.) My partner is really into curries, and the chicken curry has a nice curry flavor. The Kung Bao is spicy (but not too spicy). The portions are huge (we usually order for lunch and take half home for dinner.) The spring roll is "fine." - We ordered an extra spring roll order by mistake in a take-out order once and ended up throwing them out. As I said, they's OK but not memorable. OK. more honesty. We come here a lot for lunch. We love these lunch entrees. We get them almost every time we come to eat in the restaurant at lunch time. It's gotten to the point that the server sees us walk in, shows us to a table and immediately comes over with two cans of our "usual" soda and asks if we're having "the usual." The service here is quite friendly and efficient. We are glad we found Mala Canteen and am glad we branched out from the chinese plate combo for lunch to now coming for dinner for the Mala Tang and Mala Ban. For take-out, the app is very convenient and offers a bit of cash back for ordering by app. The takeout orders (including the soup) are packaged very well for transport. Most of the customers here appear to be Asian and many order items much more exotic than my partner and I. One day I hope to have the courage to branch out further and try some of these more exotic-sounding offerings.
The food here was amazing! Tons of options to build your own mala pot, and the skewers, while a bit pricey for their size, were absolutely delicious. Super authentic and out of this world--I'd definitely go back. The vibe is super cute inside, and they even sell succulents! Service could improve but the food more than made up for it!
Tried Mala Canteen recently on a slow Sunday afternoon. We were seated immediately and able to place our orders via a QR code. The food came out very quickly too. We ordered a create-your-own Mala Pot, and followed the recommendations for the number of items to include to serve 2-3 people - I believe it was about 10 items. The portion we got was much larger than expected, but still very reasonably priced for two people. Everything tasted good! I'm not a spice lover so I opted for the mild level, and the Sichuan spice was flavorful and a little numbing, but definitely tolerable. I think we definitely got larger portions of the non-meat items than meat items, but every item tasted fresh. I would definitely try this again!
5 months ago
I have been here twice and I love it so much! Some great noodle and spicy dishes I've enjoyed, especially the spicy pork intestine noodle soup, which they are very generous with when it comes to intestine and meat. I've also enjoyed their other dishes too. Dishes came out relatively quickly too, but the staff has warned us what takes longer to come out. I found the prices to be extremely worth it for portion sizes and quality, alongside their cash discount. So easy to walk in and order with the tablet. If this was closer to me, I'd come a lot more often, but I have already taken the hike to come here twice, so I like this place that much! The bathroom is nice too with their sink. read more
2 days ago
I've lived in the area for years and never stopped in, 100% worth it. Good prices 23$ or less than feed 2 people. Skewers are great and the spices are very addictive. Service is good, you use tablets to order. Nice indoors space with quiet lighting and interesting booth seating. Could be loud if there's kids or loud people, room has some echo/ makes noise a bit louder. read more
I'll be very honest, the quality and the taste of the food was a 3/5 at best. There were more misses than hits. The huge chicken with taro dish we ordered felt a bit cold in the middle; the bbq skewers and the spices they used felt subpar; and the non-bbq eggplant dish felt underwhelming. The huge chicken soup ($45) was forgettable. The taste reminded me of ramen instead of pork and chicken broth. The highlights were the pineapple fried rice, the pig brain, and the bbq eggplant (we ordered two different eggplant dishes). The mala dry pot was not bad either. Overall, the serving portions were huge. The service was pretty good too. The price for the portion was great. 3.5/4 and I bumped it up to a 4. read more
We enjoyed all the dishes we selected. The big plate chicken was a good portion size to feed 2 people along with flat thick noodles at the bottom. The chicken was cooked soft. The chicken and fish maw soup was creamy and rich with 2 small abalone. The boneless chicken appetizer had a good amount of spice. The Sichuan beef flank noodle was my favorite. The meat was cooked very soft and noodles at the bottom were the perfect paring for the soup. The make your own mala tang was also nice and you can ask them to make it less spicy. We added rice on the side to pair with the extra soup. read more
11 months ago
Located in RTC so there's garage parking (free for 90 mins then paid after 90 mins) and minimal street parking. I liked their interior design a lot giving it an indoor outdoor feeling. They have a very large menu to cater to what everyone wants from drypot to noodles to skewers. I normally get their create your own drypot and skewers and sometimes their branzino. They season everything very well. This time we also got the cumin lamb Chinese hamburger (rou jia mo) that was very flavorful and the bun was so flaky like a croissant. They also have an extensive section on drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic for a decent price. We got a miller lite for $3.50 which is uncommon these days. It's always busy whenever we go for dinner but the servers were still attentive to us making sure we got what we needed. read more
7 months ago
Service is still warm and welcoming. Atmosphere very casual. Food is still delicious. Can be spicy; even at the baby spice level due to the tolerance level of some. The peppercorns can be numbing if not careful. The sichuan stewed beef flank soup with noodles was surprisingly tasty in flavor. In addition to beef, it had black mushrooms, tofu skin, and spam. The lamb skewers are always a hit. read more
Finally got a chance to try this relative newcomer to the "square", aka Rockville town center. Because of its name, we knew that most items on the menu would be spicily numbing. However the waitress told us everything can be prepared with degrees of spiciness which is good to know. The interior can be considered as casual but clean and nicely spaced out tables. Prompt service and substantial menu with good nonalcoholic drinks and beer/wine. We ordered a cold noodle in chilled broth which is quite unique in taste and accompaniments. The noodles are the kind made with mung beans so they are delightfully chewy. The place also specializes Skewers so we ordered two kinds/ pig intestines and lamb shank. Both have strong cumin seasoning. I would come back again to try other items and may try items with 1-2 peppers next to them. read more
Came here with some friends to try the mala tang. We got to add as many portions to our hot pot as we wanted. Opted for beef and a bunch of veggies. As for the flavor, I honestly was not a huge fan. Strong sesame or peanut flavor, which is fine with me. Good amount of spice too. But for some reason the soup tasted super gamey like lamb or goat. I'm guessing and hoping this was a one time thing because maybe they cooked the soup in the same pot as before or something it just tasted SO gamey. Every bite just wafted of lamb (i dislike lamb). I'm guessing it's not normally like this but the lamb really threw me off. I asked a waitress if there was lamb in here and she said no, so I'm guessing just a case of cross contamination with soups or maybe meats, idk. Really enjoyed the oil spill wide noodles though. Super cheap but absolutely delicious. A massive portion of flavorful stir fried noodles with some spicy oily sauce made me salivating. Definitely next time I come here I want to try more of their other dishes instead of the mala tang. For the price too, these noodles go so hard! Also the interior is pretty cute. The seating boots are large and can fit like six people maybe but they're super nice. Def can imagine inviting friends here for a meal. read more
I came for a quick dinner with a friend! The interior was nicely decorated and I really liked seeing the succulents in the corner. The staff was nice and efficient and ordering was really simple since we could just scan a QR code and order online! They still bring a check at the end of the meal but the initial ordering can be done on your smartphone. Malatang: it's fully customizable! The minimum requirement is 5 items and I got 2 meats and 3 veggies. Overall it was really satisfying and the broth had a lot of body and was a bit creamy from some kind of nut butter. The total came to be about 15$ Oil spill noodles with an egg added: the oil spill noodles were really good with a lot of that numbing spiciness! They're definitely oily since that's where all the flavor comes from but overall for around 9$ it's a great price to come and try read more
Food was really good here! It's located in Rockville Town Center so there's street parallel parking as well as garages with free first 2 hours. The noodles and eggplants were definitely my favorite and I would be returning for these dishes! I'd consider my spice level to be a little less than moderate so the lamb was a bit spicy for me but I tolerated it okay. Enjoyed my time here and would return again! Also their plum juice is really good too. read more
2 years ago
The restaurant specializes in hot pots and skewers. We have had both the Mala Tang (in a soup) and the Mala Ban (dry - not "dry" in a bad way, it's a mixture of ingredients - meats, veggies and spices that are moist - not dried out. It's called dry.) I really like the Mala Tang soup. To me, it's almost addictive. One thing I will suggest is that you talk with the server about spiciness. They have a non-spicy soup that I don't find very interesting (I had it once) and a "spicy" version. I told the server that I did not want something ridiculously spicy (as an aside, we went to one Hot Pot place in Gaithersburg and ordered "spicy", Neither of us - and my partner LOVES spicy - physically could eat the soup or any of the veggies or meats that touched it. It was absurdly hot. The manager came over and diluted it down with broth so we could eat it.) Here, the server immediately suggested I order the soup "baby spicy," which I did. And it is perfection. With each mouthful, you get the complexity of spices and it is delicious. Maybe one day I'll try full spicy here. Since you decide what ingredients you include in the Mala Tang and the Mala Ban, you control how much you eat. I usually get 5-7 items, mostly vegis, and am completely satisfied, sometimes with leftovers. My partner goes heavier on the meats (5-7 items), and always has some to take home. To be honest, we first started coming here for the lunch special ($9.99 for most items), which is a more traditional chinese food combination plate. Most recently, we ordered take-out of these combination plates on their convenient app - one order of Curry Chicken ($9.99) and Kung Bao Chicken ($9.99). Each order comes with a large box of white rice, two spring rolls and a can of soda. You truly can't beat the price for lunch. (The price for these items goes up to $13.99 each for dinner, which is still a good value. For some reason, we ordered at 5 pm on the app and were given the lunch price. But I digress.) My partner is really into curries, and the chicken curry has a nice curry flavor. The Kung Bao is spicy (but not too spicy). The portions are huge (we usually order for lunch and take half home for dinner.) The spring roll is "fine." - We ordered an extra spring roll order by mistake in a take-out order once and ended up throwing them out. As I said, they's OK but not memorable. OK. more honesty. We come here a lot for lunch. We love these lunch entrees. We get them almost every time we come to eat in the restaurant at lunch time. It's gotten to the point that the server sees us walk in, shows us to a table and immediately comes over with two cans of our "usual" soda and asks if we're having "the usual." The service here is quite friendly and efficient. We are glad we found Mala Canteen and am glad we branched out from the chinese plate combo for lunch to now coming for dinner for the Mala Tang and Mala Ban. For take-out, the app is very convenient and offers a bit of cash back for ordering by app. The takeout orders (including the soup) are packaged very well for transport. Most of the customers here appear to be Asian and many order items much more exotic than my partner and I. One day I hope to have the courage to branch out further and try some of these more exotic-sounding offerings. read more
The food here was amazing! Tons of options to build your own mala pot, and the skewers, while a bit pricey for their size, were absolutely delicious. Super authentic and out of this world--I'd definitely go back. The vibe is super cute inside, and they even sell succulents! Service could improve but the food more than made up for it! read more
3 years ago
Tried Mala Canteen recently on a slow Sunday afternoon. We were seated immediately and able to place our orders via a QR code. The food came out very quickly too. We ordered a create-your-own Mala Pot, and followed the recommendations for the number of items to include to serve 2-3 people - I believe it was about 10 items. The portion we got was much larger than expected, but still very reasonably priced for two people. Everything tasted good! I'm not a spice lover so I opted for the mild level, and the Sichuan spice was flavorful and a little numbing, but definitely tolerable. I think we definitely got larger portions of the non-meat items than meat items, but every item tasted fresh. I would definitely try this again! read more
6 months ago
1 year ago
We love the dry hot pot here, we usually get the beef brisket & ask for less spicy. The skewers are pretty good too. We got the beef and lamb skewers they put it on the same plate and couldn't tell which was which. But, they were all good. We haven't tried the beverages here yet, but saw a lot of people ordering different beverages. The service is always quick and friendly. There's a 2 hour free parking garage that's a short walk over. read more
2 years ago
Excellent for chili heads! Spicy, but still flavorful, the mala pot was so good. Order the brisket, fish and tofu. Skwerers were cooked perfectly and seasoned well. Had the lamb, chicken, hearts and lava tofu. A Thai tea (or two) as well as beer to put out the fire. read more
1 year ago
Went here for a late lunch on Sunday. Seats were quite comfortable, and service was attentive and friendly. The menu consists of mostly malatang, dry pot, skewers, and stir-fried dishes, with a few chef's dishes featuring clay pot and tin foil. We sampled several dishes: -Stir-fried spicy dry pot: very generous portion of ingredients we chose, medium spicy, tasted nice, pleasantly hot but not overwhelming the original tastes of each ingredient. I particularly loved their bullfrog chunks and quail eggs. Some beef tripes might need additional rinse and cleaning to remove the wild taste. -Malatang: another dish with very generous portion, and I loved the beef slices soaked in tasty and spicy broth. A bit lukewarm when served. -Tin foil duck blood and beef offals: served steaming hot, both tasted gamy and rich in flavor. Beef offal had better cleaning and more meticulate slicing than those served in the spicy dry pot. The duck blood chunks could be a bit thicker so they do not break down easily. -Pork belly and chicken in salty pepper broth (猪肚鸡）: a pleasant surprise, served on stove with clay pot. Broth was savory and packed very peppery taste, pork belly slices soaked in broth and very tender, chicken chunks were also nice. Overall: Solid four stars. Save a few hiccups, we enjoyed every dish. The place may lack more complicated and signature Szechuan/Sichuan spicy dishes, but if you want a go-to place with no-hassle spicy Chinese food, I would highly recommend this restaurant. read more
Mala Canteen (formerly Friendship BBQ) has some of the best Chinese bbq skewers in the area. Pictured is the beef and lamb skewers. We also enjoyed their sesame paste dry noodles (served cold) and crispy chicken wings. When I say crispy, I mean CRISPY. Also, if you like spicy food then I would recommend their dry hot pots. In terms of service -- you order the food from your phone through a QR coded provided and a server will bring you what you ordered. read more
1 year ago
The food was always great ! Its my 5th time here. Will always come back for skwers and mala tang and dry pot. The service is mid but acceptable. read more
2 years ago
Excellent skewer joint. Had a variety of different skewers and they all tasted great. The oil splashed wide noodles is a must have dish. Great flavors! read more
I've been craving dry hot pot for months and I couldn't satisfy my craving because the place I used to go to closed down after covid so I am SO HAPPY I found this place. We ordered the beef express pot because we didn't feel like choosing our own ingedients. It was really good. Had medium spicy and it really wasn't that spicy, but enough that I could feel the mala. I was also surprised at how much meat there was in the dish (there was plenty). One dry hotpot was enough for two people, although we did order one rice bowl on the side because it only came with one rice bowl. I think depending on your portion it could even feed up to 3 people. Can't wait to go back for more!! read more
1 year ago
4.5 stars ? The dry pot is definitely fire. Every bite was awesome. Spent 40 bucks al la carte and the two of us still had plenty leftover for lunch. Probably not a destination for folks not inclined for spicy. Going medium spicy was a large step up from anything at buffalo wild wings next door. Marginal service, but you don't really need support. Just click what you want in the pot . Peanuts was a really nice touch read more
This place seems to be new. They still have the Friendship BBQ sign on the front but the window has the Mala Canteen name. Once you enter, the fixtures appear new and the walls probably show a bit more age. The interior is a bit unique and it is enticing to go towards the booths as there are ropes separating the seating. It was interesting sitting there. The menu is quite long so it took a bit of time to figure out what to order. We ordered a couple of dishes but not the soup or the dry pot. The food was flavorful and it definitely has the authentic taste with it. However, the mala portion is no where near Sichuan/Chengdu level of spice so you don't have to worry there. I would say it's about 10-20% of Chengdu level Mala. It's dim, but noticeable. After eating about 3 dishes, I didn't feel numb around the mouth. Still a flavorful place to test out. I like the location and it was easy to park nearby. read more
the portions here are pretty big depending on what you get, so I'd definitely recommend going with friends or family! the lamb pot was delicious and so filling. we also tried the skewers, and they're very well-seasoned and tender! I particularly enjoyed their osmanthus rice wine~ it's delicious! only qualm I have is on the day I went, service was quite slow for how few people there were in the restaurant. but if you're there to catch up with friends, it's not a huge problem. read more
1 year ago
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