How did I not ever learn about this place before? I first had dry pot last fall in NYC and have been obsessed ever since, acquiring the ingredients to make it at home which I have done thrice now. But then by chance I saw someone refer to Mala Canteen on Reddit and the rest as they say is history. We came for lunch on a weekend and had no trouble getting a table. We noticed the vast majority of the clientele is Asian which we took as a good sign. We ordered the cumin lamb burger, orleans chicken skewers, and a custom dry pot with shrimp, fish ball, bok choy, tofu skin, peanuts, and sweet potato noodles. We ordered mild spice knowing this would be very relative; it was. Their mild would be intolerably hot for most Marylanders but was slightly less hot than what I had been making at home. It was about an "Indian medium", and I suspect even "baby spice" is pretty hot. This is not a dish to order if you do not have STRONG heat tolerance. You have been warned. We also ordered a couple milk teas, mine was rose milk. It was the best rose milk tea I have had in several years. 5 stars for sure. Everything was delicious. I'm not sure why they called the Orleans chicken skewers "Orleans" but they had a good amount of seasoning, though it didn't scream Cajun nor Szechuan. It screamed delicious though. I think I could make a meal of these; perfectly textured and super flavorful, not spicy but very savory. The cumin lamb burger is a different form factor from an American burger; it is chunks of cumin lamb in a pita shaped Chinese flakey pancake. Can you say YUM? Yum!!! The dry pot was very similar in flavor profile to what I have had before, and the portion is absolutely sharable. We shared all this food and got several lunches out of the dry pot leftovers particularly. The bean curd skin is not fried, I wasn't sure whether it would be or not. The shrimp comes head and shell on, which isn't ideal, and the texture of the shrimp meat was mushier than I usually see. So I might choose something else in future. The fish balls were very good though. Maybe I'll try steak or pork next time. Scallops sadly weren't an option, I usually make it with those. All in all, highly recommended especially since it is hard to find dry pot in restaurants locally, but I loved all the other items just as much. Prices very reasonable given quality and portion sizes. Service was good. I will be back! read more

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

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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

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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. read more

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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 (: read more

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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

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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

Mala Canteen - Noodles Near Me - Rockville, Maryland

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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

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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

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Just updating this review to say it is still so gooood!!! I'm a stan forever. Never change. Love me some tinfoil eggplant and dry pot

From the first bite of their 大盘鸡 Dapanji, I could tell this was an authentic Chinese restaurant. Been craving that dish and only found it by coincidence on their menu as well since not typically a Sichuan dish. It still had the familiar flavors but with a Sichuan mala twist which I also liked. Their 肉夹馍 meat sandwich has a crispy flaky crust filled with tender pieces of beef, usually pork I think but also still good. Got takeout the day before and it was so good that my mom and I decided to go back to dine in the next day. We ordered a lot of other dishes like chicken taro intestine, golden brisket noodle stew, duck blood vermicelli soup, another meat sandwich and tried their rose milk tea. The drink was very light and fragrant, not overly sweet or artificial, which I liked. Not much to critique flavor wise, only thing was that my mom and I wished there was more intestine and taro in the chicken dish, it was like 90% chicken so it was kinda a disappointment for me and my mom who love intestine. The chicken was tender but because a lot was bone in there was a lot of small bone bits throughout the dish so had to be extra careful eating it. Not a problem for me or my mom who grew up eating bone in fish but would be good for others to be wary of. Also want to highlight that we gave these comments to the owner and he immediately brought out some additional intestine after hearing how we were very much looking forward to it. Really appreciated that, we will definitely be back for more! 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

Mala Canteen - Oil Spilled Wide Noodles - Noodles Near Me - Rockville, Maryland

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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

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The menu and how it works was a little confusing but once I got the hang of it, I really enjoyed the food. The flavors of the skewers had a little more of the 5-spice taste than I prefer but the meats were tender and the dry hot pot was flavorful with the right level of spice for what I ordered (I have a pretty high tolerance but don't like death fire spicy). I would not make a special trip to this part of Rockville for skewers but if you are nearby this is solid in terms of food and service!! It is a nice place to go with 2-3 friends with the size of the tables they had. read more

Love their orange chicken! Staff is always super polite and kind and I like sugar sprinkled on top of the orange sauce and they always bring out a teeny bowl for me lol 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

Mala Canteen - Malatang oil spill noodles - Noodles Near Me - Rockville, Maryland

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

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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

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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

Mala Canteen - (Create Your Own) Mala Pot - Noodles Near Me - Rockville, Maryland

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

Mala Canteen - Noodles Near Me - Rockville, Maryland

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Love this place! Visited for the second time recently, and although I have yet to try their dry mala, their soup is delicious. The spicy is not very spicy or numbing, but I actually enjoyed this more. Im not a big broth person and never use a spoon, but not this time! Definitely not the cheapest since I would expect to pay at least ~$25 a person to feel satisfied, but I think it's so worth it, especially since I haven't seen a lot of mala places nearby. read more

We came and tried two new dishes and they turned out to be perfect! 5*Boneless Chicken in Chill Sauce 风味口水鸡：delicious and excellent. 5*Pork Feet猪蹄: fried well, tasty and crispy. read more

Mala Canteen - Boneless Chicken in Chill Sauce 风味口水鸡 - Noodles Near Me - Rockville, Maryland

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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

Mala Canteen - Mala Pot - Noodles Near Me - Rockville, Maryland

I brought my kids here (8, 6, and 3) last night and we thought it was fantastic. They were kind and accommodating, making sure we were ok with the spice levels (I think they have a "baby spice" level which was perfect). We got three levels of "adventurousness": 1. The Shrimp and Pineapple fried rice was great for my toddler, but still very flavorful. 2. My older kids loved the noodle soup, which had pork, mushrooms, and bok choy. 3. My oldest and I were so impressed with the MaLa Pot. We got the Chicken Wing express one so we didn't have to customize it ourselves. I would say it is one of the more unique flavors you'll get around here (reminds me of a couple of the dishes from the old Joe's Noodle House). Fantastic meal, will absolutely be coming back! read more

Delicious. It does have a stronger peanut taste compared to the mala tangs I've tried before, but it was really good! The price point is also great. Will definitely be back. read more

Mala Canteen - Noodles Near Me - Rockville, Maryland

Mala it is-- bad food. Cumin lamb crispy burger--- meat was dry, hard and filled with grizzle. The sesame noodles-- tasteless. Afterwards I wondered if they used angel hair pasta. Dry noodle in tomato and egg sauce--tasteless-- tomatoes were good but unclear // consistency as if they came out of a can. Towards end, I tried to mix the two noodles together to try to get some flavor---nothing smelled or tasted right or authentic of the food. Poor quality ingredients and lack seasoning. My conclusion- CANTEEN food it is---and MALA! Had for delivery--Glad didn't go in to try the chef's specialties with friends. read more

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 - Noodles Near Me - Rockville, Maryland

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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

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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

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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

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Still one of my favorite spots esp for my friends visiting out of town. This is always one of the most satisfying meals. I also love that they recently made it so we can order online. read more

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My wife and I each had the Mala Tang, which is a soup similar to Ramen. You pick your soup ingredients a la carte, I had beef brisket, tripe, quality eggs, lotus stem, Ramen noodle, bok choy, and spicy broth. I gotta say, it was really excellent. Qual eggs were soft boiled and there were quite a few of them, broth was really flavorful. Definitely coming back! Price was very reasonable too and I like the art in the dining area. read more

One of our go to places for Mala food :) We love the dry hotpot here - it's one of the favorites. My husband and our friends would also order the skewers here as well. Easy ordering food and check through the QR code on the table. The food is pretty good portion sized for the price as well! 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

Mala Canteen - Dry hot pot - Noodles Near Me - Rockville, Maryland

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

Mala Canteen - Dry pot - Noodles Near Me - Rockville, Maryland

This was a very New concept and a little intimidating at first. They are very helpful with your first order and the food is truly phenomenal. Very spicy and savory. read more

Food and. Service were excellent. Prices are competitive. Menu options are numerous.

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

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Called in an order since I was headed to RTC and it was ready when I got there. Got the tomato egg noodles and beef brisket tinfoil BBQ and they packaged the food well for the drive home. The beef was pretty good and didn't know it came on a bed of vermicelli; pretty flavorful. The tomato egg noodles here are my favorite, but they put the sauce on top of the noodles and don't mix it. The noodles ended up all clumping together which kinda sucked. You get a really huge portion and I love the flavor, but I had to pour it all in a separate bowl and break up the noodles. It was too late for most of it, so I had to chop it up. Next time I'll see if they can mix it or package the noodles separately. read more

I love coming here and trying everything. They have warm welcoming staff and super ethic foods. Fresh seafood and meats. All of it is worth a try. And the decor is pretty. Great for date night or with family. read more

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