Pretty solid self-serve malatang place. At $12.99/lb, their prices can't be beat. While this is considered an Express location, there's still a pretty good selection of high quality meat, veggies, noodles, and other proteins. Sauce bar is pretty standard but they're missing sesame oil. Water dispenser next to the sauce bar is also very convenient. I always opt for a beef broth whenever I get malatang. The signature beef bone broth here is good, but I've had better from other places. I appreciate the generous amount of broth they give you, even if you don't have a bowl that's loaded up with ingredients. The broth alone can leave you full and satisfied! There are a couple things that have changed since the first couple of times I came by that make it more of a traditional dine-in experience. If you dine in, they assign your party a table after weighing and paying for your bowls, and they bring your malatang to you instead of grabbing it yourself. Also, they have an area in the back to put away your own bowls/utensils and to throw away your trash, but I noticed that some parties left their table to be cleaned up after by the staff. read more

Mala Town Express - Beef Bone Broth - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

Smaller location compared to other Mala towns hence the name express. Compared to the other Malatang spots in the neighborhood it has a lot fewer options BUT it is priced cheaper. It's $13 per pound whereas locations like tang bar are $16 a pound. There's a little sauce bar with sufficient options. The meat is also priced by weight so if you want a lot of protein it's actually cheaper to get some meat slices than heavier water filled items like tofu. I liked that I wasn't overwhelmed with options which helped me portion control my meal. In the end, I got the dry savory mix which was tasty blending savory flavors with a bit of spice. There were flies around the sauce bar though so that left a bit to be desired Overall a decent spot if you're looking for an alternative to the other malatang spots in the area! read more

if you know me, I WILL ALWAYS HAVE MALATANG. i've been to the big chains like ygf, zhangliang, etc. all tried and true. i was so incredibly pleased by the mala town experience for lunch. i opted for the original bone broth with mild spicy. plenty of toppings to choose from. even toppings i've never seen offered, like okra?? i love okra so why not! the broth is really the carrier for me when i go to malatang places. it's what makes the dish because all your ingredients soak it up right? the place was spacious and even though we were the first ones to be served, it filled up quickly by the time we were done. their bone broth is milky and had the perfect balance of spice with the lowest level. it was hard for me to not keep drinking the soup. #sodium im definitely going to be back and i wish it was closer to where im from!!! read more

My first time at a Malatown! Compared to other Malatang places, I liked this better. The bar where you pick your items felt really clean with a lot of options and there was a solid sauce bar. Kind staff, too. My only issue is that some of the ingredients were mislabeled, which is especially confusing with the fishballs. I'll definitely be back. read more

Mala Town Express - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

Friendly vibes and building your bowl is really fun to do. High quality beef, would recommend. The server is really friendly. Had a great time! read more

Mala Town Express - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

Someone told me I should try Mala Town so I decided to grab dinner here with my friend on a Wednesday night. Since it is located in downtown, there are parking lots or street parking. The inside was a little small with some tables and bar style seating. The selection isn't as extensive as Tang Bar that is a block away. Vegetable and ball selection wasn't that great. The noodle options were fine. I chose the sichuan style malatang broth which honestly wasn't flavorful. It was a bit spicy but nothing numbing. It was just a lot of chilis. The meat selection looked sparse at 6:30 pm so I'm not sure if they restocked eventually. Overall, an okay try. Nothing amazing. I probably wouldn't come back as there are better options in the area. The service was good. They bring your order to you and there is a bussing station but they helped us with our bowls after. read more

Mala Town Express - Set with Sichuan Style Soup Base 川式冒菜汤底套餐 - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

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I've annoyed every single person I know because of Mala Town. This is my current happy place! They have a wide selection of veggies, noodles, meats, etc. - something for everyone! We've only tried the tom yum soup base, but my family (they tend to be very hard to please) said it was one of the best tom yum soup bases they've tried. And depending on how much you put in your bowl, I would say the cost is very reasonable. After paying, head over to the sauce bar. They have everything you need and I like that it's clean and not overwhelming. They have this orange mala sauce that I've never seen before, but you have to try it with the meat! On top of all this, the restaurant is clean and the staff is super nice. My only gripe is the overall seating is uncomfortable. They' have stools with no back support, so that makes it hard to fully enjoy the dining experience. Other than that, still a solid choice if you're looking for hot pot in the area! read more

Mala Town Express - Tom Yum Soup Base - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

Tomato soup was good, lots of options and sauces! Other places nearby skimp on sauces or don't provide sauces at all. It's also much more affordable than nearby Tang bar. read more

Mala Town Express - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

Ingredients looked pretty clean and tables were not too dirty. I watched team members go out and actually wipe tables down. I noticed that the marbled beef was really good. The meat was super tender so that was delicious. My rating is low because I put in a good amount of noodles and I literally only had one in there. I poured all the soup into a bowl and again into another bowl but they jipped me. read more

Mala Town Express - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

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Okay, hands-down. Soooo good. I went to my first Mala Town not too long ago and loved it. I had to come back again! This one is thankfully a bit closer to me. You come here and pick out your ingredients. There are definitely less ingredients and spice levels to pick from for you soup, but still very solid. I love that it's basically like Chipotle hot pot. I can't recommend the beef broth soup more. It's sooo good. The difference between this Mala Town and the others are this one seems to be more serve yourself. So for example you bus your own dishes and seat yourself. Otherwise, it's very much the same as other Mala Town locations. Highly recommend especially on a cold day. It'll leave you feeling warm and full. My one rec is to not wear a light colored top. The soup can be kinda splashy when you eat! read more

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This is one of my favorite Malatang spots! They offer a selection of classic broths that are flavorful without being too heavy. The ingredient variety is excellent, and the meat cuts always look incredibly fresh. I also highly recommend their homemade yogurt drink--it's light, sweet, and perfectly milky. On top of the food, the service is great; I visit quite often and have found the staff to be consistently friendly and attentive. read more

Mala Town Express - Beef bone broth malatang and homemade yogurt drink - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

It's cash only; $14.99 per lb. This place is very clean. I'm vegetarian and saw they had the vegetarian mushroom soup base. Ordered the Spicy dry mix which is vegetarian friendly according to the staff. The bean curd was FRESH as well as the tofu skin. really appreciated this! They had knife cut noodles, sweet potato noodle, pumpkin (not many places have this and it's my fav!), and a variety of greens and tofu. Will be coming back here. read more

Mala Town Express - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

Good service, fresh food and good price .Must try it out! Labor Day good discount 1 free drink and $2.00 off read more

Mala Town Express - Chicken broth - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

Service. Great place they do everything they say next Food. It's fantastic delicious you have selections of different foods that you want meat non-meat just fantastic. Ambience. Very comfortable and very spacious. They're seating everywhere. I enjoyed it. read more

I was in the area and I was craving something soupy so here I am. This spot has a lot of fresh ingredients and broth to choose from. They also have a cool sauce station. The price is also pretty affordable to as long as you don't get too much. The staff working here is also very friendly and service is pretty fast. Try it out if you like. :) read more

Mala Town Express - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

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Great place to eat!! Great customer care!! Good ambiance too! I came to this place at summer great drinks read more

Mala Town Express - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

Amazing service i love the food here and all the drink selectionsa and all of them but the price of food and the price is amazing read more

Mala Town Express - Amazing service - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

We come here once a week. Its that good. Let's me stick to meat and veggies while my friends can grab as many noodles as they want. The service is always super. They also have free broth outside if you want to give it a try first. We like it more than the other places in town because the broth is better and the quality of everything is just a notch above. read more

Mala Town Express - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

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5 for facility. Clean tables, clean plastic Containers and Tongs. 4on ingredients selection. It's interesting that the lineup starts with veggies selections instead of meats. 3 for the spicy malatang broth. Since the name of the establishment is Mala Town. I have a high expectation for their Mala broth. Unfortunately, it's not as flavourful as Tang's Bar and ZhangLiang. There's something missing from the broth. It's $12.99 per lb, I like that! But, you got what you pay. read more

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We were craving malatang so decided to give this place a try based on the reviews! They actually have all the soups in front of the store to try which i thought was very nice for them to do. We quickly got in line and picked out all of our ingredients. They have a wide variety of vegetables, meats, noodles, and seafood which i appreciated. My total came out to about $25 which was better than i expected! I got the tom yum and my partner got the beef broth. Both were yummy. I would definitely recommend if you are craving malatang! read more

Mala Town Express - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

Great tasting broth with wide selection of toppings! I love the wide noodles they give you :-)

Three of us went in and neither one of us had tried anything like this. Luckily, the instructions ware straightforward. Grab a plastic bowl and put in anything you like or wanna give it a try. Plenty of Hotpot ingredients: vegetables, noodles, and meat. We picked the sichuan chili soup, dry savory mix, and tom yum soup. It took me a few trips to the self serving sauce counter cuz I wasn't sure how everything tastes like, and there were so many ways to recombine them. Fortunately, there weren't many people around 2pm on a Wednesday. Anyway, our party had a great experience and would love to go back again! read more

So at first I thought this place was fairly clean. I thought it was cool that they allowed free samples for their broths. Personally I liked the tomato and tom yum broth more. My friend had the Sichuan broth and it was really unpleasantly oily that he wasn't able to really enjoy his meal. I did enjoy my meal til few hours later I started feeling nauseous and my stomach was hurting. Yikes I didn't want to believe it was from here but my partner as well had a stomachache after eating. I had left overs, so the next day I still ate it, really hoping the stomachache isn't from this restaurant but I ended up feeling sick again eating the leftover. Truly disappointing because I did like the quality of the meat. The service was really good though, the staffs were nice. read more

Mala Town Express - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

We love mala tang and chose Szechuan broth. It didn't disappoint but a bit oily to us. A ton of soup and ingredient choices! Servers were sweet to get us the bowl size we want for sharing! read more

Mala Town Express - Szechuan Set with Spicy Mix 醇香麻辣拌套餐(with peanut sauce) - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

This is my new favorite malatang spot! You go in, grab your desired portion, pay at the front, then find a seat. They'll give you a buzzer then you pick up your food at the front once it's ready. They have a really great sauce bar and they serve this sauce called "malaban sauce" and it's absolutely fire. It's creamy and slightly spicy and tastes so good with the food. I've been here three weeks in a row already and I'll definitely be back soon! I've tried their tom yum, the bone broth, and the mala spicy broth. Only get the mala spicy if you can handle spice because it creeps up on you and is SPICY. I loved the bone broth, it had great flavor! The tom yum also had the perfect balance of sour + savory. They have so many toppings that I don't typically see like cheesy rice cake and mochi fishcake. Their meat quality is also really great, I love how fatty & marbled the pieces are! The staff are all super friendly, kind, and patient! I love their uniforms too, they're really adorable! read more

Mala Town Express - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

I thought this was pretty good- a good amount of selections and everything looked fresh. I will say it's very clean. It's priced per weight at $12.99/lb which is pretty good. (Cheaper than tang bar at $15.99) If your bowl is exactly 2lbs you get a free bowl or something like that I believe. The cashier was very friendly and helpful and I even saw her coming to clean tables when she wasn't busy. Their broths were pretty good and they have a good amount of options. Their mini sauce bar was good with the pickled radish and crispy garlic and onions which I enjoyed that you can add it to your bowl. I believe they do a discount for parties over 3 as well. Pretty good and I'll go back! read more

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They are really express. My order came out super fast! I got the tomato soup base and mixed mala ban sauce, spicy beef sauce, garlic sauce, cilantro, green onion, and crispy fried onion. The flavor was amazing! Rich, spicy, and super satisfying. The price $12.99/lb is actually pretty cheap compared to other Malatang spots in downtown San Mateo. read more

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Best Malatang food in San Mateo. It's crowded, so early arrival suggested on a Friday evening. The blend of fresh vegetables with seafood in a tomato soup base helps with low carbing. There's noodles for those who opt for that. read more

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Yum! We were so grateful this place was open for Christmas! The woman working the counter was so kind took. Ingredients were so fresh, and soup bases were so good!! I got the Tom Yun soup with lots of veggies, meat, and noodles. We will be back! read more

Mala Town Express - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

Considering there's two other competitors in the area, this place is noticeably priced lower comparatively (20-30% cheaper!). At $9.99/lb + $1.99/lb if you do soup, that costs $11.98/lb! If your bowl is less than 1 lb then $11.98 would be the minimum price before tax which is pretty affordable! Prices aside - they have most of your standard choices at these types of places. The meat quality is not the best as they offer beef short plate beef & chuck. There was also a marinated garlic beef option that was a bit chewy. If you're not too picky & you just want something decent, this was honestly perfect for a quick random Monday night dinner. If it was priced like the other two competitors, this would've gotten a solid 3 but because it's priced so competitively, I definitely bump this place to a 4. Small but good enough sauce bar. My personal fav item in the sauce bar was the pickled cucumbers/daikon (btw - I don't think this was intended to be made with a sauce, but as a side)! Solid place if you want the malatang experience but on a budget! Would recommend for a casual dinner out! read more

Mala Town Express - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

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Very friend service here! I love the options you can put in your soup. The broth is super flavorful and ingredients are fresh! Everything tasted delicious and on top of that, they have sauces and toppings you can add to the broth after getting it. read more

Mala Town Express - Chicken broth with etc - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

By far the cheapest malatang place in downtown San Mateo. They charge 9.99 per pound which is significantly cheaper than zhangliang and tang bar, and they are even having a promotion of 20% to 30% off depending on group size. Four of us were able to eat for just $66, which is a steal. Of course the low price comes at a price, as the ingredient selection, especially the meat, is very lacking compared to the aforementioned alternatives. They only have 4 types of meat, and the quality is not as good. You get what you pay for! The broth choices are pretty good. We would recommend the beef broth, which is rich and has a nice kick to it. The chicken broth is slightly herbal, and was a lot less rich than I hoped it would be. read more

Mala Town Express - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

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WE LOVE MALATANG! I was craving malatang so badly after driving back from Sacramento on a cold Friday night. Dropped by and surprisingly for it being soup season - it wasn't too busy! For those that have not had malatang, you grab a bowl and a pair of tongs, load up on veg, mushrooms, noodles, fish cake, and meat, and then take your bowl to the counter to choose your broth and pay PER LB! This is such a great option for the girls in my opinion because sometimes I really don't need AYCE sized portions and I just want a bunch of enoki mushrooms and beef! The customizable aspect of malatang simply cannot be beat. I really liked how big the bowl was at Mala Town Express, having tried others in the area that felt smaller. I will say though that the broth was slightly saltier than I'd normally prefer, but still good overall. We also love a sauce bar and while some niche things are missing, all the staples are there! read more

Mala Town Express - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

We heard the beef bone broth here is very good. Walked in Thursday around 7pm. It wasn't that busy. It's like any other malatang places where you grab a tong and bowl. The you stay filling the bowl up with whatever you want. You pay by weight. I choose the Signature beef bone broth, which has mild spicy. The classic beef bone broth doesn't have any spice. We also tried the Sichuan broth and it was too oily and spicy. It's Self service. Food came out really fast! Like 5 mins. The beef tendon is so tender and they have pork intestine. They also have fatty beef slices and slightly fat lamb slices. The fish ball with roe isn't the juicy kind. They have a good variety of veggies. You get the sauce and condiments at the sauce and water station. Only 1 restroom. read more

Mala Town Express - Sichuan style soup base - Hot Pot Near Me - San Mateo, California

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Seems to be popular and I am Really struggling here as I want to like this place more than I do. The concept is great! But, ... - I have been there twice and haven't had the best experience. - I would prefer a lighter option soup base. Their options seem really heavy and overpowering. (There is a chicken broth option but pictures don't look appetizing as it too looks uber concentrated and heavy) - I got the dry spice option last time I went (there is no description as to what this entails), and I thought it would be stir fry and it isn't. Be forewarned. There is nothing to tell you that your items are boiled and then this horrible, heavy peanut sauce with very chemical tasting undertones is poured over the top so that it is drenched. Rendered most of my bowl inedible. And this option takes forever. My entire table were all half way through their bowls of food prior to mine arriving. To be fair there is a peanut icon on the menu but that is far different than not being forewarned that this heavy, fatty, gross sauce covers everything. - the service is not great. They are understaffed. The cashier was also the food runner. Cashier seems confused and is rude and slow - doesn't operate with any sort of urgency whatsoever. Also is very distracted while ringing you up so process takes forever. Maybe have had a couple off days on the days I went? May try one more time or try the other place a few blocks over to see if it is any better. read more

First off, this place is only $9.99/lb, which is cheaper than the local downtown San Mateo competitors, at ~$15/lb. I'd say that's a steal. Did I also forget to mention at the time of writing this review, they have a 2+ party 20% off, 3+ 30% off. My bowl came out to be 2.38 lbs while my wife's was 1.9 lbs. We only paid $40. Both full. For the cost, it's a definite steal with what you get as well. It tasted great to me. Self-service bar of course. You walk in, grab a bowl and a set of tongs, and then get to choosing your ingredients. Mala Town Express doesn't have as many ingredients compared to the other competitors in San Mateo, but it's still plentiful enough that you have enough choices. Plenty of seats, wasn't too crowded when we went. Easy to find a seat and upon cleaning up, everything is clearly labeled for you to put things away. I also noticed the server cleaning the tables quite often, which I find a major plus! I'd come back to eat here. I'd be interested to try out their other soup options. read more

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So great!! Love this spot and it's always a hit. Service and ambiance always great we love their broth and selections

I really enjoy their selection of food. Their broth is really good as well and rich. They have a large variety of soup and I love trying out different kinds each visit. read more

There is great selection including tendon and tripe! No miso or mushroom soup base though. But that's ok

The restaurant didn't open until 11:45am even though it said it's opened at 11:30am. The workers are slacking inside. Please train your employees better!!! Many customers already lined up to go inside but the employees inside don't even care to open the door. If your employees kept Doing that, your restaurant will be out of business soon. The cashier ( Asian guy) looked like he didn't wanna be there and when I asked if there's any coke, he said sold out! What!! The restaurant just opened and how can coke be sold out? He's too lazy to bring more cokes out. The restroom smells funky. It smells like wet dogs. Never come here again. Will be my first and last time dining here. It didn't matter if you guys were short staffed that day. There's no excuse to treat customers like that. read more