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Mala Town

4.7 (434 reviews)
ModerateHot Pot, Soup
Open 11:30 am - 9:00 pm
Updated 2 months ago

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MALA TOWN ATMOSPHERE

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Dogs allowed
Good for groups

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Recommended Reviews - Mala Town

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Dee L.

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.

Set with Beef Bone Broth Base
Tien D.

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!

Meat area
Lj Q.

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

Tomyum broth
Kelsy H.

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.

Set with Beef Bone Broth Base 招牌牛骨汤套餐
Lily M.

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!! :)

Interior
Helen L.

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!

Erica E.

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!

Nina M.

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.

Set with Tom Yum Soup Base 冬阴功汤底套餐 (Mild Spicy)

Decided to try this place after looking around when I was in the Sf area and it was on my way home. Loving all the toppings and meat options. Me and my sister got the Tomyum broth and it was so good, paired with the ramen noodle was perfect. The employees were helpful with explaining how things work and assigned us a table, but were able to accommodate us when we wanted a different table. They have free water cups and a sauce bar, which is so convenient. I would go back if I'm ever in the area again.

Anh H.

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

Leo L.

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.

Sauce and toppings section
Kari C.

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.

Christy T.

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.

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17 days ago

It's a fun experience! The food tastes great, and the sauce bar has lots of delicious options to choose from.

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28 days ago

The food is amazing. Love the food/broth options. They provide great service as well.

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Mala Town Reviews in Other Languages

Ask the Community - Mala Town

CA NOODLE

CA NOODLE

4.3
(290 reviews)
2.0 mi
$$

Came here to meet up with a friend for lunch and had a very delicious meal. I got the spicy beef…read morenoodle soup - I've gotten this dish at other places before that also market it as being spicy but it never is. At CA Noodle, you get what you ask for - you can see the rich, red chili flakes and oil floating in the broth which adds a nice kick and great flavor to the freshly made noodles. I just wish there were more chunks of beef that were included - the dish is very carb heavy. We also shared a plate of the pig ear appetizer which is soaked in a rich chili oil. If you like more of the chewy/cartilaginous type of texture, which I do, this dish is absolutely amazing. Overall, would recommend this spot if you're looking for a comfort meal.

Stopped by CA Noodle this past Friday over my girlfriend's craving for noodle soup and we wanted to…read moretry something new. Seeing CA Noodle show up on our yelp search and it was nearby, we decided to check it out. The location is pretty convenient, located in a plaza that shares parking spaces with several other restaurants and a McDonald's. The inside only seats about 10-14 parties of 2-4, so a pretty small restaurant. They had 2 waiters staffing the entire restaurant, but the menu and ordering system is all done through a POS via QR code. The menu was quite large, offering no many choices like pot stickers, noodle soups, chow mein, and little appetizers like pig ears. We ended up ordering the pig ears, pot stickers, pork pan fried bun, and 2 noodle soups. The good: pig ears. The pig ears were cut in various sizes and the flavor was spicy. Definitely to our liking! The neutral: the pork hamburger item and pot stickers. While the bun was tasty and crispy, the mean in between was a bit dry and the taste was a bit mild and less salty. We made it better by adding pig ears with every bite lol. The pot stickers were fine but it didn't really give a crispy bottom taste and more of dry pan sear. It definitely needed sauce as the filling was a bit mild too (very consistent mild tastings after the pig ears. The bad: the soup dishes that we ordered were definitely needing a flavor bomb. While the noodles we ordered were great and had a ton of chew and the protein in the dish was plenty; the soup lacked in taste. My girlfriend had to ask for additional salt to add to taste and it made it so much better. I ate mine as intended and I wasn't as satisfied as compared to if I were to eat at ox9 or muragame. Overall, I thought our meal was about a 3.5. While we enjoyed watching the World Cup while eating our food, the taste of our food was much more desired and it didn't scratch our itch for a rich soup. Unfortunately, many of the other patrons seemed to catch on and order the chow mein instead. If we come back, it's probably what we would order next. Until next time!

Photos
CA NOODLE
Spicy beef noodles
Spicy beef noodles
Dry lamb noodle

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Dry lamb noodle
Papa's Dumpling

Papa's Dumpling

4.4
(98 reviews)
3.1 mi
$$

*** Vegetarian Review ***…read more Full disclaimer. I haven't been to the restaurant, but I've tried their vegan potstickers at the Kaiser Vallejo Farmers Market. So, since I wasn't able to find a check in for that market, I had to come here to sing their praises. 6 Vegan Potstickers at the market are $13. I recommend spending the $1 for chili oil. Not sure what they charge at the restaurant for these fried pockets of deliciousness, but I tell you if these taste this good at a farmers market, packaged in a box, and I wait 10 minutes before I find a seat in the hospital cafeteria, and it still tastes this good, the restaurant must be out of this world. The wrapper has a great thickness and offers a sticky and chewy bite. Pan fried still comes out after having these steam in a to go box, so the restaurant would probably make these pan fried babies have even more texture. Comes with a dipping sauce, but combine it with the chili oil if you can handle a little heat and Yes Chef!! I heard they are at the SF Ferry Building Market on Saturday and Walnut Creek Farmers Market on Sunday. Double check those, but finding a great vegan potsticker is not easy.

My husband and I tried this place for the first time for dinner tonight with our almost 1year old…read moreson. The woman was incredibly attentive and ensured the baby's water wasn't too cold and brought scissors if we wanted to cut his food into smaller bites. The restaurant itself was very clean and welcoming! The orange chicken was the star of the meal , well balance and perfectly crispy. We got the lamb dumpling which were extra juicy and the pork and cabbage dumplings were a classic. Homemade chili crisp oil was available at the table. Please consider supporting this local business the next time you're in the mood for Asian food!

Photos
Interior. We beat the lunch rush. Three groups came in as we were finishing up
Interior. We beat the lunch rush. Three groups came in as we were finishing up
Wontons in Spicy Chili Oil
Wontons in Spicy Chili Oil
Cute little container for good chili sauce

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Cute little container for good chili sauce
Ten Seconds Yunnan Rice Noodle

Ten Seconds Yunnan Rice Noodle

4.4
(114 reviews)
1.5 mi
$$

I was in town because of a family photoshoot and afterwards we wanted to eat! This place was…read morerecommended by our photographer and it did not disappoint! It was early dinner time on a Friday evening and it wasn't overly crowded. All 6 of us got different items and overall it's a matter of preference for what kind of broth and protein you'd like that depicts the meal, the toppings are generally all the same. Consider this place to almost be a "make your own ramen" type of thing, in that you're given a platter of toppings to add to your bowl of steaming hot broth, mix it and let it sit, then voila! It's ready to eat. For a rainy winter evening, it was perfect to have some tasty noodle soup!

Loved this place and was so excited to try it out! I really love the environment inside as well…read moreit's super laid back but also looks pretty well kept for a nice outing with loved ones. The service was really good, they are super on top of cleaning and serving so my food came out in about 15-20 minutes. I got the combo with an appetizer, drink, and noodle soup. The portions were pretty generous. -grapefruit tea: thought it was pretty yummy! I also tried out the super fruit tea and i really liked it but personally found it to be a little too sweet. Not too much to displease though! I mixed some water and it was perfect for me. -tomato beef brisket noodle soup: i was surprised by how tender the meat was and how much they actually give you. If you love tomato soups as much as i do then it's definitely a great option! -takoyaki & lamb skewers: my sister had one dish from her combo order and i has my own but was able to try both! The lamb skewers were a bit smaller than expected but were flavorful with a fragrant aroma. The takoyaki came in about 5 balls and while they didn't include all typical takoyaki toppings it was still pretty good considering it came as a combo! Overall, i really loved coming by this place, my main concern is that it's actually in a pretty busy plaza so parking can be a little difficult during peak business hours. Otherwise it's located in a really great area relatively close to some shopping areas such as the Livermore outlets or even other smaller shopping plazas. Give this place a try if you're in the area and looking for a good eat without breaking the wallet!

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Ten Seconds Yunnan Rice Noodle
Ten Seconds Yunnan Rice Noodle
Green pepper fish soup

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Green pepper fish soup
Pho Lovers

Pho Lovers

4.2
(184 reviews)
1.6 mi
$$

Delete all your dating apps because Pho Lovers will be your true love, kissing and boiling into the…read moresunset with your Prince Charming. Vietnamese restaurants are ubiquitous in the Bay Area, making it difficult to find places that really hit the spot. No fancy castle or horse-drawn carriage here, but I like how casual the inside of the restaurant is. The Princess and the Pea walked so we could run because there are a handful of comfortable seating arrangements. The interior leans more modern while still paying homage to traditional Vietnamese decor. Pho is great and all, but the Three Little Bears have found a new dish that's neither too hot nor too cold -- Bo Ne. Bo Ne is one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes, and it's hard to find places that serve it. Even fewer places do it just right, making me feel like Goldilocks. I love the banh mi that comes with the Bo Ne because it has a thin, crunchy, flaky crust with a fluffy, soft inside that absorbs the sauce perfectly. The steak was tender and paired perfectly with the pâté, giving you that satisfying flavor that constantly has you reaching for more. Once you place your order, the food comes out super fast. No Big Bad Wolf here to blow your wallet down because the prices are affordable and the portions are large. Huff and puff as hard as you can, but this place is here to stay. I would definitely recommend it, and I'll definitely be back. I hope you enjoy this place as much as I do.

Pho Lovers is a solid go-to in Dublin when you want something quick and consistently good…read more Everyone comes for the pho (and it's legit), but don't skip the Bò Né sizzling platter comes out hot with steak, eggs, and that garlic butter sauce...so good. The caramelized pork bánh mì is another win crispy bread, great flavor. Also highly recommend the pho dip bánh mì with oxtail broth super rich and perfect for dipping. Drinks are underrated too grab a sugarcane juice (passionfruit one is ). Ambience is casual and no-frills nothing fancy, but clean and comfortable. It's the kind of spot you come to eat, not hang out, and it does that well. Fast service, no fuss, always hits.

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Pho Lovers
(B4) Filet Mignon Steak Banh Mi $12.95 | 07.10.2025
(B4) Filet Mignon Steak Banh Mi $12.95 | 07.10.2025
C7. Sữa Đậu Nành La Dứa - soybean milk with pandan

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C7. Sữa Đậu Nành La Dứa - soybean milk with pandan

Mala Town - hotpot - Updated July 2026

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