KungFu MalaTang

Amazing Malatang spot! The broth is incredibly flavorful and packed with just the right amount of heat. I love being able to choose my own ingredients, and everything was fresh and delicious. The service was quick and friendly too. This is my new go-to comfort food place. Highly recommend!

They have really good Malatang! Totally recommend visiting. They don’t have a lot of veggies to add but a decent amount of vegetables and the vegetables were pretty good quality. I am vegan so I asked for a vegetable broth and they had it as well.

did take out several times here and i have never been disappointed. food - always spot on, great variety of ingredients, soup base is delicious. for their meats i have only tried beef and i crave a bowl at least once every couple of weeks service - the main reason why i keep coming to this specific location. the manager/owner (?) is incredibly professional and polite. he is super genuine and honest and when i tried to leave a tip for a to go order, he changed it to 0% and insisted we don’t tip when we’re taking it to-go. in this day and age where EVERYONE wants a tip for everything i found this attitude extremely refreshing. the rest of staff is also super professional and quick. they always set up a table w water so we can sit while we wait for our order to be cooked before we take it to go. they also pack the soup separately so the ingredients specifically the noodles don’t overcook - it was piping hot 30 mins later! atmosphere - it’s clean, quick/great service, it gets busy on weekends but there’s always a table available. cost is by weight and i usually spend $25-35 per person but highly dependent on how much you get. there is cross contamination which is hard to avoid at a “pick your own” restaurant but the individual bowls and tongs are clean.

It's our first time here, so we weren't familiar on the process but the way the restaurant was set up made it easy to navigate and get food. We got medium spicy for our bowls and it was the right amount of spice. The food was perfectly cooked. The staff was really friendly too.

Tried Kungfu Malatang in Allston and was really impressed. The ingredients were fresh, the broth was rich and flavorful, and building your own bowl made the whole meal feel fun and customizable. At $14.99 per pound, the price feels fair for the quality and portion. The staff was helpful and fairly quick, and the space is clean and comfortable, though seating can be quite crowded during busy hours. Overall, it’s a great spot when you’re craving something warm, spicy, and satisfying.

Not busy, traditional style Mala tang where price is based on per lb (we paid $14.99/lb). Medium was not spicy at all. Definitely satisfied my Mala craving, would come again!

Everything is incredibly amazing, it’s sound fake but seriously you need to come here, the staff is really nice and I’ve been here so many times because I really like the food, I’m a spicy person so it’s perfect, I also like that u ca choose what do u want in your soup

Ordered many times - so obsessed with their mixed Mala dry pot! Quite a variety of fresh vegetables and meats to choose from, and you can customize the spicy level to your like. The atmosphere and service are great too. Recommend!!

Amazing service and food! Love the service here. Must visit and please come here for the best MalaTang

I bring my service dog here, the restaurant is empty but they force me to seat in a small table in the corner just because I have a dog... this is totally discrimination against service dogs... the waiter was rude and refuses to contact the manager... I can't imagine how they operate this restaurant Update: their manager contacted me to apologies their attitude to my dog so I'm changing this to 3 star. I understand they are worried about some customers might allergic to dogs, but that's not an excuse to refuse it. They really need to come up with a solution to balance this, many other restaurants do this well and I think they should too

I visited this restaurant before randomly, and it left a lasting impression on me so I came back only two days after. I missed the malatang I had in South Korea, and this restaurant is set up just like it! You can choose your own veggies, meat, noodles, etc as much as you'd like, and they weigh it by the pound. You can also choose the spice level; we got the medium, which wasn't that spicy. We got a total of 3.4 pounds, which came out to about $47. The broth was very good and warm, although I was expecting more of a mala taste (it was a bit too faint). The service was fast, and the Korean server was incredibly kind and receptive to our needs. Overall, great service & good food.

I love this spot! It's basically a build your own bowl of soup. They have items buffet style that you put what you want into a bowl and then you give it to them to weigh and choose the spice level. They are super nice here. Everytime I've gone, they were always really welcoming and the service was great!! It's a cute corner restaurant, great for casual dining. I'm 100% coming back again.

I had not had Malatang for years! I think the last time I had it was in Shanghai 10 years ago. I was on the way to have ramen but saw this place while waiting at the red light. Out of curiosity, I came here instead. I enjoyed the broth and the freedom to pick my own ingredients but it was a pretty pricy place to eat. I did love the k pop playlist they had going. All k pop legend songs. Thumbs up! Fast service. They put water on the table before you even sat. Though it was weird they picked a table for you while you were at the cashier.

I did takeout for the mala soup and got a big thing of tasty soup and hefty bowl of the ingredients I ordered. The soup is tasty ! I ordered it to be mildly spicy and it's good and tasty. If you want it to be numbing, you have to order it spicier. Also the soup did not come with a thick layer of oil on top, which I personally like bc it feels less greasy to me, but I know some other people like that oil layer. The soup is still plenty flavorful without it though. They also gave me a free rice! It might be because I ordered a lot. Overall I'm very happy, it's like hotpot but I didn't have to leave my house. Also I didn't order any greens so that's why my food is all brown, but what I did order (meats mushrooms tofu) was all very yummy. Edit: also the rice is VERY GOOD. I usually don't care about rice bc rice is just rice but this rice is soft and bouncy and sticky and idk just not your typical takeout rice.

KungFu Malatang is on the corner of Brighton and Harvard Ave right across from Meet Fresh. As you walk in you're greeted and shown how you pick your food. You basically get a big bowl and tongs and are told to pick and choose what you'd like in, since there are no signs the people there tell you what is what for things that might be less obvious like the different types of fish balls. It's about $15/lb of food so you get what you pay for. I got a variety of items from glass noodles, meats, and veggies. Then you have the option of choosing your bowl to be cooked with soup or dry (just sauce) and then pick your spice level. I chose tiny, which is 1 pepper with soup and thought it was the perfect amount for me. I really enjoyed the variety of items and loved the super chewy noodles. I wished they had a pitcher of water at our table or were better about refilling out glasses because I definitely needed more water from all the spiciness of the dish. There were a few other tables dining in as well, but they also had quite a few takeout orders that got picked up as well. Overall, this would be a great place to go to warm up in the winter with a nice hotpot soup.

I love eating here when I'm craving malatang! Briefly, this is a place where you pay by weight of ingredients that you want to put into the soup, and then you pay for that and indicate a spicy level and then they take it back cook everything for you and then bring it out! I do want to just disclaim that with that one of these bowls it can get pretty expensive, around $30-$40 depending on what you put in it. However they give you a lot of soup especially with it, so when I come here I usually split one bowl with my friend and it is definitely enough for the both of us, and very cost efficient too!The soup is also very tasty, it tastes like it has a peanut/sesame-base with spice on top! Also protip: you should get the fresh handmade noodles because they are the best here! Also since it's weight based, getting things like potatoes may not be worth it, but getting vegetables is pretty worth it if you like them!

The food was terrible and the service is worse lol, the short manager guy is a joke! He was threatening us for no reason, not sure what was wrong with this place, be careful as u eat there because he might throw a fit lmfao

Stopped by for dinner per a friend's recommendation - and I'm so glad I did! There are a lot of great restaurants in the area, so I've passed by Mala Kungfu loads of times, but I've just never found the chance to give it a try. I'm sure other reviews cover this in detail, but the tl;dr of this place is that you assemble a bowl of ingredients and they cook it into a hot-pot-esque soup - you're charged by the weight of your bowl. My bowl was so delicious - the broth was tasty and not too salty, and all of the veggies/fish balls/etc. were just so nicely cooked. The beef (which cost $4 extra) was amazing - tender, juicy, and flavourful, complementing the noodles and lighter ingredients in the soup so well. I particularly loved the many different type of fish balls - cuttlefish, ones with filling, fish cakes - a lot of variety to choose from :) I'm not actually sure exactly the per unit cost (by weight) - but my bowl came out to be around $25 after tax/tip, which is definitely more than I would have expected, both for this type of cuisine and for this neighbourhood around Allston. That being said, my meal was amazing regardless and I will definitely be back soon!

Location/Parking: easy to spot on the corner of brighton & harvard. there is metered street parking all along harvard street that takes card. you can usually find a spot within a 3 minute walk of the restaurant (which is useful for all of the other yummy places in Allston as well). Food: for people not familiar with mala-tang (southern chinese soup dish), the restaurant is run on a pretty cool concept where you pick ingredients you'd like out of a buffet into a big bowl. It is then weighed/priced and the kitchen cooks it up for you into a warm & spicy broth! The fact that its choose-your-own and priced by weight can be good and bad. Certain things that aren't usually pricy can be heavier and cost a lot, while other things can be a good deal, so I definitely recommend factoring that into your choices. My recommendations for tasty & bang-for-buck are: lotus root, tofu skin, bok choi, fresh japanese noodles, seafood items, and meat which is also by weight during happy hour. Price: usually comes out to $20-30 everytime I've went, which is a little pricier than the average for Allston restaurants. However, I think the broth is A+ and you end up with a ton of food so I usually eat it over 2 meals. Overall, definitely recommend trying at least once for the novel experience, and there's a decent chance you may get hooked and end up as a repeat customer like me!

Very friendly owner. There are many restaurants where the owner just leave the store to the workers. Which typically leads poort customer services. The owner greeted us and offered some free offers. The foods are fresh and taste good. Definitely coming again!

Staff were incredibly nice and friendly as always. The manager always makes it a point to greet people in or give them a meaningful goodbye on their way out. I got in while it was empty so the self serve bar was fully stocked. Their broth is really the way to go, it's a nice balance of spice and creaminess to not give you too much of either. My bowl came out to $~25 before tip. They weigh you on what you pick and then meat is an add-on, maybe $4-$6. I love getting the fatty cut pork to balance everything. I would definitely recommend supporting this small business and tipping well whenever you visit!

Review for delivery only: Despite the 3 star rating, was craving a dry hot pot and found this spot. Their broth/sauce contains the sesame/peanuty taste so you don't need additional sauces. And the flavoring is on point in my honest opinion. It is little milder in spice compared to other Szechuan places but I actually prefer the different spice levels offered here and seems more accurate to people's tolerance levels. I got both mala tang and mala ban. Both are good. Mala tang is more soup like traditional hot pot. And mala ban (or spicy hot pot on ubereats) was more concentrated and was more like a brothy stir fry. Actually preferred the latter because the ingredients were better soaked in the sauce. But the mala tang's soup was actually very comforting during a cold day so best scenario would be to order both with friends. I included a screenshot of my order because it was a pretty good combo.

This restaurant is situated in the corner of Brighton Ave and Harvard Ave. I've passed it so many times and am glad I got a chance to drop by! The owner is very warm and welcoming when you enter the restaurant. I got the build-your-own-hot-pot option (hot pot mala tang) with beef. When you enter, you get to grab a big bowl and fill it with whatever you want in your pot. They have a variety of vegetables, frozen fish balls, noodles near the cashier, and meat (beef, lamb, etc). The meat is separate from the hot pot food bar and will be added on top of your total bill. This place is a bit on the more expensive side of hot pot places, of course it also depends on what you fill your bowl with and how much of each ingredient you get. You can customize the level of spice for the broth. I got medium and it was perfect for me (the owner also told me the medium spice level is a popular choice). The broth was very flavorful so I had a few sips of it. I did find that I was pretty thirsty a while after my meal. The highlight of my meal was the broth and the friendly service!

Best customer service!! weighting scale with the marks at the weight which one portion should not exceed just to let the customer made aware of one's right portion. The owner himself explained how one should take and weight. My husband got it exceeded the mark and it is really a lot when it comes out. he regrets not taking the owner's advice seriously.

Be aware: there is a mandatory 10% tips despite being a self-service restaurant. I was denied service for not wanting to pay the "tips" before food was given to me. Tips should be a gratitude for great service, not to add extra fees for no reasons. Be aware: there is a minimum weight for pick-yourself hotpot (1lb, $13.99). There is no sign, I only learned there's a minimum at checkout. The choices are mostly vegetables, instant ramen, and spam. Meat are not included in the minimum. I generally don't give a one star as I always see something positive. Not in this case. Manager even threatened to call the police when I refused to pay the 10% "tips". Between the demeaning manager and his poor attitude towards customers, I give it one star.

Create-your-own hotpot with a wide selection of fresh vegetables and other items (fishcakes, fish balls, tofu, rice cakes, noodles, etc) which you pay for by weight. You can also choose to add meat for $4/order. The default is a hot pot soup but you can also ask for a semi-dry pot. The soup base stays the same but you can choose how spicy you want it. They have extra mala chili on the side if your pot is not spicy enough. There is a sign which says that there is a $10 minimum, but the pay by weight concept actually adds up quicker than you'd expect. The first time I came here I somehow ended up with a bowl worth $40 (I added two orders of meat), but it also fed two of us very well and we walked out of there stuffed. The ambiance here is... Interesting. They play Korean songs which sound like k-drama soundtracks but they also have a large TV screen where they play a playlist of epic fail videos. Not necessarily the cheapest meal but you also get a lot of food.

The owner (I believe) was so kind and helped us through the process of picking out our own hotpot. Customer service was truly 10/10. Not to mention the food was really good and fresh. This place is a hidden gem for sure and will come back as a regular

Would not recommend, the food is pretty good but not really worth the price. The manager offered us milk tea talking about how special it is. The milk tea was nothing more than powder mixed with water. Overall, the manager's talk is much bigger than the product.

Despite this restaurant has a 4-star review on Yelp, I have to tell my honest opinion here: 1. Service is extremely slow. We ordered on 7:40 pm and we are still waiting for this one bowl of vegetables. There are fewer than 5 tables of customers sitting in the store during our time here. I am not sure what takes them so long. 2. Staff are very rude. There's a guitar performer playing the guitar for the customers, and suddenly the staff in the kitchen yelling at her at discretion: "STOP!" Well, you have other ways to ask her to stop playing. Yelling is not the best option. The staff also get impatient when we ask when our food will be ready (after 50 minutes of ordering it). 3. We end up not eating anything because we are concerned about the sanitary condition.

Probably the kindest service amongst all Allston Asian restaurants. The vegetable is always really fresh and the vege station offers a broad variety to choose from. The noodles are well cooked. The protein is always fresh and in good quality. They offer food in giant amount. You can be sooooo full with $25 per person. And their house noodle sauce is soooooo good, rich and flavorful. Been here multiple times and never got disappointed. 良心食材 而且真的算是Allston服务最好的亚洲餐馆之一了 老板和店员人都超好的

Broth was good, glass noodles were slightly undercooked. I liked the idea of picking what you want in your stew. Ambiance was not bad.

This place has a lot of potential! The owner just needs to install ac. Summer will be bad for business if there is no air conditioner. Like seriously dude, you need to install an AC because even though I really enjoyed my food, i could not fully enjoy it because I kept sweating my butt off. That experience is not pleasant. So please please install ac otherwise you're my go to place during the fall and winter. Anyhoo besides that, I love that you can pick your own ingredients for your spicy soup and you can also pick what level of spicy you want. So that's cool. But watch out for your portions. You pay per weight and I think it was $12.99 per pound or $13.99 I forgot. I paid about $31 for mine. That was a lot of food. Got too excited with the options I guessed. So watch out for that. Overall it was good. I just wish the restaurant had air conditioning.

I was walking around looking for food when I came across this place. I saw hotpot and was hooked. Upon entering I realized that this place was not the hotpot I was used to, so I was taken aback. Being hungry, I decided to give it a try anyways. Well let me tell you, the gentleman who helped me out was so passionate and nice, he alone made the place great. BUT, then came the food, and let me tell you: it was some of the best Asian food I've ever had.My experience is of course a bit limited but I certainly know when food is great or not; and this was certainly the former. If you have a chance, give this place a chance too, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

TLDR - An authentic Chinese food experience that is rarely seen in the states Mala Kungfu is small store on the corner offering a style of fast casual food very common all over China. You walk in, grab a giant bowl, and toss in all the ingredients (meat, veggies, noodles, etc.) you would like for them to cook in a broth. You tell them how spicy you would like it and they whip it all together for you. Finally, you pay by weight and patiently wait for your food. The soup came out really good, and the ingredients were quite fresh by appearance and taste. I couple areas of the restaurant I think that can be improved are the speed of service and the pricing. I know I got a lot of food (though it's all just veggies and I didn't even add a meat), but I ended up spending the amount I would at a decent Italian restaurant. Close to about $22. The speed of service is tough, because they had one person working the counter and one person working the kitchen. When the line got even a tiny bit long, it was just so much for two people to handle. Ultimately, I enjoyed my meal and this restaurant has a lot of potential to be even better than it is.

The Worst Chinese Restaurant In MA I don't normally give restaurant one star. But this is one of my worst experience I've ever had in my life with Mala.. 1. Every veggies are uncooked 2. Added extra beef but I saw 3-4 beef pieces 3. Requested for spicy but I don't absolutely feel any spice. Not mixed well I requested a refund for this because I couldn't even finish them. The manager was offensive and they only gave 50% refund for my order after I called 7-8 times and they kept saying that owner or whoever in charge of it was not available and ended up with making a deal with me. Shame on you. You are ruining the reputation of all Chinese restaurant if you keep your business like that. The worst. period. Never ever make a delivery from here y'all unless you want to waste your money on it.

I don't often go to a restaurant before checking the Yelp reviews, but I did for Mala Kungfu. I must say I am a bit surprised by the low ratings! I went the other day with my fiancee and a friend. My friend is Chinese, my fiancee and I are Korean. The owner was very friendly and able to talk to us all in our native tongues. Small detail, but that was a plus! The prices were indeed pretty high, but my fiancee and I shared a malatang for about $50, tip included. We also took leftovers home for a full meal the next day. So I don't think the price is unreasonable. The food, we all thought, was excellent. Admittedly, I've only had malatang once before in New York, but the broth was spicy, savory, and smooth. The lamb skewers were also excellent and came with spices. My Chinese friend, though, is a bit of a Chinese food snob and claims that it's the best place he knows in Boston to get malatang. I trust his judgment. The service was very good as well. We got a few sodas on the house as well as an extra lamb skewer to bring the total up to six skewers, since there were three of us sharing. Thanks for a delightful lunch, Mala Kungfu!

I don't usually give one star but this might warrant it because I spent over 30 dollars on a mala tung that I can pay 10 dollars for. Centered in Allston, I thought I'd give this place a try. I like the concept of picking your own vegetables but when the vegetables are weighed, it came out to like 20+ dollars. I was pretty dumbfounded. Also they play Kpop music in a supposedly Chinese restaurant. The owner/manager guy seems nice and attentive and maybe overly attentive to the point that it's a little bit annoying. I don't like being disturbed every few minutes. At the end when we were ready to leave wrote what was a coupon on a small piece of paper and tells me to come back and it's only like 2 dollars off lol. Like come on man.... Like the concept but restaurant ambience is poor, way over priced, I would recommend other places instead.

Super expensive and not worth for the price. We added 4 dollars for beef and It was so little.

I came here to try it. Was a bit overwhelmed by the price per pound because I didn't want to spend too much. But they have a scale conveniently near the food section so you can monitor and make sure you aren't getting to much. When my soup came back it was perfectly cooked. I loved the flavor of the broths too! Had a hint of lemon which I liked!

An interesting concept. You pay per the weight. You pick up the bowl add the veggies, noddles and the meat and as per the weight you pay for it. They take it inside and make it as a noodle soup based on your spice level and will serve to you. It's hot and spicy. Taste wise, it's really good. Huge kudos for the different kind bds of tofu they have. Vegetarian friendly place. The only drawback would be that it's expensive.

Rude staff, avoid this place. The food is gross and overpriced. Not a place I'd ever recommend.

1 the owner is super annoying. Keep saying how good is his food from Japan , China through daily air line. Blablablabla 2 his brother own 2% of KFC. Yes. You hear me. KFC. His sister is The CEO of 1000 plus restaurant . 3 he want to charge $30 for duck neck ...... which is normally cost $8-10 dollars....... 4 he own 周黑鸭 another major brand. Lol 5 after my wife give the honest review. "Someone" immediately have a 5 stars review. 6 I was diarrhea whole day yesterday after I ate it.

1. The owner was incredibly annoying. He constantly bothered us when we were eating, and he didn't know his boundaries. When paying for the food, he asked us to tip him a minimum of 10% (once again, completely crossing the line). This immediately put me in a bad mood, but I decided to give the food a chance. 2. The food is mediocre. Nothing special. And for the price, it is definitely not worth it. Also, the owner claimed that everything was organic, but clearly, it was not (he gets the food from Super 88). I would never pay as much money as I did for what I ordered. You would be better off buying a $2 pack of instant noodles and eating it at home. Seriously. 3. The terrible and confusing music. The restaurant is supposed to be "fast-casual", but there's a live violinist playing the same sad song over and over. That's weird. I noticed people kept looking over, confused. When the violinist is not playing, he blasts K-pop music and videos on the TV. It was definitely not the right choice of music/entertainment for a restaurant of this type. This is a minor complaint (and I do not fault the violinist at all), but it's something that the owner should consider if he wants to improve the overall quality of his restaurant. Do yourself a favor and please don't step foot into this restaurant. Go to Super 88, buy ramen, and cook it at home.

The food was great and the portion was sufficient. The service was really nice and the staff was very friendly. Definitely will come back!

Hands down the worst restaurant experience I've ever had. The owner has the personality of a used car salesman. He talked to us nonstop about how amazing his tea is. He went as far as pulling up a chair to our table. When we asked why the selection of vegetables was so sparse, he said it was because everything tastes amazing and it's all organic so everyone ate it earlier in the day. Very basic things were out- no enoki, no mushrooms, etc. Ok so we are being charged $13.99 for BARE minimum veggies. We go to weigh them and are told that there is a minimum $ that you have to reach but there's literally nothing else I want. Not thrilled. We go to choose our meat and beef is out of stock. Shocking. I ask why/how and I'm told that the designated meat slicer guy has gone home for the day wtf. Also no meat skewers of any kind. Because you guessed it. So organic and so amazing that it sold out. I haven't even gotten to the bad part. We told them from the beginning that our party had a peanut allergy. When our soup came, we ate one bite and lo and behold there are whole peanuts in there. The owner's response was that oops the chef forgot. But he has a peanut allergy himself and it's not that big of a deal. He offered a refund then told us the register was closed for the night so I'd have to come back. He offered free tea but then added only until the end of the month. He offered $3 off but for a future purchase. He had his friend play a song on the piano "he's off the clock but I told him to play a song for you." Thank you? All the while nonstop talking. This place is so bad. Terrible customer service for bad food. I am Chinese and I could have thrown this together in a college dorm room with a pack of ramen and some veggies. No thank you stay far away. I have not received a refund to this day.

So many reasons why i give one star. This is a brand new place to eat so me and my friend just stop by to see if it was worth trying. Nobody was inside so I just spoke to the cashier. The manager or owner came up to us and started talking up the restaurant and told us how they serve the food. He gave us coupons but then would take them back and said they were for next time. I think he said that bc we actually decided to eat there that night. It all started with my peanut allergy. I told them from the beginning that I was allergic to peanuts. When i received my bowl, one sip and I knew that were peanuts in this. I told the manager and i felt like he took it too lightly. He continued to say that he had a similar allergy and that I would be fine, "just a little sore throat". He offered another bowl but I knew that I couldn't eat it because I was having a reaction. He said that he would give me my money back but then took it back and said that his register was "closed." He told me to come back for the refund. I don't live close so I asked him to mail it to me. Which is already a hassle. I gave him my mailing address and I haven't heard from him again. I was with my friend so I let her finish her bowl. As she was finishing, he kept bothering us. He tried to make it up with some music in the background, went on and on how everything is organic (its not. everything is from the 88 down the street), he ran out of meat and said that the man who cuts is on vacation (what?), offered his own chocolates (from his pocket), asking if everything is ok (which it wasn't), gave us a student discount (which never made it on the receipt) So bottom line: Food: don't bother. if you want to pay 18 plus dollars for a bowl of ramen that you can definitely make at home. the broth isn't special. just buy the packaged ramen and add your own veggies at home. hospitality: a peanut allergy is a serious thing and one should treat it as such.

Food was fine. Over-priced for what you get for sure. Broth was fine, not super special but was spicy and it met expectations. Selection of food could be a bit wider. I've had mala in the pick-at-the-counter style in China before, so the concept wasn't new to me. However, the service was poor all-around. I went up to the counter to ask for water, they said they'll bring it to our table. 10 min pass, they apparently forgot. The second time I waited at the counter. Apparently there's a minimum weight, which they didn't tell us about until my friend tried to pay. My friend was vegetarian so he had to go get another half pound of veggies, which he ended up not eating. He would've been fine just paying the minimum price and not wasting the extra food, but the guy at the counter insisted on him getting more food. While my friend was trying to pay for his order, the man instead chose to greet people who just came in. I get it why, but he was literally standing at the counter for over 5 minutes, food on the scale, credit card in hand, waiting for this guy to finish explaining the process to the people who just came in. I love mala, but wouldn't return here.

I usually go to Mala Restaurant down the street, but they weren't open. Was still pretty excited to try this place. Dry pot tasted ok. Crawfish tasted better. But leaving 2 stars here bc serving size for the dry pot was less than 1/2 ( for the same price ) of what I've gotten at Mala Restaurant just down the street. Paid $30 for craw fish but it's barely 1.5 servings. Legit so sad. Sadness overload.

Here we have another place that is not viable. Executive summary: Filthy, incompetent, expensive. The soup taste is pretty good. But 1. The guy behind the register was trying hard and failed truly. He realized that his offering is subpar and he gave us a small bottle of Pellegrino on the house. Great, especially considering an $8 value for which we were charged over $50. 2. We got to pick our own ingredients for our soup in a "clean" fresh bowl. Interestingly, along the way the "counter intelligence" stacked the bowls on the kitchen window. Nice to see a bowl that was on the dirty counter now siting on the food in the bowl below. Yuk. Why even cleaning the bowls? 3. They were out of meats except luncheon meat for the soup and some BBQ lamb. The lamb we ordered was delivered to the wrong table who returned it to the counter and the brilliant staff then delivered it to our table. Not sure who was sneezing on it along the way. Now I am looking forward to a new record score in health code violations. 4. Next is the luncheon meat: It wasn't Spam (which would have been acceptable). It was just disgusting; once we got it. When our soup was delivered, the meat actually was missing. It took a while to get anyone's attention. Eventually, we were brought a couple of slices of low grade luncheon meat. I did not look how much they charged for this. 5. The low: One bowl of soup, a slice of lamb, terrible management, oblivious to health codes at a charge over $50 -- Epic fail! How come 2-stars you might ask? The broth taste was good if you manage to ignore the disasters.

[3.86/5] When Refuge Cafe went down I was immediately pulled in, curious of what to come next. Like the nosey bathrobed neighbor I was, I would peer through the window hoping I'd get a glimpse of a clue. This is a prime location afterall, Allston's version of Time Square. OK I'm exaggerating a little, but either way this is a major commercial intersection. Whatever came next had to be exciting. [Oh god, I'm beginning to sound like a townie.] Here we go! Review #046 Restaurant Type: Fast Casual Dining. My 1st Impression: First there was a KungFu Panda, then KungFu Tea, and now Mala KungFu! *cue the music* Everybody was kung fu fighting! Food (65%) Taste to price 3/5 Quality to price 3.5/5 Portion to price 4/5 Average = 3.5 Service (20%) Friendliness 4.5/5 Promptness 4.5/5 Average = 4.5 Cleanliness (15%) Bathroom n/a Dining area 4.5/5 Kitchen area 4.5/5 Average = 4.5 Overall Score = [F(.65)]+[S(.20)]+C(.15)] = [2.28]+[0.9]+[0.68] = 3.86 The Pluses... + Very passionate and welcoming owner. As soon as I walked in I was immediately greeted. He walked us through and curated all the offerings of the restaurant. I appreciated that. + You make your own bowl here so if you like or despise anything in particular you can make it anyway you like. The choice is yours. + For the soft opening promo, he gave us complimentary seltzer water and beef toppings. That was a kind gesture :) + BBQ LAMB was how I liked it: Hot, tender, juicy, and heavy on the chili powder. + BROTH was delicious. Rich in flavor, and not overly salty. It was similar to the MALA TANG in China. + Spacious dining area, huge 4K TV! Lots of room to maneuver all you want. If you have Invisible Lat Syndrome like me, this is a dream come true. + Lots of natural air flow as they keep their windows open (weather permitting). One of the few Asian soup themed restaurants to do so. Best view for people watching. + Very clean all around, new everything. The Negs... - With all that open space, I would like to see more for toppings much like the many MALA XIANG GUO places have it set up. I also think given the similarities, they could easily offer MALA XIANG GUO as an option. - I'm all for the single item restaurant movement, but in this instance, I want more menu items. Nowadays, with so many soup options what is their Unique Selling Proposition (USP)? - At checkout we were told, "Other restaurants require 15%, we only charge 10% for tips. It's for the kitchen and this will help them." I think that's very kind of the owner to watch for his staff, but there must be some kind of cultural misunderstanding because in America, that's not going to be well received, as many reviewers have pointed out. The Neutrals... o The owner is fluent in English, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. I thought that was pretty cool. In Conclusion... Mala Kung Fu is one of the few restaurants in the area to serve MALA TANG or MALA SOUP. They are a solid choice if you're craving for this particular item. With a highly visible location and high foot traffic, they should do well especially in the winter. I look forward to coming back. #ChowYouLater **If you enjoyed my review and need help with the Boston area, follow or add me as a friend. I have tons of reviews like this.

1. Too salty compare to other mala tang I had before. 2. Too overpriced. 3. Lettuces were too bitter, so I could not even swallow. I spitted it out right after tried lettuces. 4. No good not bad taste but overall I would not try again. I checked the charged price later, but it was charged $28. I ordered one regular size mala tang with one beef, and I remember the price on the receipt was $13-5. Maybe the server overcharged the tips or Idk what happened, but I would not try again.

Friendly staff and the food were ok, maybe cuz I don't know how to mix the ingredients???

Came on a whim on today and was a little overwhelmed by the build your own concept, but the owner was super helpful in explaining the process and helping me us pick things. Everyone was extremely friendly and the food comes back perfectly cooked and arranged in a delicious broth. Someone mentioned the owner expects 10% tip on the payment, which is true, but I usually tip in these kinds of places so it was kind of nice to be instructed on the 10% instead of trying to decide what's appropriate. Honestly, I usually tip more and probably should have, considering how good the service was. It's technically counter service, but they bring your food and clear it away. That's the kind of thing you tip for. Also, the owner brought us two Japanese sweet teas on the house for it being our first visit and they were delicious! The only thing I would mention is the toppings aren't labeled and you use the same tongs for everything, so this wouldn't be a good restaurant for vegetarians or people with certain allergies. Overall, just a very good experience.

Don't spend money in this place!I had malaxiangguo extra spicy .it was not spicy at all and super salty . I can't even taste the veggies and meat . And it's too expensive .

Soooo Goood! We had dry hotpot and lamb skewer there, and the owner gave us free Milk tea, Oolong tea and an extra lamb skewer! He is so nice and polite too! I would definetely come back whenever I want to have dry hotpot and Skewers for sure.

They just opened a few days ago. I am glad I went in and tried today. I ordered with mild spicy, it tastes very good. I could choose whatever I wanted, in a big transparent bowl, and then they measured on the scale. So I got the chance to choose how much I want. The owner is there today, he is a very nice guy. This is the very first one in Boston, I am sure they'll go bigger in the future. Next time I am going to try spicier one, and take some photos. (Forgot today, until I realized it's too late for photo. The bowl is empty!)

Nice soup. Fits the cold weather. fish balls and meat balls recommended. Also kind keeper for this restaurant

Very Yummy！although I ordered tiny spicy ,it still was little bit hot for me.The soup was very tasty.The staff are very friendly.