mala tang 麻辣烫

hot pot. six of us came here for dinner. it was my first time using an individual small pot but it proved to be really useful since half our table wanted the spicy broth and the other half wanted mild. for appetizers we had the dan dan noodles (delicious!), ma po tofu (spicy, really tasty) and the green onion pancakes (good). for the hot pot we ordered chicken, beef, pork, lamb, mushrooms, tofu, chinese cabbage, and bean sprouts. ended up ordering more chicken and beef. and sesame balls for dessert... six on a plate, wish we had ordered more than one plate! :) a really good meal and i can't wait to go back.

side note: i was a little disappointed that our reservation got us a table by the bathroom.

yummy hot pots and the best dan dan noodles outside of rockville!

walked in blind and had an absolutely wonderful experience. definitely a step out of my comfort zone with the diy style. never expected i'd be served raw meats and veggies until they were presented on the table. the sauce bar was fun and we got to design our own particular sauce concoction. food was really good. i got the surf n turf with mala beef and scallops and my boyfriend got the chicken with the chinese veggies and mala broth (not too spicy-great flavor) we were both skeptical about cooking the meat throughly but after a little direction we had no problem. finished the entire meal with no leftovers to spare.

will definitely be coming back.

authentic chinese (sichuan) hot pot place. well, authentic other than the fact that it's individual hot pots. good food. they have appetizers too like dumplings. even the furnishings are imported from china.

food was good enough, but the service was awful.

i love this place! every visit (and i've been many times) has left me satisfied. the food is great and comes out fast.

really interesting and good food. i had never had hot pot food until coming here and it was really good. i had the traditional broth and chinese vegetables with the sirloin steak. service was fast and friendly the waitress even explained things to me on how to order and i watched the other patrons for tips on what to do. great atmosphere it was really busy, a hidden gem for sure.

we loved this place. the food was fantastic- so fresh. dipping in the hot broth made dinner fun and we loved all the sauces. service was wonderful- super helpful and friendly.

new sichuan dishes!. love the new menu. mala tang now has sichuan entrees (over 70) and a lot more soups and appetizers. i will be going more frequently now. very authentic dishes!

we went to mala tang for lunch last saturday. the place is pretty good. very well decorated for a chinese restaurant. we were the only people there except another couple.

overall, my first and only trip to mala tang was a solid experience, despite the fact that i may have used too much mala powder and had to take a time out to cool down my tongue and lips. perils of the trade.

everything is extremely fresh. they also have a very attentive staff. every time i have visited, they have ensured that the food is good and that we have everything we need.

spicy dried beef. strips of beef, sichuan pepper, sesame seeds


-----12 sep, 2011-----

mushroom salad. wooden ear mushrooms, red pepper, cilantro, garlic, vegetable oil, soy sauce


-----18 apr, 2011-----

dan dan noodles. minced pork, sichuan pepper, house-made soy sauce, red chili oil


-----18 apr, 2011-----

mapo tofu. tender tofu, mala red sauce, ground pork


-----18 apr, 2011-----

zhong dumplings. ground pork, sichuan chili oil sauce, green onions, garlic


-----18 apr, 2011-----

spicy cold noodles. egg noodles, soybean sprouts, green onion, red chili oil, garlic, sesame, soy sauce

when b and i first lived together in santa monica, ca, our downstairs neighbors would often set up a hot pot on their patio and cook meat and vegetables for dinner. they also set up a torch lamp that shone light directly up into our bedroom rather than down onto their dinner (grrr), but the point is that we observed a lot of hot pot eating in our first few years together. for some reason, despite seeing and smelling hot pot-style cooking every week, it took almost eight years together before we ever sat down to a hot pot of our very own. thank you to the new mala tang in arlington for providing us with that opportunity. hot pot cooking is what it sounds like: it's a hot pot full of broth that you dip thin slices of meat or veggies in to cook. different cultures have different names for it (shabu shabu, anyone?) and different levels of spice and flavor in the broth. mala tang specializes in sichuan-style hot pot, which uses the mouth-numbing sichuan peppercorn for flavor. (mala translat

free parking. fast service. good chow.