Laoma Malatang

super yummy dry hotpot, some of the best I’ve had in the us! very fragrant and ingredients and spicy level are customizable. would def come back😻

I come here for delicious dry hotpot. You can see the proteins and veggies they have to offer. First bowl: pick your meats from the variety available (my faves are fatty beef, chicken wings, shrimp, liver). Then you pick your veggies/ tofu, you can pick 5( my faves are oyster mushroom, Napa cabbage, potato, tofu skin, bok choy). You tell the the spice level (no spice, mild, medium, spicy) and to go or to eat there. The flavors are great, the spice level doesn’t affect the flavor spices since they add more chillies and sichuan peppercorn the higher level you go. The chicken wings are so tasty because they fry it first and then cook it in the sauce so if you’re eating fresh, you get some crispy bits. It’s measured by weight. I’ve added pictures of menu where it tells you the cost by weight and how much rice you get depending on the cost of the items picked.

We’ve been here twice now and had a pretty good experience both times. The spiciness options definitely run on the intense side, so even mild is a little spicy. I do like that if you spend over $25, you get two free portions of rice. It’s a nice thing to split with another person, and you can add more variety. I really love the fish fillets (they seem to deep fry it first), but I was pretty pleased with the way every ingredient was cooked. This time we got extra spicy, and unfortunately I felt like it came out way too salty. When we got mild last time it was very well flavoured, but the extra spicy was just drowning in sauce and salt. We wanted the spice without all that extra sodium. The spiciness level, however, was great. It is unfortunate that so many have had terrible experiences at this place. We personally did not notice decreases in the amount of ingredients picked nor a dirty kitchen environment, nor were the staff rude to us in our two times here. This place is popular in the food court (you see tables everywhere with the restaurant’s signature big bowl), and the store is often very busy (probably why service is curt).

Untill today, it used to be my fav spot to eat.I commute hour just to get this food. I was waiting in the line and saw chef spitting in the kitchen Ground plus got nails when i took a bite of broccoli andddddd i threw everything. Yuck now i was disgusted 🤮 n top of that the girls who r serving dont even know how to talk to people. Very very rude as if they r giving us free food. So disappointed 😔

Be careful with how they weight your item. We were charged $32 for what was claimed to be 1.32 lb of protein, plus a flat $9.99 for vegetables. What we received was 2 pieces of sliced fish (or 4 if counting smaller cuts) and a few squid tentacles. Can’t explain how the weight was calculated... Felt like a total scam.