David's Master Pot 大味麻辣烫(Brisbane One- QLD) - Malatang, hotpot — Restaurant in Brisbane City

I’ve been a regular customer at this restaurant, visiting at least once a week, as I’ve always found the self-service food bar fresh, clean, and more hygienic than many other malatang places in Brisbane. The food has consistently been tasty, and the environment pleasant — until my recent visit on Friday two weeks ago around 7pm, which completely changed my opinion. I experienced the worst customer service I’ve ever had in my life, and it was genuinely insulting. The female staff member at the cashier was incredibly rude and unprofessional. She stood out because she was the only one not wearing the standard uniform cap, dressed in a black top, and appeared to be slightly older than the rest of the team. This made me wonder if she might be the owner. Before it was our turn, my husband and I observed her speaking very rudely to the two customers ahead of us — raising her voice, being impatient, and clearly rushing them. I initially assumed perhaps they had been rude to her first, but unfortunately, when it was our turn, she treated us the same way — rushing through our order, speaking abruptly, and making the experience extremely uncomfortable. The restaurant wasn’t busy and there was no line behind us, so her impatience made no sense. I had originally ordered a mild spice level for my soup but changed it to less spicy shortly after. When she repeated our order, I politely corrected her, as I assumed she had missed my update — understandably, since she was rushing. Instead of calmly adjusting the order, she became visibly irritated and snapped back, insisting I had said "mild" and not "less spicy." Even if there had been a misunderstanding, that’s exactly why the order is repeated before payment — to confirm accuracy. What was most upsetting was her attitude. She acted as though I was causing a problem, then rudely commented about me in Mandarin to her colleagues, saying I gave the wrong order — not realizing I fully understand Mandarin. I was furious but remained civil and chose not to escalate the situation in front of other customers. I also submitted feedback via the QR code on the table, but to date, I have received no response. If that staff member is indeed the owner, then I will absolutely not be returning.

It’s disappointing to feel unwelcome in a place I used to frequent and enjoy. Until this is addressed, I’ll be exploring other options...

Cost $100+ for 3 people for a small portion, i never eat seafood of any kind and i only eat chicken, there meats are not labelled correctly and spicy chicken is infront of the beef so i put beef into my bowl thinking it was the spicy chicken, the employees shoved my family and everyone else in the shop without even saying excuse me to do the uber orders or to place new foods down when others were empty, as stated i would NEVER have anything to do with seafood or meats apart from chicken. i come for the sauce and the vegetables and chicken, i thought i would be getting chicken in my food but instead i got beef which was a waste of money because i obviously didn’t end up eating it, as i was halfway through eating my food i found a slab of DUCKS BLOOD in the bottom of my bowl. we also ordered 3 bowls of rice for each of us and they only gave one, when i went up and asked for the other 2 bowls they gave me them but never said sorry, they are all super slow with cleaning, the place had atleast 4 bowls on every table, the tables outside were so sticky and wet with brown liquid that when i placed my phone down it got drenched in the liquid. we drove an hour to get to this place and it was so disappointing, the owner of the store does not even reply to the bad reviews about the place looking disgusting and clearly nothing changes. wish i could...

3.7 Came here for a quick lunch.

Food was average, or at least not up to my expectations. We had delicious tomato soup but salty 麻辣香锅 (stir-fry). The rice was also undercooked and dry. Maybe because it was free.

The atmosphere was great and the tables were designed very creatively, with fake bills stuck underneath a glass pane.

The service was very fast and simple. However, the first time the tab started flashing and ringing, I was treated rather rudely by the staff. The lady on duty ignored me for a while (which I can fully understand: they were quite busy). I stood in silence without complaining.

When she turned to me, she spoke very slowly and clearly, “N-O-T R-E-A-D-Y!”

The way she pronounced every single syllable so slowly and carefully left me dumbfounded. I can understand mandarin and am fluent in both reading and speaking.

I don’t mind at all what language she spoke to me in, but the pure disrespect in the way she glared at me and her voice had me mortified.

I would have much rather she simply told me that it was a false alarm.

The situation could have been dealt with in a much more patient manner. But, otherwise, my experience was mild.

The stir-fry was immensely salty, the rice was raw and I was treated horribly by the staff. All-in-all, I’m not...