David’s Master Pot 大味麻辣烫 — Restaurant in Melbourne

This was honestly my WORST dining experience ever, bad enough that I felt the need to write a review. I never complain as long as a restraunt does the bare minimum, but it was just unacceptable.

The waitress had a terrible attitude. When I brought my bowl to the counter after picking my ingredients, she already looked annoyed before I even said a word and spole to me in an impatient, unfriendly tone. Then she spoke to me in Chinese right away, without checking if I even understood the language. Having an Asian face and coming to eat Malatang doesn’t automatically mean I’m Chinese or can speak Chinese. It was a very disrespectful behaviour. There was a payment issue, and when I asked politely, she brushed me off with, “That’s not our problem, none of our businesses.” Her explanation was vague in the first place, and instead of helping, she blamed me. It was another staff member eventually stepped in to fix it at the end. ok, I thought that would be the end BUT! guess what, I found a HAIR in my soup. It was stuck at the bottom, so I know for sure it wasn’t mine (I pulled it out from underneath). At that point, I didn’t even bother reporting it cuz after everything else, I already knew it would just turn into another frustrating interaction.

There’s also a spot where you can get a free drink if you leave a good review, and normally I don’t mind participating those kinds of promos, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it this time, not after all this. (No wonder so many of the “good reviews” come from the free drink promo...)

I used to work in the service industry myself, and this whole experience was just disappointing. Poor attitude, no basic hygiene. There are plenty of other good Malatang spots out there. I won’t be returning to this brand of Malatang, and I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to friends or...

Edit 09Dec2024 We are here almost once a week since last edit. They changed their cook and there was only once that the food was overcooked when the restaurant was full house. The rest are perfect and their Sichuan peppercorns oil is still the best out of all the self picked hotpot restaurants in Melbourne!

Edit 20Jul2022 9:32pm We came here on average 2 times a week for the past few months and I just wanted to address a hit and miss problem. We were here tonight around 8:45 pm and the food was over cooked, again! The same happened on our fourth last visit.

Otherwise, on the rest of our visit, the food were cooked to perfection where the veggies are crunchy and meat are tender. I guess there may be a short staff issue in the kitchen so it's a hit & miss so I hope someone can address this problem to the management and we don't have to be turned down from their great Full strength spicy soup! Everything else aside from the over cooked issue is good so I just took one star away hoping for the best on my next visit! This is the max chilli signature malatang soup me and my wife had, sorry it's taken after we finished but we can still see how red hot it is.

First of all, I had been to Chengdu of Sichuan and very much appreciated their Sichuan peppercorns (Mala) hot pot or malatang.

Back in Melbourne I never come across similar authenticity until David's hotpot. The aroma & strength of the numness is something you won't like in the beginning but you will get hooked on to it as like my wife who's from Vietnam.

The self served ingredients are fresh and they have non spicy options 😉

It's worth to have a try to see if...

Been here multiple times, and the food has always been great, so I decided to have dinner here “alone” tonight. Unfortunately, the experience was ruined by a cashier who was incredibly rude and seemed to hate her job.

At first, she told me to move to the bar seating area since the dining tables were only for two people or more, which I respected, so I moved to the designated area. But then she came back and asked me to move to the end of the bar, where the chair was wobbly. I’d much rather stay where I was sitting (it wasn’t busy, and no one sat around my side of the bar even after I finished my meal). She told me I could move the chairs around if I wanted, but I didn’t want to, so she offered to do it for me. I appreciate the offer, but honestly, it felt unnecessary to make me move.

When my buzzer rang, I went to the counter to pick up my malatang. There was only one big spoon left, and it had a piece of enoki on the back of it, so I asked for a clean one. The cashier then told me I’d have to wait 10 minutes for it to be washed. She suggested I use a paper spoon instead. The way she spoke was just AMAZING, it felt like I was an inconvenience, like I was bothering her job, when all I wanted was a clean spoon to eat my dinner.

I can’t believe I paid $30 at a restaurant I've enjoyed in the past, only to be treated like this. David Masterpot, do you not welcome solo diners? If that’s the case, maybe put up a sign so people don’t waste their time and money, just to be treated poorly.

This is, by far, the worst malatang experience I've had. Extremely...