Mala Town 自选麻辣烫 — Restaurant in Boston

Congratulations on opening the new restaurant. The customer service was very good, the guy at the counter was very friendly, and warned us about the spicy level. Which had me excited since I love eating spicy food, so I ordered the extra spicy Mala dry mix. The options are good, very good actually; there are tons of delicious fish cakes, veggies, noodles and meats. There are also a few soup options. I got the dry mix and my girlfriend got the signature bone broth, we both got extra spicy. However, when the food arrived, it was covered in chili oil, like literally covered. Which made the food super greasy and bitter because of the chili oil, and it wasn't even spicy at all. The chili oil actually ruined the flavor of the dish because that was all I could taste. Hers also arrived covered in chili oil, so the broth was also very bitter, and very oily, which made me very thirsty after drinking a few sips. If you want to make something spicy, dumping chili oil is not going to make it spicy, just greasy and inedible. Maybe try using fresh chilis or chili paste, or switch the chili oil to something that is actually spicy. I was expecting at least some spice since the place is called Mala Town after all. I will go back and try different soup options and get regular spicy level since ordering the extra spicy option didn't add any spice anyway. Until then I'm sadly going to have to leave a bad review for now, maybe trying the different broth flavors will change my review. It is still disappointing that a place called Mala Town has like zero spice in the dish. Here are the pictures of the dishes, as you can see,...

Mala Town, formerly in the same spot as Tasty Pot, is a new build it yourself Malatang location, joining other Malatang locations in the area. At $15/lb, this place is affordable, but can begin to rack up depending on how much ingredients you place.

The place is cleanly and well organized, with vegetables being at the beginning and meat being closer to the register. The food is kept well illuminated and clean, as I saw little to no cross-mixing of foods throughout the options. There are a lot of options as well, ranging from meats such as fish, lamb, garlic beef, or pork, vegetables like spinach, bok choy, cabbage, enoki mushrooms, seafood like octopus, fish balls, fish tofu, or rice cakes, and noodles. There are also 4 main types of broth as well as a dry pot.

The food was alright. For 1.5 lbs I thought the container would be bigger, but the portion was smaller than I expected. However, it was still filling enough for me. I got the dry pot, and it came with a peanut sauce and chili oil. The peanut sauce was great, but the chili oil was a bit overwhelming to use, so I only opted to use the chili crisps inside. The good thing is they have their own sauce bar to add in your own sauces as well, which I believe is a better option for sauces. I believe eating in person is better, as you can use said sauce bar to create a good sauce for your malatang.

Overall its a great new addition to the Allston area, though can use a bit more work on the...

We’ve always loved coming here.. my partner is especially a big fan of your food, and we’re almost like regulars. But after our dinner last night (June 9th, 2025 around 9:20 PM), both of us got really sick. We made and ordered two dishes, and we suspect the lobster might have been bad since it was the “kind of” only thing we shared.

By 4:00 AM, we were both awake, throwing up, and dealing with severe diarrhea. It was a really rough night. We’re not sure exactly what went wrong, but something clearly wasn’t right.

We’re only writing this because we truly care about this place, and so do many others. Please take this seriously and look into it food safety is everything, especially for a place people love and trust.

I am giving you one star so you can see our review. And I will change it after your...