YGF Malatang — Restaurant in Chino Hills

Update: we’ve returned and the meat selections looked and tasted a lot better than our last visit. Maybe we just caught a wrong day for beef and lamb. I also tried the fish and it was pretty good. The intestines were really good today. We even tried the beef skewers and they were okay.

This is a popular place for spicy Szechuan specialty food. Malatang literally means numbing & spicy scalding hot. As you can see from its name, this is not a place for faint of heart. You pick the ingredients from a salad bar styled counter and then the staff would weigh it. It’s $13.99 per pound. Then they will cook it for you in your choice of soup base: classic spicy peppery flavor (Ma-la or black pepper and red pepper/ medium to very spicy), beef bone broth (mild to medium spiciness) and tomato based non/spicy flavor. The vegetable selections were fresh and lots of variety, the beef and lamb options were not very good as they were pretty tough to chew. The pork intestines were fine, but not great. The meatballs and fish cakes were pretty good. The beef and lamb slices were below average and only a few pieces left when we visited, so not sure if the meat is always like that or we just csme in late for lunch and they ran out the good stuff. So, a 5-star for the veggies and a 3-star for the meat. We didn’t try the fish filets, but will do so on our next visit. The service was very friendly and excellent, though we did have to wait a while due to several Uber orders they had to take care of first. This is a good option for fresh spicy food and we no longer have to drive to Rowland Heights for malatang. Note: be aware of 5-star ratings here as it offers free drinks for 5-star reviews, I am quite weary of this type of reviews as think that would affect the veracity of the reviews. Also, in general you won’t find the non-spicy option at a malatang restaurant, but here in Chino Hills a non-spicy option was created for the gringo crowd. It’s worth a try if you’ve never had malatang or just tang if you don’t like spiciness or numbness...

It was rainy weather and we were in Chino Hills for some exotic Costco shopping (Costco's in San Bernardino do not have many Asian products like moon cakes or yuzu). After shopping, my daughter kept going on about how hungry she was. Luckily, my wife searched up eateries in the area with the help of Yelp.

It was about 11:05 am when we arrived. One of the staff informed us that there was a mishap in the kitchen and the food wouldn't be available for another five minutes. They happily got us a table and waters though. Meanwhile, the majority of our party looked around and were impressed with the offerings of tendon, lamb, beef, lobster balls. The interior looked nice and clean. They informed us that the food was fully available and a queue to get the food ensued.

The concept of this restaurant is quite unique. One grabs whatever food items they want from a buffet line (including but not limited to kombu, mushrooms, fish balls, meat balls, wood ear, lamb, fish, spinach, vermicelli noodles, egg mushroom noodles, egg noodles, tofu, frog legs). At the end, one selects the broth and the spiciness level. The only non spicy broth option though was tomato. Then the chef combined our order. Our table also ordered the pork and lamb skewers which came out nice and seasoned. The meat itself was nice and juicy.

While we waited, we customized our sauces with choices between sesame, garlic, satay, vinegar, shoyu, cilantro, green onion, sugar, and chili.

The servers staring coming out in droves with our soup orders. The first sip of broth was heaven--a perfect balance of numbing spice and depth of flavor. I thought the tomato broth was going to be too "tomato-ey" but was surprised at the subtle nutty taste. Some of our party made the mistake of grabbing two noodles which doubled , almost tripled the size, after being made. This meant leftovers and was eaten as another meal (maybe saving money..?).

We will definitely be back again to concoct another dream meal. Pure quail eggs? More tendon? All lamb slices? Time will...

Be warned, my family and I went to eat at this restaurant last night. I stood in line and grabbed a bowl to prepared my bowl, I noticed the bowl was not very clean, I had to look at three bowls before I was able to find one without debris/food on it. I am a meat lover and I put alot of beef in my the bowl. My daughter also a meat lover put as much beef into the bowl. Once we got the hot pot back from the kitchen, I noticed right away, there was alot of meat missing. I would say only about a quarter of the meat I put into the bowl showed up after it was cooked. The same for my daughters bowl. I know meat shrinks after it's been cooked but they don't disappear. I also noticed some of the items in my bowl was not what i put in. (Most of the items, i put in the bowl was correct, i know it was my bowl) I know beef is expensive but I feel the cook in the kitchen is taking the meat out. I feel deceive and ripped off. Not returning...