YI ER CHUAN MALATANG（SPICY HOTPOT） — Restaurant in Cleveland

A spicy new hot pot experience from the owner of Szechuan Gourmet. If things look familiar inside, they've recycled the dining tables from Rising Grill but the stovetops are nonfunctional as this is not an interactive cook-your-own hot pot. The decor is mostly barebones and service is friendly but no frills - but the food speaks for itself.

Our party of 5 was pushing the limits of seating capabilities. If you can squeeze people onto the banquettes and add chairs to the sides of the grill tables, you might be able to get maybe 6-7 per party, but no more than that.

The menus can be a bit confusing, so you'll want to focus your attention on the paper menu that you'll mark your order on. Choose from a broth base, sauce base, or "dry" stir-fry style base and select your spice-level. Next, you can choose which proteins, carbs, and veggies to add in, but be warned this can add up money-wise pretty quick. If you suffer from choice paralysis, they have some recommended combos with set prices. Appetizers can also be ordered directly on the order sheet, but drinks you just have to let your server know about when they come to collect the sheets.

Portions for the hot pots are no joke. Even on an empty stomach, you'll likely leave uncomfortably full unless you share with someone else. My mild mala spice level was perfect for me, while spice lovers still got a kick from the medium spicy. Each bowl was brimming with add ins, and the veggies really absorb the numbing mala flavor. Waitstaff made sure to come by every so often with more water and napkins for our runny noses. Appetizer-wise, the Taiwanese Sausage came out as a PIPING HOT pair and were big enough to split. Scallion...

Yi Er Chuan is owned by the same family that runs Szechuan Gourmet (one of our favorite Chinese restaurants of all time) so we were excited to give it a try. The food, however, was actually a bit hit or miss. The tomato hotpot base was jam packed with flavor and umami richness and was hands down one of the best I've ever tasted, the vegetables and shredded beef were fresh, and the portion sizes were great value for the money. On the other hand, the dried tofu and the scallion pancake had a slightly off flavor, as if they were cooked with old oil or stored improperly. Moreover, while the signature malatang soup base was nutty and sufficiently spicy and numbing (especially when ordered at the "extra spicy" level!), it was also lacking in depth of flavor, and was boring to eat after a while. Maybe it would have been improved by a dipping sauce. The restaurant interior was clean but otherwise unremarkable, the waitstaff were exceptionally prompt and friendly, and the online touchpad ordering system was super convenient. Overall, this would be a great restaurant to bring newbies to introduce them to the concept of hotpot (since you don't need to worry about doing your own cooking), and we would come back, but it doesn't take the place of the original Szechaun Gourmet or some of the other "do it all yourself" hotpot...

We came on a Sunday around noon. Got seated right away. Similar to other establishments, you order on your phone and they also provide tablets to order from. However, this results in a bit of time when you ask for the server for assistance to the server coming to your table (over 5 min). We wanted to ask how much a Malatang serves as in my experience it’s been a large bowl you share with the table, but we wanted to make sure. We ordered the lamb Malatang. It was good and flavorful; a solid Malatang. I would say it serves 2 adults. We asked for smaller bowls so that we can share the Malatang. They also offer other soups, we ordered a beef noodle soup - this serves 1 adult. We also got a scallion pancake. This was good but a bit greasy. The salted chicken was good. The cucumber salad stood out and was better than good. I believe it uses Schezwan peppers that gives it a savory kick without being too spicy.

Overall the food is good and I would recommend the Malatang and Cucumber salad. Be patient in the service as it’s very much a mom...