YGF Malatang 杨国福麻辣烫 — Restaurant in Doraville

I had something really funny happen to me when I went here to eat today.

When I get hotpot, I usually eat pretty light because I get mostly vegetarian with a lot of cabbage, mushrooms, etc. The store has a minimum weight requirement of 0.9 pounds. This is totally fine because I understand the store needs to make money and they can't have people ordering $5 worth of food and use up all the dishes and other sauces for that little.

What the issue was is that I ended up only getting 0.55 pounds of food, and instead of telling me, they just rounded up to 0.9 pounds without telling me and charged me for that much. When I went back to ask them about how much food I got, they just told me that there is a minimum of 0.9 pounds. I told them that's no issue, but I wished they let me know so I could have gotten up to the right amount instead of them just charging me for it. Then they told me that the customer is "expected" to know how much food they have before they pay, and even pointed to a scale that was pointed AWAY from the customer as a defense for this which is crazy. The person charged me so fast I didn't even get the chance to ask about it, they didn't say anything about the weight either and just punched in 0.9 pounds and gave me my receipt.

So when I did ask about it, they told me the food was already being made and that I couldn't add more to it, just that I was "supposed to know" and that some customers even "don't like it" when they tell them that they are short which I just don't believe. So we just stood there for a second, and I just asked them if I could get a drink or something instead of a refund. That being said, the food is fine. But since you're expected to do math at this place, I think I'll go somewhere else because all the other places tell you if you are short and let you go back...

Food is good. I mean its mala! Ingredients are pretty fresh. If you are in town and want malatang, it will be a decent place. BUT. these are the reasons I will not go back to this specific location. 1. Expect VERY VERY long wait time from you put in your order to getting your food (I went Saturday @2pmfyi). Not sure if there is just 1 stove in the kitchen or too many to-go orders… anyway, this isn’t your spot if you don’t have 2-3 hours. 2. they need systematical change to improve hygiene. Each customer is given a bowl and a tong. The tong touches everything from meat, seafood, noodles, veggies, etc… if you have allergy or even if you just don’t want lamb touching your lettuce.. well you are in the wrong place! 3. an employee working on to-go order dropped a piece of veggie on the floor but picked it up and put it in the bowl LOL. 4. A table next to us found something in their food and sent it back. Not sure what it was but they seemed to lost apetite. They didnt complain hard (i guess they are nice people unlike me..). The prob isnt just that but they got their food back with NO apology or anything and were treated like they are being too picky. It seemed like they got their original food back but with a new spoon. They werent too...

The food is solid it’s not bad at all. It tastes good and seems like decent quality but the actual service and experience is so bad. I’ve gone twice now they’re always rushing you to pay. I understand it gets packed but to be rushed to pay makes it so uncomfortable. Also I didn’t tip as no one checked up on us, and also you serve yourself so realistically why should I? Called the waitress over to pay and she saw I didn’t add a tip and than proceeded to cancel and told me to at least tip 1 dollar which is crazy I’ve never had this happen to me at any restaurant. I’ve also had friends that went and had a similar experience. I’d understandable if they went above and beyond but they didn’t at all. Not sure if it was just my waitress as I went another time and another waitress didn’t cancel my order and force me to tip. But also they have the QR code to scan and pay for yourself, so I’m just curious why would I ever tip if I’m doing it all myself? Just a bad experience overall both times I’ve gone. Decent food It’s just service kills it each time. Also very crowed so if you’re claustrophobic would t...