Mala Town Edison自选麻辣烫 — Restaurant in Edison

Im so glad Google recommended Mala Town Edison to me based on my previous reviews of similar restaurants! Mala town is tiny, you could easily drive right by if you weren't specifically looking for it. The parking lot is even tinier, but Mala Town customers are able to park in the lot next door without fear of getting towed, so that's nice. Now onto what really matters - THE FOOD! I absolutely love the idea of a build your own hot pot buffet - you walk into Mala Town, grab a bowl and some tongs and then walk along their very expansive buffet and choose whatever items you would like. They then weigh your bowl, you choose what option you would like (dry or broth), pay and then in a surprisingly short amount of time you've got a steaming hot bowl of deliciousness delivered to your table. If you're familiar with hot pot, then this is a great option to try out. If you've never had hot pot but have always wanted to try, then this may be slightly overwhelming for you, but you should still give it a shot and try it out. I've already been twice in 3 weeks (and it's a 35 min drive for me) which should let you know how good I think...

A friend group favorite!

Reasonably priced (by the pound based on the weight of your ingredients), especially if you want hot pot but don’t want to pay for all-you-can-eat.

I have tried only the bone broth and dry mix, and both are delicious. They don’t play around with their spice levels (like most Chinese restaurants) so I recommend mild or medium for your first time here to gauge your spice resistance.

Side sauces, iced green tea, and water are complementary. Other beverages are also available for sale, but the complementary tea is very good so I usually don’t have to spend money on a drink.

Cons: • Some ingredients may be out of stock/unavailable depending on the day • Cashier may put the wrong spice level on your ticket (e.x. medium instead of mild, or mild instead of medium) • Each person gets their own pair of tongs to pick up any ingredient, so this may not be a good pick for anyone with very sensitive allergies due to the risk of cross-contamination when people pick up one ingredient and then...

Love the idea of selecting your own ingredients into a bowl and then choosing your broth base and having them cook it for you. The whole experience is very easy and smooth. Afterwards, they weigh your bowl and price it per lb. $14.99/lb is quite pricey though. My bowl ended up weighing 1.5 and my husband's slightly over 2. I ended up choosing the signature beef broth flavor while my husband chose the dry savory mix. The dry mix order took a bit longer to come out so expect a bit of a wait if you choose this option. Both options had a spice level of your choosing.

Both were very good and even with mild spice, it did have a kick to it. There is also a sauce bar for added flavorings and also a bowl of rice if you wanted.

There are drinks for purchasing but also free drinks of lemon water and tea. The tea was very refreshing and lightly sweetened.

Overall, we had a great experience but it is just the price that would keep me from going back. For the price, we could of gone to a hot pot buffet with...