SORIMMARA — Restaurant in Federal Way

Visited on Sept. 8, 2024 on a Sunday at around 4pm.

It was our first time gathering ingredients for mala tang. Below are just some things we wished we knew beforehand, but we learned and this is how you should prepare when eating here.

Find a table to sit. Each table has their own letter-number on it. (I.e. A1, A2, A3) Keep in mind what type of broth or sauce with your dish, that will determine what ingredients to get. -mala tang = spicy soup -mala xiang guo = no soup, spicy peppery sauce (Have not tried rose or black, they may be saucy) Gather ingredients based on how much you will eat and how well they will mix in your soup/sauce. Don't pile up ingredients, get enough to feed 1-2 ppl. If it is for a large group, you can add more to share, but the broth for mala tang is very filling, so less is more. Split ingredient bowls if you choose a different soup/sauce with your ingredients. (At the very bottom is our ingredient list) Take to the front, provide your table letter-number that they will bill it to. They will weigh your bowl of ingredients and ask what type of soup/sauce you want your ingredients to be cooked in. (They charge different rate for each ingredient bowl depending on what broth/sauce you chose) Then they will give you a tag number that tags your meal when they bring it out to your table. You can choose other dishes such as cream shrimp we got. You pay at the end of your meal. Wait at your table and get additional side sauces and toppings at their little island in front. We got green onions, chopped up garlic, onion, and red chili flake oil in a tiny sauce dish. They got other sauces too, like peanut sauce. -Be careful when you sit at the table because there is a bar right at your knees. -Utensils are in a drawer at your table. -The water cups and bowls are at your table. -Water dispenser is next to restroom. When they come to your table with your food, they will ask the number of your tag to confirm the order. They will set up a fire stand for your dish to keep warm, but it isn't on the whole time as they use a flammable gel that acts like a timer that will snuff out once it burns off. Enjoy your food. After the meal, then you can pay at the front. There are take out boxes and bowls if you need to take leftovers to go.

Cons we noticed: -We raided their cart at the front for utensils, but we realized later the utensils were in a drawer at our table. The table did not mark that there was a drawer. -Serving bowls(?) aren't deep enough. If you ordered mala tang that is very soupy, the short bowl(?) dishes are not deep enough to add soup in and eat comfortably with your ingredients. -People keep standing and moving made it very busy and chaotic, staff avoiding bumping anyone as they hold a large try of food to the tables

The food made this trip worth it. How they cooked the ingredients was so good and not overcooked or raw. Everything was cooked to perfection. The lean meat was very tender and not dry. We chose ingredients correctly and next time we will get more veggies. Some ppl were not that lucky as we noticed some tables did not finish their meal, they probably didn't pick them correctly.

What we picked: Mala tang (medium spice) -variety of mushrooms, sujebe (chewy hand pulled dough that is very tender and fun to eat in my opinion), bok choy, lettuce, wide glass noodles, mugwort, fish cake (next time skip it), potato (skip it, it was not fully cooked), shrimp (it was ok but not needed), lean beef (a lot of it), and ramyun noodles at the front counter that costs +$2

Mala xiang guo (medium spice) I didn't pay attention as my dad picked them, but they had glass noodles, pumpkin, lettuce, bok choy, rice cake, tteokbokki, etc etc. No meat or seafood was added. But he did wish he had added some meat for next time.

Cream shrimp was surprisingly crispy and they do serve them with the sauce on the side so you can customize how much cream sauce to use. We ordered small...

I came here a few days ago with my mother to try out this awesome Korean-Chinese fusion focusing on malatang or stir fried mala xiang guo. They have been advertising on their Instagram and offered a coupon for their guobaorou so we were excited to try their hot pot and something completely new to us! As we entered, we were greeted warmly by staff members and then directed to seat ourselves anywhere we wanted before explaining to us how ordering worked.

They gave us a pitcher of water and cups and small plates were already neatly stacked at our table to use. The real neat part of their table is they have a drawer that has a bottle opener, chopsticks (they do have forks if you ask), soup spoons and napkins. They also have a QR code on the table to look at their online menu as well, but you can also ask for a physical menu from the register as well. The interior is very modern with silly quotes alongside the different parts of the restaurant that we thought was pretty funny. They have a big TV screen playing an assortment of Kpop videos. There were several tables and chairs that could fit parties of 2, 4, 6 and more people throughout the restaurant. They also had a self-serve sauces, topping/condiment, and other goodies next to the register to grab for your hot pot or stir fried goodies. The staff here were friendly and knowledgeable but they were distracted by the mishap in the kitchen as it was delaying orders and confusing the staff members both in and out of the kitchen.

We decided to grab our bowl with our choice of vegetables, meats, and noodles and then handed it to a staff member so they can get it all prepared for the final act of becoming our malatang. They asked if we wanted to split the malatang portion in half as we were going to share it anyways, which I thought was convenient and they did split the ingredients evenly! It did take some time to receive our order but I believe there was a mishap in the kitchen from hearing what was being exchanged between the staff members and whom I believe was the manager or owner. It took about 20-30 minutes to receive our shrimp guobaorou then another couple of minutes to receive the pork guobaorou then after another set of minutes we got our malatang. Other than the unusual wait (we got there early and got our bowl to the cashier before other parties but parties that came before us got their orders given to them first), we are looking forward to coming back and trying out new...

I tried Sorimmara for the first time and it wasn’t all hyped up to be. It isn’t your typical sit-down type of restaurant. When you first walk in, there is a sign stating to pick your toppings to which we did. When ordering your soup/broth, they weigh your item and if it isn’t over 1LB, they will send you back to get more toppings. The process is very disorganized as once you place your order, you aren’t allowed to pay right away; only after you eat your food. This is troublesome as you have to wait to pay in the same line that people are in line to weigh their items and order. The restaurant is small so it was very crowded and difficult to walk around. When the food came out, it was difficult for the staff to maneuver around the chairs, table, and people. There were too many tables and not enough room, especially for plates that our piping hot (could be very dangerous during peak times). The food wasn’t all that great. It wasn’t very tasty in my opinion and was mediocre. Additionally, we ordered the Egg Fried Rice and it was the worst, most bland fried rice we have ever tried. It was probably meant for kids who do not like spices or don’t like mala.. Would not recommend getting it. It’s a cool concept for the young generations but may be difficult for the older generations to handle the grasp of the concept (my grandparents/parents were...