Zhangliang Malatang Westwood (张亮麻辣烫） — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Food Safety & Service

My recent visit to Zhang Liang Malatang was alarming. My wife ordered the malatang, and I had the mala xiang guo (spicy stir-fry pot).

We found a piece of steel wool in cooked spicy beef in my wife's order. When I brought this issue to the staff's attention, their immediate reaction was a bewildering "Why?" which felt dismissive and unhelpful.

Without apologizing, they offered to remake the dish, but surprisingly, they didn't ask me to re-select ingredients. I had to prompt them, pointing out that they couldn't possibly remake my order without me choosing the items again. Only then did they ask me to re-select.

Overall, the way they handled this critical food safety incident was very poor and unprofessional. It completely eroded my confidence in their kitchen practices and customer service.

Taste

My mala xiang guo was extremely salty and simply not to my liking. To make matters worse, when they remade my wife's malatang, the soup base tasted different from the first time. The inconsistency was noticeable.

This entire experience has left me with no desire to return to...

I was really looking forward to trying this malatang restaurant, but my experience turned out to be extremely disappointing. From the moment I walked in, the staff’s attitude was indifferent and unwelcoming. I stood at the counter waiting to order, but the staff showed no interest in assisting me. Their tone was impatient and dismissive, as if I were bothering them rather than being a paying customer.

When I asked a simple question about the ingredients, I received a curt and unhelpful response. To make matters worse, the service was painfully slow, even though the restaurant wasn’t busy. Other customers also seemed frustrated, waiting far too long for their food with no explanation or apology.

The overall atmosphere was uninviting, and the staff’s lack of professionalism completely ruined the experience. No matter how good the food might be, bad service makes it not worth returning. I strongly suggest management train their staff to be more attentive and respectful. A restaurant should make customers feel welcome, not like an...

Dry pot flavor hits so hardddd (8.7/10) but if you can’t tolerate extreme heat (howlin rays medium & spicy level heat), don’t get it. None of my Asian friends could tolerate it on ‘low’ spice level even though they’re spice tolerant usually. I thought regular spice was well balanced, though too oily. Ingredient quality is fine (6.5-7/10) but probably fluctuates depending on the day of the week/batch/when they defrosted it/etc. no frills vibes but clean and efficient. They need more napkins. And stop plastic touching hot food, please! $15/lb of raw ingredients is...