Tang Bar San Mateo — Restaurant in San Mateo

Had a really bad experience here. The atmosphere is nice and inviting and having tried this in pattern in other countries, I was excited to try it here in the US. Firstly, the options of veggies are pretty limited. Further, I asked for a No Beef option at the counter but the lady barely spoke any English and couldn’t get it. She called someone else from the kitchen who couldn’t speak English as well. Finally, a chinese guy from the kitchen stepped in and helped us order. I asked the lady at the reception to make it spicy and our receipt said that but it didnt have any spice. Further I feel they’re scamming people as I know exactly what I put in my basket. My prepared soup was missing the biggest Chinese cabbage I added, the seafood mushrooms and veggies. I’ve never experienced this before. Further, unlike other hotpot soups, mine didnt have any toppings despite them being complementary. On asking for it, the staff made a face. On asking for chilli oil, she gave a look like I asked her for money. Extremely bad experience due to the front staff who can’t speak English and soup which missed 40% ingredients I paid for. Never coming back to be scammed again. Would head to...

I had no idea Tang Bar is also in San Mateo now as I used to go to SF Stonestown for Tang Bar and when I come to San Mateo I typically go to Zhangliang Malatang. Anyways Tang Bar was one of the original Malatang places in Bay Area and I really liked the SF one. I feel there are fewer options of food variety in the San Mateo one. The new branch is very roomy and I like the atmosphere. Service is similar to Mongolian BBQ in that you choose your own ingredients. However the reason I only give it 3 stars in that the soup is not very good. The old school malatang places mostly make the soup spicy so Tang Bar is definitely old school in that respect. I think Tang Bar would fit the bill if you like your food to be very spicy. However I prefer the new style of malatang such as Zhangliang where the soup is actually delicious and drinkable. Also there really isn't any sauces or fruits like Zhangliang so in isolation this is not bad especially if you like spicy over anything else. But because we do have 2 malatang places in the same downtown I do have to compare the two and in conclusion I prefer Zhangliang over this. Once again come here is you love super...

We came as a group of 6 on Saturday night. I was amazed by the decoration and the open air concept of seating with no doors to the front. 5 stars in the atmosphere.

You can choose between soup or dry for your pot. I remember seeing sechuan spicy, pickled veggie, hot and sour, sesame, chicken broth etc. I deduct two stars because there was no sauce bar for me to get dressing and fruits. I was expecting that from a competitor at the same price per pound. The bowl was delicious.

For service, I would give it just three stars as well. I had to stand in line, pick my own food choice, get the food when the number is called, and then return the dirty dishes myself. At this Saturday night, it took us 60 minutes from first standing in line to getting the food on the table. I estimated having to be standing for 50 minutes total as I had to look for open tables after I paid and weighted the bowls. This is like McDonald experience when you had to wait a long time for tables. Would you tip 15-20 percent when you have to do so much standing for food?

As it stands, I will return when the wait is less...