Mala Tang

We visited here thinking this was a real authentic Chinese food place, and left with mixed feelings. Service was actually decent. The food, not so much. We ordered an scallion pancake, and found a lot of pepper inside (see picture). This was absolutely not authentic. We also ordered steamed beef dumpling but received fried dumpling instead. For the hotpot combo, it was OK with a good balance of seafood, protein, and vegetable. For some reason though we were charged an additional broth $3.95. From the outside, this place looked very authentic Chinese. Yet there was no one speaking Chinese, from reception to waiter. The menu was English only and it was hard to read through translation. Pictures from previous reviewers showed a much nicer menu and apparently that was no longer the case. It seems the restaurant is under new management. It is a rather exotic than authentic place.

Food is good. Really good. I picked up my order and parked at parking garage and I was told that they don’t validate parking for pick ups. Only dine in customers get validation. 10 min parking is free but it could take more than 10 min when you pick up and go back to car and get out of parking garage so be prepared for that to pay $5 from parking more than 10 min to 1 hour. I saw one car parked on the street and picked up food which is very dangerous, maybe he knew already. I had three kids in the car so I wouldn’t do that. Getting in and out of car takes time. It was hard just to pick up food. At the end the lady validated my parking but it was so much hassle going in and out back and forth.

We decided to have dinner for my mother-in-law's birthday after a quick trip to MGM National Harbor. It was a last minute outing, and being the weekend and having seven people in our group we tried to get reservations wherever we could. Mala Tang was the only restaurant that could accommodate us that night, and it would be an understatement to say that we had nothing short of a wonderful experience here. It's located in the George Mason University area, and parking is located in a garage nearby. As a tip, make sure you get the physical ticket rather than paying by card right away, Mala Tang will validate your ticket, effectively making parking free during your meal. Right away, service was just a little slow, but considering it was a busy night with large groups, it was understandable. That gave us plenty of time to figure out what we would order. There are two menus, one with the hot pot offerings and one with cooked dishes to choose from. We ended up going with three sets of hot pot for two combos, which allowed our group to essentially mix and match meats and veggies to share. Everyone got their own personal hot pot, heated by a portable burner. The brisket, wine marinated meat, and mala beef are all highly recommended, but that's not to say that the prawns and flounder were awesome as well. The mala broth is amazing, it is not very spicy at all but packed full of flavor. The sauce bar was well stocked with the usual hot pot sauces. At the end we were very satisfied and full from our meal, and upon mentioning that we were celebrating a birthday, our servers brought out complimentary golden buns with sweet cream for the whole table. And to segue to service quality, it was top notch all around. The servers are all super friendly and patient, and made sure we were well taken care of despite being very busy that night. I would consider this a real gem in Arlington and well worth the trip into the city, highly recommended for a date night or a night out with friends. We will for sure visit again and try the other offerings, which I'm sure will be just as amazing as their hot pot.