Tang Bar

We were back another time for another friend's birthday and as usual, this restaurant was packed of people and we had to wait a bit for seats despite having a reservation.They were refilling the meats so I grabbed mostly meats, veggies and seafood and got the sweet and spicy option.Our orders came out swiftly and the food was delicious yet again. It was quite spicy but worth it ~

One of the best quality malatang bars in the bay - the vegetables are so fresh and there's so much variety. The noodle, tofu, seafood, and fish ball options are also amazing. Surprisingly the meat options are the most lackluster (imo). Even though there are high quality cuts like waygu, the meats are cut more thickly compared to other places. Personally enjoy the pickled vegetable soup option. It has a great amount of flavor and heat and goes great with seafoods.

Very nice interior and layout. You build your own bowl with any toppings you like, charged by weight. There was a good variety of fresh ingredients. Lots of options for meat, fish ball, veggie, noodle, etc.It was pretty quick to get my bowl on a weekday. The mala tang was very flavorful and tasty, though quite salty. Definitely would pair well with a side of rice.Because the portion of soup is quite generous, it's fantastic for taking home leftovers. You can definitely add more ingredients to this broth at home and make it another meal! There is also self serve lemon tea which is nice and refreshing with the meal. The utensils and to go containers are also by this, making it easy to help yourself.

Delicious! I love mala tang and I saw this open door concept and felt intrigued. The inside is super clean, modern, and spacious. They have a great selection of meats and noodles, so definitely a good choice overall. I got their laksa broth and it was sooo good! Definitely different than some other spots so I was glad to see different types of soup bases/broth. They have a good selection of sauces as well and free tea. It is about $15.99 per pound which is $1 more than other spots near me but I think it's definitely worth a try. I will be back for the laksa broth as it is not common.

I've tried Tang Bar years ago at their Stonestown spot. Now that there's one close to home, we decided to try it over our usual Zhangliang Malatang.First thing I noticed: their giant metal bowls--a sneaky way to make you grab more food. It worked. I've never needed a to-go box at Zhangliang, but half my bowl came home last night. They offer more variety, but their frozen shrimp? Borderline inedible. The malatang broth, though, was incredible--rich and flavorful, 5/5. The kids' laksa broth was good but missing that coconut kick.The space is overly bright, and they don't have a sauce bar or fruit like Zhangliang--big minus. Another big minus? You have to grab your food and figure out which bowl is yours. At Zhangliang, everyone gets a unique number, and the server brings your hot soup to your table. Here you need to watch for your number and go pick up the food yourself. Overall, we enjoyed it, but we'll probably stick to our favorite spot for now.

As a self-proclaimed malatang enthusiast, I knew that I had to try Tang Bar in the Bay Area after seeing so many TikToks about the restaurant circulate my feed. The restaurant itself appears very modern and open, with a variety of differently-sized tables, making Tang Bar the perfect destination for parties of any size. Pros - WOW. The options here are endless - there are so many different types of meats, seafood, vegetables, tofu, and noodles, along with others. You're able to choose how much (or how little) you want of each item. There's also a scale near the line so you can measure the weight of your food before you pay. Additionally, there are many different types of broths, from chicken, to spicy, to laksa, making the possible combinations endless. Cons - I LOVE the sauce bar whenever I get malatang, as I feel that it usually complements the flavorful (soup) base, but that was something that was missing from Tang Bar. I really wish they had a sauce bar :') The restaurant is also pretty much self-serve, which could be a pro or a con, depending on what you're looking for. After you pay, you receive a number, and once your food is ready, they call your number, and you pick up your food at the counter near where you paid. Utensils and napkins are off to the side, and you seat yourself as well.

I've been to Tang Bar in Stonestown before so I was happy that they opened one a little further south. It's located in a busy part of downtown San Mateo! This location is quite large and there seems to be plenty of seating here!You get your ingredients first in a giant bowl and weigh it at the end when you pay. Luckily the meat/protein is actually first in line so you should load up on that since all the ingredients no matter how expensive they are are weighed by the pound. I usually get beef/lamb slices, fishballs, lots of veggies, and some noodles for this place. I like the dry sauce more so than the soup so I tried the Szechuan one (level two spicy). I thought the flavors were good and the spice level was just about what I wanted. However for it being a dry pot it was still rather soupy at the bottom. There was just a bit too much liquid for my tastes. Other malatang places were much more dry. But I still overall enjoyed the dish especially when paired with their delicious sesame oil. The oil they have is really thick for some reason.Another thing that was lacking was no real spicy sauce bar - they had soy sauce, sesame oil, and vinegar but they were missing all the spicy condiments! Other than those two minor issues, I overall liked it and would come back again!

Tang Bar provided my friends and I the ultimate dining experience on a cold night. Hot, deeeelicious soup with custom ingredients we chose. One of my friends got mostly vegetables and some fish. I chose a mix of seafood, vegetables and a couple (yes, only 2) bits of beef. And my other friend chose so many things that hers needed to placed in an XL bowl! Haha. We all chose chicken broth for our soup base. Everything was delicious. We finished everything!After you pick out your ingredients, you pay based on weight, and then they take your bowl to cook. They call you when it's ready for pick up, and you can watch what customer orders they're working on in a monitor. We waited about 15-20 minutes. The only thing that is a little odd is there is no official menu and no pricing info. We had no clue how much our bowls would cost til we got to the end. Our bowls ranged from $10 to $28! I also appreciated the self-serve counter that had hot water and tea. The honey tea was yummy. I wish there was a Tang Bar closer to me because I was without a doubt come here often!

I've had tang bar quite a few times and I always enjoy it.I love how spacious the san mateo location is, and they have laksa soup on weekdays.The selection of meat and veggies are pretty fresh relative to other malatang places I've been to.And it's great that they can take note of people who have allergies. And they also have a few non spicy options for people who can't handle spicy

Finally got to try Tang Bar! The decor is beautiful and bright which caught my attention when I went to TP Tea previously. Plenty of seats inside.You walk in, put on gloves, grab a bowl and tongs, and pick what you want in your bowl! There's a wide selection of proteins (beef, pork, lamb), fish/meat/seafood balls, seafood (fish, mussel, shrimps), tofu, and carbs (noodles) and you can also order rice. Everything tasted fresh and delicious. It's $15.99/lb. After grabbing your food, you tell them what flavor you want from the malatang or savory (dry) selections. I love how they have non-spicy options, and there's plenty of levels of spiciness to choose from for those who like spicy. After ordering, they'll give you a number and you wait for your number and you can check whether your number is done via a screen. When the bowl came out, I was surprised to see that red onions, crispy chickpeas, and green onions were added. Pleasant surprise but I love that they did that!I tried the sesame sauce which was thick and tasted strong in sesame, but it felt a bit heavy and too rich after halfway through my bowl. I would love to try the Laksa next time!