Lao Ma Tou

This was my first experience eating at a Chinese hot pot restaurant. At first, my friend and I didn't had a clue how this restaurant work. I noticed an electric stove in the middle of the table, that's when I realized that you have to cook your own food. The menu has several options of what ingredients to select. We decided to ask the waiter for recommendations. The waiter didn't spoke English fluently, but he was still very helpful. We selected the beef and shrimp which looked very fresh. For vegetables, we selected the mushrooms and lettuce which the lettuce was not necessary. We also order fry rice, but the fry rice was too much with the other items already ordered. Our intention was to order the level 3 of spicy broth, but the waiter told us that it was very spicy. We told him that we grew up eating spicy food, but he convinced us to select the level 2 of spicy broth. I am glad we listen to the waiter because it was really spicy, but we were able to handle the level. If you don't eat spicy food, then get the level 1 of spicy broth or get the combination between not spicy and level 1 of spicy broth. They told us to put the meat when the broth was boiling. The beef and the shrimp were cooked in less 2 minutes. The restaurant has free appetizers and dessert. They also had different types of sauces. I really like their service since they were checking that everything was good. I also love that everything was clean. I will highly recommend this restaurant.

Make sure to look into exactly what this place is about before coming here. We did not know and had to order more and try again. There was a lot of wasted food. Also the spice ratio. Their scale was way off. We did 1 spice for heat and it was way to hot for everyone and we can handle some heat. I'd hate to see the hotter levels.

Excellent, authentic food at reasonable prices for State Street. Ordered the Twice-Cooked Pork with Chili & was incredibly impressed: succulent & very, very spicy (tears ran down the faces of my brother & I more than a few times). A side of white rice & the House Plum Juice slowed the burn & were wonderfully complementary, especially the sweet (but not overly), lightly tart plum juice. Have & will recommend.

I have certainly eaten at better hot pot restaurants than Lao Ma Tou, although this is the first such restaurant I have been to in Santa Barbara. The appetizers and desserts were disappointing both in terms of options as well as quality. For the hot pot main course, we ordered beef, shrimp and vegetables to go with the deli broth. There are a lot of sauce options which help make the dippings tastier. The bill amount was about twice that is expected. Overall, it was just an average eating experience at a rather steep price.