Chilipa

Was surprised at how expensive my food ended up being. I got a seafood and veggie pot. $ 15… And all the food cooked down to be a not too large portion. I liked the veggie options, I got bok choy, lotus root, taro, broccoli, enoki mushrooms, cabbage. I wish I had piled more into my basket. Spices were a bit heavy handed and flavors werent remarkable but I liked the healthy, simple nature of the place.

gosh, love this type of food, this place tastes great, but def not as fresh as it should be… and maybe on the salty side like others have said. please get fresh food everyday and keep them fresh thruout the day. the flavor really isnt bad at all! boston needs good chili chinese food. and i do agree with others this is way too much $ for what it is. a lil big of a ripoff.
improve and you will survive, ignore it and competition will wipe you out. that’s the world we live in. good luck!

So, I went here yesterday after seeing a lot of people ordering here. You pick your meats and they weigh them. It is $ 9.99/lb. There is a large variety of meats here, and the pork belly and bull frogs I got were pretty good. The fish and shrimp was not very fresh though. Also, when I didn’t want to get veggies ($ 5.99/small basket — daylight robbery!) or rice, they told me that I needed to get at least $ 7.50 worth of meat. Well, there was nowhere that said that before. So, I was not very happy about that.
Taste wise, it was VERY SALTY, even with rice (I brought my own) and the mild (recommended to me) was not spicy at all. Not a good experience and way too expensive for what it was.

Went here after a friend recommended it. Spice does not taste good, or to my understanding, how it’s supposed to. What’s more, the meat tastes super stale. Do not come here.

I’ve been here many times, since it’s my husband’s favorite place. Over all there is a decent selection of meats and vegetables for the ma la xiang guo (dry hot pot). They rotate the selection every so often, which gives you something new to try. We usually get it mildly spicy. I don’t mind it hotter, but the spice can overwhelm the flavors of the other ingredients. A couple of times, it was super salty, so much so that I could barely finish. I also think it’s considerably over priced, given the quality of the ingredients isn’t the best. If my husband wasn’t so in love with this place, I probably wouldn’t come back.

I have to say I was really disappointed after trying this place. It looked delicious and Id seen people in the food court eating it all the time, so I thought it would be really great. As it turns out, it was just ‘okay’.
Now let me first say I am not giving this place 3 stars because my fiancé and I could barely handle the ‘mild’ version –Those Szechuan peppers kicked my ass! My fiancé could only handle a few bites because she can’t do spicy food at all and I struggled (through hilarious sweat and pain) to finish it all.
I didn’t mind the fact that the woman putting the food in the bowl barely spoke English, but I didn’t like the payment method which is determined by the weight of the food. We’re vegetarians and ordered tofu (that had a lot of sauce in it), which made it pretty expensive for some basic stir fry. I wish they would be more clear with their menu, I think it would both really help business and make the ordering line move much faster.
Before I lost all feeling in my mouth from the peppers, I did think the food was pretty good though. The vegetables looked fairly fresh, but fyi the meats looked very processed.
If you go spicy here you are a true Champ!

This was one of the best at the foodcourt. It’s great for those at enjoy spicy Szechuan style cuisine. If you need it to be less spicy, you do need to ask them prior to them cooking it. There were a variety of food that we could chose from. Will definitely go back!

To begin, I will say that I LOVE ma la xiang guo. And was very excited that it had come to Boston — hooray!
I have gone to Chilipa twice now — once in September, and once in December, and I am sad to say that what had been a four star experience is now down to three stars. The following are my gripes:
1. They push too much meat on you, resulting in a high price. ($ 11 – 12 for a gigantic portion, but it’s hard to get it to be less than that.) It’s actually difficult to get them to give you less meat. This was an issue on both visits.
2. I really wish they put peanuts in the pot. Other places I’ve had this (overseas) have done this, and it’s so great.
3. The second time I went, I felt like the sauce no longer had chunks of garlic in it, had gotten saltier (too salty), and was less spicy and less mala. (I get the three chili level) Also, rice used to be free, now it’s not.
4. I don’t mind the service SO much, because I have low expectations, but yes, the service is not great. I don’t even mind if someone has poor english behind the counter, but when pointing doesn’t work either, and you have to go back and forth multiple times to get the right thing in your basket… eh, it’s not the best experience.
But still, since this is the only place for xiang guo in Boston, I’ll probably keep coming back. Hopefully next time they will have improved. (PS if you are reading, peanuts please!!!)

I always get the Malay style hot pot. The flavor of the food is heavy and complex but at the same time it gives you that feeling of stuffing your face with rice between bites of spicy meats which is oddly satisfying. Kinda like when you’re eating thanksgiving food and you gotta have a bite of stuffing then turkey then mash potatoes all at once… yeah that sorta thing. They switch it up every week with different meats which is cool. Mild will be good enough for most people, unless you’re a tough guy or a hero then go for the medium or spicy. Definitely good for indecisive people like me who doesn’t quite know what they want, cuz they can have a little bit of everything when eating the hot pot.
Sure it’s on the pricier side but then again if you’re eating out like this everyday you’re either a baller or not staying in your lane if you know what I mean. And plus if you split it with your buddies the price isn’t so bad if they pay you back. Overall it’s like comfort food for the frigid days that have yet to come.

For a hole in the wall food court option, this place is definitely on the expensive side. Even being careful about how much I am ordering, I alway end up spending ~$ 15 when most other options in the food court is $ 9 – 10. However, in terms of taste, I will have to say this place makes their hot pot in authentic sichuan style flavors that I love, but their spiciest option still isn’t a challenge for someone who eats real sichuan cuisines. Will come here again but wish they decrease their price.

The food taste like traditional Szechuan cuisine. It is good if you have heavy & spicy taste. They also have no spicy. And it is best choice in the winter. Lol

The service is so bad that it knocked down a star for me. First they did not explain how to order and the sign above did not really help. So, even after reading this review, if you are interested in ordering this is how:
1)Decide on what type of meats you want. Keep in mind that the amount of meat you get is per pound.
2)For an additional cost, choose what size basket of vegetables.
3)Tell them how spicy you want it. They put in pretty spicy Szechuan peppers, so even the mild has quite some kick. If you are used to Szechuan peppers, which have a numbing effect), then order according to taste.
Firstly, I found that the food was not very warm. The flavors were pretty tasty, but the food was lukewarm. We had fish as part of the meats and it felt like it was partly frozen.
Also, I was not fond of the cold front/​money making attitude from the people behind the counter. First, they said they don’t give out tap water. Then they gave us a withering stare while we decided on tip (right in front of them on the counter space when we got rang up). Since we had to pick up own food and we were in a food court area– we didn’t put tip down. Plus, I didn’t appreciate that they did not explain how the process works. They clearly wanted to take advantage of that because the first meat that was placed in the bowl was piled on. We caught on that it is charged by pound and we had to keep asking the person to please not put so much meat in.
They were stingy with giving out napkins too.
I would strongly suggest just looking up a recipe and going next door to the market to make it home over going here. At any rate, if you do need to eat dinner here, I would skip this place.

I was searching for this place on Unilocal while waiting for my food and noticed it had a 1.5 star average, so I’m really surprised to be rating it a 4 myself. I can’t really speak for the noodles, but the szechuan spicy fish is REALLY something.
I’m a huge fan of szechuan spicy fish (which is called «water boiled fish» in Chinese) and usually order it whenever I can. I’ve been disappointed many, many times. No place seems to match up to Gourmet Dumpling House’s in Chinatown. But this place is the first real contender. My only gripe with the food itself, was, as one user commented, that the fish had a bit of a pasty texture. It’s not as fresh as the fish at Gourmet Dumpling House, but then again, I also did not have to wait in line for 30 minutes.
The service, however, is HORRIBLE. First off, rice is not included with your meal (seriously?). When I asked about this, the cashier commented, «but our rice is cheap.» I still felt a little duped, but was like, «okay whatever…» I asked for a cup of water and was told they didn’t give out tap water, just water in bottles. «Uhm, okay!» At this point, I was so irritated I decided I’d buy a drink somewhere else — my meal cost something like $ 16, and I couldn’t even get a cup of free tap water? The last part about the service that annoyed me was when the cashier reminded me to leave a tip, after the entire awkward, above-​mentioned exchange.
All in all, I won’t lie and say I’ll never come back — the spicy fish was really something, and I’ll probably order it again at some point. The service, however, was somewhat off-​putting.

Makes me diarrhea! Food are not fresh, and it taste not fresh. What’s more? I found a hair that looks more like a pubic hair. Will never come back again and would certainly not recommend it to anyone else!
吃完了直接拉肚子，用的鱼和肉也不新鲜，而且居然发现了一根不像是头发的毛发（自己想象吧）。居然还好意思要小费呢，肯定不会再去了！！很怀念川鲁缘。。。

aight boys don’t be fooled by their restaurant-​like exterior, the experience actually starts on your toilet. If you like your foreplay to be spicy and delicious, only to experience the pain of a third trimester pregnancy that will eventually burst out of thy rectum with the force of a thousand suns, then don’t waste your time trying to convince your boyfriend to try something ‘new,’ just make a visit to Chilipanal. Trust me, I’m a 5k mmr player.

Not so good. Tasteless. Only spicy. Dan dan noodle is not authentic.
dont try. Best way is to take home and recook. It’s a convenient and not expensive way to get MaLaXiangGuo 。
不是正宗麻辣香锅，现在的五花肉和肥牛还算新鲜，肥肠也不错。但是味道实在太淡，除了莫名的辣。没有什么咸鲜味。如果真的很想吃又懒得做，点回家回锅一下其实还好。但是，千万不要点担担面。

The materials are not fresh. The fish has degraded to the consistency of a paste. The meats are too fatty. The overpowering taste of chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorn makes it easy to hide any bad taste from stale ingredients. Also, I find that the food irritates my throat a bit. They may have used something other than chili and Sichuan peppercorns… Eh-​hem… Who knows?

Service was okay, but the meat was not fresh. We got the chili spicy sauce, which is really pungent with a weird overpowering tang that lingers at the back of your tongue… too astringent. And yes, I’ve had amazing Szechuan food before, so I know the chili oil is not supposed to taste like this– rancid.
I don’t think I’ll be coming back.