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    Mala Kitchen

    4.1 (82 reviews)
    Closed 11:00 am - 9:30 pm

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    Chicken Fried Rice
    Sheri S.

    Solid Chinese lunch spot in Midtown East. For lunch, we arrived and did not need a reservation. The restaurant had ample seating, with patrons enjoying their meals. We enjoyed an order of Chicken fried rice, string beans, and chicken and broccoli. The orders were very filling, and we had enough to take home leftovers. The meal was satisfying and decent, so I would like to check them out again, but it was not particularly memorable, given the competition in the area.

    Seafood soup
    Meredith R.

    I guess it's unrealistic to expect a lunch special when you arrive past 2:30, but nonetheless my friend and I enjoyed our impromptu meal. (We weren't necessarily headed to Mala Kitchen, but it was raining, we were hungry ... Mala was there, and we ducked in.) Having once mistakenly ordered numbing mapo tofu, I made it clear to our server (who spoke limited English) that I wanted it mildly spicy. Chef complied -- it was still pretty spicy -- and I was pleased. I call the restaurant out for charging $2 extra for a scoop of steamed rice -- how expensive is a 20 lb bag?! -- but this dish definitely calls for rice. I'm not sure what my friend got. She said it was delicious. Five stars. I thought she asked for seafood soup, but when I checked their website at home, I didn't see it. If I ever return that's what I would get. A lot of vegetables, noodles ... it looked great. Off-hour the restaurant wasn't busy. Service was fine and we left full and happy.

    Vibe
    XP D.

    Traditional Sichuan food. Good service. Food came out fast. It is a small place in Manhattan.

    4. Pork Dumplings in Chili Oil
    Justin L.

    Over the course of my life I have been to China multiple times! I am always looking for good authentic Chinese food! I was in New York on a business trip, and accidentally happened upon this place! The food at Mala kitchen was so good! I love spicy food so I would suggest being careful on the spicy, but I am so glad I popped into this place! The service was a bit slow, however, I think that had a lot to do with the fact that I came at dinner time and there was two waiters in the restaurant. I would say just be patient because the food is so good. The restaurant was not loud, and all of the people in the restaurant were laughing and having a good time! I felt very comfortable in this restaurant and felt like this would be a great place to spend time with people! I don't believe there is a bad dish at this restaurant, however, the chili oil dumplings, and the dry pot beef were incredible!

    Black bean fish Black Bean Style 豆豉系列 and tofu Garlic Sauce Style 鱼香系列
    Beth K.

    Everything was excellent! We started with the hot and sour soup and it was great. The steamed veggie dumplings were delicious. We ordered the fish with black bean and the pressed tofu with chili sauce and everything was so flavorful. The prices are worth every penny! I live in so cal now and you can't find Flo or in Chinese food like this!

    Hot and Sour - They do not forget the sour!
    Chris S.

    Got takeout from Mała Kitchen while I was in NY for work. Was relieved when the storefront looked clean and bright. Food was ready on time, which was fairly quick. I started with the hot and sour soup, which head great flavor but was more broth than veg etc. Would recommend. After that I had the dry pepper chicken which I ordered mild. It was about 80% pepper and even though I largely avoided them, it was spicy. The chicken was over-breaded and fried a little past crispy. With the chicken, I had dry stir fried string beans. These were the star of the show. Delicate and with what I would consider mild spiciness. I enjoyed these. Don't forget to order rice - it doesn't come with.

    Exterior
    David H.

    We were doing our touristy sightseeing for 5th Ave and its surrounding on Christmas Day. We parked on 47th St. right next to Mala Kitchen. How convenient! They had their picture menu advertised outside the restaurant on the sidewalk. The point is, they successfully planted the "mala" euphoria in my mind the moment I got off my car. Despite the allure of many well known lunch trucks which we walked by, such as Biriyani Kitchen where my family got their bites, I held my urge till we returned to our car so I could get that mouth watering mala spicy chicken lunch box. Needless to say, such high pent-up expectation was doomed for a bigger disappointment. The spicy chicken looked delicious -- I think it's supposed to be the well known Chengdu Chicken -- and with a price tag of $11.99 in mid-town Manhattan it is most definitely a steal. However, the dish turned out to be mostly inedible dried chilly peppers and some green peppers; there weren't many pieces of chicken to speak of (see photos). What's worse? Each piece had more batter than chicken. It felt like I was eating salty spicy deep fried batters. The lesson? You get what you paid for. They absolutely exploited the use of batter and cheated as much as they could. I think a dish that is not deep fried would stand a much better chance of an OK experienced here.

    Lily S.

    Decent Chinese food near time square off 5th Ave. we got the: Dry pot veggies 麻辣干锅 Chicken in garlic sauce 鱼香肉丝 service was attentive and the lady was soo friendly!

    Adam G.

    Food 10/10 Before I knew it, I've always been here twice in the same month, now this is midtown, I like to come here after work, I am not really expecting food that makes me wow, but I always leave wife a food belly and happy Service 10/10 Food came really quick, and no one was rushing us to leave after the finished the food. The waiter also gave us food recommendations. Overall it just feel nice to eat here

    Hannah L.

    Great food and very friendly service! A casual spot for food that tastes like Chinese home cooking. The whole fish was incredible, as was the lotus root stir fry. Definitely check out this spot!

    Beef dry pot
    Joanne L.

    Dishes were good overall, but not as spicy as I hoped. The beef in the dry pot was really good but didn't really like the vegetables in it. The house special fish fillet was ok. Service was attentive and lots of seating with large tables.

    As a Chinese stomach This restaurant is not an authentic Chengdu restaurant. Don't order lamb chops!!4 pcs for $32 and too salty, We gave suggestions to the store but they ignored us, the portions were small and full of seasonings.

    Spam disguised as pork with no beef . House special
    Donna D.

    We arrived with a party of four which included two adults and two kids. We ordered a house special low mien and a chicken low mien and a chicken fry rice. The house special request was chicken,beef, and pork. When the dish arrived it was very salty so we investigated and the pork was SPAM and we got no BEEF, We called the waitress over and she confirmed it was spam in the Tin as pork . UNBELIEVABLE!!!! I am a chef and I know cheap food disguise and quality food . Will we be back ? Absolutely NOT But I must applaud her for removing the item from the bill after we brought it to her attention.

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    4.6(691 reviews)
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    Chi Restaurant offers an extensive, authentic menu that's divided out by type of food - chicken,…read morebeef, pork, vegetable, etc. Everything is also labeled for dietary restrictions. Service is very fast and they kept the water flowing (spicy dishes really are spicy!), and the portions are huge. Though you have to pay extra for white rice ($3 a bowl), the overall value was reasonable for the main dishes. The restaurant is dark and elegant inside, with a large tv over the bar that was showing sports when we were there. It had a nice ambience.

    We got grilled pork spare ribs, scallion pancake, half of a Peking duck, pork xiao long bao, mapo…read moretofu, la zi ji (spicy crispy chicken), and general tsos chicken. The grilled pork spare ribs was good, but it was too little meat for the price. The scallion pancake was bland. The Peking duck was ok. The pork xiao long bao was bad. The skin broke easily with the included forceps and with chopsticks. It was hard even transferring it to my plate. The mapo tofu was bland. The la zi ji (spicy crispy chicken) was too spicy to eat. I have good spice tolerance, and I always eat la zi ji, but it was just too spicy. This was the only meat dish that was barely touched at the end of the dinner. The best dish was the cumin lamb. It was seasoned well and the lamb was tender. I wish they gave us more lamb though. The meat pieces were small. I've had much better Chinese food in dallas. I would not recommend this Chinese restaurant to anyone.

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