I've been meaning to come to this place for about a year and I came with a large group of friends and it really did not disappoint. In fact, after we ate here a lot of them wanted to come here the next day. Unfortunately, we didn't have the time aligned. I definitely think that a lot of their dishes here other than the signature build your own or preset, mala dishes are not too special. Their popcorn chicken was good, so were the noodles, but it wasn't mine blowing like the Mala bowl. I also got the trail of happy tears - I wish it had a nut warning, but it was a good palate cleanser. I definitely hope to try the East Village location soon read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York

See all

A few of my friends and I came here to celebrate a friend's birthday. The interior is sophisticated with a casual elegant feel. The decor included spherical lights, red walls and drapes. The menu is pretty extensive, and the bulk of it was ingredients for dry pot, which is a unique offering. At first I was going to try one of the fried rice or noodle options, but decided to order their specialty. For my MALA dry pot, I built my own. I selected fish fillet, rice cake, lamb, lobster ball, as well as sweet potato. I also asked for the mildest level of spiciness. This also came with a side of rice, and I chose the black rice with Chinese red dates. The dry pot was a great portion size, served in a wooden bowl, with sesame seeds sprinkled on top. All the ingredients for this were delicious, and incredibly well seasoned. I really enjoyed the tender fish fillet, but there was definitely not enough of it. The lamb was plentiful, as well as succulent. The lobster ball was juicy, but tasted more like fish ball than lobster. The rice cake was satisfyingly sticky with perfect chewy consistency. The sweet potato was cooked well and soft. Overall, I think all the ingredients were quite starchy, so I should have chose lighter vegetables that would have added a fresh element, such as broccoli, carrots, or bok choy. Service was pretty good. The waitress was pleasant and knew the menu well. She was able to make suggestions. It's expensive to create your own dry pot though, at over $30. If I return, I would want to stick with the more affordable options, like appetizers or fried rice / noodles. read more

See all

The food here is amazing, my girlfriend and I tried the Dry Pot, Sweet & Sour Ribs and the Egg Custard. They were fantastic, authentic as it can be and perfect level of spicebess. Highly recommend. The restaurant is cute perfect for a date and service was excellent. The waiter was extremely tentative and helpful. read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - MALA DRY POT (build your own combo) Sweet & Sour Pork Ribs - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York

Food is good, it's known for their dry pot combos, where you choose a bunch of toppings (meat, veggies, mushrooms, tofu, etc) and they mix it all for you in a spice that you choose, all Sichuan style. Now, the one thing I was disappointed about was that we ordered a pot of 11 ingredients, and then ordered one with 5, and the portion size was around the same...makes me wonder if you should just order 5 and 5 next time. Would be nice if they were more fair about portions like that. Otherwise good food and good dry pot. read more

Overall: 3.5/5 Sunday night, walked in and was told it would be a ~20 minute wait. We only ended up waiting for 10 minutes and got a table for two. Stopped by because we were craving for dry hot pot. Food: 3/5 Too salty and wet!!! We ordered a to share pot. There were appetizers and other entrees. We get to choose whatever we want in the pot and they just bring it to you altogether. We got: lamb, beef tongue, 2x fish fillet, enoki mushroom, bean curd sheet, potato noodle, white and purple rice. It was iffy ordering 2x of the fish fillet as we don't know what to base off one portion with. The lamb didn't really taste like lamb. The fish fillet wasn't really fried and crispy. It was okay overall, but just too salty and wish it were drier overall. I've definitely had better. Ambience: 4/5 Restaurant was dimly lit. It was a nice ambience, suitable for big groups. But otherwise, unremarkable. Price: 3/5 The total was $63.53 including tips. I think for the portions it was a bit overpriced! Service: 4/5 They didn't really do much, it was unremarkable as well. They sat us down, provided our water, served our food and gave us our bill. No conversations were made. read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York

For the handful of times I've came here for dinner, I never had to wait for a table with parties between 1-4. Food comes out relatively fast with large portion sizes to easily family style! As an appetizer, I usually get their Mala Peanuts, (not pictured) Spicy Popcorn Chicken, and a Mala Dry Pot. Their Mala Peanuts have a slow spice that builds are you continue eating, while their Spicy Popcorn Chicken can easily take you over. They weren't lying about their spice! I love the ability to customize the dry pot to the ingredients you like. If you come with other guests, I highly recommend ordering family-style for the variety. Due to the heat, a side of rice never hurt as well! I think it's a great place to take friends and family or to get your Sichuan craving fulfilled in the Midtown area! read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - Mala Peanuts - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York

See all

Woah I've never been a huge fan of mala dry pot until I came here. I am so happy they don't put whole peppercorns in their dry pot. On top of that, the variety of food we could customize with was immense! I made a reservation for 2 on Friday evening and was promptly seated and served. From the outside, Mala Project is something you would easily walk by because the door looks like a window. In the inside, the restaurant is dimly lit with lanterns and a sky light, and decorated with red drapes. We put in our dry pot beef, beef tongue, lobster balls, fish roe dumplings, bok choy, bean curd strips, woodear mushroom, and baby corn. The food came out so quickly. We also ordered dan dan noodles which had more bok choy. I give everything a 10/10, I am so happy I came to try this place out! read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - Dan Dan Noodle - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York

See all

Loved it! We decided to order the meats to go for a dinner at home where we could make our own rice, veggies, etc. We got the dry pot with eye of round, beef tenderloin, and pork belly. Loved the different textures of the meats here, so highly recommend a similar combination. Even though we got it non-spicy, it was SO good. Not overpowering in flavor--in the perfect way. At first glance it didn't look super saucy, but the meat is well-seasoned and so good. Strong garlic flavors, super aromatic. Not too oily like many other restaurants, and tastes like an A+ home-cooked meal. read more

I'm a big fan of Mala Project! This was my first time at this location in Midtown East. It is nicely decorated. At 7:30pm on a Friday we were lucky to walk in and get a table without a reservation. I find this restaurant to be pretty reasonable, if you order as I do. If you're looking to not break the bank, here's what I recommend: order the dry pot and pick a protein (tonight I got eye of round beef for $8), then add a vegetable (I got broccoli for $4) and then I highly recommend the glass noodles for $4. Of course you can skip the noodles and add another vegetable instead (or add as many more vegetables or proteins choices as you like) but for $16 I had a filling and super delicious meal. I don't know how they flavor the dry pot but it is so good! I think you may get more food if each person orders their own dry pot but I could be wrong on that. Don't miss this place! read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - MALA DRY POT (Build Your Own/Build To Share) Eye of round Broccoli Glass noodles - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York

Initially I and my friend were looking to reserve table at other ma la location but turns out every restaurant apart from this was busy for Sunday lunch. I think this is a new location for them and hence not lot of crowd which was a bonus as the atmosphere was quite good in the dining with few people. I had decided to go for dry pot which my friend had highly recommended, went with lot of options like fish cakes, lotus root, crab stick, noodles etc. Added so many options that even I forgot it now! The meal was tasty and satisfying to the core, probably the best Chinese meal I have had in the city so far. The staff was pretty friendly and helpful with the selection, the ambience though can be improved a bit as the entrance to the restaurant felt a bit dull. Overall a great experience and looking to visit it more often! read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - Dry pot - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York

See all

Wow! What a find! This place was such a welcome surprise. We went for lunch after a long day and ended up eating their dry pots. This is basically veggies/ meat you select along with noodles sautéed in the best spice mix I've ever had! Hands down one of my favorite go to places in New York now! read more

Wow this place is up there in my favorite restaurants ever!!! I've never heard of dry hot pot before so when my friends brought me here I was intrigued. You get to build your own bowl with whatever ingredients you want, and you pay per ingredient. We got a bussin bowl full of meat (their special tender beef is a must-try) and veggies (personally loved the lotus root!) to share between 3 people. We also got their beef roll appetizer which was super yummy too!! I will definitely be back if I'm ever in NYC again :-) read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - MALA DRY POT (Build Your Own/Build To Share) - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York

See all

We've been looking into trying Mala Project for a while now. But with a party of 7, we're always unable to get into the East Village branch. My friend emailed them a week in advance and was able to snag us a table at 6:30pm for Saturday evening. Odd that they told her they had no other times available because we had the entire back area to ourselves and no other large parties came in the entire 2 hours that we were there. Waitress was nice and super helpful - didn't care that we could not make up our minds for drinks. They run HH everyday before 7pm so we were all ordering two drinks at a time. House Cocktails are $12 during HH. X had the Golden Cecada with Tequila, Apple Sour Liqueur, Triple Sec, Honey, Lime Juice. I had the Tea Picking Dance with Bourbon, Mango Dragonfruit Tea Concentrate, Simple Syrup, Lemon Juice. On paper my drink sounded better, but in person, his was the superior drink. I would highly recommend it if you're looking for something light and refreshing. We split 2 orders of the scallion pancake, 1 order of the popcorn chicken, and 1 order of the garlic eggplant. Scallion pancake was solid and the garlic eggplant is a must have. We split the table between spicy and non-spicy folks. I was in the non-spicy section and we ordered a bunch of items and had their garlic ginger sauce. This was solid. The other side of the table had the medium spicy level and I definitely think we could've done that. It wasn't really spicy at all, so don't be afraid to try it if you're a wimp like me. We split 2 orders of the herbal jelly for dessert. I wish it came with a little sugar syrup, but it was fine and a good end to the night. All in all, I enjoyed my dinner and can definitely seeing myself having dry pot more often. read more

ABSOLUTELY LOVED Mala project and if you are considering it, just make a res and go! Came with some friends for dinner and we got a ton of stuff and shared everything. Special tip because I saw others do this, the best way to do the dry pot (which I highly reccomend) is get one for the table and just add enough to it for the group rather than each person getting their own. The waitress was super helpful with our group to figure out how much food to get and it ended up being the perfect amount of food. I cannot wait to go back, highlights for me were the dry pot and the leftover fried rice. You have to go!!!! read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York

This place is a literal gem and has delicious food. Every time I order from here, I'm so happy after. It's such a great concept to put all your ingredients in a bowl and add scehzuan spice levels to it. I've been here seated too and the service is good. You cannot go wrong with this place! read more

A vegetarian review! Came here on a Saturday night, there was no wait. The restaurant was clean and the food was good. Service was okay, not very helpful. Scallion Pancake: Would not order again, too thin and not much flavor. Just tasted like fried dough for the most part House Fried Noodle: Came out very quick, tasted good Pan Fried Vegetable Dumplings: Very oily, it was okay Dry Pot - Shittake Mushrooms, King Oyster Mushrooms, Chinese Cabbage, Lotus Root, Five Spice Firm Tofu, Potato: The star of the show, worth coming here for the dry pot Purple Rice: Decent, good pair with the dry pot read more

See all

Good food. Good vibes. Service was good. I just walked in and was seated for dinner at the bar. Dry pot was good. Would recommend if you are around the neighborhood to check it out. read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - MALA DRY POT (build your own combo) - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York

Ambiance: 3.5/5 Food: 4.5/5 Service: 4/5 Value: 3.5/5 This was my first dry hot pot experience and it lived up to the hype. The dry pot was spicy and flavorful. Service was average. Ambiance was average. Prices were on the higher side for a MáLà dry pot but to be expected given the location. Will try out the East Village location the next time I'm craving dry pot read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - MALA DRY POT (Build Your Own/Build To Share) - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York

Amazing restaurant and great staff! I go here at least twice a month and always consistently good and friendly atmosphere!! You can't find this everywhere. Go now but keep it a secret read more

Probably a 4.5/5. Similar to the east village Mala Project. Very delicious, such a mouthwatering accompaniment over rice. Highly recommend the pork belly, beef tongue, roe filed fish balls, potato noodles, lotus root - elevated to the next level when slathered in the irresistible Mala Project's Sichuan sauce. I would say although the sauce has incredible and rich flavor, the "spicy"-level is not that spicy. Would have loved an actually spicy version that will devour the rice even faster! read more

Super good restaurant! None of us had tried Mala Project before but we stopped in because we were hungry and we were in the area. We all loved the food! We got a build your own chicken dry pot, the veggie dry pot, and a house fried noodles. There were 5 of us and those three dishes had plenty of food! Definitely recommend the dry pot. read more

See all

This was my first time at any Mala Project location and safe to say I will definitely be back! My group had a Saturday dinner reservation at 7 and ended up arriving much later than expected, but didn't have a problem getting seated which was nice. I do kind of agree with some of the other reviews saying the ambiance is a little strange, with concrete interior and metal tables (which I didn't like) paired with red curtains and big paper lanterns (which I did like!) We split the eggplant small plate and the fish fillet + pork belly dry pot among 3 people and it was pretty filling, not to mention super flavorful and delicious! We got medium spice for the dry pot, which was a nice low level of heat. I also got a bowl of rice (extra) which I was very glad for because the pork belly/fish were on the salty side. I wish we had been able to try more dishes as so many things on the menu sounded good, so looking forward to visiting again! read more

I religiously order from here once a week and it never disappoints. The Mala dry pot, spicy, typically with cauliflower, lotus roots, bamboo shoots, wood ear mushrooms. Love. read more

Cute little industrial(?) spot in Midtown -- a modern take on the Chinese dry pot. I got a build-my-own with: konjac noodles, taro, Chinese cabbage, roe fishballs, and bamboo. Came out to a little under $30. Def recommend getting a bowl of rice to eat it with bc the dry pot is pretty flavorful/salty on its own. I thought the noodles would serve as a carb-y base, but it was more of a small dry pot addition that soaked up the sauces and didn't do a rice's job. Overall pretty yummy & I was quite stuffed! read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - Build Your Own Mala Dry Pot - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York

Be prepared to see a whole lot of ingredients. You basically add whatever you want so your food comes out all stir fried. We had two separate bowls of protein. One bowl with seafood and the other with beef. Definitely recommend cabbage- bokchoy and shiitake mushrooms. We asked for medium or mild but it was still on the spicier side for me. If you add fishball with some stuffing inside, don't bite it bc it can explode. Oh, we enjoyed scallion pancakes. The food was great, the ambiance was cute, the service was okay. Would most likely try again. read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - Scallion Pancake - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York

One of my new favorite restaurants in the city!! My group and I ordered the Dan Dan noodles and a dry pot with toppings such as popping fish balls, short ribs, taro, beef tongue, and pork belly. The Dan Dan noodles were ok but the star of the show was the dry pot! It was absolutely so delicious and flavorful. It pairs well with the rice and wasn't too salty at all. I would recommend adding more than 2 veggies in the pot with 4 meats so there's a better balance of meat and veggies. I would highly recommend everyone to try this restaurant!! read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York

See all

Really delicious! Everything we had was very flavorful. Not crowded at all at this location, we went on a Sunday at 1pm and it was pretty empty. Tried -Lamb dry pot with crab stick, bok choi, potato noodles -Spicy oil pig ears (cold appetizer) -Seaweed wrapped fish in batter -Build our own dry pot with fish fillet, squid, rice cake, lotus root, and taro Both dry pot are medium spicy, perfect amount of spicy in my opinion. Whatever you do don't get the no spicy, that would just not taste right since dry pot is meant to be somewhat spicy. The battered fish is almost mochi like in chewiness really great and not spicy for ppl that can't handle that. The pig ear here is sliced really thin, great texture, flavor (spicy), and absolutely no gaminess. I need to come back to try more of their other items in the dry pot. Tip: definitely get the lotus root if you do a dry pot, very very recommended! read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - Pig ear, seaweed batter fried fish, dry pots - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York

See all

Definitely the spot for spice lovers! The Dan Dan noodles had an extra bite and spice but paired nicely with the Left Over Fried Rice. Would recommend getting the Mild spice level for the dry hot pot for first-timers - can't wait to visit again! read more

See all

While the flag helps locate the restaurant it does feel a little like you are entering some kind of speak easy. I was so happy when I saw the signage go up a week ago as I was walking down 53rd street and I couldn't wait to try it out. I was the line diner for lunch but it was a holiday weekend and their first week open I'm sure the crowds will come. The quality is as good as the east village location. Love the MáLà and a dry hot pot. The QR code ordering system is also the same as in the east village and I think it's so easy to use and makes so much sense. read more

See all

I've found this specific location to be very hit or miss. Primarily because the taste is inconsistent for some reason. I always order the spicy dry pot but for some reason sometimes they add an adequate amount of the chili paste from the chili oil and sometimes it's mostly just the oil. It lacks flavor when it's just the oil which really turns me off. I wish they'd keep it consistent. read more

I had the dry pot combo #9 (tofu, vegetables, and konjac noodles), which had great flavor. I loved the blend of spices! Based on price, lunch is definitely a better deal than dinner at this restaurant. read more

Food 4.0/5.0 Service 3.5/5.0 Value 3.0/5.0 Decor 3.5/5.0 Overall 4.0/5.0 Like other Mala locations, the food is great but prices kind of, ugh. Using the QR code you can order and pay on phone, barely need to interact with people. It wasn't that busy on a weekday evening, guess the location is still ramping up. read more

Got takeout from this place on a rainy day, Food (4/5) - Spice level is higher than your average restaurant!! Fair warning. I normally eat chili oil with my noodles and regularly sriracha with my omelettes, and the mild level was good for me. Could have done more but the folks I was with were chugging water half the time. We built our own pot (didn't try anything else from there, honestly have never been recommended the rest) and put in beef tripe, oyster mushrooms, glass noodles, chicken gizzards and pork belly. Added a rice for good measure but was a good amount of food for what we paid! Probably the only place that would've given us a better bang for our buck would've been in Flushing. Prices (4/5) - see above read more

Came for the lunch special - "What the Pork". Service is really efficient, with diners using a QR code on each table to order and pay with their phones. A waiter comes by to re-fill waters and bring your orders. My What the Pork bowl, which I requested "Spicy", was fantastic. For a midtown lunch, it was filling, exciting to eat, and tasty. The spice was really great because it wasn't instant numbing from the szechuan peppercorn; instead, it slowly built over time. I can handle ghost pepper spice, and I was really happy with how much spice was in this bowl. The pork belly was thinly sliced, tender, and a perfect component. The chinese cabbage and mushroom did well to absorb the dry pot flavoring and spice. However, I wasn't a huge fan of the firm tofu. It was a little dense, hard, and didn't absorb as much flavor as the other ingredients. Would definitely avoid it if I did build-your-own-bowl in the future. The bathroom was clean. There is Chinese music playing over the speakers. Come. read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York

We ordered mala dry pot from this place as usual. My girlfriend and I love this place but we had a very disappointing and disgusting experience after finding a huge dead fly inside the mala pot. This not only ruined our meal but raised concerns about hygiene standards in the kitchen. We called the restaurant to bring to their attention but their response was inadequate and hung up on us. We expected much better from a restaurant of this caliber! Ultimate disappointment! read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York

Solid take on the dry pot and glad something is available in this cuisine outside of Flushing. Unique experience but not sure it is something one would keep coming back to. Service 5/5. Food 4/5. Industrial ambience 4/5. The small plates are a good introduction to the general spice armanentarium and the dry pot needs some coordination with your fellow diners. The five of us managed to choose eleven ingredients and final mix was not bad. Very discrete outside entrance. Easy to miss. They mean business when it comes to spice so don't be fooled. When you choose spicy you are getting spicy! read more

See all

my lord and savior mala project saving me from the cold and giving me tons of yummy chinese food read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - $5 shot 4-7pm every day - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York

Food: 8/10 Value: 8/10 Ambiance: 5/10 Solid, reliable place for dry pot - more of a hole in the wall than a fine dining establishment. Had all the authentic ingredients you'd expect. Will definitely be coming back. Outside of flushing, pretty rare to find basic dry pot. The flavor here was spot on and not too salty (which many dry pots tend to be). I loved that they had all the basic ingredients to the more niche, authentic ingredient options as well (beef tongue, tripe, etc.). The portions are also reasonable. Obviously, it's still in midtown Manhattan but we were able to get 8 ingredients or so for $60, which comfortably fed two guys. As for the ambiance - could be left more to be desired. If you're just looking for the food, it's fine. We got seated in the back of the restaurant where there was a puddle of water behind us and the table was tiny. read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - Lotus root, eye round, beef tongue, fish cake, five spice tofu, glass noodles, enoki mushroom, cabbage - fed 2 people comfortably for $60! - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York

I came here with my sister a few months back, with very very last minute reservations. Nothing hits the spot like getting a dry pot to share with a friend on a chilly day. I loved the herbal tea cocktail, Mala Express, I order - not too sweet, a little boozy, and a pleasant bitterness from the herbs. We also order the dan dan noodles, and they had no problem making it meat less. It had a wonderful kick to it. The look and feel of this place is really nice, down the coasters; it all felt very well-curated. The servers were nice and knowledgeable about their menu. We shared a refreshing order of Herbal Jelly and my goodness, it was not your mother's herbal jelly. It was cooling and very decadent. What a way to end our dinner at Mala Project. We'll be back and next time make it our first choice when choosing a place for dinner (instead of hopping around places on a Thursday night without reservations). read more

Ordered via uber eats and there's a piece of plastic sticker inside our food!!!! Portion size is getting much smaller than before very disappointed read more

MáLà Project 53rd St - MALA DRY POT (Build Your Own/Build To Share) - Szechuan Near Me - New York, New York