Austin G.

Philadelphia's food scene never disappoints and Mawn proves it. Along the same strip as popular Angelo's Pizzeria is Mawn, a Cambodian restaurant worth visiting. Walking in around 5:45pm on a Friday evening in June without a reservation, I was able to get a table for 45 minutes within five minutes. Here's my experience. 1) Food: Wow- just wow. Everything is excellent. To feed a hungry stomach, I ordered the Garlicky Cabbage, Yellow Curry Noodle Soup with Chicken, and my server gifted me with the Grilled Saht Koh as a surprise. Everything had textured flavors that are well balanced. The winner for me was the Garlicky Cabbage. Having grown up in a country where cabbage is the staple, these are among the best I've ever had. I'll note that I was warned that the Yellow Curry Noodle Soup was spicy. I love spice but can't handle it. I was unaffected by the soup's spice level. 2) Drinks: The Thai green iced tea was unique, refreshing, and delicious! I almost ordered a second. Like many places in Philly, it's BYOB so there isn't a cocktail, beer, wine menu. 3) Service: It was excellent. Taylor, my server, was passionate about the menu, personable, and interesting to talk to. She's awesome! 4) Location: In South Philly, there's a lot to experience nearby from top-rated restaurants, parks, and public art.

Samantha H.

Finally snagged a reservation here after trying on OpenTable for awhile. I've never had Cambodian food before but had been hearing about the hype for a long time. We went on a random weekday at 4:30. As soon as you come in here, it smells amazing. We started off with the head on soft shell shrimp, grilled saht koh, and the scallop toast special. I enjoyed all of them. Wasn't a big fan of the scallop toast but I don't think I have had raw scallops before and the texture freaked me out a little. For our entrees, we had the all star seafood fried rice and the khao soi. These were both AMAZING, definitely the best dishes of the night. For dessert, we had the funnel cake which was also great. Service was great, our waiter was very attentive. Mawn is a BYOB and he was very attentive with filling up our wine glasses. Overall, we had a great experience and the price is actually very reasonable. Now, do I think it's worth going crazy trying to buy a reservation here?Probably not, it wasn't life changing. But I would definitely go again if the opportunity arose.

Waiting in line for lunch at Mawn, we met some wonderful people, and the conversation continued inside. By the end of the meal, it felt like we were sharing lunch with friends. Every dish was exceptional. The head-on soft shell shrimp was crisp, sweet, and packed with flavor. The yellow curry noodle soup was perfectly balanced, heat, sour, sweet, with just the right snap and crunch from the peanuts and long beans. The Thai crab fried rice was loaded with fresh crab, and the jasmine rice pudding was the perfect finish. The service was warm and welcoming. Great food brings people to the table, but great hospitality makes strangers feel like family. Mawn delivers both. Worth every minute of the wait.

Kam C.

Easily one of our new favorite restaurants in Philly! I just wish it was easier to get a resy. We decided to get 3 shareables, a main dish, and a noodle. We started with the papaya salad which had the perfect kick to it and is so light and refreshing. The soft shell shrimp really is worth the hype and it comes with 6 shrimp which is more than I was expecting. And then we got the bahn chow salad which I enjoyed but was a bit soggy, slightly less dressing would've made it perfect. We also decided to add the scallop toast special and it ended up being our favorite bite of the night! Everything about it was perfect. We also ordered the crab fried rice which is absolutely packed with crab! And the Khao soi was so cozy and delicious. We'll 100% be going back and hopefully snagging a reservation to their sister restaurant Sao as well!

Makenzie O.

Really loved stopping here for lunch to take advantage of walk-in service! Super easy and a great way to try Mawn if you can't manage to get a dinner res. We tried favorites / server recs like crab fried rice and prahok dip (both great) but we ended up loving the curry soup the best. Next time, we really want to try the rice pudding!

Denisse V.

Mawn was really worth the hype! Everything was delicious! But the funnel cake is something that keeps me up at night. Service was great! The restaurant is small with very few tables.

Summer B.

Enjoying lunch at Mawn felt like I had won the lottery!! If you know how hard it is to secure a reservation than you know the feeling! So you might stumble across info for the best times to secure a walk-up reservation and they'll tell you to arrive at least by 10:30am Thursday through Saturday as Mawn opens at 11am. But let me tell you how I pulled up in front of Mawn at 10:40am on a Thursday and there was already a line of about 15 people!! Mind you, these people have PEOPLEZ as quite a few were holding spots in line for others in their party who could now casually stroll up to the line since their spot was secured by their people. I'm telling you have a game plan! If I knew then what I know now I probably would have got there at least by 9:30, seriously. My party got waitlisted as soon as we were just one person away from entering the restaurant and we had to wait for another 40 minutes. Fortunately it was a nice day so we just walked around the neighborhood and came back and got in. It's a small quaint place that only seats about 28 people. You'll feel like your visiting your favorite relatives home. You'll glance around at the other guest and feel like WOW i'm one of the few who finally made it into one of the most coveted highly acclaimed restaurants in Philly! Now let me see if it lives up to the hype! haha! I started out with the pear melon salad. It was light and refreshing. I thoroughly enjoyed the citrus notes and the pear slices. I would have never thought to add the pear but that really complimented the salad well. I was told that a MUST try is the head on soft shell shrimp. At first I wasn't thrilled about the thought of eating the head but said what the heck, lets go for the full experience! If you love softshell crabs you'll love this! There was nothing off putting about it. It simply taste like delicious premium shrimp in a fish caramel sauce with a hint of thai basil and chili. It was wonderful. I could have gone for a second round but I wanted to try other items. I enjoyed the seafood fried rice..this is similar to the crab fried rice but included uni roe and caviar with saracha on the side so you can regulate your heat level. I'll say this, while I enjoyed the seafood fried rice and the bonus elements of it, I was not a fan of the texture of the rice itself. Perhaps it's just my preference. The rice was light, fluffy and slightly sticky in texture whereas I prefer more of a thai fried rice which is dry, slightly firm and non-clumpy texture. But that's not taking any cool points away from Mawn. It's just my preference that i'm mentioning in case anyone else goes in expecting a different texture. I love the team service aspect at Mawn. Our waiter emphasized that we're not bugging anybody if we need anything we can stop any staff person walking by. I love that. Beef Noodle soup is delicous here. So is the yellow curry noodle soup. The fish is really good here too. I didn't realize I could have requested for it to be deboned (probably because I was talking to much lol) But my waiter was kind enough to come over and help me debone it when they saw I was struggling lol This was the first time I ever had a green thai tea! It was really a treat. Not overly sweet. Nothing but pure deliciousness here! And a super helpful warm friendly staff.

Kimberly H.

Came here for lunch for my daughter's birthday last month. Her request. (Reservation not accepted during lunch.) 2 3/4 hours wait with a $200+ bill. Was it worth it? YES! Very delicious, authentic with a twist, and fresh. Service is also exceptional. I don't think you can go wrong with ordering anything off the menu. If you're unsure, the servers will give you their own honest opinion.

Yuna C.

TLDR: wait is worth it! If you have an opportunity to go, would highly recommend! We arrived 15 minutes before opening and waited 45 minutes in line, just to get our names on the waitlist. Upon getting our names on, we waited 1 hour and 20 minutes - the process is a bit inefficient in that you're expected to be nearby and they will call out your name when your table is ready. While there is a lunch menu, they served a couple of dinner options too - so we got the All Star Seafood Fried Rice, which is definitely a splurge. But I really enjoyed the Yellow Curry Noodles with Chicken - very similar to Khao Soi, but more flavorful and has a slight kick that makes it even more addicting. Every dish was so delicious and I wish I wasn't so full so I could try their desserts!

Justine B.

For starters, dinner reservations are literally impossible to snag! Reservations are released on the first day of each month at noon. I set multiple alarms and was on OpenTable at 11:58 AM refreshing constantly. At 12 o'clock when I tried to book a reservation, they were all gone! Long story short I was unable to dine here for dinner, but I was able to dine for lunch. I arrived on a Friday around 11:30 and there was already a line outside the building. I put my name on the list for two people and was told to come back in about an hour. We grabbed coffee around the corner and returned an hour later, but there were still five tables ahead of us. We wound end up waiting for about 30 more minutes before getting a table around 1:30 pm. The service was very fast, pleasant, and attentive. (Also keep in mind that this place is BYOB so the waitress uncorked our wine and set it in ice for us as well.) We ordered the following, listed in no particular order: 1) head on soft shell shrimp- my fave bite of the lunch! The caramelized fish sauce was perfect. 2) Cambodian papaya salad - this was good, but not great. It just needed some spice. 3) yellow curry noodle soup with crab - this was my least favorite. The flavor was very mellow and mild; it definitely would've benefited from a spicy dip/sauce to go along, like a jeow bong. 4) twice fried chicken - also did not love this as the chicken was not breaded so it wasn't very crispy. The fish sauce glaze was good but again a breading would've really helped to really lock in the fish sauce glaze. 5) lemongrass beef skewers - delicious! Very tender. 6) funnel cake - the flavor was good, but it was a soggy funnel cake. Funnel cakes should be crispy! While I wasn't wow by the food overall like I had hoped to be, it was good. I would like to snag a dinner reservation in the future because I feel like the dinner would actually blow me away.

Nik K.

Raise your hand if you started the New Year at one of the TOP restaurants in Philly!!! I can't believe I get to kick-off my new Yelp season with a birthday reservation at Mawn. I am still pinching myself trying to figure out how it all happened. I had been eyeing reservations at Mawn for a while, but couldn't snag anything. I finally prayed and set a bunch of alerts. During my drive home one day, I got an alert and I immediately snagged the reservation I had been hoping for. I was crazy excited to celebrate my bday at Mawn. I arrived at the restaurant, which is in the Italian Mkt. I actually got there a few mins early, so I could walk around a bit. Parking wasn't bad at all on a Friday at 4:00 pm. The door opened promptly at 4:30 and we were seated immediately at a table near the window in a nice quaint corner of the restaurant. Our waitress approached us with an upbeat demeanor and explained all of the menu options along with the specials. We opted to try the scallop toast and clams to start. I went with the whole fish and Thai crab fried rice for my entrees. My partner went with the steak and prahok for an entree. Our appetizers arrived fast. We were eating them within the first 15 mins. The scallop toast was divine!!!!!!! The scallops and orange marmalade along with the roe were so flavorful. I couldn't get enough of how all of the flavors complimented each other. The clams were rich and buttery. The broth that accompanied them was so good, I saved it to pour over my rice. I must admit, I would revisit Mawn just for the appetizers alone. Up next, the Thai crab fried rice arrived and it was steaming hot. We dove into that since it was enough for two people to share. I loved the large pieces of crab as they were tender and the rice was cooked perfectly. My whole fish arrived and our waitress was so kind to de-bone it table side. She did a fantastic job bc I would have never been able to remove the entire spine from the fish. I found the fish to be flaky, tender, and seasoned by the special ginger broth that accompanied it. It was absolutely delicious. My partner loved his steak and stated it was seasoned well. We were so full, but opted to try the banana coconut rice pudding. I'm soooo happy we did. The rice pudding was rich with the perfect hints of coconut and banana. Even the whipped cream was noteworthy. I don't think I have ever had a rice pudding that was so good!! I had to order a separate order "to go!" Am I greedy? Yes! My Mawn experience was nothing short of AMAZING!! I would proudly tell everyone to set as many alerts as possible so you too can enjoy the flavors, hospitality and overall excellence of Mawn.

Dominique S.

Had to wait about an hour to get seated but have been dying to try this place. I went for lunch (they don't take reservations). Got there about 12:30. They don't serve any hot beverages but I really enjoyed the green tea although it is very sweet. I got the hot dog which was tasty and filling. Ended up taking most of the fried rice to go.

Katrina L.

Obviously Mawn doesn't need another 5 star review, but they deserve it. We came on a Friday for lunch and the food did not disappoint. We arrived about 45 minutes early for the first seating and got a table. They run an efficient operation with great service. The fried chicken is incredible and we loved the yellow curry soup!