Al Mandi & Karahi house — Restaurant in Sydney

I have visited this place a few times and it was only my last experience that compelled me to write this review. A few Sundays ago, we had a substandard Halwa-Puri experience at this establishment.

Growing up in Pakistan, most of us immigrants remember having the Halwa-Puri breakfast on weekends very fondly; the fresh, puffy puris, warm, aromatic cholay (chickpeas), spiced aalu (potato) curry, achaar (pickle) and fresh suji (semolina) halwa. And because it is such a staple, most if not all Pakistani restaurants in Sydney offer Halwa-Puri on weekends till late in the afternoon.

Our dining experience was sub-par. The puris were flat, soggy and felt like wet laundry, drenched in oil. The cholay were warm on the outside and cold on the inside, indicating they had been reheated. The aalu was so bland, it was trying to escape the plate. Everything tasted like it had been cooked in old cooking oil that had been allowed to fester for weeks.

The place needs a deep clean and a fresh approach to how they serve quality food. There is room for improvement here.

What size group is this place best suited for? Currently, a value less than zero. Eat from/here at your own risk. Baad mein mat kehna keh...

Don't eat here. Had halwa puri breakfast with family here. Hygiene 1/10 - Had to clean the table ourselves because nobody was doing it. The table next to us was full of mess from a prior customer from before we got there, we ate and paid and it was still messy. Nobody came to the floor to clean anything. Door was left open with no fan so flies came in and were everywhere. Kitchen was also dirty. Cancelled our order for Lassi Service 1/10 - out of 4 plates, 2 came without achaar. When we asked, the man laughed and said lightly "it's run out". Considered using the same line when paying but decided not to stoop to their level. The food 1/10 - puri was like fried bread, fluffy in all the wrong ways. Channay - in the words of my mother, "gally hoe hai lekin pakay nai". Chick peas were barely cooked and had little flavour. Halwa had absolutely no flavour. They compensated for their lack of achar with a slice of onion. Potato was ok, not that good.

Save yourself the hassle and the food poising we might get....

Salam and hello To everyone and especially to the owner of the restaurant.

My friend and I went there for lunch and placed an order. There was a lady on the counter who immediately commented: if u don’t like it, you're gonna write a bad review. I said if food and service are good, why do we get a bad review? She told me your friend had done a review in the past. I was like it was his opinion and he wrote. In front of everyone, she said in a very humiliating way you wrote a review, which I didn't even know about, and then come again here. I asked her if she wanted to serve us food, and she immediately told us to leave. It was so embracing I had no choice but to leave because I didn't want to argue with that lady. I am sure the owner doesn’t even know how his staff behaves with customers. This was very, very bad behaviour. I am not going again there ever again. But a request to the owner: if you want to run a good restaurant, please...