Mahalle — Restaurant in Copenhagen Municipality

Beautiful interior, decent food, poor customer service, frightening hygienic standards.

The customer service was rough, characterized by short answers and an apathetic attitude. The waitresses didn't smile, nor bother to elaborate on our questions about the menu or Lebanese cuisine. The food was served in a chaotic manner, with the food coming before the drinks, and a whole 5 minutes separating the first and last dish being brough to our table. Considering we ordered a mezza, which is a mix of small dishes meant for sharing, that felt unappropriate. After the food was served, we were left to ourselves the remainder of the meal, and literally had to walk over to the counter in order to get their attention and pay.

The food itself was decent. We ordered mezza with beef meat balls in tahini sauce, grape leaf rolls and cheese rolls. None of it was flat out unpleasant, and the hummus was nice and creamy. It's just that it wasn't particularly exciting either: little use of spices, not much contrasts to speak of. The muhammara was a joke: a sad excuse for a salsa. The olives tasted old and sweaty, while the arabic tea was suspiciously similar to a weakly brewed Lipton black tea bag.

On the way out, we noticed on the wall to the left of the door that the restaurant had been given the lowest possible rating by the Health and Safety Authority in Denmark just two weeks prior to the visit. They were also fined $ 1500 for repeated breaches of food safety laws in the last year. Not a very satisfying way to...

Let me preface this rare 1-star review by saying I have had good experiences on Mahalle Nansensgade and Birkegade and that the food itself was 3-4 starred this evening. The service was, however, horrid.

We had a reservation for 7 people and arrived on-time. We were told to sit and wait at two tables near the door while another party should leave momentarily. 20 minutes later, after having tried to once again ask about our table, they bring a 3rd table near the door and say that this is the best solution they can offer and that they cannot be responsible for people not leaving. in this constellation one persons chair is almost always hit by the door everytime it opens and people can only squeeze by into the restaurant. It is very cold outside and subsequently also where we are seated. 45mins after our booking, after having complained several times, enough people leave from other 2-man tables so that we can sit in another constellation not up against the door. We have to get chairs ourselves and ask for cutlery several times. We order. Half the food arrives early and we have to wait 15-25 minutes for the rest to arrive. The drinks we ordered were served last.

The only time the waiting staff seemed apologetic was at the time of payment where they did in fact offer our after dinner tea for free. Still I have rarely encountered such bad service...

The food was good as usual, but this time we decided to go there as a large group and the service couldn’t have been worse. For the first 20 minutes not one waitress was attending our table. I had to go ask them to come see us. We sat by an empty table for ages and once the food started coming no one was checking in on us (group of 14 people). The dirty dishes were piling up on the table, nobody was asking if we need anything else plus when I asked for some extra napkins they never arrived and I had to go find them myself. Found one of the 3 waitresses checking on her phone while our table was waiting to place extra orders. Half of our table was missing plates and cuttlery for half of our meals. Food wise Mahalle is not a bad concept but service wise I was honestly ashamed I brought my company there. Additionally, if serving a lemonade takes 20+ minutes, it’s maybe best you get some wine and beers to reduce the frustration of the guests. Don’t think I’ll be visiting / recommending the...