Mala — Restaurant in Manchester

This was my second visit to Mala. I enjoyed my first visit about a year ago, so thought I'd drop in for a quick lunch while in the Northern Quarter. Unfortunately I was really disappointed this time. While the menu has lots of interesting dishes and cuisines, I was quite surprised at how 'samey' a lot of the food was this time (deep fried, breaded, chips etc). But okay, it's street food - it's meant to be quick and simple so it's fine. I ordered a chicken gyros and Greek salad. The gyros contained a miniscule amount of chicken (no more than about 3 tablespoons if I'm being generous), most of which was skin and the accompanying chips were incredibly salty (and I love salty chips, but these were almost too much). The "Greek" salad was mostly iceberg lettuce, no cucumber, and unpitted olives with a very small amount of tomato and red pepper and a bit of feta crumbled over the top. It was okay, but not a Greek salad. We also ordered a chicken wrap from the Ethopian menu. It was delicious. However, it took about 40 mins to arrive. After about 35 mins we enquired about where it was, only to be told it'd be another 20 mins. When we asked for a refund instead of waiting even longer (a 50 min wait for a chicken wrap at somewhere that's meant to serve street food is ludicrous) it miraculously appeared. As I say, the wrap tasted great. But the chips were again wildly oversalted, this time to the extent that we couldn't eat them (absolutely unheard of). Mala should be good. It was last time. But everything was pretty poorly executed this time that I won't be returning. Nearly £40 for what was, essentially, two chicken wraps with chips and a side salad is a lot - but fine if everything is done well. This wasn't. The service was crap and the food quality varied wildly. For the price and the style of food there are countless other options. The place looks lovely with lots of reclaimed windows and doors and pretty decor. It's a shame that the same effort isn't put into the food quality...

I had an awful experience with the bouncer me and my friend and her boyfriend all went in for one drink and it was all okay until closing time. Me and my friend just went to the toilet which we were allowed to go and her boyfriend was waiting and I came out earlier but the bouncer kept repeating walk down straight turn to the left but we were walking a bit slow so my friend could catch up with us. And the bouncer got extremely offended and was getting in her boyfriend face saying do you need help in a mock way over a us walking slow. This was extremely unprofessional and the bouncer was trying to get a physical reaction out of her boyfriend. But once we left the premises the bouncer kept going on how he owes it and he works here and stuff if he wanted us out so badly he could have gone back inside but no the bouncer wanted a fight. Another employee had to come outside to tell him to stop this , how embarrassing 😳 never come here honestly the food isn’t that good , the drinks are overpriced but the bouncer is one egotistical prat and deserves to be fired for his behaviour

edit here ; chapter one owner you owe both business this is for you... I saw your reply just now on my other review and what a sad little person.. I was stating how me and my friend got picked on by your workers... and stating that I was the reason the rule came into play lol every time I went there I brought a drink , I have the email receipts as proof that I did and the reason I was mad was because you didn't ask the other people who didn't buy anything it was only us so it felt like weird and the fact that you are just rude overall is crazy and I didn't want to spend money that day because I already had a drink of water and food and you literally have a jug of water and cups in there for free so why would I want to spend £2 honestly ridiculous that's why black sheep coffee onto and better overall with the...

I’ve really liked Mala previously, but I had a really weird experience here this evening caused by a member of security staff that I think should be shared.

My friends and I were sat in what’s named the “library” section of Mala, and a woman was sat on the other side of the same table as us writing in a notebook. The security guard approached the woman at the table and told her off for writing in her notebook, and mandated that she put the notebook away because this was a “work free zone”. The woman pointed out that she did not have a laptop with her which the signs in the area made clear, but was just writing in a notebook quietly - but the security staff member continued to demand that she put the notebook away and “stop working”. I was sat nearby on the same table and was speaking to my friends about a completely separate conversation, but I think due to the proximity the security guard thought I was answering back about the “no work zone” - because he came up to me and forcefully asked “what did you say to me?” The guy backed off once I made it clear that I wasn’t talking about anything to do with the “no working” conversation, but the interaction was weirdly threatening and disparaging, and really shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

I would like to think that the security guard has somehow been very misinformed here about what constitutes a “work free zone”, rather than that Mala has banned people from writing anything down in the “library area” of the place, because the idea that writing in notebooks is banned in certain areas of the establishment is ridiculous. Either way, the security guard’s behaviour was very strange, demeaning and intimidating, and it really put a dampener on our experience here tonight.

If you’re looking for somewhere to work quietly on anything that requires writing, I would suggest looking elsewhere unless Mala...