Mamak — Restaurant in Doraville

I dream about this curry laksa, y'all, and I can't believe it took me 5 years of living in Atlanta to finally make it over here!

I'd heard nothing but great things about Mamak, so my husband and I often tried to visit, but it was closed for a time (maybe for renovations), and it took us a while to make it. We've now been twice and we already have hard core favorites.

FOOD:

Roti Canai off the appetizer menu is lovely. The soft naan-like bread is thin and delicious and buttery and I can't believe they only give us one roti with the dish. Really, especially for $4, this is just not cool. The roti does come with some of the same curry (and a piece of chicken) that's used in the curry laksa, so if you're interested int eh curry laksa but don't want to commit to a huge bowl, get this!

Curry Laksa is my go-to entree. $10 I always have leftover curry, so this last visit, I ordered extra noodles, which came in a side bowl for later. I stuffed and stuffed myself, but I ended up taking an entire meal home with me with the extra noodles and leftover curry. I prefer the bone-in chicken, and I haven't had it any other way. The chicken is always crazy tender and flavorful, and I wish the dish came with more. (You could probably ask for more?) The curry is spicy, and I usually don't go for super spicy things, but this is worth it, even though I have to blow my nose every 10 minutes.

Hainanese chicken loh mee fell flat with my husband, but I liked it. Cost is $9 for the loh mee option, you can also get just the chicken (a lot of it) for $13. We ended up switching bowls a while through our meal so he could finish with the curry. I don't remember much about this dish, but I eat anything with noodles. :)

Kai Ayam (chicken in curry with potatoes) comes with plenty of white rice for $11.50 or $12.50 if you want it boneless. I don't he we ordered it boneless, but my husband's came boneless. It was delicious, and I liked it better than the not-memorable Hainanese chicken! I was disappointed I didn't get to finish off his leftovers as well as mine, haha.

We always get the roti canai and an entree each, and we both leave with leftovers.

PARKING AND LOGISTICS:

Mamak is in the large strip mall with Sweet Hut. This parking lot is a little wonky, and maneuvering around it can be tricky, but we've never not found parking.

Mamak now has an iPad at the front desk for the waitlist. Tap the iPad, add your name, number in your party, and your phone number, and it will add you and send you a text with a link to check your status. It's supposed to also send you a text when your table's ready, but I didn't get this text. I think I noticed my spot in the line was ready maybe right about the usual text time, because I went up to the front desk, they asked my name, and then showed me to our table.

The wait here is real. The dining area is small, so come early if you can. This one glorious time, we headed to Mamas right after work and got to sit down right away when we arrived, but this is no the usual after 6:15pm. Come prepared to chill or visit the Asian market in the strip mall to kill time.

There is a single bathroom in the back of the dining room.

SERVICE AND ATMOSPHERE:

On a rushed Friday night, service will naturally be impacted, but we've had good service at Mamak every time. I appreciate how, even when we asked for chopsticks in the middle of our meal, we were helped right away.

The restaurant interior is humble, but not shabby. Relaxed and sometimes crowded, because the food really is that good. You'll find plenty of people of Asian descent at Mamak any time you go, which is a sign to me that this stuff is legit.

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Mamak is great and my only regret is that I didn't start visiting...

I've ordered here numerous times, either eating in or ordering take out. Food is always tasty. However, my most recent take out order was terrible. I ordered 3 items on the phone. I read from a list I wrote down and one of the items was the Kari fish filet. They told me the amount and wait time and that was set. When I arrived to pick up, I began to pay, tapped my card, and the lady at the front double checked that I was ordering the correct items and I noticed that the Kari fish filet was missing and instead said curry beef brisket. I told her it was incorrect and if I could get the Kari fish filet instead. Then the manager came over, was caught up in the story, and immediately started blaming the person on the phone saying the incorrect item. I told him it was the fish and he said something like "you can check with whoever placed the order" in which I told him I was the one on the phone who placed the order and even showed him my typed list. He replied "I'm 100% sure it was curry beef brisket". I replied "I'm not sure if it somehow had bad signal on the phone but I said it was the fish" he was adamant. I asked for the fish anyways to be made instead and they said they would make it. I even asked if it was a higher price point. After he said they would make it, he reminded me to finish paying for my order (it was the tip screen) so I tipped 18% (which was a little over $11 dollars from my total) and finished signing. Then after he begrudgingly talked to the lady too about how to fix this and get the fish out, he ended up saying "we don't want to waste food, it's already made. Try the curry it's good too" and I asked once more if the fish could be made and he really was dismissive and wanted me to try the curry. I had tipped cuz they agreed they would fix it and he went back on his word after I already finished paying. I'm shy so I went back to the car and explained to my partner what happened and she came back to support me. After she explained the situation again and even confirmed that I said fish (she was next to me when I ordered it on the phone) he tried to push the curry again but my partner stood her ground and explained how much the fish is our favorite and we really wanted it. He finally accepted and made us pay the price difference of $3.24. I don't mind paying the up charge of dish because that's what the cost is, but to gaslight me in saying I said the wrong food order and then blaming me for food waste and just having an over all bad attitude is not great to see in the manager of the store. Why should it be my problem because they heard the order wrong?...

I love this place! I failed at going here three times before I actually got to eat here (once they were closed temporarily for a week, once they were closed on Thursdays and I didn't know and once they closed earlier on a Friday night than I expected.) So glad we finally made it because it is so tasty.

The first time I went with my then-fiance (now husband) and we got so much food. Hainanese chicken, Curry Laksa, mustard salty egg soup and salt and pepper calamari. The chicken is what everyone seems to talk about it and it was very good. I normally don't order plain-ish chicken, but it was very moist and those garlic-based sauces it came with were super tasty. Curry Laksa was awesome and so rich and HUGE. Mustard salty egg soup was broth based so way less intense than Curry laksa but also very large. The salt and pepper calamari is some of the best I've had. It's perfectly fried, not super chewy and a little sweet.

Honestly the single best thing I had here in terms of stand out-ness compared to other restaurants might have been the rice. It was SO GOOD. I think it was coconut rice but it was super tasty.

I came back with my mom and I believe the waiter said it comes with the Hainanese chicken, but they were out of it and I was sooo sad. That night we had the salt and pepper calamari in addition to beef rendang, walnut shrimp and the chow kway teow. All were good, particularly the beef rendang. Super thick, tons of beef and great flavor. The walnut shrimp was pretty similar to other places although the shrimps were pretty large and the chow kway teow was like chow fun. Simple soy-sauce based dish but my mom liked it alot.

I recently moved out of Atlanta, but I can't wait to come back and...