Cafe Mawal — Restaurant in Houston

I could go on for a milenia about our experience at this place, but I'll just hit the core turnoffs in this scandalous review. First and foremost, my wife and I brought our pup with us. We were told that we would have to sit outside. Fair enough, thank goodness the sun decided to show us some mercy on that day. The waiter came out and asked what we would like to drink. The waiter was very visibly, not enjoying our pups presence. Which is just fine by me, I mean, he's high energy and can be a lot, but I kept my little dude near me so he wouldn't bother the waiter. Still nothing to cause any real displeasure. After placing our drink order, the waiter came back empty-handed just to ask us what it was that we had asked for. I later found out he was the only one taking care of all the customers within the establishment. I'll give him some leeway on that despite the fact that he took so long to come back. My wife and I contemplated leaving. Ultimately, that's what we should've done. Lesson learned. The food arrived, and after tasting it, we sure wished it hadn't. The hummus tasted tired. Have you ever heard of such a thing. The hummus literally tasted as if it was tired of being delicious, so it just decided to show up to work without any sense of purpose. The toum (Leabanses Garlic Sauce) was very simply not toum. It was an imposter toum that was designed for those who simply have no idea what toum is or what it should taste like. The (imposter) toum tasted like a slab of Mayo that was mixed in with a miniscule amount of chopped garlic. Personally, the lack of appreciation for toum was enough for me. They should be ashamed to have put that toum on a plate and serve it to customers. The toum rant is officially over, so let's move on to the food itself. I ordered the chicken gyro, and my wife ordered the mixed Kebab plate. The gyro came with fries that were soggier than a loaf of bread at the bottom of the ocean. The Kebab meat itself was so dry that I thought I was going to cough up sand. The food was horrendous and, quite frankly, an insult to all Mediterranean and Middel Eastern cuisine. Additionally, just before finishing our meal, the waiter reappeared with a small plate of raw chicken and a bowl of water for our pup. He didn't ask for permission, nor if it would be okay. He simply dropped off the "treat" (I used that word loosely) and proceeded to return back inside. For those who don't know why, you should not give a dog raw chicken. Why? The answer is salmonella, which is precisely why we did not appreciate the gesture. The chicken also smelled dated, and to be honest, it just seemed like he was trying to dispose of some old meat at the expense of our pups health. Ultimately, for those who have managed to read this far, you can say I'm overreacting, but if it wasn't made apparent by now, our experience at Mawal was a very poor one indeed. For those that are still dead set on checking this place out, you should also know that they offer hookah and the atmosphere is about as...

I am a faithful Mawal customer. I eat dinner there at least once a week, and I've been a customer for quite some time. Lately tho, I don't know what's been going on with some of the wait staff. I have been there at times when the restaurant has been nearly empty, and I have been waiting for someone to at least take my drink order, and I have been kept waiting and waiting. There have been several occasions when the service has been incredibly bad. Once, the waitress came over to my table as soon as I sat down, she asked me if I was ready to order, and I told her I needed a few more minutes. Well...a few more minutes turned into over half an hour! I kept looking around for her, and trying to make eye contact when she would go check on the other couple of tables with customers, but no luck getting her attention. After a while I didn't see her at all, so I finally got up, and to my surprise she was sitting 2 tables behind me doing nothing except for staring at her cellphone. I couldn't believe it. I felt so ignored and disrespect. Definitely not the way to treat a loyal customer. At that moment she finally took my order. She knew she had screwed up, because she told me that day my meal was on her. I kept coming back hoping that this was a fluke, but I've had similar experiences with other waiters there. Same thing, I'll be waiting and waiting for someone to take my order and nothing. There was another time when I had to get up and ask the waiter if there was anybody working that day, because I could clearly see him standing behind the dessert cooler looking down at his phone. It's sad that I've been treated like this. I am a very chilled customer, and my tips are always generous, but I don't think I will be coming back, because just 2 days ago something similar to my other experiences happened again. Not cool at all...

Edit: I see from reviews that others didn't get their receipts and were being charged a 15% gratuity fee for dining in. From my calculations, I must have been charged this 15% fee plus something additional. Management should remove that option on the register and require all guests get a printed bill.

Although there are many things we enjoyed about this restaurant, like the atmosphere and most of the food, we were overcharged and dishonesty is a hard no for me and an instant way to lose my business. We sat down to eat and wasn't presented with a bill at the end. When I went up to pay, the server listed what we had and told me a total. Later, at home, I started thinking about how the price seemed high. I got on their website, as if to place a pickup order, and selected everything we ordered. With tax and minus the online ordering fee, I was definitely overcharged. Although the food is good, I will not frequent a place that I can't trust. My recommendation is to ask for an itemized receipt when paying. Also, they will not serve you a cup of ice water. If you order water, you'll get a bottle of water for $1.25. This isn't a deal breaker for me, but in my opinion, it should be stated when ordering water. The good... appetizer plate, Turkish coffee, cleanliness, key lime pie, pretty decor, convenient location, decent parking, friendly and informative server, which is good since he got 15% plus an additional 20% of what I thought...