Malika Canteen — Restaurant in Mount Pleasant

Great place to try Indian/Pakistani food but if you've had authentic food might be a bit of a disappointment.

Wife and I both really enjoy food from that region. Our normal go to on was closed so we decided to try Malika. The restaurant itself is quite nice, very trendy with some great east asian decorations.

I had the Chicken Biryani and wife had Halwa Puri (meat) and we had the Chai Kettle. I asked for my Biryani to be as spicy as possible as I really enjoy spicy food.

Our tea came out 1st, it was HUGE and quite nice, not overly sweet and 2 pieces of sweet bread which were also quite tasty. My Biryani came out 1st it looked gorgeous, just like the photos. Waited about another 10 mins for my wife's Halwa to come out.

Unfortunately the presentation was much better than the flavor. There was no depth of spices and at times I thought it had a slight tomato sauce taste (no tomato in Biryani that I've ever had). As far as spiciness well the 3 chiles on top were all she wrote. After I had them in about 2 bites the rest of the plate was just bland. Food was definitely quality but bland, I'd call it neutered Indian food. The most disappointing was the Naan. I LOVE naan, and could eat it every day if I could. The naan was warm but it felt like store bought (I'm not saying it was) but because it wasn't crispy at all and barely brown.

Wife's Halwa Puri was again great to look at. She ordered meat but got vegetarian (no major, she's not a big meat eater to begin with). The fried bread (Puri) was really greasy and not puffy like I'm used to, I think the oil was not hot enough when it was cooked. The Lahori was pretty good.

All in all it was OK. Would I go back? Probably not, I enjoy the complexity of Indian and Pakistani cuisine. This was food has a great presentation without a lot of depth. If you have never had Indian or Pakistani food I recommend it, you don't have to worry about something being too spicy or too different. If you are really into food from this region, well it's worth a try but don't...

Absolutely disgraceful So much confusion on whether the food is halal or not Garbage management, where the waiter said that the owner doesn't like getting questions about whether or not the food is halal or not. If your confident, you should easily be able to assure your customers. No official halal certification and definitely was no zabiha halal.

All the server kept on saying is the food was halal. Didn't understand the difference between halal and zabiha halal. Big red flag.

So we were restricted to veg food.

$80 for a meal for 4 and worst of all, it was all very mid food. Extremely mediocre. And when you factor in the price. Absolute garbage value. I'd much rather make the food myself, and it would still be cheaper and probably batter.

Although ig they gave the food came fast enough, probably because all they did was reheat it 💀💀💀

Inauthentic food and culture.

They serve alcoholic beverages which is a major red flag, very sussy. Won't be giving people like that my business ever again.

Edit: I'll be nice and educate you, here's the thing:

Hand slaughter IS the meaning of Halal. You can't be halal and not hand-slaughter. According to the consensus of pretty much every single pakistani-indian islamic scholar, the meat has to be hand-slaughter to be halal. By saying that you don't claim that the meat is hand-slaughtered but rather just halal, shows a major misunderstanding and incompetence in the general management of the restaurant.

Btw, this isnt the person you gave the phone to to talk to the owner about the halalness. That guy is too nice to leave a bad review. This is that guy's son who is too sick of this lying and inauthenticity of some restaurants. I have nothing else to say except please educate yourself,...

Updated review after we actually ate at the restaurant:

We received an apology and discount from the restaurant, so we gave them another chance. When we arrived on a Thursday evening, our table was ready and the restaurant wasn't crowded, which we appreciated. The soundtrack was fun.

Our server, Lauren, was fantastic. She explained everything about the menu and gave us a chance to think about it. We especially loved the Chaat Papri appetizer she recommended. Being a Pakistani "Street food" restaurant, I think the street food items are likely the best options here. Our vegetarian thalis were good. We loved the way the paneer was prepared for the two paneer items we tried. My son enjoyed the Pakola rose soda. The only thing we were disappointed in was the naan. It seemed more like something reheated than made in house.

Prior review: Well, I can't really give much of a rating for this restaurant. I was looking forward to trying it for a week. Several days in advance, I made a reservation. When I was texted to confirm my reservation, I promptly replied to confirm it. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the restaurant after driving an hour to get there, there was a sign on the door saying that they were closed for the day. I certainly would have understood if they needed to close for the day, but I think it would only be reasonable to inform people who had reservations that they were closed. Thankfully we found another restaurant nearby that was open and could accommodate us despite not having reservations. It's hard for me to imagine making another reservation with Malika after all this. Failure to inform me that they were closed when I had a reservation was pretty horrible...