Malelani Cafe — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I had the pleasure of visiting for the first time last night on one of their dinner and music showcase nights.

The food was excellent! The black bean hummus is incredible! It has a wonderful citrus flavor and based on just the black bean hummus, they deserve 5 stars. But... It gets better!

The moussaka was fantastic. I'm not sure if i had the vegetarian or regular moussaka, and honestly, it doesn't matter. It had lots of eggplant in it and the top was very custardy in an almost sweet way that worked wonderfully. It also came with a side of tzatziki that was very thick and delicious. I've had moussaka before, but never with tzatziki. Now i know what it was missing before.

The cappuccino i had to finish off the night was also excellent. It is clear from the equipment they have that they take coffee very seriously there.

The staff was friendly and checked in regularly to make sure everything was good but not in any way annoying about it.

As if this wasn't enough, there was live music. They are interested in supporting live arts and that is great! The volume was right and the Micheal Spear duo was great!

I wish i lived closer because i could see myself there often for snacks and coffee drinks. However, distance is not going to keep me away. I will...

Stopped in with the family for a quick lunch after a Google search for Mediterranean food. The menu online looked good, so we thought we'd check it out. It was incredible! The food was fresh, flavorful and authentic. The chef/owner was very friendly and hospitable. The other employee was extremely soft spoken and we didn't really hear/understood what he said as he brought us our drinks. Our interactions with him were limited and we were able to tell what was who's based on how it looked. Our group of four ordered 1 appetizer, 1 bowl, 2 platters and a pita sandwich. Three in our group ordered specialty iced teas. It was plenty of food despite us all being quite hungry and we even took home some leftovers. The spanokopita we ate at home was to die for. Not one single menu item was average or disappointed us. It was all delicious. My only two complaints are that 1) we don't live nearby to come here more often and 2) a tarot card reader stationed in the restaurant felt out of place (hence the 4 for...

When I walked in, there was no indication as to whether to seat yourself or wait to be seated. I stood at the door for about a minute until a man sat up from his guitar at a table and told me to sit anywhere. The place was mostly empty. An unpleasant waitress then gave us menus and took our drink orders. Upon ordering our food, we found that they were out of about 40% of the ingredients needed for any dish, so I ended up with an egg sandwich in a pita. The egg was cooked in a microwave and the bacon was the pre-cooked stuff that is self stable. The only cheese options were American and feta. The sandwich was ok, but certainly not worth the price or even going out to eat. About half way through our meal, our coffee drinks were ready. The coffee was pretty good, but it would have been nice to have it first. Overall, the restaurant seemed slightly dirty, cluttered (random self with all kinds of paper/ books/ broken crayons all over it), and the service was...