Malawi's Pizza Provo Riverwoods — Restaurant in Provo

I ate here after a training I attended today. I was with a group of 7. I ordered the lunch special which was an individual size pizza and a side salad. The girl at the register asked what kind of salad I wanted and I said "just the side." She said they don't have a side salad but the closest to that was a wedge. I didn't think anything of it, paid added a tip then sat down. I didn't take a receipt but I started thinking I was charged too much. My coworker got the same special and was charged $8. I looked at my bank account and it showed a charge for a little over $17. I wondered if I was charged for 2 meals and went up front to ask. A different girl helped me and I told her the situation. She seemed irritated and pointed to a combo on the menu and told me that's what I ordered and that the lunch special came with a side salad. I explained that I specifically asked for a side salad and told there wasn't one. I then said "if it was only a $2 difference it wouldn't be a big deal, but this is like $10. The girl replied "it's actually like $6". I just sat there. So she found my order and refunded me my money and I thanked her, but was a little surprised by the whole thing. Then when the food was brought to me I said "thanks and sorry about the confusion." The girl said "it's fine" and quickly walked away. The weirdest part about it, is they advertise that they donate money to the town in Africa that the restaurant is named after. So they are charitable to some people but not respectful to their own customers? The food was good but I live in SLC so I probably won't go there...

EDIT: Sherie sent a number of follow up texts after our phone call and offered a dining credit since my experience was dissatisfactory. I am grateful that she worked to underatand and make it right.

I'm a long-term Malawi's customer, been picking up Malawi Capri pizzas about once a week for the last seven years. Tonight, I picked up my family's pizza order, and discovered that each slice of pizza had half a tomato on the top, and hardly any balsamic drizzle. Previously, the top of each pizza had been layered with large slices of tomatoes, uncut. This made for an excellent tomato/surface area ratio. I called Sherie to ask if they had changed their recipe in the last week. She said they've ALWAYS put 1/2 slice of tomato on, regardless of the size of the pizza, and regardless of the size of whatever tomatoes are on hand. I explained that that pizza design did not in any way correspond with my years of experience @ Malawi's. She repeated herself: "We have never layered whole tomatoes on top of a pizza. That has never been in our process, that is not in our recipe books, we don't do it that way." I replied, "So, you're telling me that my years of experience with fantastic pizza didn't happen? That I'm imagining thick, whole slices of tomato? Thanks for hearing my concerns." I am so disappointed in their failure to acknowledge a long-time customer's politely communicated disappointment. The pizza wasn't great, the customer service even worse. Won't be back, sadly, because Malawi's has a...

A solid 3 to 4 stars. Let’s be honest: Provo has a lot of pizza options. Malawi’s is good, but pricier than most every other option. And the pizza was again, good, but not quite a five star experience.

I got a Capri, a 5 cheese, and a breadstick. All the pizzas are essentially what you’d find at Mod or the Blaze, a quick fired pizza. The crust stands out as particularly and notably light and airy. The breadstick is cheap at $2, a nice find, but tastes like regular bread… which is a bit bland for a pizza place breadstick to be honest. The marinara for it is fresh tasting but also thin and watery.

The Capri was really good, especially bites with the tomatoes. Amazing! However, the balsamic didn’t quite hit the right complementary notes, something I’ve seen implemented much better elsewhere. Hard to put my finger on it. Not bad by any means though. I enjoyed it more the farther into the pizza I got.

The five cheese was a disappointment. I was expecting what turned out to be a FORMER menu item, the FOUR cheese, that had sauce; the FIVE cheese does NOT. There’s nothing special about the five cheese, and I recommend a skip. Be aware other menu items may have changed, such as the Thai being discontinued.

So on balance, I’d say 12 bucks for a decent but ultimately very light pizza doesn’t really hit for me. Plus a dull breadstick experience. I had a coupon, which made it a great choice I don’t regret, but I can’t say it’s worth the drive to the Riverwoods for me personally...