Malahini Terrace — Restaurant in Willowbrook

I ordered through GrubHub, thank goodness. Malahini is official holder of the worst experience I've had with a restaurant title, ever. (I highly recommend GrubHub, though) Here's what happened: Placed the order at 7:15, today Received a confirmation email / text combo from GrubHub at 7:30 saying the order had been received and was being worked on, to be delivered before 8:30. At 8:45, tried calling the Malahini phone number listed on GrubHub (and Google) and got some Verizon phone number that doesn't work. Then ensues the chaos. Started with a phone call to GrubHub. They used another number for Malahini. I was told the restaurant was having fax issues and that my order had just been started. Two hours late. I requested the secondary phone number for Malahini just to clarify what had happened. The man who answered the phone claimed to be the owner. I tried to speak with him about the order and he simply refused to listen. He would continually put down the phone in the middle of my talking to do something else. He kept saying I should call GrubHub. At this point, I admit, I was getting flustered. This conversation had gone on for about ten minutes of alternately being ignored and talked over. If he had offered even a complementary order of egg rolls, I would have taken it. I just wanted to be off the phone and, yes, I was quite hungry. It had been 2.5 hours since I placed the order. Finally, I gave up talking to him and called GrubHub again. They were more than helpful. After calling Malahini themselves to confirm the order was still being worked on, they then issued a full refund. The food did eventually show up. 3 hours after I ordered it. The man from phone was also the delivery driver. First, he went to the wrong building. Then he told me he was the manager (not the owner) and that what happened was GrubHub's computers were down...Sure. After speaking with him and speaking with them, I know who I believe. All I said to him was that I would never be doing business with him again and to have a good night. Adding insult to injury, the order was missing something I was charged...

I haven't eaten in the building, just take out, so my experience is purely based off that.

The food itself? Totally top notch. Love their egg rolls (favorite in the area), crab rangoon, and have had about 1/3rd of their menu. The sweet and sour, Mongolian (beef or chicken) and Aloha Almond Chicken are all favorites for me, my wife is in love with their Cantonese Lo Mein. She actually introduced me to the place years ago as this was her Chinese restaurant growing up with it being 2 minutes from where her parents live. We also always try to get an order of the Moo Shu veggies.

The service: I feel that every time I order delivery or pickup online and pay that way I hear a lengthy subtle message to phone the order in. Having worked support for quite a few years, I absolutely hate talking on the phone. I'm sure it saves them money when it isn't ordered through GrubHub but having this brought up EVERY SINGLE TIME has taken them down from a perfect 5 star to a 4 star.

Still, the annoyance factor is all that is, the foot itself is really fantastic and getting in and parking is never a problem. It is easier to turn into the strip mall that they are located in if you are going East on 75th or South on Clarendon Hills. North is easy as well but if you're going West on 75th you'll need to turn onto Clarendon Hills to get in. I've heard very mixed reviews on eating at Malahini Terrace but if you're getting take out I've never had a bad experience with the food here. (Just typing this up is making me want to order...

I used to have my lunch at Malahini buffet during my visits to the USA (twice a year for 7-10 days). This lasted for many years and things went OK, I liked this place. My last experience (October 27 - November 2) was terrible. First of all they pushed the price from $5.99 to $7.25. This is not a great problem for me - I am ready to pay a bit more for good food. But the quality and choice of food have deteriorated completely. All seven days they suggested the same two soups, very badly cooked and I am doubting if they cook the soups on a daily basis. I ordered won-ton soup separately (it was not bad) that sent my final check (together with separately ordered hot tea) up to $12.37. The choice of meat was bad, first two days they served reasonably cooked Mongolian beef but then for four days the beef was below any reasonable standards. The quality of sweet and sour chicken I cannot even discuss - it was just terrible with almost no chicken inside. Starting 1:30 pm even the white rice was dry and non-eatable and nobody cared to add a fresh one. If certain entry was missing nobody cared to fill it up. On November 2 I asked to bring some more teriyaki chicken when it ended up. They promised to cook it in five minutes, I waited for 17 minuted and have to leave almost hungry since I could not wait more. They even did not ask for excuse! That was my last visit to Malahini. I have to look for another Chinese restaurant in...