Mala Sichuan Bistro

Good prices, a ton of food and a friendly staff. The garlic bacon rolls with cucumbers and the red hot oil dumplings are good to start off with. The spicy crispy chicken was disappointing this time but the water boiled beef was good.

Really looking forward to it but so disappointed! The prices are not bad it the food was extremely salty and the Dan Dan mien was okay and the cold noodle house was below average the taste was off. We ordered the spicy beef with peppercorn and its soooo salty. Spinach was not so good and the total was$ 37

I will go back here if I plan to visit Houston… very unique & different taste from China…

Summary: fair price, great food, friendly staff, great service
It was the New Year’s Eve when we got here. It’s great to have a warm place like this when it’s cold out. When I said ‘warm’, it isn’t just the temperature, but also their staff. We were ushered by smiles. Even the waiting list was long, we were seated maybe 20 minutes after we got here. The food is great, authentic to me. Not that spicy as we thought. We asked for some small amount of rice but they were generous and gave us a whole refill. The waitress we had was very friendly. At the end, we asked her about recommendation to a bubble tea place and she gave a very satisfying suggestion!

We were all hungry and looking forward to stuffing our faces… only to breathe in the stench of literally doodoo as we were approaching the restaurant. Seriously, it smelled like ass. There’s a sewer in the front of the restaurant and when the wind blows in your face, it carries that horrible smell. Anyway, I came here with a party of 3 on a Saturday night around 7:30 PM. There was a wait since its prime dinner time. We waited about 10 – 15 mins for a table. While waiting, I couldn’t help but notice how diverse their customers were (there were lots of white ppl and even some
middle eastern). This is strange for Chinatown. And no, the nonasians did not have an Asian person in their group.
It was my first time so of course I went to Unilocal to look for the tasty dishes to try. We ordered mopu tofu, black pepper beef, spicy crispy chicken, and water boiled fish. Everything was tasty and very flavorful. The dishes aren’t too spicy, but I could see there were lots of spices and seasoning and my stomach definitely felt it afterwards. My stomach tends to act up when I eat foods with lots of spices even though I might not think it was spicy while eating it. The beef was tender and not spicy at all for those non spicy eaters. The water boiled fish has cabbage in it as well and is kind of soupy or drenchy in their sauce. They aren’t stingy with their fish so it’s definitely shareable for a party of 4 or 5 easily. My favorite would be the spicy crispy chicken. It’s like little chicken nuggets that are super crispy… not really spicy. I didn’t think any of their dishes were really spicy.
Everyone in my group enjoyed the meal and would most likely come back again to try out some other items. I highly recommend the spicy crispy chicken! Minus 1 star for the terrible smell in the front of the restaurant, and also their food seemed very oily so I’m sure health wise, my arteries are probably getting clogged.

I came here on Christmas day with my family. This place was packed, and I hear that it’s always crowded, so be prepared for a wait! The good was great, and very reasonably priced.
Boiling Fish (4.5÷5) — Great spice without overdoing it. Nice portion size
Cumin Lamb (⁴⁄₅) — A bit too much spice (not heat spice but spices) for me, but still tasty
Spicy Crispy Chicken (4.5÷5) — Addictive and crispy
Lotus Tofu (²⁄₅) — I just did not like this dish. It was pretty bland and mushy.
Seafood Fried Rice (³⁄₅) — Pretty good but standard

Seems like this place is super popular and there was a wait when we got there. I got there first so I was trying to get a table for 11 and the waiter told me that we could get a table in one of the rooms but there’s a $ 150 spending minimum (if not the wait would be super longer). I’m not sure if she tells everyone that or not but I just agreed. We ordered a lot of food and we were only at 80 bucks… So we ended up ordering a bottle of wine, more food, and also to go. Next time, I will not go for the $ 150 minimum spending.
So, once everyone got there we were still waiting for the people in the rooms to leave so we could be seating, let’s say since I got there it was probably about 45 – 55 minute wait. She told me that one room has been there for almost 2 hours and the other table was there for over an hour and a half. I went to look and everyone was done eating and playing on their phones, but the waiter told me she couldn’t do anything about it, I was like whatever… Honestly, she could have speeded up the process.
Okay, now to the actual food and service. So, we order many dishes but what it all came down to was all of them were way too salty except the cucumber dish. Each bite that I took, I felt like I was contributing to hypertension!!! The food was definitely different and authentic but nothing extraordinary that caught my attention to say I need to go back. I will more than likely not go back and it’s something I could live without. If you’ve never been then I guess you shall give it a go just to say you’ve been there, if you really must. The food came out pretty quickly but getting a waiters attention after they left the room was tough. I had to get up multiple times to ask for stuff. Also, they were not paying attention to water and drinks, keep in mine we were downing lots of water because the salty food. Therefore, the service wasn’t that great.
Overall, I didn’t really care for the salty salty food, the service wasn’t that great, it was not worth the wait. The only good thing was the food came out quickly the first time around but we were missing a few dishes that took awhile to come out. In my opinion, this place is overrated, there’s better food out there, and I doubt I’ll be back.

Had my first new year 2016 dinner with some friends here last night!
We had to wait about 20 – 25 minutes but was definitely worth it.
We ordered and shared:
Dan Dan Noodles
Red oil dumplings
Water boiled fish
Cumin beef
Crispy spicy chicken
My favorites were the water boiled fish, crispy spicy chicken and dan dan noodles. Everything was full of flavor and bold spice but not the super hot lingering spicy where your tongue is numb or your salivating. (I’m sure they have that level of spice if you request).
Our appetizers or ‘snacks’ came out after the main entrees but no complaints we had a party of four and enjoyed sharing everything. My only dislike was I bit into something a few times perhaps juniper berry? or something small and it left this awful taste in my mouth kind of sour, tangy, minty, I’m not sure it was over powering and I kept drinking hot tea to get the taste out of my mouth. It may have been in the cumin beef dish.

Things to Know:
A majority of the food here is spicy! Get ready to sweat. There are some non-​spicy foods but for me, the spicier the better.
Food: 5 Stars
I come here often and I always try at least one new dish. All the dishes I have tried have been really good! TRUST. Below are some of the dishes I have tried and LOVED:
— Garlic Bacon: Just try it.
— Red Oil Dumplings: I have to get this every time I go. HAVE TO.
— Dan Dan Noodles: My boyfriend loves this one. It’s a small bowl, so if you don’t like sharing, then get two.
— Water Boiled Fish: If I would’ve known that boiling fish can be this good, I would boil fish everyday.
— Twice Cooked Pork: I mean, cooking pork once is good, but this is cooked twice! Even better.
— Crispy Chicken: My only qualm about this dish is that the chicken to pepper ratio sucks. There’s more pepper than chicken (at least the last time I ordered it).
— Mala Beef Tendon: Skeptical at first because it was a cold dish, still ended up tasting really good.
— Mapo Tofu: Still good even though there’s no meat in it.
— Mala Beef Tofu: Similar to Mapo Tofu but with minced beef.
Service: 4 Stars
They take your order, they fill your drinks. I come here for the food, not the service. But service isn’t bad.

Consistently good food and big portions. All dishes are full of flavor and spice. My favorite dish is the spicy garlic eggplant, the sauce that it comes with is so good, I can eat it with rice all day.
I’ve tried the red oil dumpings which also had great flavor as well as the spicy crispy chicken that was a party in my mouth. Not too fried and delicious. My friend and I must have overloaded our pallets because after eating the dumplings and the spicy crispy chicken, I couldn’t taste the wonderful garlic sauce of the eggplant. So I got it to-​go and had it for lunch and it was just as good as I remembered.
Next time I come here, I’ll try to divvy up the dishes to something that can balance and not out-​flavor each other. The seasoning is so rich you should order a vegetable dish to be able to taste everything and cleanse your pallet.

The One Where Sandy Introduced a Chinese Restaurant to her Parents.
The statement above is rare. In fact, it’s so rare that it’s the first time this happened! No joke, my family loves Sichuan food. What’s not to like, it’s spicy, oily, delicious, and if you’re like me then you’ll end up sweating your calories out while you’re eating (no joke).
Mala Sichuan has made a name for itself. There’s always a line and non-​Chinese folks know about it, talk about it, and even write about it. So with all that said, it’s a venue I have to bring my parents to. For 5 of us, we ordered about 10 dishes and walked out paying under $ 20/​person. We had some leftovers, but not much.
What’s not to miss:
* salted, chilled cucumbers (it’s an appetizer)
* ma po tofu
* stir-​fried garlic green veggies
* tea flavor duck
* spicy chili oil wontons
The food is not as spicy as traditional sichuan food. To me, it wasn’t even spicy at all (even with all the red chilies on the plates and chili oil everywhere). I thought it was just me, but apparently everyone at my table agreed. However, it’s still very yummy. The food is a bit «Americanized», but it was still a good and satisfying dinner. Service was great. Food came out fast and there was no wait on a Tuesday night!
Compared to the other Sichuan restaurants in Bellaire, you get a bit less for what you’re paying. Overall, I still liked it and would come back to try other dishes. However, if you’re hunkering for SPICE, then I would recommend you tell them to put on the heat.

I’ve been to Mala about 10 times now over the last year, and it’s safe to say that I’m addicted, along with half of my family and all of my friends. It’s truly in a class of its own when it comes to authentic, spicy Sichuanese cuisine. As pumped as I was when the Midtown location opened up nearby, I’m still partial to the Chinatown original and have no issue braving Houston traffic for 30+ minutes to mainline that spicy, oily goodness.
The storefront is nestled in the corner of a massive plaza of Asian shops, parlors, and cafes near an enormous supermarket. The décor inside is modest and low-​key, with a handful of small tables. The waiters are courteous but all-​business, taking your orders efficiently in broken yet passable English. The no-​frills atmosphere ensures that all your attention is focused on your food and company, as it should be. Here’s my breakdown of what to get:
Appetizers:
Dan Dan Noodle — I like this dish a lot; a lot of my friends can’t stand it, so proceed at your own risk. The noodles are soft, almost mushy, with a very distinctive soy taste that is difficult to describe.
Chilled Mung Bean Jelly — Strange but satisfying, definitely for more adventurous diners. The little chunks have a texture midway between noodles, tofu, and jell-​o.
Red Oil Dumplings — Opposite of the Dan Dan noodles: my friends love these, and I’m not a big fan. The flavors are nice, but I find the tangy oiliness off-​putting.
The soups are pretty good, but not exceptional. They’re also gigantic. I usually opt to save room for other stuff.
Entrees:
Spicy and Crispy Chicken — when in Rome, you check out the Coliseum. When at the Louvre, you see the Mona Lisa. When you go to Mala, you get the spicy and crispy chicken. End of story. The dish comes with crunchy bite-​sized pieces of chicken that pack in more layers of flavor than seems possible. The mountain of red chilies may seem intimidating, but the dish isn’t really that spicy per se… plus, the peppercorns numb your taste buds in a kind of tingly, pleasant way.
Cumin Beef — absolutely incredible dish. The beef is very tender and thinly sliced, bursting with a peppery flavor from the garlic and serrano chilies. The cumin taste is there, but not overpowering.
Salt and Pepper Prawns — Lightly battered fried shrimp with onions and super spicy green chilies. This dish is hit-​or-​miss, but is worth a try. Very sharp flavors that make your mouth water.
Water Boiled Fish Fillet — My favorite seafood dish. The small chunks of white fish are very soft, almost gelatinous (in a good way) and soaked in hot flavorful oil with vegetables.
Eggplants in Spicy Garlic Sauce — Hands-​down the best vegetable dish on the menu, in my opinion. The liquid glaze gives the soft strips of eggplant a sweet and garlicky kick. This milder dish is a good counterbalance to the other fiery courses.
Mala has effectively ruined other Chinese restaurants for me… a Kia just doesn’t feel the same after driving a Ferrari. My one knock against the place is that the flavor of the dishes can be somewhat inconsistent – the spice, salt, garlic etc. can vary for a particular dish from visit to visit. But when the kitchen is in form, you will be hard pressed to find a better meal in H-​Town.

I’ve been a bit spoiled. Ever since I started cooking from Fuchsia Dunlop’s books it takes a lot for a sichuan restaurant to impress me. Though Mala Sichuan was better than a lot of them, I would still say it’s within range of a practiced home cook.
* couple lungs — which is not lungs at all but thin slices of beef, tendon and tripe with crushed peanuts and spicy oily sauce. I would have preferred more crushed peanuts and cilantro but the «meat» was tender, toothsome and good. Not too spicy.
* sour spicy noodles — I found these a little bland
* red oil wontons — the wontons weren’t impressive and the sauce was not very flavorful
* water boiled fish — I really liked this dish and since it’s deep fried fish it’s not something I would bother trying to make at home. Pieces of deep fried fish swimming in a red oily sauce. Good spice and mala.
* chung qing chicken — not the freshest fried chicken, maybe the oil is too old? Not sure but though it was good it’s not the best I’ve had
Overall if you’re looking for authentic sichuan food this place hits the spot.

Next to Northeastern Chinese food, Sichuan has to be my next favorite. If the only type of Chinese food that you have tried is the China Wok III down at the strip mall, then you’re really, really missing out. The thing I love about Sichuan food is that it isn’t afraid of strong, bold flavors unlike some other regions of China, such as Guangzhou.
We ordered a few classic dishes, such as the water-​boiled beef, lion’s head meatballs, hot-​oil wonton’s, and twice-​cooked pork belly. The water-​boiled beef was quite good, although it played it a bit safe by not using as many Sichuan Peppercorns (the little numbing things) as other Sichuan restaurants I’ve had. One thing that I don’t like about Sichuan food is that they tend to use too much salt in their cooking, but MaLa seasoned all of their dishes perfectly. The twice-​cooked pork was also excellent, and the pork was cooked properly where the fat from the belly has been drained.
However, the other dishes we had were a bit of a miss. The Lion’s head meatballs, although traditionally a Huaiyang dish, were completely pink and undercooked in the center. I talked to the server about this, but she had assured us that there was nothing wrong with it. We decided to wing it and try the meatballs, but it really did just taste like slightly warm raw meat without any seasoning. The hot-​oil wonton’s were decent, but the dough tasted frozen and bought in and the filling was the size of a pea.
Overall, I would come back, but try some other dishes. It seems that Ma La wants to cater more to the masses, but it may harm them by straying too far away from tradition. Any further, and they’ll turn into a PF Changs.

Been wanting to come here for dinner and finally pulled the trigger last night, and I’m glad I did! I’ve had Chinese food before but never like this. Food had so much more kick and everything was so flavorful. It’s already one of my top three restaurants after just one visit.
As for the food, we ordered the popular dishes such as the garlic bacon, Dan Dan noodles, mapo tofu, water boiled fish and bamboo pork. The water boiled fish is a must have and definitely my favorite out of the bunch. This place is very popular so it does get packed, so be prepared to wait on the weekends. Can’t wait to come back!

I just love eating here when I need to get my spicy cravings! I haven’t been in a while but today, I finally got to satisfy my cravings.
My go-​to dish every time I dine in: The water boiled fish fillet. It comes out hot, tasty, spicy, and very much appealing to the eyes. It also has some cabbage and leeks at the bottom, so it’s got veggies too! This is my 5-​star dish! It’s one of those dishes that can be eaten later on during the day or the next day and still tastes so good that you don’t mind eating it as leftovers at all.
My second go-​to dish: Crispy chicken. I generally order the crispy chicken, but today the waiter suggested the Spicy crispy chicken, so I got that instead, and it was spicy indeed. The spicy version is about $ 2 more.
My third go-​to dish: Ma Po Tofu. Most Ma po tofu dishes at other restaurants have meat, but luckily for me (since I don’t eat beef and pork), this dish is vegetarian. I just love the sauce in this dish. It goes super well with the white rice, and I just can’t stop eating until my belly is full!
Appetizers: I generally like to try the different appetizers as it is not too pricey. This time I had the green onion oil shrimp and house special cold noodle. Both dishes tasted good but as it was both cold appetizers, I felt like I enjoyed the hot entrees more this time. However, I don’t think I would mind getting them again next time as well.
I also got the jasmine tea which comes out in a little neat teapot!
Let’s just say I can’t wait to go back again fo’ sure!

I can’t believe I just had the chance to try this restaurant. Their food is delicious. When I think of Sichuan I think of the dried chili peppers, and when I think of peppers I think spicy. To be honest, it is spicy but it’s not anything you cannot handle. The flavors for all our dishes were a great blend and kept you wanting more. Everything here is family style and is meant to be shared. Note: there was a group of 5 of us, and it took them almost 10 minutes to seat us. There were plenty of open tables. But I’m not expecting high service when I go to chinatown.
We ordered the following:
beef jerky — which is served cold and has a soft yet chewy texture. It’s good!
red chili dumplings — probably one of my favorite dishes! It wasn’t that spicy either, it was a little sweet which made it a great surprise! I think I could eat a whole dish to myself.
mapo tofu — a little spicy but that’s what makes it good. I’ve tried the mapo tofu from a handful of places and this place is probably one of my favorite.
fish dish — I don’t remember the name of our fish, but it was so good! The fish was soft and melt in your mouth type of feeling. Order any of them and you won’t be disappointed.
dan dan noodles — must try this! I’m not a fan of dry noodles, but they made it tasty! This the last dish to come out so I was full from the other dishes but I still had two servings of this.

I was honestly excited to finally try this place out due to all the raves that this place has been getting. Imagine my disappointment when Mala turned out to be just another Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. I mean, the food definitely wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t that good to the point that I was like, «Oh Em Gee! This is so freaking delicious!!»
The kind of service you can expect here is still the kind of service you can expect anywhere in Chinatown. So yeah, average service and average food get you average rating. Maybe the next time I come back here, my experience and my food will be better.

First time having Szichuan and LOVED IT!
We ordered the Spicy Crispy Chicken, Water Boiled Fish (Flounder), Mala Jumbo Prawns, Three Pepper Beaten Duck, Ma Po Tofu, Red Onion Dumplings. DELICIOUS!
You can’t beat that price! Only $ 62 for EVERYTHING! (5% discount with cash, lol)
This place also had awesome service.

Sometimes, you’ll read or hear something that goes along the lines of «If you only see _​_​_​_​ethnicity people eating here, you know it’s good!» where _​_​_​_​represents whatever cuisine the restaurant serves (in this case, Chinese).
But that’s not the case here. Here’s the Andrew Z. corollary: «If a restaurant is PACKED full of _​_​_​_​ethnicity people AND other ethnicity people eating here, you know it’s amazing.»
Why? Because Mala is so good, white people and black people and Indian people and Arab people all come here strictly through word-​of-​mouth praise, even though it’s smack dab in the middle of Chinatown. (By the way — Mala just opened a location in the Montrose area. I wonder what the demographic looks like there.)
Food to order:
The classics: Water Boiled Fish, Cumin Beef, Mapo Tofu, Dan Dan Noodles, Dry Fried Double Veggies (this is their string bean dish)
If you’re feeling adventurous: Top Notch Pot of the Outlaws, Crispy and Spicy Pork Intestines, Couples Lung Slices (a classic as well)
But honestly… I would order anything new and weird-​sounding here and still expect it to be good.
Quick hitting points:
*There’s almost always a wait outside, but the turnover is pretty quick
*Most of their menu is spicy, but if you don’t like spice there are still some good mild dishes
*Rice is free and unlimited, as it should be
*Service is decently fast for Chinatown standards
*Food comes out incredibly fast, considering how packed they are all the time. Usually will come out within 15 minutes when I go with a group.
*Food is preeetttyy salty, you’re going to need the rice and water refills
*If you pay in cash, there’s a 5% discount