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    Mala Project

    4.3 (160 reviews)
    Closed 12:00 pm - 9:00 PM
    Updated a few days ago

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    Recommended Reviews - Mala Project

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    Haeun J.

    Mala Project in Midtown East is such a fun spot if you love make-your-own mala xiangguo. I really like how customizable everything is as you choose your ingredients, pick your spice level, and everything comes out flavorful without feeling oily or heavy. It all tasted really clean, which I appreciated. It's definitely pricey, especially if you're used to paying Flushing prices for mala xiangguo. But you're really coming here for the vibe and the experience. It's cozy, modern, and just a genuinely pleasant place to sit down for a meal. The service was excellent too. Our server really knew what to recommend and helped us put together a great combination. If you want mala in Midtown and don't mind paying a bit extra for the atmosphere, this spot is a great choice.

    Mala
    Dora C.

    First time trying after seeing it all over TikTok and it does not disappoint. Our waiter was very attentive and friendly - recommended our appetizers for us. And came back a second time after craving mala for days! Love that they also give you Haw Flakes with the bill, reminds me of childhood.

    Alice W.

    I dined solo at Mala Project and had an okay experience. They let me sit at a small table instead of the bar, and the mala dry pot was fully customizable and super yummy. I got purple rice on the side and this was really unique -- it was my first time seeing purple rice mixed with goji berries and jujube, so it felt like a Chinese medicine bowl (in the best way possible!). For dessert, I couldn't resist trying the herbal jelly bowl which was just as I expected and had a mix of mochi and boba in the bowl. It was okay, but I've had better Chinese dessert bowls at places in Queens for half the price. When I got my check, I was surprised to see the Haw Flakes. So nostalgic!! When I was a kid, my grandpa and I used to always share these haw flakes. It was a really nice touch. The primary downsides: it's pricey, and service is slow. It was hard to get the server's attention to refill my water so I felt thirsty throughout the meal.

    Hanna H.

    Came on a Wednesday night and had no issues with grabbing a table. We've been to Mala Project a few times in East Village and decided to check out this location. Overall similar vibes and ambiance. Did want to note--please make your app more user-friendly! It's a bit glitchy at times, and please give us the option to scan our receipt if we forget while in store! Also, nowhere on the app does it say what we can specifically redeem the points for, and I can find the information nowhere online, and I have a hard time reaching a real person who's not some automated voice online when I call a restaurant to ask about the app! We ordered our typical dry hot pot bowl order, which consists of black fungus mushroom, tofu skin, potato noodles, pork belly, and bok choy. We ordered it medium spicy, which was barely spicy. Our friends ordered mild spicy, in which they didn't taste any hint of spicy at all unfortunately. We were just confused and a bit thrown off for why we were charged an extra $3-$5 for choosing the level of spicy when that is required anyways, compared to our previous time at a Mala Project in which this extra $ was not the case. Mala dry hot pot is known to be spicy, flavorful, and numbing from the sichuan peppercorn. We felt like there just wasn't enough spiciness, and barely tasted the numbing sichuan peppercorn flavor that we love in dry hot pot. To add, we were also confused why the cancellation price was so high at this casual spot, which led us to choose walk-in over making a reservation. What we ordered: - Mala Dry Hot Pot (black fungus mushroom, tofu skin, potato noodles, pork belly, and bok choy)

    ML Dry Pot (build your own combo)
    Ritvi S.

    Great ambiance and number of options for vegans and vegetarians. Scallion pancakes were good but would be better with more scallions. Sauce that came with it was unique but not sure if I loved it. We also got the famous dry pot which was delicious and filling. However, could easily make it at home if I knew the correct spices. Overall everything was good but nothing stood out to me as amazing. Would go again but wouldn't go out of my way to go.

    Mia H.

    Good spot for mala dry pot! A popular chain, the interior of this location has dim lighting, lots of small table seating, and is a relaxed vibe. Service is pretty quick here. Their menu is fairly big with a variety of entrees and appetizers, but what they're known for is their dry pot: a option where you can choose which ever toppings/ingredients you want in your bowl and they will stir-fry it together. I love the variety that they have when it comes to dry pot ingredients and the different sauce/seasoning options. The ingredients that I got were delicious, good portion, and cooked well. A little bit more on the pricer side than I would usually spend on dry pot, but it was good!

    ML Dry Pot (build your own combo)
    Joyce K.

    Great spot for when you're craving some sichuan food made your own way! Love the dry pot here- the ingredients are fresh and the portions were bigger than expected. I got glass noodles, rice cakes, fish filet (highly recommend), bok choy, taro, and imitation crab. I think I could have ordered less because I had about half left to take home. It came out to $45. My only gripe is that their "mild" spice level was actually very spicy - my mouth was on fire the whole meal. They need an intermediate between "soy ginger" and "mild". I can't even imagine what the higher spice levels are like. Maybe they misheard me and gave me a spicier base than I wanted. Service was good and they refilled our waters often.

    Hania A.

    Some of THE BEST Chinese food in NYC! So so good, especially their noodle dishes and beef dumplings. The chicken is my preference, but last time I did chicken and shrimp and it turned out delish with the noodles. My colleagues love this place too, great lunch spot for a team lunch. The service is great as well.

    (FREE) Haw Flakes
    Victor W.

    Overall: 8/10 Food: 9/10 Do not be fooled by the fact that the restaurant on the inside gives off upscale cuisine that won't serve enough portions to fill your belly. The food is flavorful, plentiful, and well spiced. However it does lack the numbing flavor some seek when eating MaLa drypot. The ordering system is unlike typical drypot places where you gather ingredients in a bowl yourself and pay per pound. Instead, it's a sit down restaurant with a menu and you pay per item and it's a fixed amount of that item. As far as components that we got in our drypot, we got sliced eye of round beef, lobster balls, fish fillets, frog legs, dried tofu skin, box choy, and shitake mushrooms. I would personally not get the frog legs next time as the legs do lack meat and are mainly bone. Spice wise, we got extra spicy which was plenty spicy for me but like I said before it lacked the numbing feel in my mouth that I desire when I eat mala drypot. Atmosphere: 6/10 Immediately when you walk in you'll realize the restaurant is very dark and quite loud. We think the darkness may be intentional to hide the sweats should you accidentally order a spiciness level too high for your taking. The restaurant itself is very packed and it feels like we were well within arms reach of the table next to us. The upstairs bathroom was broken at our time of visit so we had to go downstairs and use that bathroom instead. Service: 10/10 We did not have a reservation and were able to be seated immediately on a Friday night without waiting. The waiter came to get our order in a reasonable time and the food was prepared relatively fast as expected for a MaLa drypot place. We were supplied with plenty of water and water glasses were filled very fast when empty. At the end of your meal, you are rewarded with a free Haw Flakes treat as your reward for making it through the spicy food you just got. Who doesn't like a nice free sweet treat!

    YEAR OF THE PORK BELLY Pork Belly, Wood Ear Mushroom, Cauliflower, Potato.
    Masayo K.

    We keep coming back for lunch--it's just that good! The flavors are incredibly addictive and keep us craving more. Highly recommended!

    Stir fry noodle with shrimp
    George C.

    The food here is phenomenal. The flavor of the stir fry noodles is exactly what I crave and expected - something you can only taste with a high heat wok. The Mala bowl is great as well - expect higher prices than what you would get in Flushing because of the location. The service is decent though it took a while for the staff to get to us. But once the order was placed, food came out quite quickly. Probably because of the high heat!

    MALA DRY POT (build your own combo)
    Joanna P.

    I've been craving dry hot pot and found this place (multiple locations in NYC) It was YUM It's not self serve like places in LA which I prefer, instead you check off the stuff you want and it's a set amount This bowl was like I think a little under $40 for the two of us ($20ish per person) and we were full. The flavor was soooo good though, not overwhelmingly mala but still spicy Instagram - @joangela.eats

    Meera M.

    We walked in without a reservation on a Friday afternoon and were lucky to get a spot. We ordered two Mala dry pots at MaLa Project, one with fish fillet, bok choy, wood ear mushroom, and baby bamboo shoot, and another with eye of round, lamb, and baby bamboo shoot. Both came with white rice and were spicy - kicked a punch! The lunch specials were reasonably priced. The staff was very friendly. Ambience was nice. We also had a lychee black tea which looked good. We'll be back for happy hour cocktails which also looked good. It's a great place to come with coworkers or friends, especially if you can handle the heat.

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    2 months ago

    Went for lunch. Food was awesome! My wife and I almost came back for dinner on the same day!

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    5 months ago

    AMAZING RESTAURANT. The dishes were so flavorful. The service was great and the interior is unique. Great ambiance.

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    Page 1 of 4

    Mala Project Reviews in Other Languages

    Ask the Community - Mala Project

    Are there vegan options available here?

    Yes! My sister is vegan and we ate here together

    I have put in a request for a reservation but never heard back. It's for lunch for 8 people. Is there any other way to get in touch? It keeps going to voicemail

    Don’t See Your Question? Ask Away!

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    The restaurant is beautiful! I love the nature theme~ it feels like a peaceful escape from the…read morehectic nyc streets. The beef rib served with pancakes was tender and very smoky. I wish the sauce was sweeter though since the flavor was more j spicy/ salty. I think a different sauce like a hoisin chili combo would make the dish a lot tastier. They have a variety of sichuan dishes. I wasn't a huge fan of the swing pork belly since it's served cold and mostly tastes like cucumber- it was lacking flavor for me even with the red sauce/oil. The sour cabbage beef soup was interesting! It tasted nice and beefy, but was a bit too sour for me. The lemon dessert was my favorite! It was a cheesecake mousse with lemon curd in the middle~ so pretty and tasty! Service was top tier! I'd recommend coming here for the vibes!

    excellent sichuan food! we made a reservation and were told we had a 75 min dine-in limit but the…read morefood came out really fast. they gave us complimentary free-flow tea and some chilli oil cabbage to start, which was really nice. the menu on an ipad was a bit hard to navigate through -- it wasn't very intuitive that you had to click to view pictures. it was also difficult to jump from one page to another page but food was delicious. we ordered the la zi chicken, mapo tofu, and ran noodles. the la zi chicken had the perfect amount of numbing spice, and the mapo tofu was my favorite. the noodles were also very well balanced. prices are also pretty reasonable, so would highly recommend!

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    OOHU - Menu

    OOHU

    4.5(98 reviews)
    1.2 miMidtown West
    $$

    I did not expect to find a sit down Cantonese & Sichuan Restaurant in the heart of Herald Square…read more For sure a hidden gem worth trying. Came here with two other friends for dinner and we pigged out. We started off with Scallion Pancake with Shredded Duck ($15), which tasted amazing. The pancake was flaky and not overly soaked in oil, while the duck meat enhanced the taste. I think everything should order this for the table. We also got the Dan Dan Noodles w Minced Pork ($8), which is a staple dish in Sichuan cuisine. Make sure you stir the bowl to mix the sauce and minced pork. For veggies, we got the Sautéed Green Beans With Eggplant ($18), which tasted great. I usually get sautéed pea shoots for a veggie dish, but this was worth ordering as the eggplant tasted great along with the green beans. For entrees, we got the Spicy Green Pepper Fish Filet ($28 for filet). A classic Cantonese dish that comes with bok choy, so it turns out I didn't really need to order a veggie dish. Delicious. We also tried the OOHU Mao Xue Wang ($34), which may be one of the most spiciest dish available on the menu. This dish combines blood curd from a duck, tripe, and chicken gizzards along with other organs into a simmered broth containing chilis and peppercorns. They also use spam, vermicelli noodles, mushroom, and other things. If you're adventurous and you like spicy, I would recommend this. Best eaten with a cup of rice. Service is great as our server made good recommends and was overall friendly. They also have a party room you can book, which sounded pretty affordable. Don't recall what their minimum spend was, but it was super reasonable compared to a lot of other spots in Chinatown and Flushing.

    I came here for a large dinner party where we got seated in the private room in the back. The space…read morefits three large tables although we only used two. We ordered multiple dishes which came out one after the other. Some of the standouts for me were the Pork Intestine Dry Pot ($20.95), Crispy Tofu with Salty Egg Yolk ($23.95), and Sauteed String Beans ($16.95). Many spicy food options since this is a Szechuan spot afterall. Some dishes were a bit too salty and spicy, which they did discount after we brought it to their attention. Overall, decent spot and good for large groups. Otherwise, I didn't find this spot to be too memorable (not bad, not great).

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    Mala Project - szechuan - Updated May 2026

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