Review Moti Mahal - Malvern

Had my brothers birthday party here. Amazing service and very friendly staff! The food was spectacular as well. Definitely recommend coming here if you like quality indian food.

This is the first time I visited a restaurant who charges $5.5 extra for raita with $22 biryani. Biryani was absolutely okayish, you can just tell they have put shaan biryani masala to it which is minimal effort for such a price range. The owner was also quite rude to us when we asked him about the extra charges for raita.Will definitely not recommend this place to anyone as there are way better indian restaurant with BYO.

Excellent food. Been going there for 19 years and still the best taste, full of flavours. Highly recommended.

Drove past this place and saw byo and decided to give it a go. It was quite when we went it but this was an advantage because the service was then great taking our order quickly and bringing food quickly. The chicken 65 was amazing and will be going back just for this. Butter chicken was a really good one and the garlic naan was incredibly soft. Will Def go back here when I want easy and tasty Indian.

We been coming here for over 20yrs even now we live across the other side of the city. Owner Karan is a good host.

Ordered tandoori mushrooms and tikka naan from Uber. Have never had, seen or heard creamy tandoori mushrooms before! It tastes inedible. I didn't understand why they put creamy sauce, can have the dippings on the side instead. The flavour of the tandoori mushrooms was ruined by the creamy texture. Tikka naan was edible though.

Hey this guy makes excellent Bengali fish, tandoori, tawa paneer oohh must try , amazing stuff

Well well well. Where do I begin? The waiter was exceptionally rude. Like almost a comedy act rude: seemingly going out of his way to be rude to an almost comic point. I would have thought we’d done something but he was like that from the moment we entered. The food was bland. The butter chicken might as well have been from Safeway and the other two dishes had the same exact sauce with different names. Drink orders weren’t even taken we had to call them back and then they literally only had one beer. Seven on the menu though. The naan was pretty dismal too actually. I’m off to make diahrea.

Very disappointing. The service was poor and almost rude. The samosas were oily rather than crisp and wet and clumpy on the inside rather than consistent... and they lacked flavor. The nan was oily and the ' platter of a variety of vegetables cooked in the tandoor' was 90 % cauliflower. I have eaten in Indian Restaurant through out Australian and overseas and this was my worst experience of Indian food... you can get better at any food court in a shopping mall.

Friendly attentive service with generous servings of tasty food - we had a great night there!

Best Indian food in whole Melbourne Excellent Hospitality Feels like home. G8... keep it up

Food was very tasty I just loved their food and services �

They have nuts in a lot of their food despite not disclosing it! Make sure you ask what's in the food because they will not offer to replace your food or anything of that manner despite non disclosure! Terrible service.

Very unprofessional and poor customer service. Never going back......

Ordered a 1.25L coke from the EatNow menu. No drinks were delivered. Rang the store, was told "we don't sell bottles of coke, only cans" and promptly hung up on.

Lovely Indian food being served with lovely smile n good ambience ....BEST TASTE IN MELBOURNE ....keep it up

Sorry but there were no condiments provided and it’s just spicy rice with chicken not actual biryani

We went for a dinner on Friday night, not a bad service and food was good. Probably we were the last table of the day for them. Now it’s about time to pay the bill and I had frequent values deal which give 20% discount on your total bill at this restaurant. The owner got really pissed of by looking at the offer and wasn’t ready to accept. Asking where its from blah blah, i showed him on my phone thats it’s genuine and you are the ones who advertised this offer on the app. I got this offers through my hsbc card. He was really rude , arrogant and disrespectful. When i was about to pay with my card, he said it would cost us extra 5% if we pay by card, i never heard if any restaurant charging 5% for visa payment fee and also commented “nothing comes for free” , by the way bills was $120 not $12. Anyway we paid him cash and will not go there ever again. The owner is very super rude and doesn’t have any manners how to treat his customers. Don’t advertise for any deals when you cant fulfill them moreover pretend not to recognise it.<br/>Worst customer service ever, rude, disrespectful to its customers. Its all about money for them nothing else<br/>

I had placed an order on Uber eats and was waiting for my order to be delivered. The status on the app showed that it was about to be picked up by an Uber driver for atleast 5 mins. After 5 mins, the status changed back to order being prepped. So I called them up to find out what happened. The staff who received the call was super rude to me and started shouting at me and told me check with Uber and food is ready so just come and take your food. I understand there can be issues with the app if it wasn’t displaying the right status but being rude to customers is not acceptable. You weren’t feeding me for free. I was concerned about the status and that could have been notified to me in a proper manner. <br/>I would definitely not place an order or recommend this place to anyone. People need to learn manners first!<br/>On top of that when the food arrived it was the most horrible tasteless food I have ever had. The dal makhani had no salt, chicken malai was soupy chicken and biryani was full of garam masala and no salt! Even plain bread tastes better than any of their dishes!

Attentive service, extensive menu (including many options for vegans & vegetarians) and great price. <br/>Food was delicious. <br/>I will definitely be back!

Overall score: 14/25 or ⭐️⭐️⭐️<br/>in 5 words: moti mahal is really mahal<br/>*<br/>Admittedly, we only found this place thanks to the entertainment app. The restaurant was traditionally decorated and appeared to have strong support from locals.<br/><br/>We ordered a butter chicken ($17.5) and lamb rogan ($21). Papadum was really good, especially with the refreshing mint dip. Butter chicken was okay, though on the sweeter side. The butter cheese naan was huge and only slightly charred. Would have preferred more cheese within the naan<br/><br/>The shocking part of the meal was at the counter. A garlic naan costs $3.5. Cheese naan was $5.5. We were charged $6.5 for garlic cheese naan, which was really pricey since I didn’t taste much cheese!! So 3 naans added up to $19.5!!!! Even with a buy 1 free 1 main course offer, the meal came up to $40. I left the restaurant shocked. I guess moti mahal is really mahal (expensive in Malay)!<br/>*<br/>Taste: ⭐️⭐️⭐️<br/>Ambience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️<br/>Presentation: ⭐️⭐️⭐️<br/>Price: ⭐️⭐️ <br/>Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I got home delivery from Moti Mahal last night. The dhaal and rice were huge servings and pretty cheap however the dhaal was pretty tasteless. I feel very disappointed that I can’t find a dhaal dish that tastes as good as the one near my work :(

The food is consistently good at this establishment.- no matter what you order.<br/><br/>Nice, friendly, family run business.<br/><br/>Service is generally pretty slow... so be prepared to wait... but well worth it. Will keep going back.

Really good Indian place with lots of different dishes to try, nice ambiance, BYO. Two curries was enough for two of us will definitely be back.

This is our favourite restaurant. The lamb korma and palak paneer are just delicious. I also love that it is cosy and quiet inside so you can actually hear each other without having to raise your voice. The service is lovely and un-intrusive. A real gem.

Pretty standard Indian restaurant. Not too much oil but nothing was outstanding either. Service was better than average but seats are bare wood. Good if it's the closest thing to home.

Best Indian food I’ve had in Melbourne! <br/><br/>We ordered a tandoori vegetable platter (which came out sizzling hot with tender yet still-crisp cauliflower, red onions, capsicum and mushrooms) and the fish masala (delicious sauce we ordered naan twice to mop it all up). Papadums and chutneys were served before this mains for free. <br/><br/>This is our new local favourite, we’ll be back soon! The icing on the cake was the friendly service from, who I think, are husband & wife owners. <br/><br/>Tips: it’s in the Entertainment Book; there’s an AMEX sticker on the door but they don’t take amex; $25 minimum for eftpos. <br/>

Be prepared to be treated poorly. On one occasion we ordered online and they did not deliver. When called to enquirer was very rude and lectured us that he had been running this business for 20-25 years for no real reason. Would have been happy to order again if it wasn't for his rude behavior.

Great food, ambiance and host. Have been eating here for many years now and the quality of food hasn't changed. Always consistent and delicious.

The best Indian restaurants in Melbourne.. Highly recommended... The lamb chops here are the best I have had in Melbourne.. The owners are the nicest people I have known.. Just a beautiful family run restaurant.

Unbelievably annoying when you order a meal to be delivered and it turns up wrong. Every. Single. Time. <br/><br/>The last three times I have ordered, either by Uber Eats and Menulog, I have added a note in two different sections when ordering, asking for a tiny bit of beef in the vindaloo and instead add potatoes. All three times they just jam-packed it full of beef (which I am sure people would like but its not what I asked for) and no potatoes. Tonight I called and asked them why they didn't do what my note said, and the lady claimed it didn't come through on Uber Eats...which I don't believe. Would have been better for her to admit it and apologise than claim they didn't get the note because all other restaurants have received notes when ordering online. <br/><br/>Anyway its a shame, because the food is actually quite tasty. When they get it right. Which is rare.

Can't fault the quality of the food we ordered tonight. My partner and I both very much enjoyed our curries and the lemon rice was amazing! We order from here a lot and, to be honest, the food is not consistently as delicious. But it usually is... and tonight's order was fabulous. A definite take away staple for us.

The food was ok. We came in with a voucher so walked away with a decent feed for $40. Naan bread the major let down. Better Indian options out there...

I went to this restaurant with my wife and we had a great dinner. The food was delicious. We had lamb and chicken, also some bread and rice. Good service too. I will go back to try other dishes.

Visit 1: Mid March 2017<br/><br/>Rating 1.5<br/><br/>I can't say anything about the food, but the service was terrible.<br/><br/>We walked in and were seated and then waited while we watched two people who came in after us get their menus, pappadums & drinks and others were seated and given a menu.  <br/><br/>I don't want to overstate, but I reckon we waited for between 5 and 10 minutes before we left and no-one paid any attention to us.  I was looking at the waiter, expecting some kind of reaction, but got nothing.<br/><br/>I expect this was a rare screw-up, but it cost this restaurant a paying customer.<br/><br/>Visit 2: Early April 2017<br/>Rating increased to 3.0<br/><br/>After the business wrote a comment on my previous review I decided to give them another shot - but I didn't tell them it was me.  I didn't want any special treatment.<br/><br/>This time around the service was more attentive and quite patient.<br/><br/>The pappadums and dips were a generous serving and quite tasty.<br/><br/>Starting off with the Onion Bhajia... a new form-factor in that these were small, flat torus-shaped patties.  They were reasonably tasty but a little dry (saved by the leftover dips from the pappadums).<br/><br/>For main I had the chilli naan (a new one on me) and Lamb Bhuna (after being promised that it was pretty hot).  The chilli naan had pieces of green chilli throughout and was nice and hot (don't get it if you're expecting the bread to give you a break from the heat).<br/><br/>The lamb was okay.  The sauce was nice (and hot), but the meat was a bit inconsistent - some chunks were quite dry and hard while others fell apart nicely.<br/><br/>Another middle-of-the-road Indian joint.

Sometimes you just need a dirty curry by which I mean a heartwarming bowl of fragrant spices not something that makes you literally sick and headed straight for their bathrooms before departure. Surprisingly this place was pretty busy which I can only attribute to the locals in Malvern being too Western to understand good Indian food. Moti Mahal did not agree with me (or my digestive system)

Went here early Nov '16. Staff was great. Wide choice of dishes, couldn't fault the experience and left feeling that we'd return here again. We stick to the basics: Lamb Rogan Josh, Butter chicken, roti. All good, lots of meat and not just all sauce. We will need to branch out and try other menu items next time. Recommended.

It is open late, and the staff are friendly. A large variety of food, although some dishes i have tried are better than others. I will go back again

Beware of false advertising! I am very disappointed. I ordered dinner for delivery and paid $19 for 6 prawns on top of a large bed of rice and a few pieces of salad. See picture below. The take away menu says nothing about there being rice in the dish and I even said over the phone that I didn't want any rice.  It says ''marinated king prawns in white wine and indian herbs". What a waste of money. What's worse I called them to complain and he hung up on me, after trying to explain that the rice was only there to keep the prawns warm...

Hubby and I ended up in Moti for dinner. Ordered lamb gohtst, rockling fish curry, palak paneer, chicken 65, garlic naans & Briyani onion rice. Overall the curries are alright without much of oomph :((... We find the curries a tad too sweet for our liking and not spicy enough to be called proper Indian curry.

We wanted to get to the bottom of the mixed reviews about Moti Mahal - is it a hit, or a miss? So we trekked down to Malvern to decide. And guess what? We were *shocked* at one thing in particular....which played a huge part in the rating we've given ↓↓ Click the link below ↓↓ to find out what it was!

Staff ignored us for 30+ minutes. <br/>Decided to go the banquet, certainly enough food for the $40 / head cost. Food quality was just ok, but the vegetable curry was crook.<br/>Worst part was the $9 corkage for one bottle of wine.<br/>Give this place a miss, plenty of choice in that shopping strip.

Received confirmation of PICKUP order in

It looks and feels dated. The menu was good and the service was friendly. However the food was a big let down. Well below average. Don't think they use fresh ingredients. The entrees wasn't crisp, the curries lacked flavour. Avoid.

Delicious! We are not Indian nor have we been to India, however have tried copious Indian Restaurants & this place is the best! Had it multiple times & is consistent every time!

I loved this restaurant! A bit far from where I live but would love to dine back here again! Their Indian dishes are so flavour some and the naan bread kept coming. My all time fave was the chicken balti and the paneer :)

Avoid this restaurant the food is average at best but the worst thing is the cleanliness of this place. The restaurant is filthy so I could imagine what the kitchen looks like. NEVER AGAIN. It will instantly turn your stomach.

Good food. I've eaten here a few times and can honestly say that the service is very good and the food genuine. just watch out for some of the spicy dishes as they can get very hot!<br/>I would happily recommend people to eat here for authentic Indian cuisine.

Great meal on a busy night. Couldn't fault service. Tandoori chicken was delicious. Dhal as good as any I've had

Ordered delivery from here tonight - first time in a while. The best dish is the beef vindaloo. Delicious!! Delivery was 100% correct, no spillage and the delivery man was friendly (although he didn't give me my 25c change! lol). Slightly more $ than what we would like to pay but overall it's a good little restaurant - one we have been eating at and ordering from for years.

Excellent vegetarian food. Last friday, I visited Moti Mahal with my friends, you can't believe that it was very busy restaurant..... As I am vegetarian, I ordered vegetarian dishes, all the vegetarian food was awesome...<br/>instead of busy environment, they provide excellent service..... As per my opinion, it was the best Indian restaurant to having Indian meal.......

Please delete - incorrect restaurant. ..asdklfjasdkf

Slippery slope service..... My partner and I used to love this place! We have since returned from 2 years overseas and are amazed at how bad the service has become. For example called for take away.....got told to call back in 3 minutes. When I called back was told that I should order online and then put on hold for 5 minutes before I hung up! Will not be back!

YUM!. I ordered take away from here on Monday night and was pleasantly surprised! Service was friendly, allowing me to order a dish that wasnt on the menu and providing me with pappadums while I was waiting. The man who took my order was extremely friendly, I couldn't recommend the service more highly! Once I got my food (which didnt take very long at all despite the fact that the restaurant was quite busy) I was again fairly happy. Food was delicious and the flavours were fantastic! The only small downside with everything was the amount of capsicum in my dish which wasnt entirely expected, but given the amazingness of everything else it was only a small detail. Would definitely highly recommend

Sofya. Nice and comfortable place. Not loud music. Very attentive but not annoying staff. Very good food. Garlic and chili naans were fantastic! Was happy to have a dinner there. Happy to find a good Indian restaurant in the Camberwell area.

Loved it. Amazing food priced reasonably. Great vibe.

Very happy. The food was fantastic as was the service. The atmosphere was great. I will be eating here again very soon.<br/><br/><br/>-----26 Feb, 2014-----<br/><br/>Worth Going. I went there with my friends last Friday night. The food was delicious. The prices were affordable and there was a range of choices. The service was fantastic.

I got the same response with the entertainment discount. Reverse racism, But the place good and the food also homely. I have Been going for years. Perhaps the entertainment people should have a say over the way customers are treated, if they are going to include them in the books. It can be common.

Decent Indian Food. Turned up at this restaurant when they were extremely busy. The service was a bit poor and the waiters clearly stressed but when we said we would have to leave because we were in a rush they were very accommodating and got us our food within 20 minutes. The food was really nice. Different looking menu to your standard Indian restaurant which is really good. Have been back already.

Just ate there .. yep food was mostly great but service shonky! I ordered a chicken fish and "tossed green veggies with garlic/ginger" and instead I got a mixed curry veggie dish... I ponied it out to my waiter and after a few um um um's he said sorry the menu is wrong and walked away.. the owner came and asked how the food was, I told him how I didn't get what I ordered as per the menu... And he just said "ohh u don't like all the mixed veggies hey" and walked away ... Upon paying I told the lady (owners wife) and she still charged me the full amount and acted dumd and said we will Di better next time.... despite I clearly left ALL my plate untouched! This is extreme disrespect dismissive service! They should have apologized at their error , offered me another veggie dish if I wanted one, and definitely not charged me! I travel and see many cultures... I'm so not surprised at this Indian sharlatan behavior!! I certainly won't come back here!!

Awesome food and superb service<br/>Very happy

No complaints, it's great local indian, you don't go for the service - you go for the flavors, BYO is also a plus!

Good food. Ok service. I went their with my wife and 4 years daughter on Saturday night at 7.30 pm. Although it took them 10 minutes to find us seats as the restaurant was full, in my books its is a good sign as full restaurant normally means good food. The food took a bit longer then expected probably coz they were run off their feet with almost full restaurant but when the food did arrive it was quite nice. The curries had good flavor and finally a place which understand what "medium spicy" means. Our little one loved the Butter chicken and I loved the Goat curry. The naan breads were nicely done and not undercooked like some other places. Overall quite happy with the food and the service and would definitely recommend this place to others.

Home delivery debacle. Sorry, but I cannot recommend home delivery from this restaurant, not because of the food... But because after 4 phone calls and waiting almost 2.5 hours I cancelled our order! So cross at myself, it is blatantly obvious now that I was just being lied to on the previous 3 phone calls, before calling the 4th time to try and get a straight answer and finally cancelling. Unbelievably disrespectful service. I doubt we will be back.

Great service, great quality food and great prices! An absolute delight

Won't Be Back. I don't know how this place is still open after so long. Poor quality food i.e. the meat to sauce ratio is very low. Service is slow as a wet week - Avoid!<br/>0 out of 5

Terrible Indian food experience. This must be the most disappointing restaurant experience we have had! Not only were the staff (and owner) disinterested in providing any competent service, but the food itself was lacking in taste and not even a salt seller was to be found .... also it is definitely NOT the innovative Indian food experience that this restuarant claims to be!. <br/><br/>This was our first visit to the restaurant ... we came to it via the Entertainment book ... beware that if you intend to try it with the book voucher that you will probably also be met with extreme rudeness and disdane ... really NOT the way any restauranteur should treat first time customers (who will never return) and if asked only name this as our absolute worst dining experience in Melbourne!

Bad Service/NEVER EVER!!. Dont even bother. Bad service from the start. A stone cold face with bad service. Dont even know how to talk with customers. After complaining, they didn't even bother being apologetic. This was worst nightmare for going to an Indian restaurant in Melbourne. SHOCKING!!!<br/>I dont even know how they survive in this area with this bad service. Probably tables being empty all the time explains it all. NEVER EVER!

Our booking was for 7pm on a Sat night which I think helped avoid the long waits that some other reviewers have experienced. I noticed service certainly got worse as the room filled. <br/>From our visit here's the highs and lows of the night: Lows included the onion bahji and the naan. Both were doughy and very ordinary. Service was a little iffy, empty dishes left on the table, a naan never showing up and then magically reappearing on the bill & water not refilled, but there were some definite highlights to balance things out. <br/>Highs included the Chicken Balti, which was superb, and our Lamb Rogan Josh was also quite good. I loved the little touch with pre-warmed plates being brought to the table prior to our meal arriving, and the complimentary papadums & chutney were nice too. <br/>I'd definitely return but I'll be sure to be early and I won't bother with the naan or bhaji again. Looking forward to trying another curry but think the Balti is a keeper!

Turned off by the Biryani. Being of Indian descent, I expect a good chicken biryani from an Indian restaurant, obviously owned by Indians. What we got was rice, with huge chicken bits in it, still on the bone. A biryani is supposed to have cut up meat, that's been taken off the bone, in smaller pieces. Not ordering from here anymore.

Whilst I am alarmed by their large menu, they have yet to produce a sub standard dish... One of our takeout favorites!

Our local favourite. Excellent food and fantastic wait staff. Especially yogi! We have been going here for years and love it. Not the quickest Indian but worth the wait for the food. Very friendly. Staff remember us everytime. Highly recommended.

Good food but terrible service. I've been getting takeaway from Moti Mahal for years now, and while they've always been a bit iffy (taking up to an hour to get your food there), the last few times they've taken 2 hours to deliver our food. Both times a call at the 1:15 mark was answered with "they're on their way!" despite not even asking who we were. Food was then lukewarm. The food itself is quite tasty, but when it arrives so late and almost cold then what's the point?

Worst Restaurant in Melbourne. We went to Moti Mahal for Dinner few days ago. The waitress and the waiter was really rude.<br/>The customer service was awful.<br/>We had no cutlery or napkins at our table. We ordered the Malai Kofta and the Bhendi Masala. The Malia Kofta looked like two lumps of sh*t on the plate. The Bhendi Masala had less salt and no flavour. I cant believe this place has survived for 28 years.<br/>This was the worst Indian Restaurant Ever!<br/><br/>After dinner we were not even offered servietts to wipe our hands.<br/>This restaurant is a rip off for the service and food quality.<br/>I have eaten in way better indian restaurants and i would recommend Anshuman Da Dhaba on Clayton Road in Clayton.<br/><br/>I will never ever ever ever ever ever go to Moti Mahal again nor suggest it to anyone.

Good food at great prices. Went to Moti Mahal for dinner on Saturday night with friends, we were a table of 4. <br/><br/>Service was good except one of the waitresses is either short of hearing or forgetful. Had to ask for the papadams a couple of times. <br/><br/>The chicken tikka was fresh and tasty on a sizzling platter along with the veg somosas. The mains comprising chicken vindaloo, beef vindaloo and chilli chicken acompanied by rice, naan and ritta was refreshing.

Great food. Watch the bill calculation with the 10% takeaway discount, it is wrong in their favor every single time.

Awful Indian food. We went there for dinner and customer service is disappointing. Our waitress was rude. The tables did not have cutlery, plates, and napkins so we had to help ourselves from another table. The Tandoori Platter was awful with chicken neck, and chicken wings as a part of the platter. The chicken was dry and stale, the lamb chop was raw (obviously frozen). I am pretty sure it was frozen patter heated in a microwave. The lemon was recycled from the previous customer. The fish curry was cold . The Nan bread was like eating leather and rice was also stale. The curries have the same gravy (sauce) taste. This is the worst restaurant I ever dined out in my life. I would never recommend this restaurant to anyone

Reliable food, good service. Eaten here several times and bought take-away twice.<br/><br/>The food has always been good. Lamb is tasty and tender, chicken dishes have plenty of taste as well service is excellent.<br/><br/>This is clearly a family restaurant with values to match.

Well worth a try.. Whilst the exterior is hardly preposessing, the food at Moti Mahal was delicious, the portions generous, and the service welcoming. <br/><br/>The Malai Kofta and Balti Chicken were both beautifully balanced and the Naan was excellent.<br/><br/>Moti Mahal will certainly become one of my suburban regulars.

From the moment we arrived it was a pleasure. The staff was friendly, the service had the rigth pace the food was magnificent and the place was full of happy people, we'll be back!!

Samosas and papadaams for starters were delicious. However we sat and waited with those puppodums for over an hour waiting for our main even though there was only 2 other tables. The main was bland and the quail was overcooked. After our meal we asked for the bill and it took 30 minutes. Will not be returning to this disaster ever again.

I had Tawa Panneer at Moti. It was excellent. Word of caution if you order chilli naan it is very hot. The staff here are delightful.