Lahore Restaurant Review: Malee's Cafe in Gulberg

The bright lights and chic cabin-like design of Malee's Café had been enticing us for a few months before we dared to check out this new restaurant. It is located in Gulberg, right across the street from Arizona Grill and next to Coffee, Tea & Company & Essa Jee's import store. You may have to drive around for a few minutes in order to find parking in this crowded area.

The outside of Malee's Café looks something like an alpine cabin in Switzerland, but when you enter you are accosted by bright fluorescent lights on the lower level. The upper level has low lighting and a more laid back décor of greens and browns. We decided to sit downstairs since the upstairs section was occupied by college-age young men.

At first, the amount of action happening on the lower level can be a bit overwhelming. There is a bakery section, a live pizza-baking station, a Subway-like sandwich station, gelato ice cream for 300+ rupees a cup, and hundreds of drink options adorning the walls. Each station has smiling attendants eager to take your order.

We chose a shiny table in the middle and a waiter brought us the menus. We decided to try a chicken sandwich and a small pizza. Along with the food, we ordered a kiwi-strawberry smoothie.

Our smoothie came within minutes, but it was a major disappointment. There was a glob of full cream on the top that sunk down into the drink and made it really thick and laden with fat. The flavor of the smoothie was like it had been made from concentrate and not from real fruit juice, although they may have used both. We had only ordered one to split and could not finish it due to the cream.

Next came the hot chicken sandwich. Again, this was nothing special. The meat inside the sandwich was tasty, but the bread was sweet, light and fluffy. I prefer thick breads that do no squish when you bite into them. There were tasty grilled onions and peppers on the sandwich. Since what was inside was good, I would have rather eaten it without the squishy white bread.

The pizza was okay. It was a bit thick for my standards and didn't really have enough sauce. It wasn't terrible, just not what I really like in a pizza. The toppings were sparse; we should have just ordered cheese.

As usual, my husband and I disagreed on our ratings of the restaurant. I gave it a 3 out of 10 and would not want to go there again. He, on the other hand, gave it a 7 out of 10 and would like to go there again to try the expensive gelato. We both agreed that Malee's Café is just trying to do way too many things, and that it would be better if it focused on one or two things, such as ONLY the ice-cream and a few hot snacks. It is better to have 10 menu items and do them well, than to have hundreds of mediocre options. My husband did say that he'd pass on the food next time and just go for the ice cream or the baked goods, but I'm not sure I'm willing to give Malee's Café another chance!