101 W. Michigan AvenueI’ve really gotten away from the Friday night pizza this fall.
Last week’s overtime assignment started in Paw Paw. There are some good pizza places in Paw Paw but there’s also a taco place that I pass all the time and never make time for.
That was going to change. I had time for dinner and even though it was Friday night, I was in the mood for tacos.
Malia’s Taqueria is on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Gremps Street on the west side of downtown Paw Paw. The small corner building was The Sugar Bear for a long time before the Mexican place moved in the summer of 2022. This location in Paw Paw is the second Malia’s location. The original , Malia’s Mexican Restaurant is just up the road on M-40 on the north side of Gobles.
Like most buildings on this stretch of Michigan Avenue, the building is pretty close to the street. There is some street parking in the area but there is also a larger parking lot off Gremps Street behind the building. This is kind of used as the “main entrance” as the register and host stand is right inside this door off the parking lot.
The restaurant uses the same brightly painted, heavy wood furniture with the restaurants name on it that the Gobles location uses. The rest of the decor is slightly toned down with neutral colors on the wall with some red accents.
Malia’s Taqueria is a full service Mexican restaurant so I used the online ordering to have my meal ready for me when I got there. I got my usual. Four steak tacos and an order of fries. The cost was a little over $15 before tip.
I was heading to my job site just down the road to eat like I typically do. The fries were easy enough to eat in the car so I popped that box open as I was driving. Like fries usually are from Mexican restaurants, these were pretty simple out of the bag frozen fries. There wasn’t any seasoning on them or anything. Some Tajin or some other seasoning salt would go a long way towards making these fries something other than typical fries. They were fine though and there was a lot of them so I really can’t complain too much.
The tacos were everything I expect from a taqueria. Two soft corn tortillas wrapped around tender steak and topped with chopped onion and cilantro. There was no hot sauce included which I should have remembered from my stop at the Gobles location. It was the only thing I didn’t like about the tacos there but I totally forgot about it. The tacos were delicious but some kind of hot sauce would have been much better. I kind of expect hot sauce with tacos just like you expect ketchup with fries at a burger place.
I was in a taco mood the night I stopped in Malia’s and they delivered with tacos. I just need to remember to ask for hot sauce when I stop at one of their locations. The tacos were a little dry on their own and lacked the spiciness I crave with Mexican street tacos. Still delicious and still worth your time if your looking for tasty Mexican food in Paw Paw though.