Critic Hanna Raskin Banned From Newly Opened Malagón

Post and Courier critic Hanna Raskin won’t get to enjoy the croquetas de jamon or pollo adobado at Spanish taperia Malagón, because she is not allowed to dine there. She explained in a “review” yesterday that co-owner Patrick Panella informed her via email that she would not be “grant[ed] access” to the establishment.

Raskin tried to get around this by ordering food to go — Malagón doesn’t allow this. Therefore, the critic was “reduced to puzzling out Malagon from leftovers and photographs handed over by co-conspirators.”

This isn’t the first scuffle between Panella and Raskin. In 2014, the critic reviewed Malagón’s older sibling Chez Nous, and it didn’t go over well with the owners. While Raskin gave the restaurant 3.5 stars, she did point out that she thought the menu was “pretty near illegible,” the offerings restrictive, and the beverage program “rigid.” After the publication of the review, Panella took to Facebook to say, “... the fact that you suggest that we have somehow come up with a mind-boggling number of ways to not accommodate our guests and that this is what makes our restaurant ‘very’ French is culturally insensitive and highly offensive.”

Panella referenced this exchange in a recent email to Raskin, informing her that she was not welcome at Malagón, “... we do not wish to subject ourselves to the type of personal insults or inaccuracies that were on display when you reviewed Chez Nous almost five years ago.” The entire email is on Facebook.

• Malagon Serves Marvelous Food to Those Allowed into Downtown Charleston Restaurant [P&C]
• Chez Nous Responds to Hanna Raskin’s Critique [ECHS]
• Malagón [Facebook]