Mall pretzels are hit or miss. You can get decent ones, but they do tend towards soggy ang gross unfortunately.

There are several smallish chain breweries that have (I think) the style of pretzels you're talking about as a bar snack / appetizer. I really liked the ones at Capitol City Brewery in the DC area. They were always chewy on the outside, soft on the inside and came with abundant mustard that IIRC they actually made on site from mustard and horseradish. Yummy.