Malabar

Had the bacon clam chowder and the crab cakes. The bacon clam chowder was AMAZING. I loved the flavor, and the portion size of the bowl was large enough to fill me up. I made sure I still ate my crab cakes though. The crab cakes first seemed a little small, and they would have been had I only ordered those, but they were appetizers. Unfortunately they did not have the crab cakes as an entrée. The crab cakes were tasty and there was some sort of pickled jimica/​cabbage mix on the side. Everything that came with the the crab cakes (aioli) was very good.
We had a party of five, and the server was nice and attentive. The price was average for the Natomas area, and for the five of us total it was $ 72. Which didn’t seem too bad. All food, no cocktails or anything. I was pleased with the restaurant and will come back next time I am in the area.

Top notch restaurant. This is the second time I’ve ate there. I am so impressed with the service and my burger that was cooked to perfection. I highly suggest you put your finger on this resturaunt. You will not be disappointed.

Wow I was so disappointed in this place very pricey and the food is very lousy as well as the service! Hey Eric I feel you Brotha!!!
Attention To John C of Malabar
Regarding my review
I was there with my wife Magdalena on Saturday, April 23,2016 for dinner
We ordered barbecue pork sandwich which was plain dried pork without the barbecue mixture which was disappointing from most barbecue sandwiches I have ordered! The sauce came separately in a small dish then my wife ordered a salad with rib eye and there was more greens with no flavor and my wife ordered the tortilla soup no flavor of tortillas soup we have had tortilla soup in many places and it was authentic in flavor with fresh tortillas and fresh ingredients but not at the Malabar restaurant just disappointed with the waiters reaction when we complained with no validation or concerned about customers satisfaction!

Ordered calamari and it is by far the worse calamari I have ever eaten. It lacks in the most basic culinary skills «seasoning», absolutely no seasoning and extremely bland. I’m assuming they are relying on their two sauces do bring flavor to thier dish. Don’t order it, it’s cheaper and taste better to just chew on used chewing gum…

The next dining establishment to close down in Sacramento behind Maggiano’s. Based on my last experience here and second this year, I don’t have much hope for their future, especially after the new arena opens.
The food was pretty bad as others have expressed in recent past reviews. Bacon wrapped meatloaf? Hmmmm? It wasn’t what I wanted, but it was on the table and up for review. The «hot wing shrimp» and nachos were enough for me to see. Be glad I didn’t take pictures!
The experience in the dining room is awesome. They have a nice dark décor and subtle environment. You would think your’re in for a pretty descent meal based on the décor alone.
Such was not the case and I can say the prices aren’t fine dining either, but for «mankinds sake», PLEASE serve HOT temperature food.
Your shrimp plate came out with no steam. The pork on your nachos looked like canned tuna and tasted just as bad. The little grease pool at the bottom of the plate helped me to verify I shouldn’t finish this plate. I saw the server adding the toppings just before she brought them to our table. Although she was sweet in demeanor, the cooks who are visible seemed to be having a good time in the back while looking confused. Tickets were all over the serving station.
Sorry Malabar, even though the intent for good service was there — The food quality is just not! My first visit on a very busy weekend night wasn’t bad, but the «off» night here, has left me with some serious concerns about the way your creative Chef meant for his food to hit the tables. It must have tasted good for it to be on the menu, but I’ll never know based on what was served to me.

They don’t even deserve this 1 Star I am forced to give. Do not eat here!!!
Party size of 16 if you have a large crowd your better off going elsewhere. I told Suzanne I was paying for 2 checks and to charge my card for both, she must’ve forgot. so when I got the check back I noticed I was charged for only 1 of them, fine mistakes happen were all human. I told her I was «pressed for time» and I needed her to charge my card again for the second meal since all 16 of us were on our lunch hour, she said here and dumped everyone’s check booklet onto the table and told me to pass them out! WTF! I’m not an employee here so no that’s not my job. Who does that? If she had some customer service skills and asked nicely of course I would’ve helped. I have never ever had this kind of service before. maybe I got lucky or maybe I’ve just dined in places were employees are trained properly. Obviously your establishment cannot handle large crowds.
I had the Ahi tartare and because it’s raw it should have been served cold… my food was warm not a good sign. It was the first time for myself and few of my colleagues and definitely our last!

Service was excellent. Our waiter was very attentive to our needs. The stake sandwich was cooked to perfection and the French fries were very tasty. We enjoyed our dining experience.

Dropped in for a quick bite and a brewskie. Excellent bartenders. Lively, engaged, fun.
The food was so-​so.
I had the wings, Diablo buffalo I believe was the flavour. Definitely not spicy, the meat was tough and they must have been using chickens that just came off the Biggest Loser as there was not a lot of meat.
The Reuben was good but I’m sure someone ate half my french fries while my order sat on the pass. Pretty skimpy portion.

What a disappointing, expensive experience this place was. My best advise is to save your time and go elsewhere as I found no redeeming quality to this place. I went here due to my proximity of my hotel. For my fellow travelers, may I suggest Ubering your way out of the area to eat, or just doing fast food. You’ll still be disappointed with your selection, but at least you’ll save money.
I came here being that it’s the only «real» restaurant nearby. First, it’s loud. I was alone so it made no difference for me, but if you’re in a group, don’t go here, you’ll strain to communicate.
Even so, the real issue for me was the food and service. I got the Ahi Tartar and coconut shrimp app. The tuna was excellent but the shrimp was absolutely tasteless without the sauce. What good is that? For $ 12, just give me the sauce I guess.
For dinner, I ordered the $ 30 strip steak. Unfortunately she brings me what I assume was a steak sandwich. She was apologetic and took it back to get me a steak. Luckily I wasn’t in a rush, but now I had to wait another 20 minutes for my meal. When it arrives, it has the butter I asked to not have and it was cooked medium, which is way overdone for a steak. To top it off, it was bland, flavorless. Obviously frozen and thawed out at one point (or more).
But again, for the price of this steak, which admittedly isn’t Ruth’s Chris price, was still too high to be tasteless. This was definitely not prime beef or even close. I could have gone to Sizzler for this. I ate my steamed veggies which were good and only did half my steak.
Now, I don’t need anything free but seriously, do you think there was any consolation for my extra waiting? No. I would have appreciated a managerial visit even, maybe to discuss tasteless beef. But nothing.
And if I’m not to big a sucker already, I also order a dessert to go. Out the door with my dessert, $ 72 for just me. Pricey, especially for what I got. Which felt like the heel of their boot!
Bonus time! I get back with my dessert, my $ 8 dessert, and it’s a cold, hard previously frozen brownie. And the supposed «huge» scoop of ice cream is smaller that the baskin Robbins kids scoop. I warmed the brownie up in my microwave and was able to eat half of it before the ice cream ran out.
Soooo, all in all a major disappointment at a restaurant that takes advantage of you with food prices they charge as if it’s premium quality when it’s nothing more than basic restaurant grade, pre-​frozen food, with no taste served in a loud environment.

I had high expectations for this place. The photos on Unilocal looked enticing. This was our second attempt at Malabar. The first time we went we had reservations for an hour and a half before the Kevin Hart comedy show at Arco. We got drinks and a appetizer, but our food never arrived.
We had reservations again and service was much better. Our server had to change stations mid service while we awaited the rest of our party. I would have given this place 4 stars if my food had been better and had our dinner arrived faster. The apps and drinks came our out quickly, but the entrees lagged. My dish was cold. I ordered a chicken enchilada and chile relleno with the basmati rice and black beans. I would not recommend this dish. The rice was bland and tastes like a box mix and lacked all seasoning. The black beans were clearly from a can and not seasoned. The chicken in the enchilada was dry and tough. The chile relleno was over stuffed with cheese and the egg coating was too thin. There were positives though. I asked my group about their dishes/​drinks.
Apps:
Chicken lettuce wraps– delish
Chicken and veggie quesadilla– great (the guac was the best)
Drinks:
Arnold Palmer (had some other name) — enjoyable
Mocha– I would go back just for their delicious mocha.
Entrée:
Jambalaya– spiced/​heated nicely
Prawn & filet mignon special– cooked as requested and good sauce
House salad with pecan and blue cheese– the pecans were lightly coated with cinnamon and nutmeg and were a perfect addition
Dessert:
We had everything. Yes, everything. The sampler platter, molten lava special, and the sundae with the house-​made toffee. I would go back just for the toffee.
The pluses in the other choices kept this review a 3, but had I just gotten my entrée, I would’ve been incredibly disappointed and hungry when I left. I will try it again someday. But this was my birthday choice and I seriously threw a fit when I heard my group cancelled reservations at Malabar for elsewhere, because I had been looking forward to trying it out. Total $ 140, plus $ 30 tip– I would have liked to have had a better experience with my entrée.

Well, our service wasn’t the greatest even tho
the waitress was nice. Asked for a soda which we sent bk because it tasted nasty. She said they were checking it and would come bk with another. That never happened. Said she would bring out carrots for my 3 yr old, and that never happened either. Ordered a burger with no cheese, it had cheese. I ordered crab cake sliders took out the crab since it was really fishy. I mentioned that to her and got an «I’m sorry». Don’t think I will be going there again in the near future.

Excellent food and great service, came here to celebrate Valentines Day, great food and drinks. Will definitely be coming back …

I really enjoyed this place. I think the location is sort of random. I think they could find a place a little further away from fast food joints and buildings that haven’t been completed for a decade.
Their menu is relatively extensive and should work for any taste. They have seafood, sandwiches, fried food, salads… Whole range. Best thing is they have a great drink menu along with the full bar and several beers on tap.
I ordered a beer and the chicken sandwich with mayo on the side. They put about 3 cups of lettuce on the sand which… But other than that, it was excellent. Bacon, avocado, cheese, etc. very tasty. The fries were also top notch as well.
My uncle ordered fish and chips. They looked pretty ordinary– but he said they were excellent. The serving size was huge and filled up the man.
Service was excellent. Very responsive, courteous, offered suggestions.
One thing I noticed was the crowd was a huge range. From guys in a hat (me) to most people who were business casual. Not sure if come in here with flip flops and shorts. You’d feel a little out of place. It is a dark lit room and sort of swanky. Great place– just a bit more business like than what I expected.
I will definitely return!

Came here for dinner with the boyfriend on a Friday night. Once we walked in, it took a few minutes before a waiter sat us down. Place looked pretty busy and it was loud.
We ordered the Starter Appetizer which included crab cakes, tuna poke, lettuce wraps, coconut prawns, and calamari! All in one appetizer. I suggest you order this to try all the different types of appetizer. Turns out it was pretty darn good!
For the entrée, we ordered the steak that’s marinated for 24 hours. We shared this because we knew the appetizer would fill us up and it did. The steak was alright — so flavorful, since it was marinated for so long.
DRINKS — they have a variety of cocktail drinks, the ones we ordered were yummy! We got the Kings Row martini, Latin Passion, Raspberry Lemonade, and Old Fashioned!
Would def come back for the drinks!

Very good food chowder was excellent
A little noisy for a week night overall a good experience I’d come back next time I’m in town

Eh, whatever.
Was in town for a Spartan race and wanted to have a celebatory dinner and drink. Place was STUPID loud, but it was a Saturday night. Sat at the bar and overheard a group complain to the bartender that they’ve been waiting almost an hour for their order. It came a handful of minutes later and appeared to be typical appetizers and not incredibly impressive.
Wasn’t feeling the atomsphere as far as dining was concerned (a LOT of clanking of dishes and kitchen prep noise, since it was open to the restaurant). Decided to splurge on 3-​fingers of the 18-​year old Macallan, neat.
Ten minutes and $ 56.42 later, I looked around for alternative dining options.

I came here with my friend using my groupon. :)
When we first sat down, I wasn’t exactly sure what to order, so it took us awhile. I finally decided on getting the Ahi-​Tuna appetizer, and it was delicious!
As for the entrée’s, I ordered the Asian Beef Salad, as I was not really craving anything American today although my friend had their Sausage Pizza. My salad was sweet, and tangy, I don’t typically order Asian salads, but this one was delightful, and large/​fulfilling! My friend on the other hand LOVED his pizza, even I thought it was really good when I tried it.
The only downside we had, even though our waitress was somewhat-​attentive, I started to notice how everyone around us had/​was offered bread on their tables, except for us. She not once offered it to us (despite it being complimentary), and I actually had to ask for it close to the end of our meal. It would have complimented my salad a lot better if we were even offered bread… so for me, that was a huge disappointment.
They have their own parking lot, which is relatively large. Even though we came during a busy time, I didn’t have a hard time finding parking.

This place gets bad reviews but it’s a nice place to have dinner. I started with a Manhattan Up and although it’s not made with rye whisky it was good. They serve bread and butter at first. Again, it was good and warm. I wasn’t hungry so I ordered Tortilla Soup. It had a good flavor and was temperature hot, but only mildly hot in flavor. I didn’t think it had enough chicken.
The service as good. I had my drink and food quickly.
Three stars because of the chicken amount and it was really noisy inside. The bar is too close to the dining area.

We were in town for training and staying next door at the Holiday Inn. It was late and we needed to somewhere to eat. Malabar was right next door so it seemed to be the logical decision. I wish I would have checked Unilocal first…
Well we ordered the risotto and the New York. Both were ooK. Definitely not worth the $ 35ish per plate. With that said, the atmosphere was great and the service was good. I’m sorry, Malabar, but I won’t be back.

Attended Malabar’s with my honey last night enjoying a great romantic meal. Our waitress Marla, was fantastic and very professional. I did let mgmt, know so she’d get the kudos she deserved. Owner was courteous as well and welcomed the excellent service review I gave him.
Our meal was Scampi, Ceasar salad & Swordfish with Red & White wine. Absolutely lovely!!. Pretty good price for a great meal. Not to mention very relaxing and upscale restaurant. We shall return soon ;)