Malabar

Giving this 5 purely because of the food. It is almost like being in India again eating here. That being said the service here also feels like India… They could use some help maybe from a westerner for the front of the house to bring things up a bit.

Valentine’s Day we were looking to have a good diner from Malabar, which most reviewers for them 5 star ! As I am a chef and I am an Asian the food just like a joke.
First the garlic nan undercook, the goat cheese salad is worse than trainee’s from Homeless garden project prepared.
The Davenport Artichoke appetizer came out by the end after we done the diner.
My entrée is Soya Kabob vegetables sizzling plate taste like steam broccoli, cauliflower, and bell pepper top with some very plan curry sauce, NOT SIZZLING when the waiter put it down in front of me and NO soya at all. I called the main guy ask about my dish, then 5 minutes later he bring out a tiny dish top with a piece «Soya» look like a piece of dog shit you can see at a dog park !!!
The services terrible, too slow, water not refill, the table next to me the lady dish not clean she ask for another clean one.
They are not deserve no star and any tip and for sure Malabar not on my list from now on

Malabar is my favorite restaurant – worth the drive over the hill from San Jose. My family and I have been here many times and we’ve loved everything we’ve ever ordered. Apparently I am not alone, since tonight the couple beside us had driven down from San Francisco just to eat at Malabar! It is difficult to recommend what to order, as the menu changes four times a year, seasonally. So something you adore might disappear from the menu never to be seen again. However, it will be replaced with something equally fabulous.
Tonight we did something different and ordered just small plates: Davenport Artichokes, Samosas, Salad Rolls, Tahu Goreng (very generous amount), Masala Wadde and a bowl of their cinnamon-​scented rice to soak up the sauces. It was definitely enough food for two people. The textures were so different — from creamy to crispy, soft to crunchy. And every bite was a different delicious taste sensation — from minty to peanuty, vinegary to gingery, chili to curry, sweet to spicy, and more.
The atmosphere is very romantic with lots of candles and flowers, but we always see families, too.
I have been shocked to see that Malabar does not have five stars. Apparently people don’t like the service. Please remember this is a family-​run business. Everyone with whom I’ve ever spoken here is an uncle, aunt, nephew or cousin. They are not professional waiters and the prices would be higher if they were. They also do not rush to bring you your check. It is like restaurants in Paris where you have to ask for the check. Many people consider this polite and hospitable rather than bad service. In any case the food far outshines any other concerns.
The chefs of Malabar could work anywhere in the world and be lauded among the finest. Fortunately for us, they work 30 miles from our home.

Had the fried artichoke in this amazing curry sauce and the red sauce ravioli. Best best vegetarian food I’ve had the atmosphere is lovely.

Love this place. Everything we’ve ordered from here has always been savory and delicious. Every time we think about going out to eat this is always my first choice.

Visiting from Chicago for a yoga training, I was in awe of the eggplant dosa, which Raj, the owner, recommended. Simple house salad was very fresh and dressed on the tart side, as I like it. Came twice this week and also enjoyed the vegetable korma and coconut roti. Almond chai served hot and delicious! The owner recognized me, and the service was great. One by one, regulars arrived with friends and were greeted by Raj. Clearly a spot that earns loyalty.

Delicious food
Lovely team
Good price
Best place in Santa Cruz

Based on food alone, Malabar should be getting a higher rating but the service was so outstandingly abhorrent that I can’t in good conscience give anything more.
Without using the word ‘abysmal’ the best way I could describe the attitude of every single front of the house staff member (there were 3) would be no f*cks given. From the young guy who had to have been high out of his mind to the two older gentleman who were 10 times more disgruntled than even the surliest postal worked, it was hard to find any love for the Malabar dining experience.
The smoothie and lassi type drinks were good, I’ll give them that… although one of the two grumpy old men working the front of the house made a big deal about me asking for a straw (when there’s no way to get something that thick out of a glass that tall and slender without) and felt the need to argue because the seeds in the drink would get caught in the straw– They didn’t, FYI, but even so, if you offer more than a dozen drinks like this, spend the extra couple bucks to order wider straws. Problem solved for everyone.
We tried ordering two different items that they failed to tell us they were out of. After coming back from the kitchen that it was no longer fig season so they couldn’t make our other ordered item, which I thought was weird since there were like 4 different menu items with figs as the main and prominent ingredient, so perhaps spend another few dollars to reprint a menu where a quarter of the items on it aren’t in season or available any longer.
The Saffron Ravioli Curry that I got was good, although the menu lists only two ingredients — one of them being Kalamata olives, but the dish was definitely served with previously canned, sliced plain black olives as a cheap substitute… which was a recurring theme at Malabar.
The dosa we had was decent, although we were left to guess what the sauces were and the banana blossom salad (noted on the menu to be made with pear but pretty sure they used apple instead) was great and tasted like a salad version of a Taffy Apple in addition to being a great portion for the price.
The Tempeh LaLa dish was inedible. It was overcooked to the point that it just felt and tasted like little bits of gravel in your mouth and the sides of this dish didn’t go with, or make sense to have with the tempeh. I don’t think I’ve ever been this harsh about a dish before, but the nicest thing I can say about it was that it was meant for the trash and Malabar should be embarrassed to have served that to anyone.
And I found it maddening that for a restaurant that sets themselves up to be kind of nice looking, they, instead of packaging up your food or taking your dirty, empty plates away, will let everything pile up and just bring you a clearly too small container to put leftovers in. It’s frustrating because they could have a nice place on their hands but they cut so many obvious corners that it doesn’t take long to see that they lack the character and class of an even average dining establishment.
I really could go on and on about all the things that went wrong with our meal and how repugnant the service was from all angles but it’s moot at this point. One experience at Malabar made me question why I ever bother going out to eat, and that’s a really sad thing considering that the thought of going out to eat is main reason I get out of bed most mornings.

My husband found this listed on
and I have to say it was more than expected. We arrived early, 5:30p, for dinner and were quickly greeted with a choice of tables. We read the menu before we got there to expedite our choice, but everything sounds so interesting. Flavors that we have never seen before, especially with so many vegan options. We love our dosa’s but figured we would have to try something new.
Appetizer — Davenport artichokes
Mains — Saffron Curry Ravioli and Kabocha pumpkin squash curry with Brown rice basmati
Dessert — Vegan Chocolate Mousse
The sauce with the artichokes — spicy and delicious thai green curry, I started to lick the plate. The kafir lime aioli on fresh lemon slices was flavorful but a bit salty. Not enough sprouts like in the photo stream on Unilocal.But the artichokes were crispy and easy to eat with your fingers. Kind of like flowers on a stem. I would order two just for myself as a main.
The ravioli was swimming in the saffron curry, and I love a lot of sauce. It was very filling, and wish I could have shared with my husband, I was pretty full by the last ravioli. The filling in the ravioli is a nice light kabocha pumpkin, so that was a nice balance with the creaminess of the curry. It did over power the cilantro pesto though. Lovely color balance. But I should have ordered a salad to compensate for the heavy sauce.
The curry was a bit boring, just the squash, no other vegetables. But a nice flavor. The rice was not my favorite because of the fresh mint leaves and the burnt carrot and onions. Maybe they were meant to be? But my husband liked it and was very happy with it.
I couldnt resist the chocolate mousse, it was light, creamy, and sweet enough but not very sweet, which is my preference. And vegan! More on the milk chocolate flavor, but I prefer dark chocolate. If you love chocolate, save room for this.
Our ultimate flavor sensation for the evening was the Kulfi pistachio shake (vegan). Wow, what a flavor sensation! I’ve had pistachio kulfi, when I could have dairy, so I do miss this flavor. And they do an amazing job with almond milk and other ingredients I had to google! This was like having dessert first! I would skip the dessert next time and have this instead.
The service was satisfactory and attentive. All our food came out on time and with a smile. We did stump the waiter to ask how they made one of the other drinks, and he did admit that he needed to find out, but never came back with the answer. It was not important to us anyway. I’m sure he knows the answer now!

It is truly a shame when a restaurant serves delicious food, but the service cannot keep up. I ordered the Salad Rolls small plate and ravioli for my main. Everything was delicious and I have no complaints about quality.
But this restaurant needs to up it’s service quality. Maybe it is because we were a large group, but they had trouble keeping track of our orders and got a few wrong. Also we also got our drinks at different times throughout the meal. One of us received our drink 10 minutes after we finished eating, only to be given the wrong drink.
But overall our sever was friendly, apologised to my friend for getting the wrong order and made his drink free.
Come with a small group or just a significant other. The food is delicious.

The meal I had here was probably the best grub session I’ve had all year.
Do I remember exactly what we ate? No, no I don’t. Was I drunk from a wedding where there were zero vegan options leaving me to just drink a shit ton of wine? Yes, yes I was. But trust me, drunk and starving or not, I know stellar vegan food when I cram it in my face and Malabar was hands down right on the money.
Good work making us all of those whatever we ate delicious things, Malabar!

Skip it.
We stopped by for a late lunch and everything we ordered (Garlic noodles and a curry trio with rice) was extremely oily and seemed like it had been sitting around for days and just warmed up :(Not fresh and definitely not tasty.
The only redeeming quality was the mango curry, which was just sweet enough with some spice paired with the rice. The garlic noodles were essentially inedible, and we had a few bites before abandoning the dish because it was just so oily and lacked flavor.
Also we had to go INSIDE the kitchen, way in the back of the restaurant, to find a waiter? There was no one to be seen for the first 5 minutes we got in the restaurant, so we had to go flag someone down inside. Awkward but also unprofessional.
Prices are good — $ ⁷⁄₈ per dish. But I’d pay so much more if the food was good.