Good Eats in Natomas

By Jessica Caswell

If you’re ever in the Natomas area of Sacramento, Calif. please take the time to eat at Malabar. It has tasty food, good service and a nice atmosphere—so long as you can figure out the parking.

When you pull in, you drive up to back side of the restaurant and if you don’t pay enough attention, you’ll end up parking in the back and thinking it's the front.

Once I figured out I was on the back side of Malabar, I pulled around to the front and still thought that it looked like the back of a restaurant.

The exterior is very modest and the door is not an inviting glass door like you see at most restaurants. It’s a single wood door that opens to the right with no windows.

The building does have windows, you just can’t see into them from the outside.

But all of the outside confusion was made right when I walked inside the boring door into a cool vibed restaurant.

The mood of the restaurant makes you feel like you just stepped into a lounge in New York City where business men just got done with their 9 to 5 jobs.

As I walked in the hostess approached Eric and I and sat us immediately.

We waited for the others to arrive and chatted a bit. The waitress Marianne was prompt on getting our drinks. I originally wanted a Diet Pepsi but, Marianne told me that Malabar only carries Coke products. I was disappointed, but moved on with a freshly brewed iced tea.

Group members arrived one by one and we all decided to order an appetizer.

The appetizer menu was pretty large. It had everything from Spicy Chicken Wings to Dungeness Crab Cakes. We all agreed on the Three Cheese Garlic Bread at the modest price of $3.95.

It was good for the price. I wasn't blown away. It tasted like cheesy garlic bread that you can throw in the oven yourself.

The service was great and Marianne was on point. As we ate the appetizer and waited for our entrees, our drinks were kept full and anything we asked for was accommodated to.

The entrees finally arrived and by then I was ready to get my grub on.

I ordered the Roasted Garlic Shrimp Ravioli. I took a bite and thought it was delicious. I actually wanted to stuff my face but, didn't want to finish my food in one minute when everyone else had only taken one bite. It was $17.50 and worth the price.

The sauce on the ravioli was a porcini cream and it brought out the taste of the shrimp inside the ravioli and also the artichoke that was served with the pasta.

The menu was very diverse, which I liked. It had everything from pizza to steak sandwiches.

After I finished my delicious entree, I was ready for dessert.

Marianne promptly brought us the dessert menu and my eyes were drawn to the Double Delicious Double Fudge Chocolate Brownie. It was $6.50 and in my chocolate loving eyes, worth ever penny.

The bill finally arrived and Marianne put all of our orders on one ticket but, we wanted to pay separately. When we told her she quickly fixed it and gave us each our own ticket.

All in all, I think Malabar may not have an inviting outside but, it makes up for that when you walk through the door.

The service was prompt and my drink was always full. That’s all I can ask for in a restaurant.