text: I really wanted to like Malabar more. I've had my eye on the place since it opened (I used to love Coco Osteria), but I never managed to make it there til Saturday night. The fella and I decided to go for dinner and made reservations for 6:30. As others have noted, it's a pretty small place, so reservations are highly recommended.\n\nI usually don't like such cramped quarters because I feel like everyone around me is listening to my conversation, but at Malabar, the music and people are so lively that I didn't mind at all. Our service was impeccable.\n\nSo, why only 3 stars? The food. Sigh. We made it a night of tapas and tried the croquetas (ham, potato), albondigas (beet meatballs in tomato sauce), vaca frita (crispy beef with pickled onion on top), and romesco (eggplant bruschetta). While it was all fine, it was all just fine. Nothing stood out, nothing had much spice... it was all just, well, fine. I had hoped that out of four tapas, surely one of them would be delicious! But no. I also got the sangria after reading other reviews of how good it was; it was good, but can you really mess up sangria OR make it super great? It was fine, too.\n\nWe did try the tres leches cake for dessert (after asking out waitress to pick between that and the churros), and it was good - small but the perfect size for not gorging, moist, and creamy.\n\nThankfully, the atmosphere and service made up for the food, but I don't think we'll make it a point to stop by Malabar again.