63 replies to this topic

[Suzyque565]

I spoke with one of the employees today, and was reminded that this is a locally owned business..yes there is on by Arco but this one is run by Folsom people. Also, their fish is caught and served fresh, not frozen. If the alcohol was cheap then too many people would sit there and get too drunk then go get into cars. By having expensive drinks.. you'll only have one. I've paid over $ 10.00 for martini's in Vegas... over $10.00 easily for a shot of tequilla just about anywhere and margaritas at Hacienda are close to $10, there is no such thing as cheap drinks at restaurants.. unless you are looking for the kind of restaurants that have the peanuts on the floor. I think people should give them a chance.. just like any other new business in our town. Malabar is in a decent location, and is nice. Folsom doesn't have too many simple dinner restaurants, and I think the menu and prices are comparable to say Black Angus.

[Steve Heard]

Speaking of expensive drinks I was in SF last week staying at the Hilton downtown. Anybody want to guess what a tiny ~8oz well drink goes for in the bar at the hotel????

Most restaurants, SF to Folsom, charge $7 or $8 for a drink these days.

There are bargains in SF. You have to know where to look. Even at the Wharf you can get a good drink, reasonably priced. The Buena Vista still serves jumbo martinis for $6.50. I think they are $5 at Aub Zam Zam.

Go to the Palamino Club at happy hour, and get great drinks for $3 in a really nice setting.

I could go on, and on, and on....

[mylo]

I had a bagel at the Four Seasons on Market St. a while back. $14 bucks

[Dave Burrell]

I had a bagel at the Four Seasons on Market St. a while back. $14 bucks

when the company is paying you should buy two, snack for later

[mylo]

when the company is paying you should buy two, snack for later

I may or may not have done that.

[Steve Heard]

I spoke with one of the employees today.... If the alcohol was cheap then too many people would sit there and get too drunk then go get into cars. By having expensive drinks.. you'll only have one. I've paid over $ 10.00 for martini's in Vegas... over $10.00 easily for a shot of tequilla just about anywhere and margaritas at Hacienda are close to $10, there is no such thing as cheap drinks at restaurants.. unless you are looking for the kind of restaurants that have the peanuts on the floor.

While I am certain that the employee believes that the high prices are to discourage drunks, I don't think that's the case. It's to extract as much money from the paying customer as possible. As you mentioned, there's no such thing as cheap drinks in restaurants. So, under this employees theory, all of the restaurants and bars are really interested in the health and safety of the customer, rather than making money.

All of those places charge what they do because they can. Customers will pay it. No other reason.

By the way, expensive drinks don't stop people from getting drunk at Scarlet's, Pachanga's, Scott's, Hacienda (where margaritas are acutally $6, not $10), or anywhere eles in town.

[w00t]

I spoke with one of the employees today, and was reminded that this is a locally owned business..yes there is on by Arco but this one is run by Folsom people. Also, their fish is caught and served fresh, not frozen. If the alcohol was cheap then too many people would sit there and get too drunk then go get into cars. By having expensive drinks.. you'll only have one. I've paid over $ 10.00 for martini's in Vegas... over $10.00 easily for a shot of tequilla just about anywhere and margaritas at Hacienda are close to $10, there is no such thing as cheap drinks at restaurants.. unless you are looking for the kind of restaurants that have the peanuts on the floor. I think people should give them a chance.. just like any other new business in our town. Malabar is in a decent location, and is nice. Folsom doesn't have too many simple dinner restaurants, and I think the menu and prices are comparable to say Black Angus.

LOL!!!!! By far one of the most ignorant things I've ever seen posted in a forum.

Using that logic, we could solve the gun crime problem in America by increasing the cost of guns?! Heck, why stop there? Just increase the cost of everything "bad" and the problem goes away. </rant>

[old soldier]

with those prices when I get a hankering to hang out with fancy folks this is a place I will go. when you have high price drinks regular folks won't hang out and the crowd will be fancy.

sort of like the culling of the herd.

what folsom does need is a bar where you can throw peanut shells on the floor.l

[tessieca]

Yeah, Woot, it sounds like you weren't treated specially on a night that should have called for special treatment. The people at those soft openings are the ones who will go around and talk up the restaurant. Or down. . . We'll probably try it just to make our own impressions.

[Sandman]

Looks like Malabar is trying really hard to drum up some business. Today there was a guy standing across the street from Intel holding up a big sign for free meal coupons

[SacKen]

We went on Saturday night and it was barely half-full during a time that most restaurants have a line. They need the sign person to stand on E. Bidwell in front of MacRubyMimisBJ to let them know there is a new place over there! The Gourmet Express would benefit as well.

Overall, I thought Malabar was pretty good. I love the pork sandwich and am looking forward to trying some of the other menu items. My wife had the Mushroom & Tomato pizza. It was not very good. They need to cook it longer so that the tomatoes dry out more. It was a big slimy, mushy mess.

When we visited the location in Natomas, she had the Ahi and absolutely loved it.

I like that they don't have a 23 page menu. Most places like this, Bidwell St Bistro, Pachangas, etc, have small menus compared to the chains. But their menu touches all the bases. I really don't need 12 different shrimp combo options.

The drinks were ridiculously priced, as already discussed, but so are the drink prices at the other locally owned places I mentioned. At least a beer was still under $5. Other drinks were outrageous.

[s0479]

I went for happy hour last weekend. Tried two of the appetizers (cheese skillet and lettuce wraps) both were good. Took some others there on Monday (or tried to) but they were closed for a construction issue, but they gave us a coupon for buy one get one free entree for our efforts. Which was great...we'll be back.

Side Note: We ended up going to Express Gourmet. I've been there three times and have found the food very good, fast, and priced well.

[Dr.BBQ]

Well I have had lunch at the Malabar 4 times this week !! I know sounds crazy, but if you like something well go back...The staff has been very friendly and the food that I have tried has been good. Sampled so far !. Pork Sandwitch very good but messy ! hehe 2. Two beef tacos with rice and beans... unusual note: the rice and beensactually were outstanding-unlike sooo many Mexican restaurants bland fare.3. The 1/2 sadwitch and soup combo, the clam chowder is very good ( better than Scott's wallpaper paste) and #4 was the Italian Grinder lots of meat and melted cheeses.... Yes I am going there for lunch with my bride today....

BBQ is a method- not a suace..

[Steve Heard]

We went last night.

It was pretty slow. 3 people at the bar. Most tables empty.

Our waitress was sweet but inexperienced. She put the salad in the middle of the table, didn't know how to use the wine opener, and we had to ask twice for lime in our drinks.

The calamari appetizer was really small. Not worth the $10 they charged for it.

The skirt steak was good, but it came rare instead of medium, and the veggies and potatoes were lukewarm.

The manager came by our table to check on things earlier and comped us a dessert.

He said they were doing a soft opening to work the bugs out.

I saw Liz, one of my favorite bartenders (was with Taco Loco and Mexquite), and she said, "Next time, eat at the bar!".

I think I will.

[foodjunkie]

Exactly.

As I read some of these comments it seems to me that there may well be two Malabars in Folsom. My family and I eat at Malabar all the time and have yet to have a bad meal. The portions are huge and the food is always good quality. We dine out frequntly and have tried most of the places in Folsom. The food at Malabar is a reasonable price point and the drinks are pretty much on par with the rest of the bar/restaurants in town. $8.oo for a Ketel One Cosmo is no more expensive than Scott's and for that matter the wine by the glass is right on par with Fats. Of course you can buy wine cheaper at Costco. They certainly would have better buying power with their many stores than this one restaurant so if Costco sells you wine for $12, it probably cost them $2. As for Malabar I would expect them to mark up the wine. If they pay $20 for a bottle it should sell for $40. If there are about 4 glasses to a bottle then this same bottle should be $10 per glass. Makes sense to me and to anyone who has ever sold anything for a profit-I would guess.

For my family Malabar will be the restaurant in Folsom we choose to recommend and take people to. There are no long waits or stupid beepers, they take reservations-so we never have to wait. It is clean and uncluttered-no dusty tricycles and other garbage hanging from the walls. It is locally owned-not a chain. As I said before the food is consistently good. If you tried it just after it opened and had a bad experience then perhaps you may want to try it again. Most place/people don't get everything right at first.