Cafe Malabar in Norwich

I was hoping to give this place 5 stars, but I will provide a detailed review of my experience.1. Opening time:It is advertised the opening is 17:00 on Saturdays. I entered at 17:13 on Saturday 2nd Jul 22. I was welcomed in, only to be told the kitchen was not open. I do appreciate being told, it was a kind gesture indeed, but it shows poor planning. When you'll advertise the opening time as 17:00, the restaurant must be fully open. Or if there is an inconvenience, change the opening time or put a sign board stating the restaurant will open late due to the circumstance. I returned back at 19:23.2. The Menu:I ordered the Dosa, but the waitress told me it was not available as it's a breakfast item, then I asked for the Vada and was told the same. A lot of item on the menu were unavailable. Now I been to many South Indian restaurant and the Dosa is usually the star item on the menu and I have never seen it serve as an exclusive breakfast item only. Hence, don't give us that excuse. Also, the question is, if your restaurant operates from 17:00 to 22:00/22:30, during what time do you'll serve breakfast? I don't know. Do you'll serve breakfast at a time which you'll have not advertised? That's okay, but I suggest you'll split the menu. Have a separate menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In that way your customer does not have to decide on something, only to be told that item is unavailable. Therefore, I asked the waitress what was available, and I was told the onion bhaji was available. I also asked if the samosa was available and I was told it was available.3. The Food:The samosa was burnt and seems it was frozen and bought from the supermarket and refried but I was not charged for the samosa because I was provided only 1 instead of 2.The onion bhaji didn't look like onion bhaji at all. Onion bhaji must be firm solid onion fritters. That's what the menu stated, but this was just some crumbs of onion coated in gram flour. That's not onion bhaji. It look like Chivda. However, that's fine if that's your variation.4. The Service:As per the menu, the Onion Bhaji was meant to be served with tomato chutney. The tomato chutney was missing. I thought the waitress would bring it and she never did. She was busy, and I tried to draw her attention but she did not respond. Later I complained and she deducted something from my payment.5. Value for money:Too expensive. A glass of lemonade costs £2.95, £1.95 for a glass of sparkling water.6. Cleanliness and Décor:The tables were dirty, with food stains on the table cloth, dust on the side plates and stains on the cutlery. The toilets were dusty with cobwebs. Décor, very gloomy atmosphere. Didn't feel the place was very inviting.7. Overall experience:Terrible! Most of the items on the menu were unavailable. Food was lousy and not worth visiting again. If the items I wanted were available, I would have made a purchase of at least £20, but because a lot of items were unavailable, I made a purchase of less than £10.But I will tell you that you have a chance to improve. Normally, when I review a store and I have a bad experience, I tell my readers to avoid visiting. However, in your case, I will not tell my readers to not visit your store. If you improve, and take heed to my recommendation, and if I see improvement, I will edit my review and possibly give you a good review.Thank you

Authentic tasteHave been here twice, services and taste remained consistently good.Surely recommend this place to those who would like to explore Indian food.This place allows you to pre order for take away as well eat in which might help reduce the waiting time.The resto does need some extra care and possibly refurbishment which is in pipeline I'm told.Service was good, cheerful staff despite how busy they were.Huge place with seating capacity for more than 50 people. They do have a bar.Menu is quite reasonably priced.Can't believe how underrated this place is.

Tasty authentic Indian food.Try Chicken Biryani, Chicken 65 and Prawns 65. Tasty!

Delicious food. Authentic taste of the Malabar cuisine was unmissable. We ordered a takeaway and every dish was distinct and tasty, enjoyed with the Kerala Parotta and plain rice. If only there was a similar restaurant in London... Do try the Malabar Prawn and the Fish MoileeUPDATE: Rating reduced from 5 to 2 stars (May '22). We went back after about 9 months and we were disappointed. Service slow, food too salty, new management, shortened menu and most items not available. They even mentioned a few times that they had a busy day and many ingredients were over -perhaps and indication that we were not welcome. We won't be going back.

Editing my review after second try, ordered chicken Rogan josh and never tasted such a bad food. Its just salt and tomato sauce. Please dont waste your time and Money.

Really tasty food and good service, especially south Indian food's are really commendable

Ordered Mysore bonda, Sambar vada and Dosa through Uber eats, and food at best was average. The bigger problem was Mysore bonda, what I received instead was Aloo bonda and when I called the restaurant to complain about it, the manager was unapologetic about it and offered a lame excuse that this is how they prepare Mysore bonda here. I have no issues that they are serving Aloo bonda, the real issue is the misinformation. Nothing tasted authentic. Had high hopes from this place. Never gonna order again.

My partner and I wanted to try a thali and arrived just after opening at 17:15 and the sign says open but the doors were still locked. After the waitress noticed this, they quickly opened the door. The interior was pleasant and we got to choose where we sat however the issues started after that. The waitress gave us paper takeaway menus, when the restaurant hands out the laminated menus with a fuller list of options.The paper menu didn't have the thali despite it being advertised on the menu at the front of the restaurant and images plastered at the front of the restaurant of the thali as well as lots of reviews and pictures of the dish. So we asked the waitress if we could order the thali, they weren't sure because it wasn't on the paper menu so they went to ask the chef. They came back saying that they "don't do it". So we believed them and ordered some dosas from the menu.After our meal, another member of staff who was an older man walks into the restaurant gets ready and seats another couple. The waitress comes over and they ask for a thali, she says no they dont do the thali, the couple manage to stop the waiter that seated them and asked about the thali and he said that they did do the thali and they ordered 2. That really ruined the entire experience knowing that we didn't get the dish we wanted because of someone's incompetence.The food was just average, nothing to write home about and If you want a dish and they say they dont have it, get a second opinion and ask another staff member...Edit:- I forgot to mention the poppadom problem. We ordered a portion of poppadoms and for £1 we expected 3 but, they came out with 1... that was odd, I've never experienced that before.

The food is of a high standard. It's all about the taste isn't it or why do we bother. I believe it is family run business, very friendly. The restaurant is clean, the decor could do with a slight updating.The food tastes more authentic than the regular Indian food that we are all used to, would recommend this restaurant and takeaway.

A wonderful meal. A great treat to have almost everything on the menu gluten free. The food was beautiful, such wonderful flavours. Prepared for your personal taste. As we will medium it was all prepared that way but if you like it hot, no problems, they will do that for you. Wonderful, helpful staff. Will worth a visit.