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James Beard award winning chef, Vikram Sunderam, and his Rasika chefs have designed the menu, with a focus on freshly ground spices and seasonal ingredients at its core, and which can be paired with curated wines, craft cocktails, and beers. Malabar invites you to savor the coast of India cuisine along with our signature dishes which have been highly enjoyed over the years by guests of our other Indian restaurants.
Address and Contact Information
Address: 4465 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008
Phone: (202) 845-8301
Website: https://www.malabar-dc.com/
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Order and Reservations
Reservations: resy.com
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Related Web Results
Malabar Restaurant – Washington, DC
Malabar offers contemporary Indian cuisine – light, vibrant, and layered with complexity. From signature dishes like Palak Chaat, Butter Chicken , lamb shank, …
Book Your Malabar Reservation Now on Resy
Malabar Restaurant is an up-scale Coastal Indian dining destination, Located at 4465 Connecticut Ave NW. Celebrated for its innovative dishes.
Malabar, DC’s new contemporary southern Indian restaurant …
The executive chef heading Malabar is Vikram Sunderam, a Bombay, India, native who was behind Rasika and Rasika West End. In 2014, Sunderam also …
Reviews
Austin Graff
Across the street from Bread Furst is a South Indian restaurant serving coastal dishes like garlic black cod and scallops with coconut from a James Beard Award-winning chef. One block from the Van Ness-UDC Metro and near easy street parking, Malabar is worth a visit.
Open every day from 5-10 p.m., the space is huge with a spacious dining room and bar. Service is on point and the food is very tasty. To help feed two of us, we ordered the palak chaat, scallops, arancini, chicken curry, and garlic black cod. Everything was beautifully presented and full of flavor, but the winners were the scallops, arancini, and palak chaat.
If you love Indian food, go here. Its coastal southern style is unique and worth your time.
… moreOpen every day from 5-10 p.m., the space is huge with a spacious dining room and bar. Service is on point and the food is very tasty. To help feed two of us, we ordered the palak chaat, scallops, arancini, chicken curry, and garlic black cod. Everything was beautifully presented and full of flavor, but the winners were the scallops, arancini, and palak chaat.
If you love Indian food, go here. Its coastal southern style is unique and worth your time.
Allen Ingling
Food was amazing. Fantastic spice and sauces. Lots of seafood options but we only had the scallop appetizer which was wonderful.
Eggplant and Lamb shank entrees were also fantastic.
Service was incredible. Everyone was really nice and right there when you needed something.
… moreEggplant and Lamb shank entrees were also fantastic.
Service was incredible. Everyone was really nice and right there when you needed something.
Soophia Hussain
2 weeks in and obviously a brand new restaurant is going to have some hiccups. That being said, they ran out of one of our starters so we ended up trying the Cauliflower Bezule and it was so good! The food overall was delicious, we had the halibut and lamb shank as entrees and they did not disappoint. However I cannot leave out the desserts, roasted coconut ice cream (I mean I would go back for this alone) and some kind of chocolate brownie layered thing with a mint chocolate ice cream really surprised us. They went above and beyond service wise to overcome the app running out and the restaurant had a nice ambience and division of spaces that made it feel intimate. Therefore I’m giving this 5 stars across the board.
… moreSamantha Lee
I recently had dinner at Rosedale with three friends, and while I appreciate the farm-to-table concept, our experience left a lot to be desired.
Since they were out of ingredients for the Spiced Peach mocktail, I asked for a fruity mocktail instead, but it ended up watered down and lacking flavor. For my main dish, I had trouble deciding between the white pizzas and went with our server’s recommendation, the Forager Pizza. The crust was nicely done, but I found the flavors too rich and the cheese overpowering.
My friends shared the Grilled Bavette steak, which unfortunately was chewy, under-seasoned, and seemed to rely too heavily on the sauce for flavor. We wrapped up with the Peach Melba, but the poached peach resembled something out of a can and, much like the rest of our meal, it fell flat.
Overall, while the service was pleasant and the setting charming, the food simply didn’t meet expectations. Everything we ordered sounded great on paper but underdelivered in taste.
… moreSince they were out of ingredients for the Spiced Peach mocktail, I asked for a fruity mocktail instead, but it ended up watered down and lacking flavor. For my main dish, I had trouble deciding between the white pizzas and went with our server’s recommendation, the Forager Pizza. The crust was nicely done, but I found the flavors too rich and the cheese overpowering.
My friends shared the Grilled Bavette steak, which unfortunately was chewy, under-seasoned, and seemed to rely too heavily on the sauce for flavor. We wrapped up with the Peach Melba, but the poached peach resembled something out of a can and, much like the rest of our meal, it fell flat.
Overall, while the service was pleasant and the setting charming, the food simply didn’t meet expectations. Everything we ordered sounded great on paper but underdelivered in taste.
Alex Reyes
Went to Malabar during restaurant week and had a wonderful time ! The food and drinks were amazing, and the service was even better !! Our server, Richard, was so funny, attentive, and helpful; the manager also came by often (didn’t catch his name) and he was very friendly and kind as well. I specifically recommend the palak chaat and the chai tini 🙂
… moreC Gupta
I was desperate to like this place. DC needs a high end South Indian restaurant. The place is beautiful – gorgeous decor that evokes Kerala without being over the top. The open kitchen means you get delicious smells while you are waiting.
The food however leaves a lot to desire. We went on Valentines day so they had a limited menu. The palak chaat was fine if a tad too sweet. The Kerala stew is decent too, nothing special. And the lemon rice was perfect. But the baghare baingan was really bad – there was zero hint of sesame or coconut in the gravy and the eggplant had some weird coating on it that tasted awful. The gravy was too sweet. We asked for some hot sauce and they brought us more of the baingan gravy, telling us to watch out… passing off a sweet gravy as hot sauce to Indians is frankly insulting. The malabar paratha was flaky but dry as a bone… needed a good dollop of butter or ghee. And the cocktail I had, a rye with vermouth and bitter is the worst I have ever tasted. I think they forgot a key ingredient.
The staff is really sweet and solicitious, our water glasses were always filled and plates were whisked away quickly. But it took us a couple of reminders for our server to get us a drink and after unsuccessfully trying to get his attention to order dessert, we just asked someone else to get our check and left. I am sure these are the kinks of a newish restaurant and will be worked out soon.
I really wanted to come back again for the regular menu but I won’t be risking disappointment again.
… moreThe food however leaves a lot to desire. We went on Valentines day so they had a limited menu. The palak chaat was fine if a tad too sweet. The Kerala stew is decent too, nothing special. And the lemon rice was perfect. But the baghare baingan was really bad – there was zero hint of sesame or coconut in the gravy and the eggplant had some weird coating on it that tasted awful. The gravy was too sweet. We asked for some hot sauce and they brought us more of the baingan gravy, telling us to watch out… passing off a sweet gravy as hot sauce to Indians is frankly insulting. The malabar paratha was flaky but dry as a bone… needed a good dollop of butter or ghee. And the cocktail I had, a rye with vermouth and bitter is the worst I have ever tasted. I think they forgot a key ingredient.
The staff is really sweet and solicitious, our water glasses were always filled and plates were whisked away quickly. But it took us a couple of reminders for our server to get us a drink and after unsuccessfully trying to get his attention to order dessert, we just asked someone else to get our check and left. I am sure these are the kinks of a newish restaurant and will be worked out soon.
I really wanted to come back again for the regular menu but I won’t be risking disappointment again.
Danielle Feuillan
Oh man I REALLY wanted to love Rosedale. Unfortunately it was not great. Our server was lovely. she was friendly and attentive. The pacing of our meal was awful. We spent maybe 45 minutes total inside the restaurant because our food was rushed out to us in such quick succession that we barely had time to breathe. The result was that our cocktails arrived after our first course had been whisked away. It made for a rather unpleasant experience that didn’t allow us to savor anything.
The food. We started with the Caesar salad. This was my favorite dish at the old Palena but this one was a miss and needs a rethink. The romaine was drenched in dressing and came with a piece of cold toast rubbed with tomato. It was unclear what you are supposed to do with this. Tear it up into croutons? Put the lettuce on the toast? It made for an inelegant presentation. The dressing was so abundant that the dish lost any nuance. Our other appetizer arrived at the same time (literally minutes after we had placed our order) and was the chicken liver mousse on “focaccia”. Ours was not served on focaccia. It was served on the same cold piece of toasted bread that came with the salad. I didn’t even know what to think about this. Why would the menu advertise focaccia if it was unavailable? Shouldn’t they tell diners if there was no focaccia? The mousse itself was delicious. It would have been much more elegant to serve it in a ramekin and allow diners to spread it themselves but instead it was served over long pieces of cooked spinach that were unnecessary and made the dish hard to eat as the toast was quite hard. For mains we got the chicken. This came to us (minutes after we finished our first course) completely lukewarm. The glaze on the chicken was tasty with a good hit of star anise and the chicken was moist but not hot. The broccolini on the side was hot and seasoned well but overcooked and mushy. there was also a weird afterthought of crumbled potatoes that had no seasoning at all. It isn’t hard to make delicious salty potatoes but it was as if someone in the kitchen just didn’t care enough to. The chestnut ravioli with mushrooms was the best dish. Mostly because it was served hot and was interesting and not something you find everyday.
Our cocktails were fine. Nothing special but not bad. We had the bees knees and the daiquiri.
Maybe I was expecting more from this restaurant as it is run by a great restaurant group and has a head chef I have followed around town for many years but sadly it wasn’t great. The space is lovely. Please watch the pacing!
… moreThe food. We started with the Caesar salad. This was my favorite dish at the old Palena but this one was a miss and needs a rethink. The romaine was drenched in dressing and came with a piece of cold toast rubbed with tomato. It was unclear what you are supposed to do with this. Tear it up into croutons? Put the lettuce on the toast? It made for an inelegant presentation. The dressing was so abundant that the dish lost any nuance. Our other appetizer arrived at the same time (literally minutes after we had placed our order) and was the chicken liver mousse on “focaccia”. Ours was not served on focaccia. It was served on the same cold piece of toasted bread that came with the salad. I didn’t even know what to think about this. Why would the menu advertise focaccia if it was unavailable? Shouldn’t they tell diners if there was no focaccia? The mousse itself was delicious. It would have been much more elegant to serve it in a ramekin and allow diners to spread it themselves but instead it was served over long pieces of cooked spinach that were unnecessary and made the dish hard to eat as the toast was quite hard. For mains we got the chicken. This came to us (minutes after we finished our first course) completely lukewarm. The glaze on the chicken was tasty with a good hit of star anise and the chicken was moist but not hot. The broccolini on the side was hot and seasoned well but overcooked and mushy. there was also a weird afterthought of crumbled potatoes that had no seasoning at all. It isn’t hard to make delicious salty potatoes but it was as if someone in the kitchen just didn’t care enough to. The chestnut ravioli with mushrooms was the best dish. Mostly because it was served hot and was interesting and not something you find everyday.
Our cocktails were fine. Nothing special but not bad. We had the bees knees and the daiquiri.
Maybe I was expecting more from this restaurant as it is run by a great restaurant group and has a head chef I have followed around town for many years but sadly it wasn’t great. The space is lovely. Please watch the pacing!
Larry “Big Schlim” Mcleod
I’m uptown UPTOWN near U.D.C hungry!! I remember seeing this farm to table spot, that’s nearby, on my timeline. I was waiting to go to their upcoming brunch, but today…I’m getting their dinner!!
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Where I am: @rosedaledc
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Location Reviewed: 4465 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington D.C.
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Items Reviewed:
STAMP!! Their Cherry Spritz Mocktail ($8 with cherry puree, mint, lime, & all spice syrup). Refreshing, & super fresh!!
STAMP!! Their Fluke, & Shrimp ($18 with a aleepo *peppers* aioli). Crispy, nicely battered, with a mildly spicy dip!!
STAMP!! Their Roasted Potato & Cheddar Croquettes ($12 with a Rosedale mayo, & Sambal *a chili sauce*). Cheesy, well fried, & tasty!!
STAMP!! Their Karma Farms Head Lettuce Salad ($14 with roasted PA chestnuts, persimmon *a tomato like fruit*, & Rosedale vinaigrette). Definitely a a fresh salad with a tasty vinaigrette!!
DELICIOUS. Their Roasted Chestnut Ravioli ($24 with toasted seeds, ravioli, reggiano, & black trumpets). Fresh noodles, I just needed more flavor.
STAMP!! Their Free Range Organic Chicken ($28 with broccolini, & fingerling potatoes). A tender, juicy, flavorful bird, the potatoes were LIKE THAT, the broccolini was DECENT.
DECENT. Their Hinona Kabu Turnips ($12 with sweet potatoes). All of it was a tad bit bitter.
STAMP!! Their Demkota Ranch Flat Iron Steak ($38 with broccolini, & sweet potatoes). Tender easy to cut medium well steak!!
STAMP!! Their Across The Aisle Pizza ($20 with tomato, chorizo, pickled habanadas, & pimentos). Crisp, & tasty!!
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Parking: ROUGH!!
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The Inside: Very nice decor, & ambiance!!
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Recommendations: That chicken, steak, & croquettes are a must have!!
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Accessibility: It’s wheelchair, & differently abled persons accessible
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️=STAMP
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️➕=LIKE THAT
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️=DELICIOUS
⭐️⭐️⭐️=DECENT
⭐️⭐️=PASS
⭐️=NAH
#Bigschlimsreviews
… more.
Where I am: @rosedaledc
.
Location Reviewed: 4465 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington D.C.
.
Items Reviewed:
STAMP!! Their Cherry Spritz Mocktail ($8 with cherry puree, mint, lime, & all spice syrup). Refreshing, & super fresh!!
STAMP!! Their Fluke, & Shrimp ($18 with a aleepo *peppers* aioli). Crispy, nicely battered, with a mildly spicy dip!!
STAMP!! Their Roasted Potato & Cheddar Croquettes ($12 with a Rosedale mayo, & Sambal *a chili sauce*). Cheesy, well fried, & tasty!!
STAMP!! Their Karma Farms Head Lettuce Salad ($14 with roasted PA chestnuts, persimmon *a tomato like fruit*, & Rosedale vinaigrette). Definitely a a fresh salad with a tasty vinaigrette!!
DELICIOUS. Their Roasted Chestnut Ravioli ($24 with toasted seeds, ravioli, reggiano, & black trumpets). Fresh noodles, I just needed more flavor.
STAMP!! Their Free Range Organic Chicken ($28 with broccolini, & fingerling potatoes). A tender, juicy, flavorful bird, the potatoes were LIKE THAT, the broccolini was DECENT.
DECENT. Their Hinona Kabu Turnips ($12 with sweet potatoes). All of it was a tad bit bitter.
STAMP!! Their Demkota Ranch Flat Iron Steak ($38 with broccolini, & sweet potatoes). Tender easy to cut medium well steak!!
STAMP!! Their Across The Aisle Pizza ($20 with tomato, chorizo, pickled habanadas, & pimentos). Crisp, & tasty!!
.
Parking: ROUGH!!
.
The Inside: Very nice decor, & ambiance!!
.
Recommendations: That chicken, steak, & croquettes are a must have!!
.
Accessibility: It’s wheelchair, & differently abled persons accessible
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️=STAMP
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️➕=LIKE THAT
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️=DELICIOUS
⭐️⭐️⭐️=DECENT
⭐️⭐️=PASS
⭐️=NAH
#Bigschlimsreviews
Geeta Pasi
Great food that reflects Goan style cuisine. The service at the bar was outstanding.
The dining area was very noisy, too noisy for a quiet conversation. I wanted to pay using Apple Pay, and the server was hesitant. First he said the devices were in use, then not working. He asked to take my iPhone somewhere to make the transaction for me. Luckily, I had a physical card on hand. The restaurant should consider making diners aware there is no functional phone wallet reader (and to bring a physical card) as that is a norm across the restaurant industry now.
… moreThe dining area was very noisy, too noisy for a quiet conversation. I wanted to pay using Apple Pay, and the server was hesitant. First he said the devices were in use, then not working. He asked to take my iPhone somewhere to make the transaction for me. Luckily, I had a physical card on hand. The restaurant should consider making diners aware there is no functional phone wallet reader (and to bring a physical card) as that is a norm across the restaurant industry now.
Sara Ulanoski
Really enjoyed a bourbon and coke and fries on their happy hour. For a neighborhood without many restaurant options, this is a great place for a casual evening outdoor drink on happy hour and people watching if you live in forest hills. The fries were great and the drink was poured generously. I will definitely be back especially when the weather is nice.
… more