Cafe Malta

Great surprise, very affordable! Food and staff were amazing! Not what I would have expected driving up to the strip mall behind the gas station. The interior and food take you through a virtual wormhole to the Mediterranean! Will spread the word and return for sure!!!

Food was great at an excellent price! The atmosphere was very nice as well even though it’s in a plaza. Not the best meal I’ve had in Austin, but when you consider the price and the quality of the food, it was fantastic! We’ll definitely be back.

Absolutely perfect Mussels and Gnocchi this time! We are splitting the dishes. Servings seem small and pricey to some but what a lovey was to have lunch with the Lady!

Was a great surprise to find such a lovely place. Amazing food. Malta is an island right off of Italy and the food here is amazing and authentic

The food was fine apart from the microscopic size of my entrée. But I really felt pressured to settle for something other than I had been lead to expect. The service made me feel like it was all a big mistake and rather wish I hadnt. Its far too expensive to justify that experience. I was just embarrassed to be there.

Amazing place! Excellent food and atmosphere. When you pull up it looks like another strip Center place. Not at all! It’s a gem. Ask for Jessica! She is so professional and fun. She knows exactly what you would like ! Just ask her!

Café Malta took me by surprise! My husband and I stopped in here while our car was across the way being worked on. The place is on the small side and pretty simple. The tables have linens and there is a decent size bar off to the side. We were seated and right away out server I could tell was running the show. She was awesome!
We both ordered a couple of drinks — I had the I Can Explain Everything from the cocktail list and my husband had a Vesper martini. My drink was so good and refreshing! It was the kind of drink I could sip on all day! My husband said his martini was great too.
We then decided to order a few small plates from the appetizer menu. We did the croquettes and the hummus. The hummus awesome, but my favorite was the croquettes. They were perfectly battered. We also decided to get 2 desserts to share. I picked out the pecan tartlet and he got the butternut ricotta cheesecake. OMG — they were both amazing! I couldn’t really decide on a favorite between the two because they were both so good and different. The cheesecake was creamy and paired well with the pistachios on it. The pecan tartlet had perfect flaky crust. I would get them both again and again!
I am looking forward to coming here again and trying out the full dinner menu! I also discovered that every first Tuesday of the month they do a tasting menu with a fixed price. It is good to make reservations for this — fyi.

We come here at least a couple times a month. It’s great to have a nice restaurant in the neighborhood!
Pros:
1. 5 stars for the brisket ravioli alone!
2. The veggie lasagna is excellent — full of veggies! They change it up every once in awhile too.
3. The Mixed drinks are tasty. They have a good wine selection.
4. The servers are helpful and quick.
Cons:
1. It’s in a shopping center, but that’s how it is in south Austin.

I was delighted to find out such an European style café among all Texan/​Mexican restaurants in this area. The setting is nice and the dishes change seasonally. I ordered the daily special: pan-​fried cod panini with sautéed vegetables. The panini was flavorful and the cod was cooked just about right. However the vegetables ruined my tasting experience because of too much salt, which makes me feel the cod was overly greasy after all.
My friend ordered the L’amfette which is pasta with lamb tossed with tomato and apple. We love the fruit combination with protein however the flavor is still too salty for us.
I will give this place a second chance to try dinner menu and the desserts. But ask for lighter flavor when order.

Great little out of the way place. It’s small, but very friendly. The menu is rounded, but very limited.
They have bottles of tap water on the table, and butcher paper. They add some with the candles. The art on the walls a is fun and interesting. It can be loud, but still a soft place on the ears.
The only reason why not 5 stars, the menu is just limited. But they do a good volume and the prices are good.

Delicious Steak Frites with a perfect waygu steak & crispy french fries. Great cocktail menu & delicious chocolate desserts.

Quality food at very affordable prices. This is a new go-​to for sure. Our server was very attentive but not overwhelming. Looking forward to coming back again!

I’ve tried. Twice.
It’s a cute restaurant, offering a warm atmosphere and a pleasant staff. I love that it’s in the hood and owned by locals, but the food just isn’t good enough for the price tag.
And the menu is a bit odd – some items are huge when delivered (pork) while others offer a tiny serving with no accompaniment (ravioli/​champignons). But honestly, my complaint is quality. I thought I’d adore the mussels, but on my first visit they were wildly over salted – not surprising, given there were 6 of us and every dish on the table was sodium heavy. We complained and the owner offered up two free desserts.
Great treatment from the boss, so I tried again. Mussels were still too salty and I was completely underwhelmed by a tiny blue cheese and apple salad at $ 7. Honestly, all they had to do is increase the plate size
and add more greens.
If you do go, I can recommend the cheese board, which is well priced and delivers. And, the desserts are outstanding,

Amazing place! Our waiter was pleasant and funny but not overbearing and had great recommendations when my date wasn’t sure what to order.
The drinks were great and not skimpy on the cocktail liquors. Plus, the dessert was incredible! The restaurant was a little loud but the candles and cloth napkins and dim lighting was perfect for a sweet, lighthearted date night!

My second-​visit review:
This is not a feed your family bring the kids place — this is an intimate treat yourself and splurge on fancy food and have nice drinks with a girlfriend or two. This time we sat outside and the service was painfully slow. The waitress was very friendly and we enjoyed her, but we sat there for a good 20 minutes with empty glasses (of alcoholic beverages, mind you) and without a soul to check up on us. The food took AGES to come out. My friend ordered a salad appetizer at the same time I ordered a hummus plate and it came about 20 minutes after the hummus… and it was a few measly leaves with like 4 cherry tomatoes and some feta crumbles. The food is consistently delicious and fresh, but comes in small portions for the price point.
We spent about $ 200 for a few mimosas, 2 appetizers, and 5 entrees. And we were all starving by the time we got home… and we literally ate again. I would probably come back for mimosas with one or two people, but not to get full on a meal.

We shared mussels and I got the grilled mahi mahi.
I really liked the sauce the mussels were in. It has a good kick to it.
The grilled mahi mahi was a bit disappointing. The fish was at most 4 ounces. It was cooked a bit dry and extremely bland. The polenta had a good kick and helped the fish out a little but not enough. I was extremely disappointed with the portions because I was still hungry after my meal and an appetizer. Usually when I order an appetizer and an entrée, I’m extremely stuffed. This time, I needed to eat again after I got home.
I don’t think this place is worth it for the price of the dishes. My entrée was $ 19 and I was still hungry!!!

Here’s the thing, it’s a cute place with friendly service. And as friendly as the service was I can get past how extremely long the waits were to order drinks, to get the drinks, to order food, and to get the food. What’s more difficult to get past is ordering the Texas Wild Boar special of the day medium rare (which our server even confirmed that’s how they prepare it) and receiving it well done with more bones than meat, nor the $ 65 (before tip) price tag for 2 entrees, an appetizer, and 2 drinks and still being hungry afterwards. My companion had the Champignon which our server said was «To Die For!» She and I both agreed it was ok at best. It didn’t taste very fresh or that it was made in house even though I suspect it was made in house. We felt the cocktails we got were blah as well.
All this being said, this is one of the few places, if any, that I’ve given 2 stars to that I would consider giving another chance. Doing so though, is not high on my list and I would not go out of my way to come here.

Came here to try it out, and glad we did!
I got what I think is the best thing on the menu:
Piri appetizer: chicken skewers.
Levant salad
If a special desert isn’t available: Basil Panna Cotta with strawberry preserves on top
All of these are delicious! I love the healthiness of the meal and the lightness without being too sweet desert.
I actually crave this a few times a month, so having it close by is nice!

Set in the suburbs I’d recommend it to anyone living nearby or passing through, I would not consider it a destination unfortunately.
I enjoyed the cheese plate with a sparkling wine. They had a bleu cheese, that I didn’t particularly like, but in general bleu cheese is not my cup of tea. My server was friendly and obliged me with extra bread (more than what came with cheese plate to begin with) at no extra cost, greatly appreciated. The cheese plate came with 3 cheeses, four pieces of bread, a thick jam/​marmalade, candied nuts, and pickled veggies. I had a very nice light wine to go with my veggie panini. The panini was pretty basic, not as flavorful as I had hoped and the fries could have used more seasoning.
I sat outside, the restaurant seems to be the only one in the plaza besides a taco bell. There wasn’t much of a view but I was able to eat peacefully with my dog on the patio. They were kind enough to bring him water.

I won’t say that I’ll never come back here, but it would be pretty far down the list. It’s quite the shame too. I live so close. I was hoping to have a reasonably priced go to place. I was turned on to Café Malta after seeing it on the way home almost every day. Then Unilocal called it a gem of strip mall restaurants. I had to go!
It was a rain-​filled Friday night. We arrived and were asked to wait because a reservation was about to be cancelled and the table would be given to us. In the mean time, we sat at the bar and the host offered us a place outside. No! Thankfully moments later we got our table. We snagged the chicken bruschetta special starter. It sounded amazing yet it was anything but. Dry chicken on bread with cheese. It was like eating a sponge. I was at a perfect vantage point to see our appetizer sit for around seven minutes before being brought to us. When he took away the plates, the waiter tricked me by asking «That wasn’t good at all was it?» To which my natural response came out and I quickly changed to not make a scene. I’m not sure he caught it as he was very self-​involved. The couple next to us seemed to like the hokey service, but we were less than amused.
The entrees were good. We sampled the special trout and the arista. I’ve been on a pork binge lately so I was very excited! The basil mashed potatoes were tasty but the pork lacked flavor. The trout was hands down the better dish. The risotto was cooked well. We skipped on dessert because nothing looked appealing. We saw every dessert come out and thought it best to just get the dining experience over. There was no «wow factor» about anything I ate here, the environment or the service.
I’m giving Café Malta three stars because everything was cooked well and the service was a little unorganized, but speedy overall. When the winter menu goes away, I’ll look at returning. Until then, I’ll spare myself the cramped dining room.