Cafe Malaga

Met friends there last night for drinks and tapas. I was a little worried about the service after reading recent reviews. Not to worry, management must’ve taken notice. Seated quickly by the hostess, promptly had a friendly waiter taking our order, and received excellent service. Enjoyed Malaga croquettes, bacon wrapped dates, lamb lollipops (little rare), prosciutto wrapped asparagus and hummus with pita. Also Greek and Caesar salads (small size is actually pretty big).
Had fun sitting outside on their patio.

Wow! I normally try not to write a bad review, everyone has an off night, but this was ridiculous, and I think you all should know and you can make your own judgment. Thursday night, wanted to try something new and recommended. So we were celebrating and wanted a place to chill try some tapas and have a drink. Walk in.2 couples in Restaurant, they tell us to seat ourselves and we do and we wait… cricket…wait…10 mins no water to waiter…4 cute girls come in, waiter seats them, gets their drink order, after that (which pissed me off I’m not bad looking.).we wait another 10 mins, waiter walking around not even looking at us… I’m mad now. I get up I walk over to him, ask him he has a manager I can speak with? He says NO… huh? I said to him, you just let us sit there for good 20 – 25 mins with no water, service, or kiss my *ss, nothing… he says, «oh no one helped you, I’m sorry». I told him I have never seen such bad service in all my life… and I stormed out, still needing to eat, we went over to the HARVEST its on the Square too, amazing! so much better I am thankful, they sucked now cause I have a new go to place!

My girlfriends and I had our GNO here. The environment is nice, however don’t let them sit you next to the kitchen doors, too much noise and foot traffic. We ordered several tapas, please with them all, especially the beef tenderloin and goat cheese stuffed peppers. DO NOT order the shrimp tapa/​appetizer. The plate has approx. 8 pieces of small shrimp, they taste frozen not fresh, not to mention the price. Definitely a place to try, sharing apps with others is key.

This place has delicious food and an attentive wait staff. Must try the shishito peppers and beef kabobs! I gave 4 stars because a few of the the tapas dishes were lacking. But the ones that were good were VERY good. The mushrooms seemed like something you would get straight out of a can. Overall, I am looking forward to going back!

I picked this restaurant because we love the food and we have always had a good time. It will be a long time before I go back. My husband and I came here for our 5 year anniversary and it started out good but it went down hill fast.
We got in right away got a drink and got our order in fast. That is where it ended. We waited over 25 min for our first plate. Just for people who have never been here great tapas small sharing plates. The first one was good but seemed like it sat in the window for at least five min. The second came out good time after that. The potatoes and chicken were so overly sweet. It took almost 15 min just to get salt. It was so bland and not the best. I needed a ton of salt to eat it. By the time I got salt everything was cold. After that terrible dish it took half an hour to get mussles. Our waiter barely came around. We couldn’t get another drink (mind you we had one only) let alone water. When the mussels finally came the bread wasn’t toasted and the mussels had no flavor to the broth and the mussels themselves were tough cold and fishy tasting. It will be awhile before I go back.

This spot is legit. New to McKinney and very happy to find that downtown Mckinney has so many cool spots to eat. To find a tapas restaurant nestled in there is a huge bonus, no more driving to uptown. We had the Malaga Croquettas and they were perfect. The Don Piquillo will be ordered every time I go back, which will be often with that massive patio. The Rabas were a great twist on traditional calamari, beer batter was great. I look forward to getting back in and trying more of the Tapas and the Paella.

Do not go here. My wife and I came in here. The hostess was sitting at a table and asked in a snooty tone, «Do you have an reservation?». We said no but noticed that there were 10 empty tables but were told the wait was 45 minutes. The place just does not have a nice McKinney hometown feel.

Absolutely LOVE this place! The atmosphere is fantastic, the food is awesome! We really enjoy the employees as well. We came in a tad late and they said to come on in!
The wine is great! The only thing I wish is that on wine down Wednesday’s (½ off), they would let us choose the wine like Landon’s does. They only give their house wine out (YUCK). We had to grab our wine after dinner.

Food is excellent! I love the paella and I’ve gotten it twice. The Tapas are tasty and there’s a good variety.
It’s really the service that has thrown me off. I’ve gone with a party of 4 and one of 6 and the service has been slow both times.
If you have somewhere to be, or expect your waiter to constantly have your drink full, then pass on this place. Otherwise, hang for a couple hours and ask for a pitcher of whatever you’re drinking so you won’t wait for refills!

We eat here a couple of times a year when we are visiting family in McKinney. This place can get crazy busy but we have always had good service. The food is excellent with the lamb lollipops being my favorite. I also like the cherry peppers stuffed with goat cheese, I could eat ten. This last weekend I noticed the owners son working and humping it. He did not stop. Impressive. I would go here just knowing that the square is super busy and parking and crowds can take more time. I love coming here and sitting outside, having great food and listening to music. Nice place.

It’s pretty decent food I think. Been here many times However, service has always been very poor. Starting with the seating hostesses then the waiter who never came around. Not sure why the owner either has no clue or does not care. Plenty of posts here about it.

Ambience is good. Food is uninspiring. Don’t try the Paella, not much flavor. The band was a nice touch.

Do not go here!!! I was here several years ago and it was really good. I came back because I was craving tapas and the entire situation was a joke! Customer service is non existent. We walked in and there was one table of 4 people sitting there and NO ONE ELSE around.
We waited for a few minutes, walked to the bar (no one there) and waited some more. Another party of 6 came in behind us and were also waiting. Finally my bf goes thru the door to the kitchen and sees the cooks and waiters or hostesses in there. They’re all busy talking to each other or playing in their phones. He says do you have anyone working out here? The waiter replied, I’ll be right with you.
He comes out a couple minutes later with drinks for the only table that has people in it. Then turns to us and tries to sit us at the table where we were standing. We said we could actually like to sit outside. He said okay, find a circular table.
We go outside and sit down. The guys comes out and my bf says Hey dude how’s it going. The waiter sets down 2 menus without saying a word.
Never never never again will I go back to this place to recommend it to anyone else. The worst customer service! And that’s hard to achieve when there are only 6 «customers» in the place. Has potential but the management and service isn’t worth it. Never again. They don’t even deserve ONE star.

We came in last night to try out, and like a lot of people said on here, I really wanted to like the place, but I just can’t see coming back. Nothing overly terrible happened, the quality of the food and drinks just wasn’t there to justify the crappy atmosphere and high prices.
The patio: The only way I can think to describe the patio is a frat house backyard. There’s a broken fountain with murky water, broken glass, dirty/​mismatched furniture, and just a general feeling of lazy neglect. It really feels like a bunch of frat guys woke up at noon, realized they had a party that night, and threw something together.
The food/​drinks: Tasty, but way overpriced. Everything reminded me of something I could get somewhere else for a better price. What we had:
Fondue– Really good until you realize you just paid $ 14 for cheese-​dip.
Malaga Croquettes– Think breadcrumb version of a boudin ball. Also, I couldn’t actually find any pieces of the chicken, chorizo, or bacon that were supposedly in them.
Chorizo– Again good, but it was it was $ 13 for sausage, a few pieces of potato, and a fried egg. Every diner everywhere has that for less than $ 5.
Lamb Chops– Perfectly cooked, but $ 21 is still steep for an app, even if it is Lamb.
Mushrooms– Tasted exactly like mushrooms from a can. :(
Sangria– Tasted a little watered down. We weren’t sure if this was because it just comes like that, or because the carafe was filled to the brim with ice before they added the wine.
Overall, we generally liked the food, but felt a little gypped at $ 94 for five appetizers and watered down wine.

Tapas are definitely a favorite of mine and this place does a great job executing them! We have been multiple times and always enjoy the service and tasty treats we select.
The empanadas and mushrooms are always a must for us. We usually change up our other choices and have never been disappointed. For two, the tapas portion is perfect for sharing.
I will say if you get there right when they open you typically walk into what looks like an empty place. Take a seat in the bar and enjoy your company. They’ll be out for you soon.
We typically get 3 – 5 tapas and a bottle of wine which comes to just about $ 50. Not too bad! I totally encourage you to try! Live music on Fridays and Saturdays — make reservations for dinner earlier in the week on those nights! Enjoy.

I can’t say enough good things about Café Malaga. Visited last night for dinner and started with a glass of Alamo Pinot noir, medium bodied and full of flavor. Once my dinner guest arrived we promptly ordered a botttle. Malaga croquets were melt in your mouth goodness. Bacon wrapped dates were small but flavorful, the shrimp were large and sitting in a bed of delicious guacamole, solomillo was garlicky and flavorful and those lamb chops, perfectly cooked for a nice medium rare center and melt in your mouth buttery delights. We skipped desert since we were there way past their 9 pm closing time. They graciously tended to our needs and we never once felt rushed.

Lovely lunch at Café Malaga. It was a sunny afternoon around 3 o’clock when we arrived, so there was no wait for a table on the patio (and their patio is lovely). We ordered the hummus and pita, Spanish tortilla, chilled shrimp, Greek salad, Caesar salad, and roasted potatoes, and it was the perfect amount of food for the two of us. The only reason this place isn’t getting a full five stars from me is the service was oddly slow and oddly absent when we wanted to order or pay our check. Maybe they were understaffed, but they certainly weren’t busy. Nevertheless, we will be back next time we’re in McKinney!

First, a disclosure: I ADORE Si Tapas in uptown Dallas. It is hands-​down my pick for tapas anywhere in the metroplex.
Now that that’s out of the way, Café Malaga is a really great place to spend an evening.
I tried it out about three weeks ago and have already been back. I am in love with their cheese trays — although I wish they would put a little more variety on their menu. Get the chorizo to accompany it along with one of their reasonably-​priced bottles of wine (many are around $ 30, although I will say some you can get at Total Wine for ~$ 8). I didn’t care for the sangria myself, but if you’re into sweet, go for it!
The portions of the tapas sizes are generous for the most part, and I find my date and I can leave a little more than comfortably full on the cheese tray, splitting a small salad, and around 4 tapas between us.
A list of what I have really enjoyed so far:
Cheese tray (see above, hello!)
Solomillo (my fav)
Don piquillo
Lamp lollipop chops
Spinach salad
And a list of what I probably wouldn’t order again:
Malaga croquettes
Chicken kebabs
Bacon-​wrapped dates
I also cannot WAIT for the weather to get a little warmer, because their patio looks incredible. What a gem in the heart of downtown McKinney. If you’re on the fence, try it!

O.M.Goodnesses! Where to Even start? How about with the glass of red I started with while waiting for my friends? I asked the bartender to pick something for me — red and a bit spicy. He came back with a very large (seemed to me, anyway) glass of Dancing Bull Zinfandel… «a lively Blackberry, black cherry and raspberry and black pepper and vanilla… hints of black pepper and soft, supple tannins come forth in this extremely versatile and approachable wine that pairs well with» my hair. I mean the tablecloth. No, I didn’t actually spill a single drop and it was divine.
My friends arrived and we were seated… what to order?! Would the tapas portions be large enough for my Very Big Eyes? No! I ordered the appetizer (double portions) of Five Different Things. Very little was left on any of my plates by the time my friends half-​rolled and half-​carried me out of this wonderful establishment.
Hummus — with grilled pita bread and a touch of olive oil: it’s Hummus. It’s done right. Nuff said!
Pan Con Tomate with Manchego Cheese — Grilled ciabatta bread with fresh grated tomato and extra virgin olive oil, Manchego cheese and, ground pepper & Arbequina olives (unpitted): I don’t eat olives so did share those around the table. Loved this, very large appetizer plate here!
Chilled Tiger Shrimp Gomera — with homemade avocado mole and mojo picón (a spicy Spanish relish): So much flavor, I could’ve eaten another dozen or so of these.
Saving the best for last, but it’s really a tie, I simply can’t decide which of these were The Best, what I would ask for as my last meal if the menu presented to me were from Café Malaga, so in alphabetical order…
Fried shishito peppers — with Maldon sea salt ‘Some are hot and some are not!’: I gobbled these like. a gobbler! Lip smacking finger licking good, the Colonel ain’t got nuffin’ on these little babies!
Malaga Croquettes — Bacon, chicken and chorizo croquettes wrapped in a soft béchamel and panko bread crumbs that will melt in your mouth: Come to Mama! I could’ve eaten another 5 dozen or so of these. BACON, people! There wasn’t a single thing about these that I would have changed, other than doubling or tripling or quadrupling the already nicely sized portion.
Will I go back to Café Malaga? Just try and stop me!
* Menu item descriptions do begin with words shamelessly borrowed from Cafa Malaga’s own menu … my comments begin after the: in each case.
** Some of the words describing Dancing Bull were also shamelessly borrowed, but this time from the Dancing Bull Wine website and another for which I am sorry but I seem to have lost sight of in my browser’s history.
*** What are you waiting for, call and make a reservation already!

I went there during summer and right of the bat let me say the location is gorgeous and cool! Like having dinner with friends in a backyard but with live music! Just be aware: parking is a pain in the neck. Get there early.
So… the food. We were in a group of about 20 people having some tapas. The organizer of our group set a price of $ 25 per person with the manageent and chose the dishes (tapas). Why I didn’t read the menu beforehand, I still ask myself… Oh I know! I was super busy and didn’t have time to do it. Anyway. I was so expecting to have some nice Spanish tapas, expected in a place called Café Malaga, right? So we ended up having hummus (!!!), pita bread, chicken kebabs (good) and fresh asparagus WHITOUT jamon/​prociutto!!! Single, «naked» asparagus!!! And I kid you not: was ONE poor, skinny spear per person! LOL Do yourself a favor: if you go there choose Spanish food. And for asparagus go to a grocery store. Or a Brazilian steakhouse– they have big, fat ones! I think it was all the moors fault. Have them not occupied Spain we wouldn’t have this menu at all LOL.
On a serious note: my perception was that the management got really greedy. The amount of food was ridiculous, to say the least. My bill came up to about $ 50, because I had a glass of wine. But I would go back to try again, hoping this time I can enjoy a real Spanish experience.