Malt House

So, the Malt House has been around since 1949. The food is pretty good, the prices are pretty great actually. Still really cheap for a good amount of food. The service is kinda hit or miss, just see it as your crazy tía serving you dinner at her house and you’ll be fine. They still have some pretty good specials throughout the week. If you’ve never been here be prepared for a walk back in time.

I know for a fact that the people and waitress are very rude, Food is very NASTY, I will never go there again, I felt very uncomfortable there I got up and just went to eat some where else.

Another prize fighting contender to the best fried chicken in town! I’ve heard their fried chicken was good. Today, I had to find out for myself.
What did I like about it? Fried chicken can be greasy so it takes a practiced hand to be able to prepare it like The Malt House does chicken. Tasty but without greasiness. I liked the crust and that bit of crunch as I’m taking a full bite past the crust. Spices are not overpowering and while eating it, I imagine Sunday afternoon fried chicken dinner at grandmother’s house. Yeah, I’ll buy a family order from them and plate their chicken as my own. I think it’s time to create my old Norman Rockwell dinner scene with The Malt House’s fried chicken as the crowning jewel to my homemade sides.
Yes, I will be back for more of The Malt House fried chicken.

The burger was very good. Prices were too. Fries and onion rings both screamed old fry oil. The malt was not a malt at all… It was more of a sundae. Service was pretty bad. Slow, only checked on us a couple times we were there. This place seems like it used to be great but isn’t being well run now.

UGH, this place is awful. I have wanted to try it for the longest time. Service wasn’t good, food was even worse. Got the $ 4.99 cheeseburger special. Some of my fries were still FROZEN. The burger was tasteless. I would’ve much preferred going to McDonalds. Needless to say, I will never come back here, ever. :(

This place has been around forever. Always a go to place when on this side of town. The only reason I did not give it 5 stars is because the tortillas are not homemade. Who doesn’t have homemade tortillas on that side of town? It’s ridiculous. Looks like I’m sticking to their delicious burgers and malts. I still have to recommend a place that’s been open since my parents were teenagers and would hang out there.

Disgusting place will never eat here again. Ate here once around 2004 didn’t like it then and got sick. But I give everything a second chance. I ate here again recently and the food, service and establishment was disgusting. I would have given no starts but i guess your forced to give one damn star. This restaurant is Ghetto!
Update: Just noticed this horrible restaurant got a nice visit from behind the kitchen door. I’m glad i didn’t get sick again. Senior inspector you have your work cut out for you. Time to get busy. Apparently he has been already and the restaurant hasn’t complied much.

I know the food isn’t the best ever, but this place is a childhood favorite, as my mom always took me here. I remember when they used to have arcade game machines and I would play while we waited for our food. As an adult, the food isn’t the best, as it’s more like a 3 ½ star place. The enchilada plate was pretty good and prices were relatively cheap. Overall, it’s an historic place in San Antonio and I would recommend trying it out.

First. This isn’t a ice cream shop. Excellent cheap food. The fried chicken is outstanding.
Same place for 50 years nothing changes.
Run down but still good. Lunch specials are a steal.
I’ve yet to see a malt. I come often and love the divey feel of this place.

its alright here the burgers and heard they have good fried chicken but have never tried it been going here for years and years have good malts as well and fries are good but havent been here in awhile though u can get a combo cheap also

Was very unhappy with the food here.

Excellent hamburgers !!! And the fries perfect !!! This place is what home cooking is about in Texas and Tejano San Antonian culture.

My family and I have been visiting Malt House ever since 2006, and after today’s visit, I have to say that I am very disappointed with what this place has turned into.
I ordered the #1, which is a basic enchilada plate, and was not impressed with what I recieved. My enchiladas were okay, you’d have a better time at Las Palapas or some other Mexican restaurant, but they weren’t bad. The rice was okay, it was very salty though. And the beans looked absolutely disgusting, it was like something out of a can. I asked for enchilada sauce on the side, and they put this foam bowl on top of my rice… I don’t want to know where the bowl was before…
Our waitress was decent, we were here for about an hour and a half and she only checked on us once. She was nice though. And because she was nice, this review turned into a 2 star review instead of a 1.
If it was 2006, this would have gotten 5 stars from me. But after seeing how much the quality has declined here, I’m so disappointed.

awful and super cheap… My boyfriend and I went here after finding it on a local burger blog. I can imagine that back in the 50s this place might have been cool but it is less than charming now. The only positive here are the low prices. I had the jumbo burger @ 2.99. I did not see anything smaller so I assume this is their standard size. The burgers two super thin parties were reminiscent of the old 99 cent Wendys burgers. The bun was generic and tastless. The under salted fries were of the frozen crinkle cut variety very disappointing! The supposed malt we attempted to share was nothing more than generic vanilla ice cream with cheap tasting chocolate syrup most likely from Nesquik. Also you need to know at least some Spanish to get by here fyi.

I have to come here once each year to remind myself why I never come here. The food is low-​end fast food quality and the building is very dated and dirty. The ceiling is filthy. But… the food is really cheap, so there’s that.
On this visit I had an extremely boring burger and fries — no comparison to Whataburger or even Burger King, which obviously isn’t saying much. The entire restaurant had a «we really don’t care» vibe. For example, my drink glass wasn’t refilled once during my visit. I expect more effort from a local establishment that is presumably run by family members who actually want the business to succeed, rather than people who are just earning minimum wage while they attend high school.
The fries were limp and tasteless and the twin patties on my burger were most certainly out of a box from the Sysco frozen food truck.
I’m not going to say I hate this restaurant because it’s sort of a San Antonio institution that I have hope will be returned to greatness someday. But, I probably won’t be back for another year until I need another reminder of why I don’t usually eat here.

I’ve eaten here twice now and the food is just blah, not very good at all. The only reason you should come here is if you are starving and only have $ 4. The food is cheap, but definitely not good. Let’s just say you get what you pay for.

I went there for lunch. Our food took FOREVER which I’m attributing to lunch time, but STILL over 30 min wait after ordering. I made the mistake of ordering the seafood dish Turns out everything was fried, yet tasteless and super dry. My co-worker’s food looked kind of gross; filled with large amounts of melted cheap processed cheese. Never again.

This story borders on genuine Theater of the Absurd, and maybe I should thank the Malt House for providing me with some loony entertainment. But I am going to tell you about a basic flaw in their operation. You will see why I gave them one star only.
My friend James and I went to the Malt House because we both wanted a vanilla malt.
The place was crowded and we sat down in their large dining room where the noise level was fairly high. The waitress showed up and we gave her our order. «Two vanilla malts, please.» She returned in about 4 minutes with two 16 ounce styrofoam cups. Filled with soft serve vanilla ice cream. A straw and a long plastic spoon were standing up in that mix.
One taste and then another. I immediately thought, «Okay, where is the malt?» On top of that this was not a shake at all but very firm soft serve ice cream. I called the waitress back, thinking she made a mistake. She ran off and brought the manager to our table. He stood there and asked, «What seems to be the problem?» I told him very politely that we’d ordered vanilla malts and we were given soft vanilla ice cream. He took the order back with a promise to fix it. About 5 minutes later he returned. We thanked him. James and I tasted our «fixed malts.» And simultaneously we both started laughing.
The order was exactly as it was before. Nothing had changed. We never got our malts. We just got up and drove away laughing. Yes, Theater of the Absurd, right there on the near West Side. Either no one there knows what a malt is or they don’t care.
Suggestion: Maybe change the name of your business if you don’t sell malts?

Whenever I’m hungry, on a tight budget and feeling a little brave to venture out west of I-​35, I usually come here. For more than a decade since I’ve dined at Malt House not much has changed. Regardless of what you’re ordering, whether it’s Mexican food, burgers, fried chicken or seafood you always get a complimentary order of chips and salsa. Unfortunately the salsa is bland like Pace picante sauce. I always get burger, fries and a drink but last time I broke away from the norm and ordered a 3 piece of fried chicken. To my surprise it was pretty damn good! Not as good as KFC, Popeye’s or Bush’s mind you but better than most places like Earl Abel’s and Church’s.
The service could’ve been better. I told the waitress I wanted fries but she brought me mashed potatoes instead. She didn’t apologize for the error but she corrected it brought me fries. After I finished my meal I ordered a pineapple malt for dessert. Yes their malts are soft serve ice cream sundaes similar to the kind you find at Sonic, Burger King and Mickey D’s and it is a good idea to order yours when you order your meal so it would melt by the time you finish your meal. However I wouldn’t recommend it since my malt looked slightly melted. It looked like it had been sitting out before the waitress brought it to my table. It was still good though but I think I’ll order something else next time I eat here. I also noticed an extra dollar was mistakenly added to my tab. Luckily I pointed it out to the cashier/​manager and erased it.

Established in 1949, Malt House has hit their stride!
Great Mexican food, cheap prices, and wonderful atmosphere makes this classic restaurant a hit of the neighborhood!
They offer live mariachi bands strolling the restaurants, cranking out the tunes, and posing for photos! Beats a jukebox any day of the week!
The fried chicken was juicy, heavily breaded in a tame breading. The french fries were decent. The tamales were served like I had never seen before. They were unwrapped, and served with a sauce with a bunch of chili powder in it. Spiced, but not spicy!
The prices are quite reasonable, as it seems like there haven’t been a bunch of price increases since they opened, over sixty years ago!
There is ample seating inside, and it seems that they still offer the service of delivery to your car in the parking lot!
The chips and salsa are free, and the salsa is a red soupy sauce that cries out for something more. It’s tame, and watery.