Mali Bar — Restaurant in City of Zagreb

Does anyone taste the dishes they come up with in this place? I had really high expectations of Mali Bar, it's been around since forever. The place in itself is very cozy, the menu looks promising, and the wine list is really diverse. We started with labneh and chicken pate. Labneh is a dish that's hard to mess up, and the bread served with the labneh is really amazing. Chicken pate is also an easy peasy, and it was served with pickled veggies (turšija). Now the pairing of pickled veggies and pate went great together, but the presentation was awful. Why not cut up the veggies in such a way that they are pretty to plate? Instead it's chopped up chunky bits of veggies all over the place. Bear in mind turšija usually looks like that, but for an app that costs 8€, there needs to be more effort in the plating and preparation. Next we ordered beer battered hake with potatoes, and breaded porchetta with a salad. Both dishes run around 20€ and I was revolted by what we were served. The hake was overcooked so it was gummy. The potatoes were drenched in mayo dressing. Come on, deep fried fish with a fatty side? It's like eating lard off a spoon. The breaded porchetta was with pistachios and apricots, also running in the fatty boat. The salad dressing on the lamb's lettuce with beans was also oil-based - reminded me of what Mundoaka used to have while they were open. It's a good salad dressing, but the salad was drenched in it. So again, every bite is a bunch of fattiness and no crunch, no kick, no acidity, nothing to offset the deep fried protein. We decided to take the food home with us and salvage it by adding more ingredients and diluting the portion. We shared a dessert of creme brulee pancake that sounded very promising, but the presentation was so sad. I attached a photo of the pancake only, as I usually don't take food pics but this was just subpar. Where's the presentation? And did anyone try this before putting it on the menu? The pancake batter in itself is really good, and it's topped with torched sugar. Great start. Inside is a sweet lemon and limoncello filling, and on the side is a caramel sauce. Now what the hell? It's just an ugly plate full of sugar. Where's the depth and variety of flavor? Where's the presentation? This is a low effort bistro with high effort prices, and should be ashamed of themselves for peddling these one-dimensional dishes and charging...

This is a cool concept bar with a wide variety of drinks, especially signature cocktails that are impressive. It’s a great place to hang out, enjoy some drinks, and relax. The atmosphere is lovely—romantic, calm, and peaceful—with nice chill music in the background.

Regarding the food, the food menu is a bit limited, with only a few options, but the idea clearly focuses more on pairing with drinks. What we tried was tasty, though the portions were quite small. We were still hungry afterwards even though we ordered apprterziers. Also we waited quite long.

The location is central, which is a plus, for who would like to come by car, you’ll likely need to use a nearby garage.

Overall, it’s a good spot to try out, especially for drinks. But as for food, if you are open to try something new and experience that would work for you, if you are coming with more expectations might not satisfiy you. A slightly expanded food menu would make it for sure better. Be sure to make a reservation for weekend dinners, as it...

We enjoyed this place, which serves food in a way that is familiar to us Californians. We noticed the placemat shows that the head chef worked at Chez Panisse and this experience shows up in creative combinations and fresh ingredients. It is refreshing after being a tourist and having the local food for many days straight. The gnocchi was yummy as were the lamb stuffed kale, paired with Milins Poship (white wine). The server was efficient, not very conversational as is the style in Croatia, and the location was cute. The only downside was we picked an outside seat to be away from smoke. But as the seats became empty a loud and drunk group of women came outside to smoke and made it unpleasant. Smoking is prevalent in Croatia and I can't fault the restaurant for this, but it would be nice if they could provide a designated area for smoking not near diners. Overall,...