Malabar — Restaurant in Grasse

A Contrast Between Culinary Excellence and Service Quality

The restaurant’s kitchen is outstanding—the food is exquisite, rich in flavor, and expertly prepared. Unfortunately, the service falls far short of this standard, significantly diminishing the overall experience.

The staff seems inattentive, especially towards tourists. While local guests receive smoother service, international visitors are often overlooked. The waiting times are unnecessarily long, and the servers take inefficient extra steps that could easily be avoided with better organization. For instance, if they had asked about our order and bill at the same time, the process would have been much more efficient.

One of the most frustrating moments was when, after requesting the bill, our server walked past us at least twenty times, each time saying, “I’ll be right back,” yet nothing happened for an extended period.

As a restaurant manager myself, it’s particularly painful to witness such poor service in a place with such great food. Guests were leaving without receiving any attention, an issue that could be easily fixed with a bit more attentiveness and better workflow management.

If the service quality improved, this restaurant could be an outstanding culinary destination. As it stands, dining here feels more like a test...

We've been regulars of this little gem on the remparts for the past ~10 years, but before going there again today after a while, we called them to make sure they still served our favorite dish, the magret de canard, since it wasn't mentioned on their website anymore. They confirmed we'd find it. After a 30+' drive including highway toll and parking fee in St Paul de Vence, the magret still does not show up on the menu, so we ask once more, before even answering the "anything to drink?" question. At this point the lady admits they don't have it in their menu anymore, and that the colleague who took my call before made a mistake and assumed I was asking about the "confit de canard" (which I clearly wasn't). Since that dish was the main reason for us going there, we just left, explaining the situation and confronting her colleague as well. He shrugged his shoulders and admitted the mistake, no apology given, no gesture, nothing. We ended up going elsewhere and will never come back. I can't speak for the food, but the kind Dutch lady that used to be there is also gone, so I guess that they're under new management and don't really give a dime about old customers (and potential new customers also, since they didn't know us and potentially we...

Went there for our anniversary and asked the manager if we could could swop tables with a couple nearly leaving. She said no as she didn't want to clean the table again. She was rude and when we asked to speak with the owner she said he was even worst so no point! Tells you everything .

I worked as a waitress for many years in cape town and if customers asked for a table they liked we always made an effort if we could , even if it meant cleaning the table again. Literally takes 2 seconds. It's the small gestures that make a difference.

Yes we did taste the wine , but after the waitresses rudeness we just didn't want to sit there and enjoy our wine anymore. We did pay for it and left, we found a restaurant nearby with friendlier service.

Unfortunately it's people like the manager who can't take any Constructive feedback that doesn't improve...