Maloya — Restaurant in New York

Maloya was my chosen spot for a birthday gathering for me and my party of 8. We called in advance for a reservation with no trouble and got seated right away once we arrived.

The interior of the restaurant transports you to Reunion Island, away from the hustle and bustle of NYC! The walls are adorned with landscapes of islands and mountains that you can find in the vicinity of said island which added to its calm and soothing ambiance.

Service-wise, the restaurant seemed a little understaffed as it took about 20-30mins to get our orders taken, with waters following soon after. We ordered drinks first and then food, a bit worried that our large order would be taking some time. However, we were pleasantly surprised to have our food and drink served not too long after placing our order. Unfortunately they were out of the pork belly and the stewed beef dish.

The appetizers and entrees were all delicious! We got one of each appetizer, the shrimp, swordfish, sausage, and lamb leg entrees. The swordfish was nothing short of fantastic, with great flavor and savoriness. The sausage and shrimp were tasty as well, with the sausage having a mild yet deep flavor. The lamb leg sauce was yummy as well, but the meat proved to be a little tough and overcooked. Appetizers were delightful as well holding perfect crisp and crunch. A small note is that the entrees could have been a bit hotter, as they were near cool when they arrived at our table.

Overall, while my party and I enjoyed the food and atmosphere, I think this place is more suited for small parties as the portions are not exactly family style. I recommend this as a good date night spot or even a quick stop in for some...

I was taken aback by this place! I was nervous about getting some friends together for dinner and wanted us all to have a good experience…and we ended up loving this place! The design, atmosphere, music and lighting were amazing. Food was incredible. I personally didn’t like the drinks but my friends did. We got the samousas and lamb dish amongst ourselves, ice cream sorbet and cornbread with ice cream (?) for dessert. Food felt healthy yet fulfilling. Left feeling like it was a wonderful way to spend a Friday night and would definitely come back in the future!

Update: Went back for a second time and was very disappointed at how lacking the menu was! The menu is tiny to begin with - to be out of stock of all of the meat dishes (which I believe are your main dishes) was astounding. Had to order something I did not want just because we had already traveled so far to get there. I got the shrimp dish and my friend got the swordfish. The sauces on both were good but the dishes were not filling. As last time, I got the cornbread ice cream for dessert, which was heavenly. My friend got the sorbet and didn’t even get her choice as they were out of several flavors here as well.

Overall I do like their food but don’t think all the travel is worth the risk of another “out of stock” on...

We (table of 4) came here on a weeknight, with about 4 other tables that were seated when we arrived. We waited a long time for the food, and in my opinion the service wasn’t all that great. We asked our server if the food we ordered was enough. He said “no,” but didn’t give us any recommendations on what we should order and we just decided to stick to what we had. I also felt that the mango mocktail was mostly coconut water, and was really really sweet. I had to ask for more limes to balance the flavor. Anyways, on to the food…

We got the tuna samosas, the espadón, the camarons, and the watercress salad. The samosas were tiny and didn’t have a lot of flavor. The watercress salad ($14) was mostly watercress, with no dressing and the mango on the salad was very minimal. The espadón ($24) was very salty and over/spiced, while the camaron ($23) was sweet but kind of just tasted like canned coconut milk with no depth of flavor. Each of the entrees came with a side of rice and beans that we found were decent. Overall we found the plates unbalanced, and although we were still hungry, we were disappointed by the taste, wait, and price that we decided to pay and take our leave.

We won’t...