Malara's Italian Restaurant - Omaha

Malara's: Scrambled Egg Carbonara?. With a dearth of good Italian restaurants in our hometown of Lawrence (Kansas), we decided to try Malara's on a recent trip to Omaha after having read the rave reviews on Yelp. After our dinner, however, I am left wondering how this place ended up with 4 stars. The place is huge and the decor a bit tacky, looking as if it has not been redecorated since the 1970's. We were seated quickly, but ignored for the first ten minutes we were there. I had to grab a wine list from another table because I could not get the server's attention, had I known whom he or she was. Dinners come with a salad and although fresh, there was nothing but lettuce and that was drenched in an oil and vinegar dressing. The "bread" were rolls that looked as if they came out of a bag and heated in the oven. My wife had the spaghetti carbonara ($11.95). The spaghetti was pretty good, advertised as being homemade, but the sauce was too oily and there was hardly any bacon in sight. Instead of adding raw egg to the finished dish before tossing the pasta, they added scrambled eggs, something I have never seen done before. I had the veal parmigiana, ($16.95) which was not bad, but far from the best I have eaten. The portion size was adequate, the sauce pretty good, although a bit sweet for my taste, and the cheese melted to perfection. As is the case in most Italian (American) restaurants, there was far too much sauce on the pasta, but it tasted OK. When I asked the server if we could get some more bread, I was told that it would cost an "extra 25 cents each", so we SPLURGED! Enough said. Removing the scrambled egg carbonara and 25 cent bread rolls from the equation, I would have likely given Malara's 5, maybe 6, bombs out of 10 for the very average food at reasonable prices (value). Lose the scrambled eggs and give folks an extra roll or two ... is another 50 cents really worth upsetting customers over? CombatCritic Gives Malara's 4 Bombs Out of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better! combatcritic.com

Malara's: Scrambled Egg Carbonara?. With a dearth of good Italian restaurants in our hometown of Lawrence (Kansas), we decided to try Malara's on a recent trip to Omaha after having read the rave reviews on Yelp. After our dinner, however, I am left wondering how this place ended up with 4 stars. The place is huge and the decor a bit tacky, looking as if it has not been redecorated since the 1970's. We were seated quickly, but ignored for the first ten minutes we were there. I had to grab a wine list from another table because I could not get the server's attention, had I known whom he or she was. Dinners come with a salad and although fresh, there was nothing but lettuce and that was drenched in an oil and vinegar dressing. The "bread" were rolls that looked as if they came out of a bag and heated in the oven. My wife had the spaghetti carbonara ($11.95). The spaghetti was pretty good, advertised as being homemade, but the sauce was too oily... read more

Service not as bad as reviews said. I am a big foodie, after reading the reviews I almost didn't try it because most reviews were about horrible service. I tried it finally tonight, had the spinach tortellini with chicken filling and alfredo sauce it was good, not knock me down amazing but good enough to bring me back, the cheese sticks were huge and salad looked like it came from a bag. The service was AMAZING, my waitress was Michelle and she was fast, friendly, and flat out awesome!!! For the price it was definately worth it.. If you come ask for Michelle!!

Malaras RUDE. Going to revise my review of this restaurant because of a recent experience I had their. I went to Malaras for dinner by myself at p.m. On a Friday night. I walked in, and decided I wanted to sit at the bar to eat. I walked up to the bar and asked the woman bartender if I could sit there and have dinner. With a snotty attitude she said no, we don't serve dinner too people here at the bar. We're too busy There was no one sitting in the bar. ZERO. She was leaning against the bar watching TV. I again emphasize to her my desire to eat at the bar and she said, not gonna happen I said, so, you'd rather lose my business than serve me at the bar She said, You're just one ANY restaurant that has that attitude doesn't deserve ANY BUSINESS. So now, our monthly family dinners for people will be going elsewhere because they couldn't take care of the one. This mom and pop will likely go the way of the others. Ciao!

Malaras rude. I want to review my review of this restaurant because of a recent experience I had. I went about 19 hours to dinner after Malaras. on a Friday night. I went in and decided I wanted to sit on the bar to eat. I went to the bar and asked the woman barkeeper if I could sit there and have dinner. with an inconvenient setting she said no, we do not serve here at night at the bar. We are too busy in the bar sat no one. zero. she leaned against the bar that saw television. I emphasize her my desire to eat at the bar and she said not to happen I said so, they would rather lose my business than serve me...more