On a mobile device? Try our mobile site, optimized for faster browsing.
36th Ave (N, W)
Loading...
I must say.... my expectations were exceeded.
I've been searching to find a good Brazilian restaurant to come close to Cambalache in Cancun (shout out to my Cali counterpart), and this definitely came pretty close. I expected the food to have that frozen after taste you get from small restaurants, but not even close.
Their homemade Sangria is simple, cheap and really good. I MUST recommend the duck thanks to the excellent sauce that accompanied it.
Malagueta is definitely a hidden gem!!!
3.5 stars.
Enjoyed a double date on a Friday night, and we found at 8:30pm the restaurant to not be too crowded. It's a small restaurant and the tables are a bit close together (such as Manhattan), but the music isn't overwhelming and it is actually quite charming. There are also several outdoor tables (where we sat), and it proved to be a nice, quiet dinner with some Bob Marley playing in the background.
We brought our own wine; $15 uncorking fee, though there is a full bar.
I was pleased with my dinner, the tuna over some VERY nicely seasoned vegetables. In fact all four of us had the fish, and while we were all pleased, none of us were truly blown away. Seasoning was nice, portion size was nice, but nothing that stands out and, sorry, nothing that would make me come running back again. And, as others have stated, it's pretty wallet friendly for the size of the plate.
Solid choice, but I wouldn't expect to be blown away.
It fed my soul, we ordered the picanha, moqueca de camarao, and some fish dish...it was all delicious! Then the desert: flan, chocolate mouse, and the corn mouse...yum, yum, and yum :-d
Will come here again and again!
Amazing Brazilian--hidden gem.
I've been three times now, with different types of people, and all have absolutely loved it. Great atmosphere, understated decor, good service, an inventive menu.
The DUCK. Omg, the duck. Marinated in cachaca and literally melts in your mouth. The Shrimp "stew" is also heavenly, with cilantro and lime flavors.
The very first time I went there, they had a liquor license and I had a kickass caipirinha. Since then, they have moved to just beer and wine, which is unfortunate, but their sangria is lovely, as previously mentioned. And the selection is actually decent.
I love this place and I need to visit more often. Lovely food and a laid back atmosphere.
I could eat here every night of the week. If you're seeking comfort food, look no further. The menu is diverse in that is has something for everyone: beef, chicken, and fish. My favorites include the Corvina com Vatapa (grilled pollack with a seafood flavored bread puddling that has a consistency of mashed potatoes - my favorite) and the Moqueca de Camarao (shrimp stew) is heavenly. Definitely a treat for your taste buds! Cheers!
On a hot late-summer Saturday morning, six of us descended on Malagueta from all our different parts of the city. A somewhat fancy Brazilian restaurant in Astoria, Queens, Malagueta remains a down-to-Earth establishment with a very friendly and helpful owner. The prices are similar to establishments in Midtown's "Little Brasil" but this type of care would be unheard of. We arrived 5 minutes before opening, but were welcomed to take a seat nonetheless.
Before everyone arrived (including the Brazilian among us, so typical!), we delightedly ordered the Linguiça Grelhada com Mandioca (not pictured), a simple but delicious grilled sausage plate with spicy mayonnaise. It did not come close to satisfying the hunger of multiple people, but did serve to get the taste buds watering on our tongues. Once everyone had arrived, we took a deeper swing into the menu, testing the typical dish of Feijoada (below), and taking advantage of its availability only on Saturdays. The national dish arrived in generous proportion, a stew of salted beef, pork, sausage, and black turtle beans served in a heavy claypot. On the side comes a plate of rice, collard greens, and farofa.
Our other choices were the Lombo de Porco (below, left), sauteed pork tenderloin in a tasty dill sauce, accompanied by the best mashed potatoes this side of Grandma's Thanksgiving, and the popular Moqueca de Camaro (below, right), a stew of shrimp in coconut milk and too many spices to quantify.
After the meal, despite having absolutely no room left, I was excited to order the fried banana, which actually was not on the menu. The proprietor must have liked us enough to do something special to end our meal. By this time, the place was starting to fill with others, and we could all pick our stomachs up and roll home.
I live right around the corner from Malagueta, and I walked by several times unsure if such a quiet restaurant could be any good. It never seems particularly crowded, and well, I guess I'm just a pussy.
Anyway, I finally went there with a friend last weekend and it was AMAZING. I tried the steak special and it was among the best skirt steak dishes I've ever had. The potatoes and vegetables on the side were delicious as well, and the flan gets a thumbs-up.
Our waiter was pleasant and attentive, and quite frankly, the place is small enough where it'd be hard to get bad service. You're always within reaching distance of the waiter.
To top it all off, the prices are great! Definitely recommend! It's close to the subway and is worth the trip from Manhattan.
Excellent Brazilian food, decent ambiance, easy on the wallet
This restaurant is like a block away from my home. Its not big though. Size of a 1 store front, so it can sit about 30 ppl, tops. The decor is nice, with real candles (wrap in red paper to extend length and create ambiance) on their tables and a color palette dominated by red and supplemented by black and white. But when you look at the ceiling, you can still see the old high ceiling architecture of the place (good for high ceiling, bad for the pre-war design). Let just say the decor won't impress you, but you got to give them cred for trying.
Here's the dishes we had:
Appetizers
Linguica Grelhada Com Mandioca (Sausages with Yuca Fries) - The Yuca fries were so delicious, I wanted to have this dish by myself. They had a clean taste, not oily, and you can tell they are not your regular french fries. Add the green dipping sauce (avacado and mayo?) and it was the best dish appetizer I had in a long time. The sausages are really good too, but nothing can compare to those Yuca fries.
Lula Frita (Calamari) - Nice and crunchy, just the way I like it. The sauce is a bit watery though, but still pretty good dish.
Entree
Feijoada Completa (Brazilian National dish - served only on Saturday) - There wasn't enough meat in the black bean stew, or maybe I just gave away all the good pieces. Still I like this dish, the black bean stew had great flavor and the collards greens tasted a little like seaweed to me (which I like, cuz I like Jap food). First time I had Farofa, which is a powdery substance that has varying salt flavor. I thought its okay, but I probably didn't know how to appreciate it like Brazilian.
Codorna (Quail) - I tried this - This dish is good, although the quail is less meaty than other birds.
Moqueca de Camarao (Shrimp stew) - I tried this - This dish looks pretty. They had a scoop of rice and it was surrounded by shrimps. The shrimps were delicious, not overcooked. I can't believe there are better dishes, but
Frango Ao Vinho Branco (sauteed chicken breast w/ white wine sauce) - I tried this - The best entree I tried, bar none. The meat is so succulent and tender, filled with flavor in every bite. Oh, did I forget to mention this is white meat? You expect it to be dry, but its not at all. I will definitely order this dish the next time I come here.
Dessert
Brazilian Tiramisu - Not too sweet, make sure to dig deep (below the creme, below the chocolate) for the wafer
Flan - Really sweet on the outside, some might not like that, but once you get to the center, its so smooth and so good... yum...
I definitely want to come back here sometime. The price wasn't ridiculous. $135 (including tax and tips) for 4 ppl and we had appetizers(2), entrees(4), desserts (2), and a bottle of wine. What a bargain. Next time my friends come to visit me, we're going out to eat here.
To be honest, I have not been to Malgueta in about a year, however that is not fault of theirs! --- It is just slightly out of our local walking range for dinner. The interior is nothing special: just a bunch of tables and simple decor. The food is special: seafood was excellent and everything else we ordered. Service is top notch and it was not crowded at all. This place seems to be a bit off the beaten path --- but we will be trying to get back soon!
amazing. the sangria is cheap, delicious, sparkling and plentiful, the acaraje (black eyed pea fritter with spicy cream of fish and sauteed shrimp) blew my mind, the quail was cooked to perfection, the mashed potatoes were so flavorful and smooth, and the crispy spinach was salty and delicious. i wish i could recreate it in my kitchen. i know that isn't possible so i will just go back again and again and again.
A WINNER!
Go here for anything.
This place has fantastic food, very large portions and very good prices. The ambiance is not great, simple lights and paper table cloth, but the food and service more than make up for it. I went with 3 people and we all loved everythng!
The Brazilian sausage with fried Yuka and a spicy mayo sauce was great, reminded me of chorizo, and yuka fries are so much better than potato fries. My father got a HUGE plate of garlic shrimp. Massive portion for $7 and it was cooked perfectly, the shrimp had a bite. The lental friters with shrimp and somekinda sauce was very excotic and good.
For the main course, i had the Pollock, made with a sorta fish paste sauce, very strange, and totally excellent. Wonderful flavors, fresh fish and cooked very well. My fiance had the duck which was excellent. It had a crispy skin the way duck should, but still a little pink inside, cooked perfectly. We had 2 desserts that were as good as the entree. The passion fruit pudding was tart and different, i liked it very much. There were many new taste experienced at this meal, if this is real Brazilian food, than i really enjoy Brazilian. The Brazilian Tiramisu was light and airy, really suprising and enjoyable.
The staff was helpful and nice. I highly recommend this place, they also have outdoor seating which is nice.
I had the opportunity to go with a brazilian friend so the orders were taken in portuguese..I had no clue of what I was having , I guess it was art of the game. The food was fresh, delicious, authentic, the service was efficient..worth every penny!
Malagueta will not disappoint you and the local flavor of the servers is so charming I am willing to overlook some aesthetic shortcomings.
This isn't the kind of Brazilian restaurant where you have meat offered you until you flip over a coaster from green to red in surrender. While I have no expertise in the matter, I imagine this food to be what a person in Sao Paluo might order when they visit their favorite eatery.
We have tried several of the appetizers, but most favor the Salada de Lentilha Com Queijo: warm lentils with pepper crusted goat cheese over a balsamic drizzled salad greens. We have tried chicken dishes that are never dry and consistently flavorful, fish dishes that are subtle and surprisingly complex but we make a point of coming Saturday afternoon for the Feijoada Completa. Order a Brahma beer and savor this dish, you wont leave wondering why its the national dish of Brazil, its fantastic.
Lastly, I don't know if I can put words to the sheer unbridled delight of my first bite of Malaguetas Mousse de Maracuja. Sure, passion fruit mousse didn't sound like much to me either, but I'm a changed man for the experience. Truly the most amazing taste my palate has to this date enjoyed. I have to balance this by sharing that my sweetheart found the tangy ,sweet and creamy dessert only alright. She raves about the flan... try one of each, you'll be certain to find satisfaction ;)
This is an unassuming spectacular little restaurant less than a mile from my apartment, and I'm still regretting having waited so long to try it. Don't cheat yourself the way I did, find time this week and explore the culinary riches Malagueta has to offer.
I'm not feeling generous at the moment, so only three stars, but I would eat here again.
This place is good. I do not claim to be any kind of officianado on Brazillian food, but I know that this food was definitely tasty. Starting at the end, I tried some of the flan and a creamed corn and coconut dessert. Both were good, the creamed corn was surprisingly light, and the flan (which I haven't ever really liked before) was very good.
Our group shared their duck, pollock, snapper, and quail with one other. All were tasty, but my favorites were the fish (both pollock and snapper) which were both cooked perfectly, and seasoned with a slightly spicey and very good sauce.
We also shared two appetizers: the calamari and the sausage with some dipping sauce. The calamari were good: not over-cooked, greasy, or rubbery as seems to hapen way too often; and the sausage with the dipping sauce was awesome.
Oh, and entree's were $10-15, with app's generally under $10.
2.5
Came here for a casual v-day, and maybe the restaurant couldn't handle a full house well, or maybe the "modern twist" Zagat claims was too much for my Brazilian tastes. The "acaraje" was burned beyond usefulness (better vatapa at Ipanema), the moqueca and picanha tasted like boring (but good farofa with the picanha), and the pasteis were a bit heavy and generally un-pastel-like.
The wine was good, and they get to keep their Brazilian license, because they didn't mess up the mousse de maracuja. Otherwise, though, I was expecting a lot from what I've read about this place, and it didn't appreciably beat the steam tables at Brasilianville.
My boyfriend and i went to eat here 2 Sundays ago. WE LOVED IT!!! It was our first brazilian restaurant, and we checked out the menu online but didn't really know what to expect, because we had never tried brazilian food. The interior reminded me of mundo, very cute... the waiter gave us plenty of time to decide, almost too much time.. but that was the only complaint...
On to the food:
We started out witht he ceasar salad, which sounds weird; ceasar salad at a brazilian restaurant.. i thought the portion was a little small compared to other places, but it was good.
We ordered the Calamari as an appetizer, which was really tasty, my boyfriend really enjoyed the sauce provided on the side...
For our entrees:
I ordered the Frango Ao Vinho Brango which is "sauteed chicken breast with herd Shallots white wine sauce, served with mashed potatoes and carrots." It was delicious each bite just kept getting better... amazing!!!
My bf ordered the Peito de Pato sauteed duck marinara with brown sace, and rice mixed with veggies, he liked it a lot...
Dessert:
We had the Brazilian tiramisu.... we fought over every bitee it was the most delicious dessert that i have ever had!! Whip cream on top with 2 slices of strawberry and a chocolate mouse with grahamcracker on the bottom.... mmmm sooo good... We really almost ordered a second one, but decided that if this one was that good, maybe the Passion Fruit mousse would be better, we were wrong but its okay.
Overall highly reccommended!! loved it =]
This is worth a trek up to Queens. The passion fruit mousse is excellent. My friend had two orders because it was so good. The service is very good and the prices are reasonable. Overall, an enjoyable experience.
This place has great food. You wouldnt think the place packs out because of its location, but on weekends it may be smart to make a reservation for dinner. I recommend the Brazilian sausage with Yuca and spicy mayo appetizer. This Brazilian restaurant does not have an all you can eat special, just regular entrees but all the ones I have had are delicious. If you are there on a Sat. get the Feijoda Completa. Its all kinds of meats mixed with rice and beans in a crockpot. Awesome. I have had a chiken dish and a fish dish here as well and enjoyed both. My brother swears by the pork chops cooked in a bacon seasoning. I tasted it and cant wait to get it myself. This place is a hidden jewel in Astoria.
High Marks For Exceeding My Expectations!
This little brazilian place is really cute! After reading the Zagat review I excpected it to be old or stuffy but it was neither. don't be fooled by the oldish white curtains, the inside is very new, painted in earthy tones with relatively new furniture. It's simple, not lush but comfortable. You can see into the kitchen on your way to the bathroom. Food is excellent. Seriously good brazillian food. Glasses of wine are well priced at about $5 a glass. Entrees though are a different story. Although not expensive, entrees were about $13-$14 each for lunch, which is close to city prices. That being said, they are worth every penny. The beef stew entree is to die for, I get that every time. The garlic shrimp and empandas are also standouts. They offer a sangria sometimes that is great at $15 a pticher. Dinner might set up back as much as a dinner out on the lower east side but, it's worth every penny. Also, a thing to note is that thye only have lunch during the weekends and lunch starts at 12 or 1pm.
Malagueta is my cozy neighborhood restaurant. I'd never guess myself for a fan of Brazilian cuisine, but I'm hooked. You have to try their calamari appetizer - it's probably the best I've ever had. The quail is also well done - it comes with crispy spinach (crazy sensation, but absolutely delicious). The chicken with prosciutto and fontina cheese is another top-notch dish. My only criticism is that they play some bad music sometimes. They should stick to the latin-mood music!
Neighborhood: Long Island City
Category: Brazilian
Neighborhood: Long Island City
Category: Brazilian
Neighborhood: Long Island City
Category: Brazilian
Neighborhood: Midtown East
Category: Brazilian
Neighborhood: Long Island City
Category: Brazilian
