Took 45 minutes for my food to arrive, while all the locals received theirs within 10 minutes of…read moreordering. The ambience was okay, nothing out of the ordinary or special. The staff was very rude too, shrugging and rolling their eyes at my order. My calzone also had very little cheese, and arrived cold.

Great food in the heart of the town. We throughly enjoyed our pizzas and even took it back home to…read morego. If you're in the mood for a good pizza, I would suggest this place as they have many great options, reasonably priced and it was delicious. They also have non pizza items if you're not in the mood. I do know they let you order to go and I think they also do delivery through apps. My only complaint to management/ staff is that I wish they would step in when beggars or street vendors came to your table. We had a old woman ask us for money ( she begged us for a while ) while we were eating and it would have been nice for a waiter or the host to step in and make sure she left. She stopped at every table outside and they didn't do anything. I would still come back here as the food and staff were good, but the above note is a suggestion for the future.

4 stars for location, fast and accommodating service, location, value, and fresh pasta! This place…read moreis a fast food pasta, perfect for a quick bite, cheap, and located in the midst of the Malaga center. I had the bolognese. Althought the pasta was really good, I felt like the meat sauce could have had more flavor. The Arrabiata was much better. It was so fresh and tasty. Will definitely return if I'm feeling for fresh pasta next time I'm in Malaga. Prego!

Absolutely delicious. A tiny little place with 4 or 5 tables outside and a counter inside. You…read morehave your choice of pasta shape and sauces. The pasta is made in house. It was amazing. Our meal was so tasty. We had the arrabbiata and the pesto & pomodoro. Both of us loved our choices. Services was good. Prices EXTREMELY reasonable. Loved it.

Everything so delicious!! Staff was incredibly accommodating and super friendly! The food was…read moregreat!! Highly recommend!!

It's one of the oldest Italian restaurants in town. One of my colleagues organized to go here for…read moredinner and a few of us went there. Why someone who book an Italian restaurant in a Spanish town is beyond me :-) the place was nice and the service was great but the food was ok. We had platters of food arrive and so I cannot comment on the menu. We had quite a few dishes but every single dish had cheese in it. I could not eat another course with cheese in it. We started off with a Burratta which is a super fresh cheese and that was really nice. Then came the cheese wrapped in pancetta, buffalo mozzarella with Parma ham, two pasta course with cheese sauce and then tiramisu. The pasta dishes were very nice but I have never had spaghetti vongole with a cheese and pesto sauce and it was ordinary :-) Service was good and the value for money was a bit low here for me. Malaga has some amazing restaurants and they are also very reasonable but this one wasn't. I may come back here again if I run out of options in town :-)

Surprisingly delicious Italian food in a Spanish city! Believe it or not, I was getting sick of…read moretapas and wanting something familiar yet different. After passing by La Mafia a few times (conveniently located in a central part of Malaga's pedestrian mall), I asked my hubby if we could try Spanish-made Italian for one night. La Mafia. The name is laughable and the design of the storefront and advertising posters are so kitchy and overly themed. Anyway, the inside isn't checkered tablecloths and black and white photos of Sicilian crime families. Instead you'll find plush seating, white tablecloths, and a decidedly more posh setting than the Godfather would ever want to entertain or be entertained in. You'll also be less likely to find Italians, more likely to see tourists from other parts of the world, such as Germany, UAE, and USA. Their menu offerings remind of the Spanish pasta and pizza chain, La Tagliatella. Similar to La Tagliatella, La Mafia offers a range of base sauces, which you can then pair with a noodle of your choice, and add a protein while you're at it. I love anything with truffles in it so I had to get either a truffle-infused sauce or truffle-infused pasta. I decided to pair their pesto with mushroom and truffle ravioli. It was amazeballs. The hubby ordered their very shrimpy prawn risotto for my sake, and it was also very good. He, of course, liked my dish more, but said that he quite enjoyed the risotto despite not caring much for shellfish (being allergic to them...). The servings are very generous. La Mafia may have very well been the first place where we ordered an entree-size meal. Service at La Mafia is somewhat better than the rest of Malaga, understandable since entrees average between 15 and 20 euro, as opposed to individual tapas under 10 euro. Here's our only grievance: Despite being a fancier restaurant than some others around town, La Mafia couldn't escape what seems to be a Malaga thing--dishes and utensils looked poorly washed. This was mostly our experience in Malaga, not so in Granada and Nerja. For some reason, Malaga establishments and citizens seem to care less about specks of food on their plates or greasy forks...Oh well...We learned to just give our plates and utensils aggressive wipedowns with napkins. If you're craving some creamy, carby goodness while visiting Malaga, check out La Mafia.

Great calzone and carbonara. You have to experience this... Recommended!!!read more

After getting tired of eating tapas, my fiancées and I decided to have some Italian. Though the…read moremenu was small, the choices are exquisite. The chef has chosen to create his own menu with local ingredients. I would come back again and I highly recommend this restaurant.

Delicious and quaint. Attentive service. Menu changes frequently and is very creative. We took all…read moreour waiters recommendations and were very content with the meal. Tiramisu is the best I've ever had.

Just wanted to temper the 5* average. Pizzas (7-10€) are good but not memorable, the drink…read moreselection is very basic and the place is quite bare. It is open quite late for lunch (till 4pm, then they close until dinner time) so it is a convenient restaurant in the city center but do not free your agenda to go there, it is not worth the hassle.

Amazing pizza, great service and great wine! Nice comfortable outdoor seating. Good prices too!read more

This place wasn't horrible. We wandered in here with three hungry offspring honestly because it was…read moreempty. It filled up while we were there. I would recommend the pizza. Of everything we ordered, this was the best. The service was good - we had some language miscommunication, but they were accommodating and we got it sorted out. The place is aesthetically pleasing. We had a good bottle of wine.

El Pimpi did not disappoint! Everything we ordered was delicious, from the papas bravas and garlic…read moreshrimp to the creamy Russian salad. My husband tried the caracoles (snails) and really enjoyed them too. The decor is beautiful and authentically Spanish, with different areas to sit, some tables by the bar, others indoors surrounded by a wall full of photos featuring famous guests. One of the photos of Antonio Banderas, who happens to be a co-owner! The service was super attentive, and the overall ambiance was just great. I really liked El Pimpi, it fully lived up to the hype!

This restaurant is more about its famous owner than the food. Antonio Banderas, a native of Málaga,…read moreis rumored to own the restaurant and live in the condominium adjacent to its patio dining area. People come in the hope of sighting this celebrity, crowding the restaurant at all hours and overwhelming its staff. Our server pointed us to a QR code on the cocktail menu so we could look up what's on offer. This menu gave ONLY the names of the dishes on offer, WITHOUT any description of the dish or its sides. Nor did the server have the time to describe them to us. Service was a 2, at best, while the food was a 3. If you're looking for good food and good service, there are plenty of other options in Málaga. If you choose a place to eat on the off chance you will see a movie star, this is the place for you.

I haven't written a review in a LONG time and this restaurant did not have a page but it was so…read moregood I felt compelled to get the ball rolling. The full review will be long and detailed but here's the tl;dr version: No menus. Full (3 hours) of flavor. Can't lose! For those who want the full canon here goes: My family and I took a chance on this place tonight on our second to last night of a week long vacation in Málaga. We had been eating tapas and traditional fare all week and decided to give this quiet and quaint place a shot. It had been nearly empty all week leading us to wonder why and there was no review we could find - we decided to take a risk anyway. The interaction at first was a little awkward as we arrived at 8pm before the restaurant truly opened - we were also asked to come back in 15 minutes as the chef was still not in (turns out he was still buying groceries for the meal!). The server's English and our Spanish were just good enough to connect. As we got settled in we were provided with the wine list which is exclusively Italian and after asking some questions and making a selection we began our experience in earnest. While there was another couple seated, the chef and server took the time to introduce themselves and explain that there was no menu and only 4 choices for main courses (tonight it was: mushroom risotto, penne amatriciana, sirloin steak and swordfish). They walked us through the choices and also informed us that of there was an antipasto dish of porchetta available that he would dress in oil with a side of fresh tomatoes and olives in oil, garlic and little chilli peppers - the chef even went so far as to show us the cut of meat - we were sold! While there were four of us we opted to not to get the swordfish but we could try all three other options. The option for 1/2 risotto and 1/2 penne was something that we were informed was possible which two people did take advantage of. As we waited for our food we were brought bread and complimentary grilled zucchini that had been expertly marinated with garlic, oil and spices. It was a precursor of what was to come... The antipasto came and we were in heaven! The porchetta was cut so thin you could practically see through it and it melted in our mouthes. The tomatoes and olives were incredibly fresh. We used the bread to sop up all the juices and even requested a second serving of bread. We also ordered a second bottle of wine and continued on. Each of the dishes were amazing! I had the sirloin that came in a tomato based sauce with capers, black and green olives and a slight kick from peppers. The pasta and risotto were homemade and the cooked to perfection - the mushroom risotto was not gooey but instead fluffy and flavorful. The full penne was perfectly al dente and the portion was perfectly sized. The tomato and meat sauce was perfectly zesty and covered the pasta without being the slight bit watery or runny. The two people who elected to get 1/2 and 1/2 even thought they received a tad too much food but we still finished it. Sadly this didn't leave us with room for dessert or coffee...that was probably uncouth of us but we didn't know if we could make it home if we ate more!!! All be told, we spent 3 hours (!!!) eating and drinking and enjoying our time together. At the time we left almost every other table was full and seemed to be enjoying their meals as much as we had. We shook hands with the waiter and chef and rolled ourselves home. Il Termopolio opens late and was not a quick meal (our dishes came out simultaneously as other tables, one seated before us and two after) but for about 25€ each we had an incredible meal, 2 bottles of wine and fantastic experience...something that you just don't find in America! Absolutely worth it - so glad we stopped in!