Really as good as it gets anywhere in the Western Main Line. Great farm fresh, interesting and creative menu. From the interesting pasta dishes to the fish to the local veal it was all done to perfection. Every appetizer and entrée was prepared with a interesting and unique flair. If you're a fan of farm to fork this is a must try restaurant, well worth the drive from outside the immediate area. Very comfortable, great bar area for pre-dinner cocktails, excellent service. Fantastic experience from every perspective. Try the salted carmel Flan or Homemade Bread pudding for dessert...just the best ! read more

Great ambiance. The wine list is scant and expensive but the food is very good. Service was top notch. We will definitely be back.

This is my favorite restaurant in the area. My wife and I dine here once or twice a year for the past several years. Food is always top notch, as is service. Prices are steep, but you get what you pay for. I generally get some sort of pork or fish dish. The suckling pig is highly recommended, when it's on the menu read more

I love this place. The food was out of this world. I got the prime rib special. Delicious! I also had the most wonderful Rose'. Great restaurant! read more

Nice atmosphere . Food extremely disappointing. Was looking forward to the suckling pig but tested old clearly roasted sometime ago. Ribeye steak had a weird burned taste. With so many good restaurants , this is not one I would ever go back or recommend to anyone. read more

Food, staff and atmosphere wonderful! Perfect place for dinner with date, friends or family celebration.

First time here with a large group of coworkers. The staff was courteous and attentive. Food was prepared and presented in a timely manner. I enjoyed the slow roasted pork and historical/rustic ambiance. read more

Alba is a small beautiful gem tucked away in Malvern! I am in the Malvern area consulting when I drove by Alba to find myself turning the car around to park near the restaurant! I am happy I walked in Alba. Frank, our was marvelous! As was the rabbit dish, the creamy corn chowder and bruschetta. If you are looking for a 5 Star restaurant in Malvern cross the threshold at Alba. You will be over-joyed when you leave! read more

We have been to Alba a few times, and the food and service has always been fantastic. Service is attentive but not overwhelming, food is outstanding and accessible, and the ambiance is fantastic. Waiter helped pick out several great, reasonable wines. Highly recommended. read more

Never disappoints! Epic tagliatelle with ahi tuna and Calabrian peppers! Best burrata!

Amazing restaurant! Decor, service...all aces. The food- best meal I've had all year. Hands down.

Wonderful food and excellent service. Farm to table, and creative menu. My favorite place. Great for special lunch or dinner. read more

Soooo awesome!!! I had the trout... Perfectly prepared... With the beer salad... Lovely blend of flavors... Hubby had the roast pig & grilled octopus appetizer. Service attentive. Tiny bit too loud for me in dining room. A really memorable evening!!! read more

new to the area (Wilmington DE from NY), stumbled upon this town on a leisure drive. Saw that they have suckling roast pig on the menu and knew this would really put a big smile on my hubby's face so I immediately made a reservation. Even though they didn't have anything till 8:30p on a Saturday evening, it's well worth the wait. For appetizer I order the bruscheta, fresh home made cheese, simple but it's out of this world. The suckling pig was finger licking good. They do offer BYOB (with a corking fee) even though they have their liquor license by now. Our waiter provided us the first class service and was very knowledgeable with the menu. We'll definitely be back there soon, this place is a gem and I hope it'll never change! read more

Chef Sean and Kelly do an awesome job. From their infamous Anipasto to short-rib flatbread to wild game, Sean provides a phenomenal culinary experience. Little tidbit of info, they turn the menu over ever couple months so favorites are sure to pop back-up! Bon Appetit! read more

The food was amazing! I wanted to complement the chefs. Requested a few things for my husbands birthday and they came through. The waiter wasn't as professional as expected at such an expensive place (Didn't know a few items on menu) and he had a slow start but made it up In the end. Great celebratory place. read more

Sometimes it's hard to live up to be hype- not for Alba. We live in Malvern and friends have told us about it for years- we finally got around to getting there last night. We showed up without a reservation and hey were picked on a Monday. They promptly found us a seat in the bar area which was full of people but had little tables. I typically don't like cramped quarters for eating - but this wasn't bad. The service was great all night. Food was fantastic. We started with three types of bruschetta and they were fantastic. My wife had the duck which was finished perfectly. I had the Branzino which was prepared unlike I've ever had it - but was fantastic. The ambience was great - i will definitely be back. read more

Stopped in for a business dinner tonight, probably my 5th time in Alba thru the years. Probably 3 yrs since my last visit. Love the interior and atmosphere, service was good, attentive and friendly. Had an onion bruschetta as a starter and sea bass as my main course. Food was good, plated well, cooked correctly with no real complaints. So why three stars ? for the price and the setting I want to be wowed and it just did not have the wow factor.. I go to Birchrunville cafe or Amani's in Downingtown and I feel the wow and ask myself why I don't come more often.. Again I can't put my finger on the reason but just remember the same feeling of no wow factor 3 years ago. It's just one of those places I want to love but just leave wondering why I don't and feeling it should be more for the price.. hey some people like jazz and some like opera ... I'll stay with Armani's or Birchrunville cafe. Maybe again in three more years. read more

So delicious! Wild Boar, grilled Trout and nice selection of wines made for a perfect night out with friends. Joseph was our terrific server, knowledgeable about the wine and menu. read more

Love the new bar. Food was great. Only complaint about the new bar was the bartender on Friday night. He pretty much ignored us at the bar, passed off our questions about the wine and in general was unfriendly. We wound up ordering a lot of food and having a great time regardless. read more

Alba wishes it were more but it 's reach exceeds it's grasp. First, They asked me when I made the reservation if this were a special occasion which in turn I replied "yes it is for my wife's 40th birthday". so of course I am thinking, as other good establishments have done in the past when asked this question, were going to do something special for her, which has been my experience previously. Nope , nothing, ok so why ask in the first place then? Next they seat us at what was a bad table, stuck in a corner behind a slanted dividing wall with a full view of the kitchen door, again really for a special occasion , this is where you seat us at? again why ask? Next my wife who is 8 months pregnant is asked if she would like a beverage from the bar. Really, you are going to ask a very obviously pregnant woman if she wants a drink, talk about the upsell, not appropriate in the least. then the food, it was decent, slightly up average but nothing stood out, Now I have been to all of the local BYOB etc... such as Birchrunville, (very good) Majolica (outstanding) and numerous others in the greater Philadelphia area. In comparison the food was decent better that any TGIF, cheesecake factory etc.... but not on par with the others I have mentioned. It took a while for the kitchen to get our entrees out and yes we had the full slate of apps etc.. Well it took so long to get the entrees out after the apps. Our server comes over and ask if we would like to order anything else in the meantime, really, how about just getting what we ordered first. finally the check comes and they have over charged me for the wine that I drank by $6 dollars. I let it go just to prevent another long delay. So overall I would not recommend Alba, They seemed more concerned about turning over tables that building a good reputation which will create repeat customers and strong word of mouth. I would have most certainly would have become a repeat customer if not for this experience? Really you asked a woman who is 8 months pregnant whether she wanted a drink on her 40th birthday which you completely forgot about after asking me on the phone when I made a reservation no less read more

Love this place..go back there again and again. Suckling pig, the rabbit agnolatti, the ribeye are spectacular. One of the best restaurants around..and we are big foodies..You will love it..The service is great and they have servers that have been there for years and they are like old friends..Desserts are superb too read more

As my wife just said, "This is the most delicious steak I've ever tasted." The rest of the meal followed suit. The service was attentive but not overbearing. The servers were personable and knowledgeable. I would highly recommend this restaurant. read more

Overcooked and not coming back for seconds. I went out with some friends last night and we ordered an appetizer, dinner and 2 drinks. I don't mind spending the money, but I asked for my steak medium-well and it was clearly well-done and the waitress told me after the fact that was their "medium-well". It was not the greatest experience and didn't leave satisfied. read more

I came here cause my family wanted to treat me to a birthday dinner. The food here is phenomenal. The octopus appitizer is amazing and tendor the steak special i had was a perfect mid rare. The service was great over all I recommend eating here. The chef uses local ingredients and I think it's farm to table here. Over all good job to the chefs read more

3-types of bruschette and sweetbreads were the appetizers. Wood Grilled Lamb, White Corn Polenta, Zucchini, Tzatziki Sauce for the entree. Butterscotch Budino for dessert. I will happily return to this fine establishment. The food was spectacular and the service was top notch. We had a great experience. read more

Very very good, excellent food! Will be back. They charge $25 corkage (per bottle...) if you bring your own.

Having eaten there in the past and liked it, we made a reservation for two online. We were a bit surprised at the announcement that they have a two-hour time limit at the weekend, but went ahead anyway. We noted the $10 corkage fee on their own website: "20% Gratuity Added to Parties of Five or More Corkage Fee $10/Bottle" To our surprise they called us the day of the reservation to make sure we were coming, but proceeded to say that after our 6pm reservation, we'd have to leave by 8pm. Also the corkage fee is $15! That's not the sort of welcome one wants from what is supposed to be a high class restaurant, so we canceled and made a reservation elsewhere. Dinner should be a relaxing experience. If they have problems with diners staying too long then they need to space out the reservations, not put people off with their bad attitude. read more

Ever since I've been working in the burbs "yeah yeah" I've heard great things about Alba. The people that recommend this place aren't just the typical diners. They're not your typical everyday 9-5 people. The people that are recommending this place are restaurant people. Restaurant people that eat, breathe, and live food. When nothing else matters it's food and dining that people like us care about and Alba is the place to be. With that said there is no reason, absolutely zero reason to drive out of the city if you live there, especially if you live in walking distance of great restaurants "like I do". But this is an exception. I'll start by saying I went on Monday night, and if you work in the industry it's 20% your entire check, including wine. Since I was recognized they did not ask for proof, but I'd bring your MOST RECENT PAYCHECK STUB for proof and ID. Wine list is legit and filled with both Italian and American wines. We choose a nebbiolo which the name slips my mind but it was a great start. For food we had the veal sweetbreads, Rabbit tortellini, and let me stop there by saying those were one if not the best pasta dish I've ever had. Very simple with clean crisp flavors. Outside of my friends gnocchi they were the best, different styles of course. For entrees the suckling pig and venison osso buco were the choices. The venison was great and not gamy at all which I enjoyed and the suckling pig has the crispiest skin I've ever had. So yelpers, if you actually read and take these reviews seriously, there's only a few spots that I'd go back. This is one of them. It's a food driven restaurant, and the food speaks for itself. Better then Osteria, and on par with Il Pittore. read more

There is no better restaurant on the Main Line. Fantastic food and beautiful atmosphere. I lived in NYC for 15 years and this restaurant is one of the few that I've found in this area that is as good as the restaurants that I became accustomed to in the Big Apple. read more

Delicious little spot that is deceptively big on the inside. Wonderful beer selection, and the homemade pasta is out of this world. If you don't want to do a whole meal of pasta, ask your server and they will do a half order for you as an appetizer. read more

I recently came here for the first time since my 17th birthday almost 10 years ago. For whatever reason I couldn't find anything on the menu I liked way back when and it forever left me with a sour taste in my mouth so I hadn't been back. wow, was I wrong and delusional... because this place is phenomenal. i recently came with a friend because we were tired of our usual stomping grounds- the reservations were booked up but we didn't care so we plopped down and waited for a while. we probably waited an hour and a half before we got a table in the bar but it was WELL worth it. I would actually suggest sitting in the bar if you can since you have access to both the bar menu and the dining room menu. everything we ordered was amazing and there were tons of other things on the menu I was dying to try. service in the bar is a little hectic because it gets loud and crowded but the food is worth it. honestly. amazing. read more

Traveling out to Malvern from Philly to dine here not something that I would recommend unless you want to travel that far for a perfectly decent though not particularly memorable meal, but the buzz was strong so we went. Service is adequate as is the food which is not overpriced. Perhaps the initial noise for the place came after decades of Malvern having just the General Warren Inn for fine dining in the neighborhood. read more

The husband and i went on a Friday night, expecting a bit of a wait since we had no reservations. We were not dressed badly, i would say "business casual." I was not however prepared for the up and down look the hostess gave me when I asked how long the wait would be, as if it was a crazy question and i was dressed inappropriately. When we were seated, our waitress was very short with us as if she did not have time to deal with another table...there were numerous empty tables inside and on the deck where we we're seated and a few wait staff that looked to be hanging around the kitchen area laughing/joking around. Our food was delicious however it was quite overpriced for the portions received. Overall it was a very disappointing experience after reading so many good things about the place. read more

This place is way overrated. Food is mediocre, but excessively priced, resulting in very poor value for the amount of money. Also, if you are looking for authentic Italian dishes, as suggested by the menu, you will not find them here. Very disappointing. read more

I just ate here for my brothers birthday and it was good. We loved the grilled octopus and gelato. I will definitely be back!

Very comfortable atmosphere. Excellent drink menu. My steak special was wonderful. 3 of us split the pasta carbonara for an appetizer and it was delicious! Try the daily dessert tart, very fresh and tasty. Very happy with this pick. read more

Center city restaurant in the suburbs. Alba is a trendy modern Italian restaurant and bar. The suckling pig is a must get!

Excellent food and ambience. We enjoy both the restaurant and the bar. Servers are attentive and polite. when I read some of the negative reviews I think people are so self entitled. Honestly, can you wait a few minutes if a waiter can't get to you immediately? Let's all try to be a little kinder and more generous, especially to people who are living on tips or trying to make a go at running a restaurant in what is a very competitive business. read more

We went to Restaurant Alba for a birthday celebration and had high hopes of having a great experience based on reviews we read. This particular night we found that the service was extremely slow. It took almost an hour and a half to receive our main course from the time we arrived, and the restaurant was not particularly crowded at the time we booked. In addition, the noise level was uncomfortably loud. The Bronzino fish dish was very tasty, but the duck was rather tough and lacked distinctive flavor. Prices are very high for modest portions. We are unlikely to return again for dinner. read more