Restaurant recommendations for NYE in Malaga

[MinnieMountain]

DH, DS(13) and I will be in Malaga over this New Year. I gather that most restaurants will be shut for dinner and those that are open only do expensive gala dinners. Is that right?

Has anyone found a not expensive place for NYE dinner or a good place for a long lunch that day?

NYE is a big deal in that part of the world. Be prepared for the entire city to be out after midnight for hours, it’ll be so much fun! There are some big tourist restaurants down by the harbour that might be good for lunch but I can’t recommend anywhere. Whenever we’ve visited Malaga we’ve just mooched about and found places ad-hoc.
Are you staying in a hotel or apartment?

I gather that most restaurants will be shut for dinner and those that are open only do expensive gala dinners. Is that right?

This is true pretty much anywhere in Europe. It's a big ask for a place to get their staff to miss having their own New Year celebration, so they have to get the key people to all agree to come in, and pay them a fair whack extra. You may also have to pre-pay at least the meal component to guarantee your place, as no-shows will be an even bigger pain than usual.

About the only places that will be doing their à la carte dinner service as usual are (some of) the Chinese restaurants.