Sa`Hati — Restaurant in Tirana Municipality

With one of the worst service experiences I've had, the food can't be that important. But it averaged out to "okay". The entrées were pretty tasty, even if their contents were a surprise as my server didn't know what yaprak or terracotta meat were. My steak was somewhat chewy, but worse, must've had way more than 5g of salt on top of some 200g of beef. My palate was burning for a while after finishing it. Never had anything quite like it. The wine (Albanian red?) wasn't half bad. Ruby, light, fruity, fresh. It would've helped if I could have had it with my food.

Instead, I had the most amazing difficulty getting half the things I ordered without extended attempts at locking eyes with table service, as it carefully avoided customers once they were seated. Could finally get my wine, ordered upon arrival to be served with the main course, after asking for it three more times, as I was mostly finished with my meal. No apologies. Once I was done with my food, it took almost half an hour and three requests to get a cup of coffee. For this, I finally had to get up from the table to figure it out (took quite a while still after that). After asking for the check another three times, gestures signalling increasing frustration and desperation, I finally managed to pay for my meal. Since I couldn't get any change either, after two quick smokes and some confused loitering, I suppose my waiter decided on his own that he'd earned a ~10% tip. Elsewhere I overheard other tables being told there was no tipping in this restaurant. In my book, this was stealing from me, but the whole experience was so tiring that I let it go and left. Can’t help but respect the absolutely degenerate gall of this guy to decide to keep the change after messing with me for some two hours.

The sweet British couple sitting next to me had similar, if milder difficulties. The man was quietly humming along to the Pet Shop Boys, or some other such synth pop tunes, in the background, him and the increasingly wine-desperate wife exchanging some experiences of hospitality culture with me.

Let’s be clear that this Monday wasn’t a crowded night with the front of the house struggling to catch a breath. With almost half as many waiters as customers, I don't think I could've eaten my dinner at all without trying to spot the slightly older waiter (perhaps owner) for help. He seemed nice, held a wine glass like a sommelier, and seemed to be there to work. I wish him luck with the rest of the crew, who made me feel unwelcome and ripped off. It’s difficult to believe these 100+ five star reviews have visited the same place, and chances are many haven't. If you get the same service as I did, do what I should've done and leave without paying. That should speed things up one...

Saw it was busy and tried it. Got seated in a crappy corner. About five minutes after being seated had to move as several people started smoking cigarettes directly next to me and the wind blew every puff into me. I felt sick and requested to move. The waiter said it was outside smoke. I was sitting next to the people smoking indoors so this was nonsense. Anyways, food came, and instead of serving me at the table. The waiter chucked the plates over my right shoulder. Never had such lazy service even in Mc Donald's. Portions of food were for a toddler. The food is really poor and bad tasting. Tomatoes had zero taste. Olives were shrivelled and bitter. Received a huge pile of onions when I said only a small amount. No dressing, and flavourless cheap ingredients. Had better salads with more than triple the portion in Opa fast food. Tomatoes taste delicious in Albania, but not here. Perhaps they got the tomatoes from the UK in winter. The sardines were practically pickled. The oddest food served here. Then went to pay as no one came to my table. They charge a fee to pay by card! Why is this not mentioned before anywhere? Paid in cash as I begrudged paying for the below substandard crrap I received. Overpriced garbage. Must be people with covid writing great reviews. Had really tasty food all over Balkans for a fraction of what I paid here. Utterly...

We went here for lunch as it looked busy which we thought was a good sign. Waited a very long time to get served by a waiter who was pleasant and friendly but rushed off his feet! Tables were very close together so it was impossible not to notice how many orders were being got wrong. Wrong dishes delivered, under cooked food, over cooked food, wrong drinks.....no drinks! It was a bit of a fiasco to be honest and I felt a bit sorry for both the staff and customers. When our food eventually arrived the portions were tiny and everything was cold. I didn't bother complaining as it'd taken so long to get food/drinks in the first place that I didn't want to wait any longer for replacement dishes. Another issue was the toilet situation - this restaurant doesn't have any for customers so they'll direct you to the public toilets in the indoor market next door...which are absolutely disgusting. I'm not easily upset but these toilets were something else! Not exactly the restaurants fault I realise but still further reduced the enjoyment of the occasion.

TLDR: Staff -friendly and helpful. Service - extremely slow. Food - small portions, cold, poor...