Qbajjar Restaurant Gozo — Restaurant in Żebbuġ

Qbajjar is a top restaurant on the island for fresh fish. Usually, good food,service, etc. However, this time was completely different. It was glaringly obvious the owner was abroad/away.

For example—

1). I ordered the pan fried lampuki. You’d expect a fillet, being pan fried, right? What I got, was the tail end of the fish, in “steak” form, with as many bones as a fish graveyard. Let’s just get this straight. Pan fried means filleted fish. Not bones in, not the tail end of the fish. I was separating both bones and fish tail from my mouth, having to guess with each bite so not to swallow one of the bones. You can imagine my dismay when I noticed swaths of customers having their fish deboned for serving by the staff at the serving table. When it was put to staff—it was “oh, we don’t bother deboning any of our lampuki. That’s how we serve it.” What? Give me a break will you. Pan fried fish—in everyone’s minds, including the chef who was our guest today and agreed—is a fillet. Also very dry. If there’s some unique thing I’m missing at Qbajjar, best to get the waiter to specify when reading the specials in the first place.

Around 2 mins after finishing our starters, we were prompted to see if we were ready for mains. “yes", we replied, thinking the chef would starting cooking the fish we ordered. Our mains literally came within 4 minutes afterwards. My fiancé ordered the swordfish. It was drier than the Goby desert. Well, obviously—it had been PRE COOKED and then sat under the salamander/heat lamps before serving. McDonald’s style. Pre cooked fish, sat under more heat, bring it out when they’re ready. You could imagine the texture. If not, try chewing on your flip flop—a fairly accurate comparison.

These are the things that drive customers away. For one, it was glaringly obvious the owner was abroad/away as mentioned earlier. Secondly, be transparent. If you serve pan fried fish bones in, just say it. I wouldn’t have ordered it. Most critically, why cook fish this way? Being a seafood restaurant? It’s not up to scratch. The chef should know better.

Thirdly the restaurant was not busy, there weren't many covers the chefs had to worry about, therefore more and more reason not to precook fish that takes aprx. 10mins to cook. When dinning "A la carte", there is an expectation of food being cooked and served fresh, and a 10 to 20 minute wait between courses. We are happy to wait longer if needed so long as the integrity of our food is not comprised, which no doubt it was.

Extremely disappointed and dissatisfied. Especially with the replies from the woman who seemed to be in charge, who fluffed around from table to table saying mostly nonsense to other diners. We were offered a free desert, further to advising her of the issues, which we declined.

In short, just be wary going here if you’re going to order fish (98% of the menu) because it will be pre cooked and served quick service...

Unfortunately,

We ordered the fried calamari and had to send them back twice. First time because they hadn't been cleaned properly and still contained the backbone. Second time around we notice that they had been cleaned, however we noticed some were slightly larger then the others and looked a bit different. Upon cutting one open to check we come to find the beak of the calamari still attached. Not to mention the skin of the calamari had not been taken off.

Not only was that extremely dangerous had it been ingested improperly ( a child could have choked on it and since its pointy could have done some serious damage to the neck) but it also shows that the food handling standards aren't great as the calamari were clearly not cleaned out, not checked to see if they still had that pointy beak and the skin was still on them.

This is quite a serious issue as it could have easily gone wrong if i had eaten it, and it is very alarming how not even the beak was checked or cleaned, from now on i shall be checking every calamari i come across.

Thankfully the staff was nice about it and we didn’t get charged for the two wasted plates of calamari. As for the other food, it was arguably okay. It wasn’t great and it wasn't uneatable, however i do see why this place gets many people, it has a very family vibe and makes sense for a cheap and variety based option.

Too bad, its a stunning place with...

Food was perfect, as always. Dishes are very reasonably priced and also include sides. The menu offers a wide variety, catering for different tastes. The focaccia and limoncello on the house are always a nice addition, and very much appreciated. We always come back as it never disappoints, and we always highly recommend it to family and friends. In fact it's one of the few restaurants we go back to time and time again, and also recommend to others. I removed one star from service and atmosphere, as the place is always very busy which although is a good sign, it makes it very noisy and difficult to speak. Moreover, we noticed that every time a waiter came to our table, it was always a different person, which made it more difficult. The place is beautifully decorated and we enjoy dining on the terrace under the canopy as we have a nice view of the sea. Free parking is a bonus.

I had the Salmon in Bisque sauce, which was divine, perfectly cooked and a good size at €22.50, with chips and salad on the side. I only managed to take one photo, as food was devoured within seconds.

Meanwhile last time I went, I had Calamari Fritti which were delicious and can be seen in another...