Geppetto Restaurant — Restaurant in Għajnsielem

Went twice, once with my partner and another one with my work mates. I went with high expectations given the reviews, but honestly was a bit disappointed with the food.

On my first visit I took fresh catch of the day - red snapper. Whenever I took this from other restaurants, they show you the fresh fish, you select one and pay according to weight. Instead I was brought a random one for a fixed price. Portion was quite small and paid €28. My partner took Risotto Octopus. Only a couple pieces of octopus in it, but taste was good. The fried gbejna starters were a bit soggy at the bottom. Wine wasn't chilled and had to ask for more ice in the bucket before we drank it. We also weren't given any bread before the meal as it is custom. For dessert we took imqaret and brownie, which weren't the best I had but ok.

On my second visit, we were given bread and they even offered us more. It was also fresh and very good. The fried gbejna were a bit better. A work mate took Risotto Cacio e Pepe. It was soaked in water at the bottom rather than creamy. In all fairness it wasn't on the menu, but still not a valid reason to present it that way. I shared a meat board with someone else. For €50 it was quite small, I could eat it by myself. More grilled veg than meat. We weren't even asked how we wanted it cooked. All meat was overcooked: beef, pork belly, and chicken was even a bit burnt. For dessert I took the strawberry cake - very good, didn't disappoint. Others took the fried imqaret which this time were a bit burnt.

The location and ambience are very nice. Staff were polite. But for a similar price I went to other much better...

We deliberately chose this restaurant to come to for our 25th wedding anniversary. ON the actual anniversary date – – we have visited four other restaurants during the 10 days we have been here in Gozo, but we saved Geppetto’s for last because of everything we had read about them.

The reviews were ALL spot-ON!! Rita is wonderful — shiny, happy people work here!! She made us feel like we were dining in her HOME! The indoor atmosphere is so PERFECTLY rustic, exactly as I had hoped.

We arrived half an hour early for our reservation, but they immediately seated us. (The bread is excellent, also!) My husband had the pan-fried sea bass, and I had the pork belly. We have lived all over the world, and we have never tasted anything better for either dish. I was so sorry that I could not eat all of mine, but my husband did that for me. And then we ordered the typical Maltese date tart with Maltese ice cream. We had already had this dessert twice in the last two days because we loved it so much, but this place? It has THE best we’ve had, and I wish we could take some home with us. I did, however, post the recipe on Facebook!

HIGHLY RECOMMEND! If we had come here sooner, we would’ve come more than once. But alas, we fly back to...

The best restaurant that I was pleased to visit during my Malta stay. So good in fact, that I kept coming back during the entire Gozo part of the holidays, for a total of 7 times, I believe.

Both the owner and the rest of his staff are very kind and attentive. And the food is excellent! My favourite was Carbonara, followed closely by the Chicken Skewer (the best chicken I've had in months, no kidding! And it is quite photogenic as well). Everything else I've tried was great too: pastas, risotto, beef tagliata, aubergine, even the burger (not the best I've had in my life, but surely the best on Malta). For starter, I highly recommend Gbejna, great stuff!

And then the desserts to top it off. All were great, but that tiramisu al pistacchio, awesome!

The only "complaint" that I could have is that there are no small water bottles. Would be useful for a solo traveller. No big deal, though.

[It took me some days to get to it, but I did promise a review, so...