Taninu Bistro — Restaurant in Marsascala

A very generous 2 star (mostly for the ambience/atmosphere). The decor was great and the place looks nice BUT the food was very bland as was the service. The food that came out did not match its description on the menu.

We got the fried cheeselets as one of the starters, it was super salty and no honey/jam came with it as stated on the menu, with no warning or anything.. when it arrived and we asked for it they said it was not available on the day. The tagliata was written as it coming with rucola, tomatoes and hard cheese, but instead it came on a sizzling plate which continous to cook the meat on a bed of grilled veg and roast potatoes (luckily no one was allergic), not as was written on the menu. The sauces that came with the meat just tasted like packaged Knorr full of sodium, not like genuine chef made sauces. The pizzas were severly undercooked and the owner/manager noticed this, and without asking or saying anything he took the plate from under one friends mouth to take the pizza and cook it more, with not much effect to the pizza tbh. The pasta just tasted of garlic. The owner/manager was fake friendly and quite annoying tbh.

Whilst smoking a cigarette outside we saw him pop into the next door Chinese convenience shop to buy some tomato sauce for the restaurant 😬😬

Nothing about the place is genuine.. the manager/owner could be seen most of the time scolding the waiters, and they looked mostly unhappy.

Waste of money, not recommended, and we are not people that would normally complain, I think this is the 1st bad review I could ever be able...

The atmosphere/aesthetics is nice and looks great. Service wasn't bad however, could be a bit better. There was a nice lady who served us, however the others either had a bad day or don't have any sense how to serve tables. Used to go here frequently last Summer, but food is not like it used to be. The maltese platter had more rucola than authentic maltese food. There were 3 missing ingredients from it (written on the menu). We were a group of 4 and in the whole platter, there were only 2 waterbiscuits to share. Bread wasn't given (listed in the menu) and we had to ask for it waiter was confused, had to ask him multiple times, not a worry. The server came with a huge basket and in it 3 small pieces of bread (the size of 3 finger together . Not one each and felt ridiculous to ask again after already asked for the basket itself. Main course came after 4 minutes they took the platter. Had 2 plates of pasta and 2 lamb. Lamb was good however the other 2 were not as expected. First I thought you will be given garganelli if the plate is named that way, but was given boxed penne instead (usually it used to be fresh garganelli). Texture was lumpy and beef was hard to bite. We asked for some cheese, the server came with a bowl in their hands and with a huge spoon and a mountain of cheese, dropped it on the pasta. I would have preferred to put the cheese myself, but it seemed they were more worried about letting it on the table for the customer to use at their own liking. Disappointed, used to enjoy...

I’m gonna write a constructive feedback here, I believe the restaurant has potential but things are a bit wrong. The restaurant wasn’t full and I felt they were running around as if it was packed. The manager/owner, I think, was telling off the staff in front of the clients in a very rude way, and loud. Very stressful environment. The bread was very hard. I tried to order 5 different dishes from the menu and they didn’t have any of my choices. I actually ordered a rabbit and when the dishes were about to come they said there was no rabbit. I ended up choosing the octopus, horrible, frozen. All the seafood was frozen. Ordered Coke Zero and a normal coke, then I saw the manager filling up the glass with Pepsi. He brought it to the table and said “Coke Zero and coke”. (Thank god none of us has diabetes). Also the meat and the lamb were very badly cooked. I believe I new manager would be the solution. I don’t know where the restaurant got all this good reviews, maybe other clients can’t recognise fresh from frozen food. Prices aren’t cheap for the food you get. I felt like we were in a Gordon Ramsey...