Harbour by Johann — Restaurant in Marsaxlokk

Decided to visit this establishment after having happenstanced on the episode in the Netflix series it is mentioned...

On arrival , one of the workers greeted us with ‘you wanna eat’ and we were seated outside because inside was reportedly booked up albeit multiple empty tables were seen on the inside but they said they’re booked up and that’s fair enough. It was a busy Sunday in Marsaxlokk .

My friend and I decided to stay because we wanted some good food and a bit of experience which this place seemingly had promised to give .

The waitress Alexis was attentive and helpful (hence the 1star) but that’s about as much positive as I can comment on as we were not allowed inside.

Food

ordered fish cakes as a starter which was bland and unseasoned and that took around 32 mins to get to the table

-whilst waiting on our mains (now approaching 1 hr) my friend expressed an interest in sitting inside briefly to finish the meal whenever it arrived because it was bit chilly on the outside.

We were told x2 that inside was booked up despite having had two sets of persons coming subsequently (I was sat by the door and heard the conversations ) and enquiring about availability and given the option to sit inside with the caveat of giving back the table in an hour and half. We were never given that option and my friend now took to walking around just to try and keep warm.

When I saw how uncomfortable my friend was I said something to who I assumed was a supervisor who was not helpful or remorseful in the least saying ‘you have the option to stay or not’ and guess what ...he’s right and I’m sure we would have suffered through the meal had it not been that we witnessed the aforementioned .

I lost my appetite instantly and asked for my food which finally arrived to go. My friend had a quick bite of her pasta which was described as ‘’meh’.

Now I must say that the ‘supervisor’ I spoke to was not the same supervisor I witnessed giving others seats but that’s besides the point, as the important thing is to ensure ALL patrons are having a fair experience and as such the staff should be trained accordingly .

I conclude by saying I absolutely hate that I have to write such a review as I went in with so much hope and support for this establishment but this was such a poor demonstration of customer service that it absolutely merits me...

Marsaxlokk on a Sunday morning is a big confusion of market stalls, local shoppers, curious tourists and slow moving traffic. During summer, the sweltering heat is an extra challenge. We kept this in mind when we booked lunch in one of the many restaurants on the sea front. Unfortunately, we cancelled the first place we booked since it had no indoor space as we had specifically asked for and so we left right away trying to find some other place that could take us in at short notice.

Luckily we came across this restaurant by chance and decided to check it out. When we walked in around noontime, it was still fairly empty. We were warmly welcomed and invited to sit at one of the coolest tables, right under the aircon. A great relief indeed. The meal was really enjoyable. The menu is more daring and original than most other restaurants. There is an interesting selection of starters. We chose rice croquettes stuffed with black squid ink and another type of sweet potato croquettes stuffed with fish. Main dish was a lovely large fish simply baked with herbs and lemon. Cooking was spot on. The croquettes were delicious and the fish was simply melting in the mouth. All dishes came well presented. The desserts were especially a hit with us and were a prefect ending to a perfect meal. Price for a 3 course meal for two with a bottle of water came to EUR 90. Average price for a fish meal in Marsaxlokk.

For the rest, the waiters were polite but looked more and more stressed as more clients arrived (there was a queue outside when we left!). They initially forgot to get us bread but this was later noticed and put right. The toilets were fairly clean though soap was missing from the dispenser.

In conclusion, yes we will certainly return....most probably during the week when the...

I had a very bad experience and received poor service! We ordered a starter, specifically the local red prawns, but it arrived with the main course instead. They didn't mention the portion size, so we thought it was the correct order, but ended up being charged the main course price. There were two of us, and they assumed we would need to order three main courses. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Additionally, we never received the sides that were supposed to come with the meal. When we received the bill, they blamed us for not asking for the sides, even though they weren't included because we were charged for the main course instead of the starter.

(I am unable to reply to the comment directly, so I will edit my review here instead. When ordering our starters, we pointed out each item on the menu to the waiter, but we still received the most expensive main course by the restaurant’s mistake and they never admit it. The owner did not clarify the situation regarding this error in the comment and instead insisted that we ordered to have the main course instead of the starters. The communication was nonexistent, and the attitude of the restaurant was absolutely absurd. I've never experienced such poor service before. The team never explained the side is available upon request but instead we clarify upon having the bill and they didn't even attempt to offer the side, but instead stating...