SAMIZU Restaurant — Restaurant in Pietà

Visited this afternoon and had a fair experience, but overall poor service. Prior to visiting, we consulted the menu online and were happy to see they had a specific kids menu, as one of our toddlers is a picky eater. For reference, we were a group of 3 adults and 3 toddlers. We ordered a portion of ‘chicken dippers’, as per the kids menu, that did not have any description below, thinking that these would be breaded chicken nuggets. When the food came, we were surprised to be served grilled chicken breast strips, and our picky eater threw a tantrum when these were not nuggets. We called the staff to see if these could be exchanged for something else, ideally nuggets but they did not have these. I remarked that the menu was not clear, and that one would assume they would be nuggets. In addition to this, there was no prompt or further explanation from staff when ordering. The member of staff in question (dressed differently to the others, so I assume he is a manager) was prompt to rudely tell me I was wrong to assume. I politely counter argued the fair assumption that many would make when ordering from a designated kids menu (not to mention that I cannot think of any kids that would prefer grilled chicken breast strips over nuggets). The member of staff offered an alternative from the menu but our picky eater would’t hear otherwise, so we thanked him and stuck to what we had. He made an effort to remedy the situation and also thanked us for the feedback on the menu description, but it is obviously frustrating when you have taken measures beforehand to check online and ensure everyone will eat happily. Food was good quality and delicious, but service is lacklustre and falls short of the restaurant quality and price point. When they were clearing our plates, the wait staff immediately asked if we wanted dessert, to which we said thank you but we need some time. This is one of my pet peeves and I often think it is just me being picky, but I overheard the same happen to a table behind us with the same reaction. For dessert, I initially ordered a macchiato and after a second asked if they could make a cortado, which I was assured they could do. I was ultimately served a macchiato and it just felt like a lost cause at that point. Final bill was presented, with no reductions or apologies, and with a service charge (which is new for Malta and not that commonplace). I can understand charging a price point for a standard of quality, but Samizu falls short of what that because of its mediocre service. This is a shame because menu is varied without...

Came here with high expectations, left dissatisfied.

The restaurant looks and feels spectacular, the staff is friendly, but the overall food and service quality is decadent.

The menu is limited, which almost always indicates quality over quantity, and they also had a few items out of service which again generally inspires me that ingredients are hand-picked and bought in small batches to ensure freshness and quality. This was definitely not the case this evening.

Out of 4 dishes, 1 was sub-par and 1 was bland and the scent and taste felt as if the ingredients were old or frozen.

Since that last dish was barely touched, we had the expectation of not having it included on our bill, but it was included and we’ve received a condescending “Chef says it’s fine” response which felt absolutely dismissive and unprofessional. As a professional chef myself, this is outrageous. The absolute minimum expected courtesy was blatantly absent.

Also, you will find techno-style music creeping in the background. Such a random and uncanny choice of...

We went there for breakfast, even though it is more lunch/ dinner restaurant. So now, we would like to come for a dinner.

Important thing is that on Google maps it looks like they open all day, when in fact you can’t eat lunch/dinner during the day, there is specific hours. We came once at 5pm hoping to have a dinner, but they have dinner only at 7pm. You can have a drink and there is a “bar bite” menu, bit dinner starts at 7pm.

Back to breakfast: coffee is 3 out of 5. Eggs Benedict with salmon is 5 out of 5. It was really good! The muffin was perfect as well as salmon (not super salty/ not too smoked). English breakfast is pretty standard, with overall quality 5 out of 5.

I also tried basque cheesecake, it was truly delicious!

The restaurant has really nice setting! If you sit outside you have a view on multiple boats, the atmosphere is wonderful!

I can really recommend this place...