Sciacca Grill — Restaurant in Saint Julian's

This place was a disappointment from start to finish. I booked a week in advance via their website, but after 3 days I hadn't yet received a confirmation. I contacted them again on social media and the booking was confirmed. On arrival the manager abruptly told us he couldnt find our reservation. After checking again he found it but said it was for a different time than I had booked. I then proceeded to show him the booking confirmation on my phone and we were seated. The starters were ok, but nothing special. The muscles were small and on the overcooked side and the crab claw tasted like a reheated piece of crab with butter on it. We both chose the rib eye for mains, the USDA and Australian varieties. The wait seemed eternal, and after around 45 mins we asked a waiter about the delay. He responded that there was nothing he could do, after which I recommended he checks with his manager. A few minutes later we were given warm plates but the food didnt arrive until they went cold. When it finally arrived we were served 1 of the steaks medium-well when we had ordered medium rare for both. We did mention this to our server who offered to replace it. Both steaks were just ok and far cry from the 50 Euro price charged. The replacement steak was tough and seemed to be of inferior quality to that originally ordered. Service staff seemed indifferent, at least to the 3 tables in the upstairs corner. Some tables seemed to get more attention. I was keen to try the St.Julians outlet after having very good experiences in the Valletta outlet. I believe the chef at the grill might even have been the same on that night, however the experience is completely different, both from a service and food quality standpoint. I would definitely not recommend anyone to patronise their St.Julians outlet, it is clearly a quick money grab targeted towards tourists from the neighboring 5...

The food is absolutely delicious, but there was not enough. One small bowl of fries for three people and a small side salad. Everyone was still hungry, and we are not usually big appetite people! The desserts were OK (but did not taste very fresh). Shame, because the quality of the meat and fish is excellent. Nicely decorated place, but do not expect to have a dinner conversation. We went with a large table of colleagues and the place is far too noisy to talk at all. Loud music, shouting, acoustics, etc. I would not go again because of that. Otherwise, great steaks!

EDIT. Thank you for your reply. We did order more sides and we were charged for them! So, thank you for your feedback, but it seems like sides are free with the meal, but not if we need more. I understand that wasted food is not good and thank you for being mindful of that, but, in that case, you could perhaps provide more sides for free if we are eating full meals with steaks. Also regarding your comments about noise, I wrote my review about two weeks after I had been to the restaurant, so your mention of a loud table on a specific night is not relevant. You do not know when I visited. There were no loud tables when we were there. It is just a noisy place because of the loud music. Everyone has to shout above the music to be able to speak, which makes it louder. We asked for a quieter table and we were given one, the waiters are very nice, but we still had to shout at each other to talk. Otherwise, as I said, the...

food and athmosphere were really good, but the service was horrible.

it started off by us being seated next to the toilet and being refused a different table even though there were plenty of free ones. short server explained that it wouldnt be possible because it was a two-person table, even though others also had an additional chair pulled up. then the floor manager explained it with the others being reserved. not the same cohesive story, but whatever, so we let it be.

but then something else happened when they were clearing out the tables, which was not professional at all. two staff members spilled oil on dry clean only pants, did not even apologize (he was short, had a beard). if he had apologized, it would have been fine for us. when we told the floor manager (taller, dark hair and beard) and asked for either a small discount or for them to pay for the dry cleaning (as it usually is the case with higher end restaurants; a similar thing happened too us at a different restaurant at the same price category). they declined both, even refused getting the manager when we repeatedly asked until a different server (a lady) heard and got her.

manager was perfectly professional, said both the discount and the dry cleaning would be fine.

this all could have been resolved if only they had apologized and shown some (even feigned) apologetic attitude. instead we were just met with alcohol wipes to get out the oil stains…

server only apologized to us after the manager had...