Zest Restaurant — Restaurant in Saint Julian's

We were here celebrating my birthday and sadly Zest did not live up to the expectation I had for my birthday. To start there was no one there to greet us so we had no idea we had to wait in the separate room to get seen. We were just in two, and we sat down first before a lot of groups started coming in. We watched as the host asks every single person in the room for their reservation name, and when no one is left in the room he comes up to us and asks if we have a reservation. Now I brushed this off because he maybe didn’t see us. However, we are a black couple in Malta and it’s not seen very often, and this was the first instance where biased showed because we were the only ones asked if we had a reservation instead of asking for our name automatically. Anyways when we get sat and we were waiting for 30 minutes before someone came up to us. Two ladies next to us got sat and served immediately, they got their drinks, appetizers, and food before use despite us being there before and ordering before them. The entire night went on as such, we get a drink and wait an hour for an appetizer that the table next to us got in 10 minutes. We get our appetizers and wait another hour for our food. Towards the end we were full and the food was actually quite good. My boyfriend specified we had a birthday and they assured they’d “do something special”. Not one thing was done. And funny enough they had a birthday not to far from our table where they gathered and gave them dessert. So we got the dessert thinking they would do the birthday but they simply hand the dessert to us (after waiting another 45minutes for) and we were finally fed up and asked for the bill. We had a reservation at 8:30 which is when we got there, and didn’t leave until 12 because of how long it took. Overall food was great, atmosphere was great but service was very awful. Beware it may just be a black thing, if you plan on visiting be prepared to wait if you are a certain...

Went in on Saturday, we found out reservation is needed. But they got us a table. The service is very very slow. We were only given 2 menus to share between 4 of us, we asked for extra menus which took 10 minutes to come. Ordered local prawns and a soup for starter. It tasted good. For our main course we had the keng curry Koong, pad thai and teppanyaki glazed chicken. The main course took a very long time to arrive. The chicken dish didnt look right so we asked waiter what the dish was and the waiter said its the chicken we ordered. The chicken dish was very dry, it had no taste to it and the was over cooked very hard to chew. We asked for menu to see if it was same dish, the waitress asked why we needed the menu again and we explained she said this may not be the right dish she went to kitchen to find out but didnt come back to confirm or anything. We didnt finish the dish, the waitress who came to clear our plates asked what was wrong with the dish as it was untouched. We explained it was the wrong dish and she confirmed it had been she said she will check and find out what went wrong. We saw her speaking to the waiter who took our order but she never came back to us. We asked for the bill, we were charged for the chicken dish and the waiter who took our order didnt acknowledge the mix up and didnt apologise. The waitress who cleared our plates took our payment she didnt have the courtesy to acknowledge the mix up or apologise. The whole process was very long and slow. It took 20 mins to get the bill and further 15 to take payment.

The food (apart from slow cooked cornfed chicken) was really nice and was worth it. if it were matched with good service I would have given it an...

Wow. What a gem of a restaurant. Definitely the highlight of our trip to Malta. Very decieving from the front as it is on the first floor, part of the St Julian's hotel.

A very chic, stylish, great ambience and Modern Japanese/ Asian restaurant. Staff are friendly and professional. Food was so yummy and really well presented. This is a 1 star Michelin restaurant and worth every penny. For what it is, really worth it. A definite must for all those who visit Malta.

We ordered: Home made Guacamole with Casava chips(5/5) Chicken Satay (5/5) Seasonal veg tempura (5/5) Prawn and Shitake Dimsums (5/5) Crispy Tofu & Kimchi Gyoza (5/5) Tempura of Local prawn (5/5) Chicken Gong Bao Buns(5/5) Bam Goreng Chicken noodles (5/5) Chicken Tepanyaki (3/5) Thai Steamed Seabass (5/5)

Dessert: Pear Crumble and Vanilla ice cream(2/5) Dark Chocolate and chilli Fondant with Vanilla ice cream and Salted caramel crumble (6/5)

Nearly all the dishes ordered were ridiculously good with the exception of the Tepanyaki, where the flavours were on par but the Chicken breast was overcooked.

The Pear crumble, we found was way too rich but the Dark chocolate and chilli fondant was one of the best desserts I have ever had. Sheer perfect in terms flavour combinations and presentation.

Definitely huge compliments to everyone connected to this restaurant. Hat's off...