LOA - South American Fusion — Restaurant in Saint Paul's Bay

Disappointed Experience at LOA – A Letdown Behind the Illusion of Elegance

We had high hopes for LOA in St. Paul’s Bay, especially given its reputation and suggested Michelin's recommendation. We made a reservation well in advance, as this was one of the first restaurants we selected for our trip. Unfortunately, our dinner experience—comprising four adults, a 9-year-old child, and a 6-month-old infant—turned out to be one of the most disappointing meals during our stay in Malta.

Let me be clear: LOA looks like a place aiming for elegance and even lists a dress code as part of its reservation policy. Yet in reality, this code is not enforced. Many guests entered dressed in extremely casual, even inappropriate attire, which clashed with the refined image the restaurant tries to project.

The service, while well-intentioned, was amateurish and uncoordinated. It was evident the staff were undertrained and overwhelmed, lacking direction and leadership. What should have been a smooth fine-dining experience felt more like a chaotic attempt at upscaling. Staff seemed confused about table assignments, forgot parts of our order, and were nearly impossible to flag down. There’s a clear structural management issue here, not just individual mistakes.

As for the atmosphere—far from the intimate or classy environment one might expect. Several tables nearby were incredibly loud, creating an unbearable noise level that not only disrupted our dinner, but distressed our infant to the point we nearly left mid-meal. No intervention from the staff was made to control the environment. This isn’t what you expect from a venue that aims for Michelin-level standards, which include a harmonious setting, consistent quality of service, and attention to guest comfort.

Now to the core of the matter: the food and drink. We ordered a selection of dishes, including ceviche, presa of Iberico pork, and slow-cooked lamb. None lived up to expectations. Portions were small and inconsistently cooked—some items underdone, others over-seasoned or mismatched in flavor. The dishes lacked finesse and balance, betraying a lack of culinary maturity. What was advertised as refined turned out to be poorly executed and, frankly, forgettable.

Cocktails were another low point. We ordered several, hoping for creativity and flair, but were served unbalanced, overly sour concoctions that were simply undrinkable. Some of the beers listed on the menu were unavailable, and shockingly, despite having a visible fridge full of sparkling wines and spirits, the staff insisted there was no extended drink list available—even when asked explicitly. The result was a frustrating and limiting experience.

Calling for service felt like a game of hide-and-seek. Despite a visibly large number of staff, the lack of coordination created confusion and long delays between courses, drinks, and requests.

To give context, we also dined at Ta’ Marija, one80, and Villa Bologna during our trip—all far superior in food quality, atmosphere, service, and overall value. LOA was the only venue that actively detracted from our holiday experience.

Afterward, I read some reviews echoing our concerns: overpriced dishes, underwhelming flavors, poor service, and a pretentious facade. I should have taken them more seriously.

In short: LOA aspires to be something it is clearly not ready for. If you're looking for a refined dining experience in Malta, I highly recommend you...

Ok, before I start, I will point out that most of my restaurant reviews recently have been 5 stars, so I like to think I am normally generous and open minded. This place simply didn’t impress me though. Pricier by a margin than my other recent local reviews, yet it didn’t bring everything together so well at all. Style over substance is the phrase my family came up with… Starting with the positives : The Sushi plate was excellent - well presented, beautiful ?squid ink wasabi, crispy baby shrimp, and more at a reasonable price - a lot of the rest would have been forgivable if it wasn’t so expensive and lacking sides too. The Fish (Sea Bream) came well cooked in general but had bones and the skin was not noticeably crisped (or salted) at all. Sweet potato was good but had chimichuri over it which wasn’t on the menu, nor was it needed. It wasn’t good chimichuri either. The steak we did order with chimichuri and it wasn’t good either (same) - they use lime instead of vinegar I think. They maybe needed more; lacked tang or flavour beyond oil mostly. Most of it came with no side portions and the menu was a bit poorly explained in text or on enquiry - they seemed to avoid mentioning it! We asked about the chicken spices and were told it was ‘not spicy’ which felt a bit patronising 😂 from an allegedly fine dining restaurant so we just chose a different dish. It’s a general tourist area so maybe I shouldn’t expect much. The Prawns were soft and white (cooked), but pasty, not springy (?not fresh). Certainly not my favourite prawns ever although they looked the part. The Duck on rice was a good full dish (we were not confident given none of the other dishes were full plates!), but the rice was overcooked and stodgy. Tasted of coriander and oil, lots of it, coloured by saffron, but not the best overall result. The Pink steak (that’s all you get on the plate) had a lot of fat, very little of it was rendered. Padrons and the spicy dry mix on them were good, although I have had better (some were too large and seedy). Service was a bit varied - one anxious enough to shake as pouring the beer 🙈 although he was fine otherwise. Apparently it is the restaurant culture to bring dishes whenever they are ready, not together. I wasn’t totally against this idea, but …🤷‍♂️ it seemed a bit random. 40 euros a head one drink no dessert. So not terribly expensive but we went away thinking about where to find pudding, which isn’t great! We have had much better meals for that price at smaller restaurants with a far less fancy presentation. ….So I guess if you’re looking to impress with gloss (not that much though!) and not food then this place is ok - Get the sushi plate, and...

First time coming here after reading amazing reviews. Booked this for my partners birthday. We love travelling around trying different restaurants, Michelin guided and Michelin stars. We left disappointed.

We both ordered the Prestige Set Menu, costing €105 per person. We were served one course (out of 9) in almost 2 hours. Service from staff was shocking. We had our first drink at 6.40pm (we arrived early for our 7pm slot, so we sat at the bar and waited). We were not checked on for the remaining time there to see if we wanted another drink, we had been left with no drinks.

We noticed around us that a table of 2, waited 30 minutes for their starters to arrive and another able of 2 had waited around 40 minutes for an order to even be taken.

After waiting for 45 minutes for a second course (1 hour 45 minutes in total so far), we decided we didn’t want to carry on with our meal here. We called over a waitress and informed her to cancel the rest of our food and told her of our experience, we said that we would pay for what we have had so far (1 drink each, water and 1 course). After waiting a further 15 minutes, our second course came to the table (which should have been the first course) after cancelling by a different server, to which we informed her of the same and said we had already cancelled and want to pay and leave. After this server taking this second course back and a second complaint, we waited another 10 minutes for who we thought was a manager to rectify the situation. No. Whether this server was a supervisor or not, we’re unsure. They tried to push us to stay and skip courses to get our mains faster. Which we told him no, we’re not happy we will pay for what we’ve had and leave. He told us he’ll have to speak to a manager. It took us 3 times to complain, to 3 different people before a manager was even brought up. After this server speaking to a manager, he returned 5 minutes later still trying to get us to stay and pushing for us to skip courses. Again, we replied with no we are not happy we want to leave, we will do pay for what we have had. Only then did he get our bill so we could pay.

This was our last night here at Malta and wanted to make it a special one for my partners birthday and we were looking forward to this meal. Yet we left highly disappointed and had to go to a local pub for some food.

We would not return here whilst on holiday at Malta again and we would not recommend to others.

I have never left a bad google review for any restaurant, this...