Ostrica — Restaurant in Saint Paul's Bay

This is a review for 2023, sadly it is vastly different from our previous visit, last year i put 5 stars, this year 1, if you are thinking of using Half Board option for the hotel, i would advise against it.

We booked into the Gillieru hotel and had included the Half Board option, this was due to the previous year menu and eating experience.

We were seated in a side room to the main restaurant, it's quite dark so waiters had to place mobile lamps on our tables, we were given clipboards with sheets of paper, our menu :O although we had half board the dish prices were on the menu, i think this is due to the same menu being available as the bar menu.

We had 3 starters options, i think there was 2 platters to share as starter options as well. limited main courses, and burgers or pizza and a daily special that was verbally given to us.

1st night we were told that they had no chicken so no chicken burger or salad, we had the cheese and meat platter to share, Amazing. Then had a burger, looked ok but was tasteless, desert was ice-cream, not a fancy ice-cream but something you would get from a supermarket, 1 scoop. the service was incredibly slow, there was a lot of waiting as we only had i waiter in the side room and he was shared with the main restaurant.

2nd night, same menu :( had cheese platter to share and opted for the duck a l'orange with fries (I know, i should have been worried about that as well) anyway we were served duck breast with a sauce and fries, didn't taste very orangey, the fries were nice and the duck had a metallic taste, don't forget we had battery lamps so it was dark, after a couple of mouthfuls my wife also said her duck tasted funny, she got her phone and torch to inspect the duck, the outside of the duck was lightly cooked but the middle was raw, i know you eat duck thats pink but this was purple, we both pushed our plates away turned off by the duck.

The waiter was apologetic but didn't offer to have it cooked for longer etc by this time as the service was slow we decided to leave, as we passed another table they had also complained about the duck, we met the people again the next day and they had cancelled their half board option.

Another night we tried the fish and chips, more batter than fish, the fries were nice.

All i can say is that the menu never changed for the 10 nights we were there, a few nights we ate out and got cheaper and much better quality food, options and service, the restaurant tried to improve by putting more waiters in our section but it was obvious that hotel guests were 2nd class.

Our last night we decided to eat from the restaurant menu, there was a huge difference in quality and portion size, i had the red mullet steamed with veg, this was from the half board special, i got a foil bag with the fish and steamed veg, opening the bag i found a whole fish, head to tail about 7 inches, not much meat on it and again disappointed.

What i have learned this trip is not to get half board at this hotel / restaurant.

Review for 2022 Breakfast is amazing, they have a huge range of buffet food from cooked to fruit to cheeses and pastries.

The main restaurant is beautiful, you are surrounded on 3 sides by St Pauls Bay so have great views across the water, the main menu has a wide and varied selection of dishes and a wine list to match.

If you are half board in the hotel then you will get the half board menu, we were there for a week and had a different menu each night, the selection was smaller than the main menu but didn't fail to impress, if you didnt want the half board menu then you had the option to select from the main menu...

This review is based on service and food.

Food was 8/10 delicious. Half of the table had burgers and they were delicious but the buns were all stale. The pastas were average but needed salt added, and were a little undercooked. Lastly the salad €14.50 and looked like it came from a bag with chicken nuggets added on it.

Service was 2/10, and honestly so disappointing and frustrating after frustrating. We purposefully came to this restaurant as we wanted burgers in the area, so we came to the entrance and asked for a table of 6. They asked inside or outside, we said inside. We are then seated inside here we then say we are very hungry so can we have the food menu please. I asked 3 times of the menu. This waiter spoke English and the restaurant was not busy but he kept bringing other things, such as drink menus one by one, ice and napkins and 7 minutes later the menus arrive and burgers are not in them. So I ask why, he says they don’t serve burgers, I said but the menu online says you do. He says well they do not. I show him the online menu and he says well they serve them outside but not inside. (I don’t know why he didn’t tell me this when I originally asked). So I then say we came for burgers so can we please sit outside please and can he prepare a table for us. He just walks away. And after 5 minutes I go find out and he didn’t get a table for us, just left us inside and went about his business. So I had to find another waiter and ask. So they prepared a table outside for us. It felt over and over like I worked there and had to seek minimal service, like I asked for a water glass and it never came so I went to get it, same with water, same with menus again!! The restaurant was not busy at all, it was at 15% capacity so there was no need to neglect a table of customers.

Then we order and the food comes, I ask for ketchup for three burgers and they bring us 1 little bowl of ketchup and a plate of 5 ketchup packets. Like bizarre and neglectful service.

Then when we get the bill the 2 glasses of wine we ordered (in the menu they are €3.5 a glass), but in the bill they are €7 a glass. I ask why. The bartender says because they ran out of tht wine so gave us a different wine and charged us the price for the replacement wine. (Without telling us). So I said that’s your responsibility not ours to pay for the difference, if this is the menu you gave us then this is the price we should be paying. He then got angry and said fine I will nit charge you for the wine. Then goes away and comes back with a new receipt and snatches the old receipt out of my friend’s hand and on the new receipt he did charge us but the original price. Which is fine but why the attitude and why tell us you won’t charge us and then charge us. He then was very rude as I asked another question about our bill.

I was soooooo disappointed by this restaurant. Food was pretty delicious but service was dreadful.

I work in hospitality and expect at least the bare minimum of respect and care from restaurant staff. Again several at disappointed.

Our group was entirely women, partially women of colour so I hope the poor treatment was not based on...

So first things first, the view from this restaurant is sublime!! You are right on the water and we ended up sat right on the edge overlooking the sea. Malta is gorgeous and the Gillieru has it made in such a perfect place.

The waiting staff leave you to it, they aren't jumping on you as soon as you arrive. This was fine but if you want more drinks and have other queries it is sometimes hard to get someone's attention.

That is the only semi-negative point I could find though, the atmosphere with the live singer was fantastic. The views and the vibe were immaculate.

Now onto the food, it was absolutely delicious!!! To start I had the Tempura Prawns and my wife had the Toasted Pita Bread. Both were really good, however it was the mains that really blew our mind.

My wife had the Pappardelle Pistachio which was a Pasta and Cheese dish, she ordered for one but hers could have been a sharer. Portion was excellent and she said it was absolutely delicious. I had the Octopus salad and it was fresh and really really good. The octopus was cooked perfectly.

We stayed at the attached hotel while in Malta and only ate at the Restaurant once for the evening. We would have happily have eaten here every day as it was stunning and the menu will fit...