SABI — Restaurant in Saint Paul's Bay

Wants to be more posh than it is… To be clear this review is for the restaurant. On a very rare occasion me and my wife had a kid free night and we’d noticed Sabi whilst walking around St Paul’s. The aesthetic sucked us in, and we were reminded to never judge a book by its cover. It’s clear Sabi is trying to attract a certain type of customer because everyone we could see seated looked to be very well dressed, Sabi gives the vibe it’s catering to a slightly posh/wealthy diner. Unfortunately every one of these wealthy looking diners were sharing the same expression of disappointment. We ordered the halloumi bites to start and I have to say the presentation and taste were both top notch, we thought we were in for a treat at this point, and ordered some frozen cocktails and this is where it started to go down hill. The cocktails arrived and tasted as artificial as a slush puppy with a dribble of alcohol in it, for context my wife hasn’t had a drop of alcohol in a long long time as she’s been breast feeding and she said she didn’t feel the alcohol at all. They were also served with cardboard straws which fell to pieces and needed to be replaced multiple times. The service was also not great at all, the waiters/waitresses all seemed out of their depth, lacking confidence and were very slow to carry out requests - which just didn’t fit with the aesthetic or vibe it felt Sabi was trying to create. We ordered burgers, and I know that isn’t necessarily considered a ‘posh’ food, but I’ve had some really impressive and what might be deemed upper market burgers in my time, these were not that. Mine was very very average, two very dry patties, with chewy bacon and a very artificial tasting cheese sauce. It was actually a struggle to eat because it was so dry without having it swimming in the sauce which I don’t find appealing. The view was great but the food was really quite average. If you want to try this place out come to the upper deck and order some cocktails (not frozen) and maybe some light bites and enjoy the view. Sadly don’t recommend the Sabi restaurant. Everything became a little clearer when I paid the bill and my Monzo showed the money going to Double Tree by Hilton, which I knew to be a local hotel. I wonder if Sabi is part of an all inclusive package, that would explain the sub par quality of the food. Maybe to make a little extra money they allow non hotel-goers to dine here as well, that’s my...

It’s a hard review but perhaps due to high expectations when entering the place.

The place itself is very very nice. Amazing view over the sea, beautiful sunset. The pools that have been built look great. They’ve clearly spent millions on building this place and Kora next door.

It’s ALLLLLLL style. But thats where the substance ends.

I just cannot understand why you would invest so much into a place, and then have divs running around with no idea what they are doing, and no experience working in the hospitality industry. The service is just so so bad. Unintentionally bad, like they are trying - genuinely really hard, to be good - but are actually just flailing around like a colostomy bag with no purpose.

Whether it’s the girl with the iPad that takes you to a table, but then is apparently not allowed to chuck in a quick drinks order at the bar. Or the waiter who stopped at every table to say he’d be with them in a minute, only to be distracted by telling someone else he’d be there in a minute, thus delaying his arrival. Or the manager who was initially very helpful with the challenging allergies for my son, who then forgot to order my beer later on, that I waited 25 mins for and never came. It was all a bit fawlty towers.

The food was ok. I had a burger, and they did that stupid TikTok thing with the melted cheese sauce you pour over the top. It was decent though. Missus had a poke bowl and was fine.

Cocktails were ok. Sounded way better than they ended up being.

Sure this place will get into the swing of it. But at the moment it’s just masquerading as...

The place is truly beautiful, but I expected more considering the prices and the elegant appearance of the restaurant. I was surprised to receive my tagliatelle not al dente, with many clams (vongole) still completely closed after cooking what means is not fresh or not good cooked and several mussels with broken shells Of course the same in my friends plate. what can happen occasionally, but in this case I received several(4 or 5 raw vongole) as shown in the photo.

In addition, some clams were already broken in the plating before I even touched my dish (as can be seen at the top and middle of my plate). , and there were sharp shell fragments mixed in with the pasta. At one point I had to remove pieces from my mouth because they were jagged and unpleasant, and potentially dangerous. I separated them from the plate and informed the waitress when she took the plates so she could let the kitchen know, but unfortunately there was no response at the moment for this I’m doing a review. To be fair, the service at the beginning was kind and the place is lovely, but with these issues the food quality should be improved to match the level of the setting. otherwise, the prices should...