Fratelli La Bufala — Restaurant in Sliema

Mediocre restaurant experience, inacceptable and unprofessional reaction to a complaint related to an injury.

Went there for lunch with the family and in-laws. Didn’t expect much, based on previous experience and latest reviews, and yet they managed to disappoint. The typically soggy but tasty pizza arrived around 1 hour after the starters (having chased with the waiter 3 times). This is not great for one of the most expensive Pizzas in Malta, with various alternatives around (Da Michele, Bianco’s, Marobbio, Giordiano, Vecchia Napoli, Café Cuba etc etc). And I didn’t appreciate this is a dog-friendly establishment – with a dog from neighbouring table rolling over, in-between tables, nobody intervening, maybe ok on the terrace but inside I find this annoying and not hygienic. The main reason for this negative review is the management reaction to an injury that I incurred during our visit. When unlocking the slide bolt lock of the bathroom, a sharp edge of the bolt lock caused a deep cut to the tip of my thumb, which immediately started bleeding. I went back into the restaurant, waiting near the cash register, to speak to a manager. I was ignored by the waiters, even though it was clearly visible that my finger was bleeding and I needed help. After a minute or so, I spoke to a manager, asked for their first aid kid – which he said they don’t have (?!) – and he brought me 2 plasters. I explained that this happened at the bathroom, and just got a ‘sorry, sorry’ back, no further comments, and he walked off. After we paid the bill, I spoke to the manager ‘Ciro’ again, on our way out. I told him that I was disappointed by his reaction to this accident. I had expected more empathy, one could have come to our table and asked how I was doing. I also told him that a restaurant should have a first aid kit – he didn’t bother, the reaction was, that he got louder and was shouting at me, ‘what should I have done with a first aid kit, I’m not a doctor’ - instead of a genuine apology, to check how I’m doing, to show interest where this happened and how they can prevent this from happening again in the future. He just didn’t care. This manager seems very unprofessional and not appreciative of their customers to me. He didn’t read the room and saw how he ridiculed himself in front of all present customers, through his arrogant and disrespectful behaviour.

I cannot recommend this...

When I choose a restaurant, I base my choice on two cardinal points: the quality of the food and that of the service. While there is no doubt about the quality of the food, the service is bad... very, very bad. My girlfriend is intolerant to wheat and dairy products - I can understand that not all restaurants can invest in the necessary equipment to cater for everyone's special dietary needs; however I do expect the staff to be at least understanding and cooperative when we ask them about the presence of certain ingredients when reading through the menu.

When I tried to ask the waitress if she could speak to the cook to confirm that one particular selection did not include any dairy products, she cut me off with, "We cannot be held responsible if something happens to her." She did not even let me finish my sentence. Furthermore, she repeated the mantra two or three times as if repetition would help me understand her point better. Is this an attitude worthy of a good quality restaurant? I think not. I think it is an attitude born of poor education and lack of training.

After a prolonged argument, during which she had the cheek to state that her reaction was due to some customers with allergies insisting on choosing items not good for them, the fact that I was merely asking for a confirmation seemed to penetrate and she agreed to ask the cook. The cherry on the cake was delivered half way through the meal, when the same waitress made off with the chair of one of our kids without so much as a "By your leave". The kid had just dropped one of her toys so she scrambled down from the kid's chair (which I had requested on booking) when this waitress grabbed the chair and made off with it. That's it - no "May I?" or "Please?" She just took it and left to place it at another table. We were so shocked that not one adult out of nine said a word for at least ten seconds.

Need I explain further? The bottom line is that I shall not visit the Fratelli La Bufala again. I am sorry for the owner, as the restaurant has potential; but I refuse to be treated so rudely by untrained staff whose defining role is to wait...

This was the second time I had been at this restaurant. The first time was on a Saturday, packed restaurant but pizza came in fast and was good (except for dessert). This time I was with my son, he took a margherita and I took a rib eye with baked potatoes and a salad. The steak came relatively fast, but my son had to wait after me, I had the impression they forgot about his pizza as I had to ask fir it. I found it strange as pizza takes shorter and nornally (and rightly enough) thry should serve kids before. The meat was good, but potatoes were flavourless and stale and salad and old iceberg salad. I'd expect a better quality side considering the prices. I also think it'd be nice if tgey had a better quality olive oil, considering the prices (they had monini). Service was mediocre, pizza came in late a d tge waitress was quite rude. I also didn't appreciate that there was not even a placemat on the table, under our plates, not very hygienic. I would have preferred to keep the menu as a placemat than nothing. Worst of all, as soon as I got home that night I was extremely sick with my stomach (I spare you details!) and I spent the night at the toilet. Since I only ate the steak and a slice of pizza and my son was not sick, I gather it was the meat. I do understand that the restaurant is in Tigne point, so they have no problems in getting clients but they really should invest in improving service, food (apart from pizza that was good) and...