Ta' Xbiex Waterpolo Club — Restaurant in Ta' Xbiex

This restaurant is the quintessential example of food establishments which deteriorate over time. The location is spectacular and the ambiance great but management does not meet the general expectations of a culinary experience which the website boasts it will offer. Going to this restaurant is like playing the lotto. You go there at your own risk. 1.In spite of arriving at 1:00pm, many food items in the menu were sold out! Unless you are in a major hurry, then this restaurant is the perfect setting for waiting endlessly from start to finish whilst losing appetite between long periods where waiters simply either abscond or disappear. 3.Mismanagement and abject disorganization are the motto of this place. When a waiter is not assigned to a specific table and one has to literally stop other waiters in their tracks to get their attention that your table had been waiting 45 minutes for the appetizer to arrive and another 45 minutes for the main course to be delivered then something, somewhere is terribly lacking. Midway through the ordeal I brought to the attention of the ‘manager’ the lack of service. He apologized but then disappeared. The original waitress then showed up towards the end of the meal to inquire how things were. I told her in no uncertain terms that the wait was totally unreasonable. She took exception stating that the waiting time was less because what counted was not the arrival of guests at the restaurant table but the actual time ‘the food order was taken at the table’ by her, presumably. I guess that in her logical assessment, the fact that you wait 40 minutes for her busy self to take the actual order was of no consequence. When I pointed out that the very appetizer she herself noted in the order chit was not even delivered, she said that ‘something must have gone wrong’. I had to keep a straight face to avoid laughing out loud. She then commented that since I was obviously not thrilled, she told me that she would withdraw from the table area. And she disappeared into the sunset. In the end, management tried to patch things up by offering complimentary liquor. But with all due respect, when the experience is broken you can’t fix it. On the way out an inquiry was made to why the service was lacking. We were told the following: The place was full. The place was understaffed. The reason of #3 was that there was a high turnover of waiter staff at that restaurant! WOW! Only...

Worst experience in Malta in 3 years. Yes the scenery is spectacular, so you want to sit outside and enjoy it. When we arrived, there were several reservations for the outdoor area, but no one could sit there because it was a sunny, no wind, 24 degrees day, and they REFUSED to open the umbrellas when we and others asked. People had to shift to the indoors for no good reason. When do you open them then, at night? What could possibly prevent you to open an umbrella? Lets assume there is a reasonable explanation for this, so I will pass on the scamming part.

They only brought us the wine menu for drinks, and we didn’t feel like drinking a bottle of wine at 12 pm. So we asked for the drinks menu and were told that there were none, and they listed the beers that they have. We asked for a pint of beer. They told us that ‘they will make it pint’. So they brought us 2 33cl for each without informing us about the price or anything else. And then guess what? While paying the bill, we found out that they charged us 13 eur for the one, and 10 eur for the other one (Messina and Moretti btw.). In Malta, 13 eur for a glass of beer!!!! This is literally a scam, shame on you.

On another note, servise was very poor and slow as well, even though they open at 12pm, and we were one of the first customers. The bright side is that we wanted to order another pint, but no one paid attention so it saved us from paying another 23 eur for...

This is a place which until yesterday had always left me with a positive dining experience. I booked the restaurant over two days. The first booking was a dinner on a Saturday evening, which was pleasant and overall a fairly good dining experience. The following day I was back again for lunch. The 'signature' starter fritto misto we ordered was over-fried and absolutely tasteless. The main dish of calamari fritti was also over-fried and tasteless. The other main dish was overcooked tasteless salmon. Our entire lunch added up to just under 100 Euro fir two persons. That included one bottle of wine, a bottle of water, two espressos and no dessert. I respectfully ask you as management if you feel justified in raising your prices (as you quite evidently have) and offering your patrons such unacceptable service. Had you raised your food standards, I would somewhat accept it is a reasonable fair deal. However, this is a brazen rip-off. Sorry to say, but I would much rather enjoy my dining experiences overseas where I am guaranteed better value for money. In fact, that is exactly what I intend to do. What is happening in Malta has gone a little too far. It is now verging on...