Cockney’s Valletta Restaurant — Restaurant in Valletta

Terrible Customer Service – Strongly Not Recommended

I called this restaurant during the day to make a reservation for two for dinner at 8 PM. I was polite and respectful, as I always am, but the person on the phone responded with no interest or courtesy. I asked if it would be possible to reserve a table with a sea view, and after that, the tone of the conversation changed drastically. The person became very rude, telling me that I must be out of my mind to expect such a table to be free on a Friday evening.

Despite this, I remained polite and said I understood, no problem. However, the rude remarks continued. They told me in an extremely unfriendly tone that maybe if I came at 6 PM, a sea view table might be available, but at 8 PM, it was “stupid” to even ask. I calmly insisted that I was happy to reserve any available table, not necessarily with a view, and after more unpleasant back-and-forth, they finally confirmed the booking – without saying thank you or goodbye.

Later in the evening, I got stuck in traffic due to an accident, so I called the restaurant again to kindly ask if the reservation could be pushed back by 30–40 minutes. I explained the situation with courtesy, but once again I was met with rudeness. They flatly refused to hold the table and snapped at me that it was Friday and I should have come on time. Despite my warning call and polite tone, the staff was again aggressive and dismissive.

I strongly advise against visiting this restaurant due to the unprofessional and downright rude behavior of the staff. There is absolutely no excuse for such treatment of guests.

Based on the rude and unprofessional treatment I received even before arriving at the restaurant, I can only imagine how poor the service must...

We had wanted to go there for a long time since we live nearby so we agreed on a day to visit this place. Yesterday 8/7 I went with my partner to lunch. It was empty, only one table with seven people and another with two (and it was empty inside). We asked if we could sit and the two waiters consulted each other and then said yes so we could sit. they brought us the menus. Several minutes after we were seated, they still had not approached our table to offer us water or take a drink order (which is the first thing they do). At one point, a third waiter approached to serve the table of seven as well. We saw how three people were serving just one table: two serving water at the same time, then one serving white wine and another placing the cutlery. I think we spent about 20 minutes sitting there already deciding what to order to eat. We had to leave because we couldn't even ask for water in a really hot day, we have worked in gastronomy for more than 10 years and we are very patient and 0% picky as customers, but spending so long without anyone offering us water, 3 servers for a table of 7? At the same time?, in an empty restaurant (only 11 people for 3 servers) and no one could approach us to offer us water or explain to us if that table was VIP and they had a delay in service that we would have...

As you disembark from the ferry the first restaurant you see is Cockney’s. It’s owned by a Maltese couple in their early eighties who we had the pleasure of being introduced to by the engaging and entertaining Bradley, one of the Indian waiters. The restaurant has both indoor and al fresco dining with views overlooking the sea. Spectacular setting for eating spectacular food. We both had calamari to start which was like a main meal (portion size was huge) could have shared one. Then I chose the dish of the day which was king prawn pasta, a mountain of spaghetti that was actually too much so I couldn’t finish. The prawns were fresh and delicious. Chris had the 4 mushroom risotto which he said was rich and filling.. again very generous portions. Bradley was a very good waiter, he was funny and engaging. He is a very talented waiter, I feel he should be in management. We had after dinner drinks at the bar area just up from the restaurant also owned by the same people. Here we met another engaging man by the name of Stefan. We have since returned to this bar several times now and will continue to do so before we return to Blighty on Saturday. The only thing I’d change is the name, I’d prefer to have the Maltese 🇲🇹 influence vs another reminder of England..we loved the food and people of Cockneys....