Da Pablo Trattoria di Mare — Restaurant in Valletta

If I were reviewing Trattoria di Mare exclusively for the food, it's definitely 5 stars.

The rolled eggplant appetizer, the shrimp and zucchini pasta, and the grilled tuna were all great. Delicious and perfectly done. But, there's a host of factors that affect the dining experience and Trattoria di Mare misses the mark on too many of them.

The location, directly on a (relatively) heavily travelled street, isn't ideal - ironically it's directly across from the Ministry of Tourism. It's not just loud, there is a lot of exhaust fumes, cars parking LITERALLY inches from the tables and chairs, and frankly, it's not really inviting looking.

The toilet is awkwardly situated in the cellar down a grimy, metal, spiral staircase. The proffered menu was a single, glitchy iPad clone that was very slow to load and the eMenu was poorly laid out. Why no physical menus or one that could be QR accessed? The odd, electronica music selection was really incongruous and almost jarring - OTOH, several Sade songs in a row came on as we waited an extended length of time for our check so, that was nice! Lol The prices were more in line with a significantly "nicer" restaurant - especially the wine prices.

Again, the food was delicious. The service was a bit slow (entirely appropriate to Malta being an island and all that connotates) though pleasant and friendly. It's just there are SO many restaurants with excellent outdoor seating and "atmosphere" - literally 25+ within a few minutes walk - that I don't think I will return despite...

I had lots of hopes from this restaurant as i had passed by this place the day before i had dinner here. I came all the way back from st. Julian to eat here.well, i want write honest feedback here: 1.restroom was stinking and dirty! How is that possible? 2.the waiter didn't ask me if he should take away the plates- very bad manners They even forgot to remind me that they had my mobile for charging. I had to come back. Finally, food was bit blunt in taste for my choice. I had taken aubergine and scarmoza cheese for starter and tuna pasta for mains.the pasta was too citrousy...all flavour was at the bottom of the plate though..if at all. no balance of flavours. Only good thing was glass of red wine. Even bread with olive oil and served at the beginning was too basic for the taste. Sorry for a harsh review, but i had lots of hopes and had made my way to have a good dinner at your place. Finally, how could I forget, the espresso was screwed in taste.moreover, the sugar sachet served with it was probably wetted as the sugar was thickened up as a single rock. The place definitely...

Avoid

Staff extremely unfriendly. I actually was near the place when my phone was almost dying, so I decided to have lunch while my phone would be charged.

Immediately I felt like I was not welcome there. The guy took my phone reluctantly, and then seemed surprised when I asked for a menu. There was only 1 other occupied table besides mine. When I tried to let him know I was ready to make the order he took it - without moving - from 3 meters away, as if he was too lazy to come take the order. When I asked what kind of beer they offered he shrugged his shoulders as if it was a surprising question, since they only had cisk. The pasta was mediocre.

But the fun part is that my phone, when I received it, turned out, wasn’t being charged this whole time. So it was a waste of time and money. Moreover, when I asked him to exchange the banknotes so that I could leave a tip, he gave me 1 euro less, which is of course nothing, but still gives you a full picture of what kind of service to expect.

I said thank you when leaving, and he just turned his back on me. Just...