Dimitri Valletta — Restaurant in Valletta

We had a terrible experience at this restaurant, the food was very expensive and the environment was extremely bad. It seems that tourists are given a more expensive and worse menu. We asked about the dishes on Google that looked delicious, but the waiter didn't have any information about them. We ordered a seafood starter for two, a seafood risotto, and a bottle of water, which cost 58 euros in total, including a 6 euro service charge. The starter for two alone cost 28 euros. If you order two servings of drinks and main courses, the average price per person would be over 50 euros. The seafood was not the freshest kind. The risotto was even less tasty than the one we had at a street food. We were really disappointed. This is the first time we have been charged a service fee in Malta in four days, and it is also the worst dining environment we have experienced. The space is very narrow and cramped. There are four tables on the first floor that can accommodate two people, with only half a person's width of space in between. On the second floor, there are two slightly larger tables, one of which is right next to the toilet. The toilet environment is also very poor, and the toilet door cannot even be locked. I am writing this review because this restaurant has very high ratings on Google and Trip Advisor, and we came here because of that. Only tourists eat here (the two tables dining with us on the first floor were German tourists and one table from Ireland, and everyone was very friendly, so I really don't want good people to be cheated any more). I want to warn all tourists not to come here. Valletta has better choices, and for the same price, you can definitely enjoy better service and food.

Following my awful dining experience yesterday, things got even worse when the restaurant's chef called me using the phone number I provided for my reservation. The chef claimed that I had expressed my appreciation for their food yesterday, but thankfully, I did not say a word to the chef during my visit. Is this how this restaurant obtains positive reviews? The call was also a reminder that they possess some of my personal information, including my credit card details, which is now making me concerned. Additionally, in response to the restaurant's reply, I must ask, has the toilet door been in use since 450 years ago that it couldn't lock properly yesterday? I have been to many historic restaurants, but none had such poor conditions. Yesterday's dining experience left me feeling terrible, and today's call only worsened my mood. I don't understand how a restaurant, upon receiving negative feedback, could be so arrogant and blame its customers instead of improving their environment and cuisine. I would like to ask the restaurant not to argue about irrelevant issues. They cannot deny their terrible food, expensive prices, and bad...

Absolutely unacceptable. First of all before you go inside you can't see menu prices. When we sat (4 of us) the girl served us beers we ordered and showed us the menu. We were surprised that a carbonara cost 24,5 € and risotto 23,5. Anyway, we thought that we would try something very special, like Michelin stars, although while I travelled all over Italy I never found such a price for a carbonara, not even in Piazza San Marco. But when our plates came we had a bigger surprise. The risotto came with pork belly(!!) full of fat, and the 3 carbonaras were very very salty, and not creamy at all. It was hard to eat, although we were hungry. Chef tried to apologize saying that carbonara was so salty because of guanciale. But everywhere in Italy real carbonara is with guanciale and it is superb. Obviously he didn't know how to cook it, but he wanted us to pay 24,5 € for this terrible plate. So, please stay away from this restaurant. It has bad food quality, it is very expensive and probably you will feel that someone stole your money.

I just read the answer of "Dimitri" and it's full of lies. Let me explain to the other readers : First of all I personally thanked the waittress for offering me an ashtray and just told her that I didn't need it. Then I wrote that the price list is not outside the restaurant - which I think you are obliged to do in European Union - and we saw it after the waitress had served us beers, and we thought that it was not polite to go away, even if it was so overpriced. This is the answer to what you called "rudeness". The carbonara you served was without sea food And of course we didn't eat all of our dishes and I didn't eat the remaining risotto, because we are used in much better dishes than yours, either in Greece or everywhere in Europe. At last, of course if I will come in Malta again I will prefer Mc Donald's than your "restaurant" , because I am sure that I will eat better...

The food was plain and tasteless, especially the chicken and the veal. There were no spices or herbs used on the chicken, the veggies or the potato mash... The 25eur veal tasted like a plain schnitzel.

We finished our meals only because we were hungry & tired. Our waiter kept repeating that he is very satisfied that we liked the food. This was a statement we never made ourselves and we finally had to reply that it's not exactly the case. Then the waiter returned with the chef and they made the point that we should have returned the dishes when we didn't like them instead of finishing them - not a great solution when you are hungry and tired. Also, I was not looking forward to choose another dish or to give a recipe to the chef on how to improve the taste.

The service overall was poor for the quality of the restaurant they want to maintain. There were multiple issues, the most interesting one was that the waiter left the bottle of wine on the table and expected us to open it. Of course we then asked him to do that himself, which he did.

They gave us a chocolate tart on the house to compensate for the experience with the main dishes. We appreciated the gesture, hence this is a 2* review instead of 1*. But anyone considering a visit...