Lot 61 Coffee Roasters — Restaurant in Valletta

I’ve visited this coffee shop a fair few times whilst I’ve been working in Malta. For the most part, I’ve enjoyed the drinks and especially the cakes I’ve bought from them and have even recommended them to a fair few colleagues. However, today - whilst on my way to work - I was passing and saw the chairs and tables outside and assumed they were open already, I popped in to grab a quick coffee to go and immediately the man inside snapped at me telling me they weren’t open for another 10 minutes. I typically apologised and left. Having then checked my phone it was 7:55am and I’d forgotten they didn’t open until 8am as I was rushing. I popped my head back in to ask if they’d be open in 5 minutes (so I could hang nearby) as I wondered if the man had realised the time and he snapped “no! We won’t be ready. That’s why I told you 10 minutes”.

I’ve bought drinks for myself and other colleagues from this shop frequently, so it’s sad that I no longer want to go back there for anything. It’s such a shame the cafe is let down by their staff and the lack of friendliness/customer service.

I’ve worked in my fair share of customer service roles and have never spoken to a customer like this. You can ruin a person’s day by being rude! It’s only now that I think back and it’s been really difficult to engage with most of the staff there as none are particularly friendly and are more interested in gossiping with one another. There is one lovely girl who I’ve had nice chats with in the past but sadly she wasn’t...

Unfortunately not much good to report on. He staff where unfriendly. My pregnant wife and 2 year old child had to go to bathroom. And had to go down a very narrow dangerous staircase definitely not friendly for people in a wheel chair . Vey little seating and the bit of seating we waited for ... 2 stools had bent legs and 2 year old son fell off it due to this. Not to mention they probably ended up bent because the cafe is on a slope. We ordered two flat whites. Which took ages to be brewed and where left on the serving bench and not brought to our table by the time we realised this the coffee was cold and staff where reluctant to change it. Saying that this is self service. And they do not come around the counter to serve ppl. ( apparently neither to clean a table as our table remained with previous two empty cups from previous clients.) After this traumatic coffee experience we had to jus get up and leave. Also another observation is some client asked the place to grind a pack of coffee and the seemingly fillipino barista or person serving while grounding the coffee started to stick his finger.up the grinder to let loose coffee being ground and constantly knocking on the grinder... besides being super un healthy to be touching other ppls food with your hands is it safe to stick your finger up a grinder..? Maybe change the colour of...

We stopped by Lot 61 because we’d heard great things and were really looking forward to trying some proper specialty coffee. We asked what beans they use and were told Brazilian and Kenyan, which got us excited to taste the difference.

While we were paying, the iced latte was already being made — the barista started pouring regular milk into the cup. I quickly asked if they had oat milk, and the woman at the counter didn’t seem too happy about the question. I explained that we were just tired from the heat and forgot to ask earlier, but her response felt a bit cold and dismissive. She charged extra for the oat milk, which is totally fair, but the whole interaction left a bad impression.

We expected a bit more warmth and guidance, especially from a specialty coffee shop. No one asked about our milk preference, and there was no real effort to introduce the beans or share what they offer — which is a shame, because we genuinely care about coffee and were eager to learn more. The drinks were good, but the experience felt rushed and a bit unwelcoming.

Service matters just as much as the coffee, and unfortunately this visit didn’t live up to what...