Taproom Valletta — Restaurant in Valletta

1. Looks great from outside and has a nice atmosphere being situated on a lovely street full of classy bars and restaurants in the center of Valletta

2. Nice atmosphere inside too, slightly odd bar area seating with a huge, wide workbench type table. Nice tables in restaurant and particularly nice outside on the street, which leads me onto my next and most crucial point: service

3. Service was at first, seemingly good. Nice welcome and helpful with a booking, also seemed good for most guests to be fair. However, our experience was dreadful and upsetting for my girlfriend. We had booked (in-person) and outdoor seat for 2 for later that same evening. Just before our booking, two people were sat in the last remaining outdoor seat instead of it being reserved for us. When we went and enquired, they said you can sit inside, ignoring our booking and also our request to sit outside. It was OK, thought, since they said they would move us outside at the first available seat. So, despite them making a mistake by not reserving an outdoor seat when there were plenty available a mere half an hour before our booking (as we saw while walking past the street), we felt somewhat looked after once again.

Then, a group came and sat down for dinner for their indoor booking about 15 minutes after we had ordered our drinks. After a few more minutes, a table freed up outside and we thought "great, let's give them a minute to set it up and if not, I'll ask to sit there", being respectful to the busy staff. However, a gross miscommunication had occurred next, the group I have just mentioned said something along the lines of "it's nice in here, but even nicer out there, let's ask to move". A fair thought and sentiment, not dissimilar to ours except we'd actually booked outside. So, I went to the waiter who had booked our table for us and explained that there was a table outside now free, and we would like to move now. To our amazement, a different waiter, pulled extra seating for this group and without so much as a consideration of other people waiting, sat the group down.

We then confronted the other waiter about this error and he explained to us ( in attempt to waiver our confrontation ) that since the other group had booked online a few days prior, that they had priority. However, this was nonsense because their booking was clearly for a much later time than ours and the time you book at is irrelevant compared to the time you booked for - obviously. Anyway, after a small debate with the waiter, he essentially just made us look and feel like idiots in a very insulting way and left without so much as an apology or conclusion. It was really quite amazingly rude to us. It is hard to describe how rude it felt at the time during the conversation.

The original waiter who'd booked then went to look outside to see if there was a free table, obviously there wasn't anymore, and then neither of the waiters could even face us or acknowledge us after this until the bill was paid. No more service at all. We weren't offered drinks, we weren't checked on once we had our food, we had no apology and we, as a result left, no tip and felt completely dissatisfied with the service and I would recommend people avoid booking here if you want quality service.

4. Food. Having said all that, the food was amazing. My fillet steak was cooked very well and tasted delicious. My girlfriend's Salmon steak was also cooked very well and tasted great.

5. the drinks menu was also extensive and our cocktails were delicious. However, there was no beer on the menu which...

Shockingly bad service - I have never been treated with such a lack of hospitality by a member of restaurant staff.

We walked in yesterday evening to reserve an outdoor table later in the night, and were assured one would be kept for us. When we arrived at our booking time, however, there were no outdoor tables available although other couples had been recently seated outside. Instead of an acknowledgement, we were told we could sit inside. We reminded the waiter that we had asked for an outdoor table, and were promised that as soon as one became available, we would be moved. Mistakes happen so we were happy to wait.

30 minutes later, an outdoor table freed up. However, another group commented that they would also like to move outside. We quickly let our waiter know that a table was now free outside, but were ignored and the table was prepared for the other group.

I raised this with another waiter, explaining that we had booked the outdoor table and had been waiting to move. Instead of apologising or rectifying the mistake which had now been made for the second time, he claimed that because the other group had booked online rather than in-person, they were more entitled to the table - despite arriving later than us and not specifically requesting an outdoor table as we had. He was dismissive and rude, insinuating that we did not have a right to the booking we had made. This interaction was the most disappointing part of the evening.

I should also mention that once we received our food we were never asked if everything was OK, or if we would like any more drinks. We had planned to stay for dessert and more cocktails, but left as soon as we finished our mains.

I highly recommend dining elsewhere if you want to be treated with...

Absolutely terrible service.

For context, I booked taproom from a week before, for my anniversary with my girlfriend. I booked through OpenTable, and booked standard seating. I even made it clear in the booking that it was an anniversary dinner, and even requested a candle, since there was a box which allowed me to input requests.

Upon our arrival, the staff were adamant to put us on an outside table, with a noisy band from an establishment next door, playing right in front of our table - not exactly the romantic setting I imagined. I complained to a member of staff, who kept insisting it was my fault that the booking was done with outside seating, even after I showed her a screenshot of my booking. This same member of staff then suggested that we spend our anniversary on a SHARED TABLE, with around 7 other strangers - an idea to which I firmly objected, and which showed how little care is given in terms of service at this establishment.

We then settled on waiting 15 minutes on our table outside whilst an indoor table became available. Please not that, unsurprisingly, my request for a candle was ignored.

The final straw was when the menu was brought to us, with half the items being different to what is displayed on Taproom’s website. Nothing was to our liking, and our anniversary dinner experience was tarnished to the point where we got up and left.

I was very disappointed with the service and lack of care given at this establishment. We ended up dining at a different restaurant which treated...