The Bridge Bar — Restaurant in Valletta

Very nice location in Valetta, the ambiance was stunning. We went there for a live jazz performance, which was great, however, the bar staff was not ready for the amount of guests they were having - the queue was long, the staff was taking orders very slowly and one of the managers was very rude to us from the start. As a first time visitor, he had a really bad attitude explaining to me how the orders are taken, for example, there is this rule you can’t order drinks without ordering any food for your table; after I’ve agreed to order food, I’ve asked what are the options for snacks, to what he started aggressively telling me to go back to my table and see the menu which meant loosing my place in the queue and not being able to order the drinks I initially wanted. After telling him I want any small snacks plate, an Aperol Spritz and a bottle of water, he gave me a bottle of water which had A HOLE IN IT. The water was running through the bottle, the counter was wet and when he was putting my change onto the counter - the money banknotes were all wet.

Btw, the Aperol Spritz was the...

Definitely not what's expected of a place in such a beautiful location. We attempted to book a few tables for a larger group of people (18) and when we tried to add 2 more people strategically to keep in line with COVID19 measures, we were basically told to tell them not to come. Needless to say, we fit them in. The staff were also very rude on the night and while they did try to accommodate us, they weren't exactly polite about it.

Finally, it all came down to the bill. A good amount spent in total for 3 tables, yet no itemised receipt was given. When we asked for one, it was impossible to get one. For all we know, they could have added whatever they wanted to our bill. It was basically impossible to split it properly between all of us, especially when some on our tables didn't have a platter or had specific types of drinks. The bar only accepts cash or revolut which proved difficult as nobody really carries cash anymore.

This bar is basically a money laundering or tax evasion machine.

Avoid...

Great place on Fridays for the music, but they didn't respond to my Facebook request or phonecalls so I missed out on reserving a table, had to wait until someone else left and eat elsewhere in the meantime.

Then they said we could only get a table if we bought food platters, this was at 10:30 pm when we'd already had to eat elsewhere, and no-one was waiting for tables. We managed to get around this because it was a cash only bar where you had to go in to order.

This process was also long-winded as they only took cash and it was a free-for-all for the bar. My drinks took nearly 20minutes as they kept giving them to people who came in after me and just shouted louder, even though I'd already ordered and paid.

Then the police came and shut it down at about 1130. Bit of a shame but as mentioned the music was good whilst it lasted. Seems to have lost authenticity as a place & just about grabbing money, as is...