The Rooftop Restaurant & Lounge Valletta — Restaurant in Valletta

Service lacking, overpriced for the servings, average at best.

I would love to leave a 5-star rating, however there were some minor failings one would not expect from this level of restaurant.

We were a couple booked for dinner last week, a Tuesday night. The restaurant was admittedly busy. First of all they allocated us an outside table and it was windy and freezing and not a heater in sight. We asked to be seated inside and in fairness, they gave us a table just inside from the terrace. However, the waiters kept the door open for their easy access and there was not much difference. As for the menu/order process, it took them 20 minutes to simply get us the menu, after which the order process was rapid, but.....

Then the service charge of 3.50 euro per person. When one considers that it includes "home made bread" and water, I would say that "fair enough", however, the "home-made bread" never arrived. I suspect they ran out as we asked twice for this bread and the waiter told us "you have to wait as it is home made". At the third time we asked for it with dinner practically over they brought us two slices of local bread and waiter admitted it was not the "home made", but then again the waiter told us "you got our home made bread at the start, no?" to which I replied that it never arrived after which he simply left. As for the food, admittedly delicious Chateau Briand, that we ordered in the suggested medium rare. Before it was served, the waiter came to confirm that we had ordered it "well done" (!) to which I reminded him that I had ordered it as per Chefs suggestion on the menu. Once again a bare look and waiter left, and so we waited for it to arrive, eventually. Then the price and serving. Definitely not a 600g serving, I would say 450 at best. And please not because by cooking it shrinks, we had it eventually served in medium rare, so barely any difference. At 95 EURO for the serving (for 2), one expects much more, especially when the only "extra" is some mashed potatoes as a bed` for the meat, and some sauce on the side.

Finally the desserts, great taste but at 9 euro each they are tiny portions, more a taste than a serving.

All in all the quality of the food is very good, however the service was lacking, there were communication problems in English as we could not understand what one of the waiters was stating. For example, when he came to inform us that we ordered the meat in "well done", we simply could not understand him, and finally we got the gist only to be horrified, but maybe he was more, as he had taken the order.

However, the lady (Italian) manager was sweet, and she did try to rectify matters especially with the door being kept open and us feeling cold as a result, and at a point, she came to apologise.

Why did I not make a fuss there and then? Simply because it was my friend`s birthday and I did not want to ruin the night. For the record, I did put up a note on what happened, ONLY to the restaurant but since I got no feedback after a week, I decided to make my comments public.

Maybe this is an even greater failing from this...

I came here for a drink and had a disappointing experience with the hostess, Sherry Xin. When I arrived, she asked for my room number, which I understood since the rooftop is part of the hotel. I explained that I wasn’t a guest and just wanted a drink. She then opened the menu in front of me and pointed out the €15 minimum spend, which was fine with me. However, her attitude seemed to shift after I agreed.

I asked to sit in a specific area, but Sherry Xin (the hostess) told me it was only for hotel guests and instead seated me at a corner table by the entrance/exit door emphasizing to me that was the only spot I’d be allowed to sit. Something felt off, so I called the hotel while there, and they confirmed that what Sherry told me wasn’t true. The hotel staff apologized to me and clarified that the reserved policy applies only to the sunbeds by the pool. I very much could’ve sat in the area I requested.

The interaction felt unnecessarily unwelcoming and dismissive. As a Black woman traveling here, I couldn’t help but feel there was an undertone of bias in the way I was treated. I’ll also note that Sherry herself is a minority (with a strong Asian accent), but I do understand that the effects of post-colonialism have led many minorities with a lighter complexion than mine to perceive themselves as ranking higher within both the social and racial hierarchy. What a shame. To Sherry, if you’re reading this, I hope you’re aware Malta is a predominantly white country and the same way you view me is very likely the same way people here view you but the difference between us is I’m here for vacation and you’re here to work a low paying job. This experience left me with a very negative impression. This is not the kind of hospitality I’d expect at a hotel bar/restaurant, especially one in such a prime location.

EDIT: I raised this interaction with the hotel manager, Aleksandar. He was professional, empathetic, and apologetic, and even booked me a return visit tomorrow with complimentary drinks to make up for the poor interaction with Sherry. However, I no longer plan to go due to Hubert’s dismissive response. This was already appropriately handled by the other manager.

To Hubert — It was clear there was an intention to cause discomfort, as I observed that Sherry did not treat anyone else in this manner. At no point did she state that seating me there was to “offer a quiet setting, away from the people” nor did I request that. Instead, she stated she was seating me there because “everywhere else was only for hotel guests.” In fact, when other patrons arrived after me and requested to sit in the same area I had asked for, she gladly accommodated them. Additionally, when I contacted the hotel reception, they confirmed that the information Sherry provided was incorrect and that the reserved area only applies to the sunbeds. The other manager, Aleksandar, handled the matter much more...

We were tempted by the add about a nice dinner outdoor at the rooftop terrace with a view and the only reservation available was a late sitting at 9:30PM. We arrived in time and had to wait to be seated because the couple ahead of us did not have a reservation and the hostess tried to accommodate them. We were finally seated at a table with some partial view, accross the pool and partially inside next to the service area, even worse than the couple without reservation got. While checking the menu, we noticed two available tables outside, as we reserved and asked the hostess to move us there but she said that they were reserved for customers with outdoor reservations. After checking and confirming that we were those customers she agreed to move us there. And then the evening started to go from bad to worse. The view was beautiful but next to us, there was a group of eight people loud, rude, drunk and probably high on something, occupying three different tables, quarreling with the waiters and arguing about some ridiculous requests regarding their orders, which delayed the service to everybody and created an unpleasant atmosphere. The hostess tried to calm things down and even suggested to move them all together inside at big table, to be better attended, but they refused and the loudest one claimed that he organized events in that place and should be treated preferentially. Finally we got our order in and received the drinks and some good bread, paired with a good olive oil. After another hour of waiting, our first course arrived and the Aljota soup was very good but the beef tartare had fish eggs in the composition which ruined the taste and the waiter said that the creativity of the chef is out of his control. Maybe he thought he was preparing the tuna tartare. After another half hour our main courses arrived and again, the red snapper was very good but the ravioli had a strong taste and odor of chlorine and was un-eatable. By then it was close to midnight, the kitchen was long closed and we just wanted to pay and leave. The waiter asked what was wrong, we told him, he apologised and tried to make things better by removing the ravioli from the bill and offering an icecream on the house. Maybe it was just a bad night for them and bad luck for us, but we left with a literally bad taste, although none of the reviews...