Restaurants...

There are literally tons of decent places, however it tends to  depend a bit on the season you visit them and even the day.

Some restaurants which are not family operated have a high turnover of staff or staff rotation. Which impacts considerably on the consistent quality

Many restaurants here tend to confuse Quantity with Quality, so you will find a plate with a huge serving and very little else.

However here are a couple of places I've been to on more than one occasion

Biancos - St julians,
Rubinos Valletta
Il Mithna - Mellieha
Hilltop - Mellieha
Boquet Garni - Mellieha
Valletta Waterfront

Theres a couple of others too but cant remember their names at the moment.

A great restaurant has opened in Ball street Paceville called Chicago. I had a great meal there. Prices are very reasonable, the atmosphere great and the food exceptional.

I would suggest Rampila Restaurant and Wine Bar a restaurant in Valletta close to St John's Cavalier. Quite a top notch place with fine dining, excellent and friendly service. The food is great - Mediterranean. I just loved the place.

Tmun in Gozo. Best food I ever had at a restaurant anywhere!! I've only been to the one in Victoria but I hear the one in Mgarr is even better. I'm actually going to try that one out tomorrow for our 20th wedding anniversary...can't wait!!!

Taragona in St Pauls Bay - good quality food
Mamma Mia in Ta Xbiex (2nd fave - but you must book no matter what day it is)
Il  Mithna in Mellieha (our fave place to eat)
Bouquet Garni Mellieha - very very nice
L'Escargot Mellieha - excellent value and a good host
Ta Kanani in the new Labour Club Mellieha - cheap and good quality food
Reflections in Mellieha - good
Cross Keys Mellieha - good
Trattoria de Bueno Mellieha Bay - good
Fu yi restaurant in Bugibba (Chinese) - good
Master Woks in Mellieha (Chinese)- excellent
Ganesha in Xemxija - (Indian)- nice

Toon,

Obviously food/restaurants is very subjective, but I'm interested when you mention the Cross Keys, not their Pizzeria surely, we found that pretty bleh! We haven't eaten at the other part of the restaurant - frankly got put off a bit by the Pizza. Maybe it was a bad night.

Looks like I'll be popping up the road to Mellieha quite often.

I'm keeping quiet about my faves - I don't want you rabble stopping me from getting a table! He he.

Tim

the pizzareia is ok but am not a fan of pizza - i normally have the cannelloni and thats gorgeous......but the ala carte restaurant is in my opinion quite good.

it shad a bit of a face-lift outside too.

Cheers, Toon - will try out the Cannelloni, we only had the Pizza there.

I find a lot of the pizza places in Malta spoil a good crust with cheap, slimy cheese...unforgivable. I do miss a good Chicago-style deep dish pizza pie too - all this Neopolitan thin crust stuff is great (when done well), but some variety would be nice too.

Tim

i must admit to liking the thinner bases though - but theyre not the sort of food id go out for the evening to have - more of mid day snack thing down at our fabulous beach

so come on spill the beans where do you recommend in Xemxija then....

We've only been in Xemxija a short time and haven't eaten out here much. So far we rate Ganesha over Star of India though.

When we eat out it's mainly kid-friendly places though.

Tim

hammersfan wrote:

When we eat out it's mainly kid-friendly places though.

Tim

would be good to have a list of kid-friendly places, so can avoid them :-)

Nice one, George!

yes i must agree with georgeingozo on this occasion LOL

Star of India is pants - many people have said the same.....

I have passed by Zeus and the Shakiwan chinese there - have you had any experience of those two.

at the end of the day its personal taste innit.

we have been eating recently at the Ta Kanani inside the new labour club since it opened a few weeks back and we havent had a bad meal there yet....but some are never happy unless they complain and get a rake of free free beers then the complaint seems to go away - yet we have had exactly the same food and thoroughly enjoyed it - maybe i am not refined enough.....LOL

Yes, the food at both places is sublime, truly exceptional - and the best thing is both places are very kid friendly, often packed with them at all times of day or night ;-)

Tim

hammersfan wrote:

the best thing is both places are very kid friendly, often packed with them at all times of day or night ;-)

sounds great - the more kids in those two places, the less there will be elsewhere :-)

I agree with Master Woks in Mellieha...Very good!!!

What I havent found in Malta is a Mexican restaurant...If anyone knows of one, PLEASE let me know!!!!!

Mgrima68- walked past the restaurant in Sliema the other day and it was really busy. I havent eaten there though so I have no idea what it is like....

http://www.amigos.com.mt/

mgrima68 wrote:

I agree with Master Woks in Mellieha...Very good!!!

What I havent found in Malta is a Mexican restaurant...If anyone knows of one, PLEASE let me know!!!!!

Theres a new one in Mellieha near the tunny net - owned and run by the seabank....

mgrima68 wrote:

I agree with Master Woks in Mellieha...Very good!!!

What I havent found in Malta is a Mexican restaurant...If anyone knows of one, PLEASE let me know!!!!!

Theres a new one in Mellieha near the tunny net - owned and run by the seabank....

I think its called Mexi Co.

Agree absolutely with Biancas at Spinola ... great food and superb QoS ... couldn't fault it!

and for the general run of the mill the ribs in Black Gold on Slimea Strand are great fora guys night out ... maybe not quite refined enough for the gal's but hey, you can't win them all! lol

Cuccagna is Sliema.  Doesn't advertise so it's the local's secret. Always packed though so book if you can . Their pizza is probably the best in the Med  possibly better than Italy ( seriously, a finicky Italian actually said it!) and their other food is good too . In Sliema down the road from Scott's in Amery Street

toonarmy9752
There's a mexican place on the Sliema Front called Tex Mex . Haven't tried it though, so can't comment.

as an aside, be wary of the Fortezza ... went there last night and found the service absolutely horrific as it would appear they have all new staff who have no idea of what they are doing...

We just had huge waits between everything but the table next to us had us in stitches! they had their main course delivered to the table and then some further waiters came along with their starters and then their drinks arrived... they decided not to send anything back as they were not sure they would ever see it again...

perhaps it could be the basis of a Maltese version of Fawlty Towers!!!

Surprisingly, not too sure about returning there in the near future.

Thanks Mikea. Will surely give Fortizza a miss. Pity , looks like a great location for a restaurant

I will admit that during the winter months when things proved not to be so manic, I visited the Fortizza many times and had good service but that was the old staff and only the pub section open... Now unfortunately, with it all open it is just to big, with to many covers for an inexperienced team to handle efficiently!

However, the place in Amery St sounds very promising and just around the corner from me, so I'll be giving that a try for sure!

Cheers

Mike

yes, do so...and if you're into pizza and fine with good quality salami I recommend their specials . Ask for  a mixed topping of napoli salami, spicy calabrese and bresaola(It's not on the menu)

stop it! I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!!!

The food in Terrazza Restaurant in Spinola Bay is amazing. Best restaurant I have found yet!! Lovely view of the bay, service is impeccable and the food is to die for! It is not on the "wandering path", so it keeps the tourists away too.

A day time question. Are there any 'tea room' style places with yummy freshly baked home-made Victorian sandwich cakes or chocolate cakes like mom used to bake when we were kids? Just hate the over-sweet bakery style stuff (tastes like it came out of a box mixed with water) and has loads of more sweet icing and cream on it. Perhaps even a large pot of freshly made loose leaf tea and scones with homemade jam... or am I dreaming:P

i think it will have to be a dream lol.....maybe a trip back to the uk would be a better option when the urge for these things overtakes you

sorry and o dont meant ot be nasty - but i just get so tired of people asking for tastes of home stuff when in a foreign country. You must already have come across this already in South Africa  or maybe not!!!!! I truly understand the missing of these things but thats not why I came to live here. Am sure it would be nice to have but hey try some of the malti foodstuffs it is indeed delightful. Maybe not quite cornish cream teas but hey am sure in its own way wil be just as enjoyable.

Actually the question wasn't British based at all, have friends all over the world that enjoy a good cup of tea and freshly baked cake instead of coffee and the bakery sweet stuff - and they aren't South African or British! Looks like I'll have to do some home baking when I get the urge!

apologies for the assumption of british

rooikat checkout Mint restaurant at mintmalta.com They have very nice cakes

billyberjas - thanks for the info on Mint. Googled their website and also read the Trip Advisor reviews - it looks like a great place. Definately be on our list for next trip.

toonarmy9752 wrote:

mgrima68 wrote:

I agree with Master Woks in Mellieha...Very good!!!

What I havent found in Malta is a Mexican restaurant...If anyone knows of one, PLEASE let me know!!!!!

Theres a new one in Mellieha near the tunny net - owned and run by the seabank....

I think its called Mexi Co.

Good thread - can't wait to run some of these down.  We haven't eaten out too much but we have tried the Mexi Co. in Mellieha twice and the food is.... ehh.  The place is nice, the service is good and the food is edible but it just is not proper Mexican food.  They can get the tortilla on the quesadilla crispy and that's nice but the veggie filling is more 'pot-pie' than quesadilla.  The queso is from a can (think glorified stadium nacho cheese), the salsa is pretty typical to what you get here in the stores and the guac is shelf bought goop as well.  As a Texan, I would have to say it isn't Mexican food but if you put the idea of "Mexican" out of your head its a decent eat.  I've seen the place in Sliema but have not ventured that way myself.  I too would LOVE to find a decent Mexican place!  Sometimes I think I'm just going to have to open one up myself.

I think our favorite places to eat so far is Paparazzi's in Spinola Bay, Gulu (?) a few doors down, upstairs and Pebbles in Gozo <-> best Tuna in all of Malta!

Jennifer

Jakulin wrote:

Good thread - can't wait to run some of these down.  We haven't eaten out too much but we have tried the Mexi Co. in Mellieha twice and the food is.... ehh.  The place is nice, the service is good and the food is edible but it just is not proper Mexican food.  They can get the tortilla on the quesadilla crispy and that's nice but the veggie filling is more 'pot-pie' than quesadilla.  The queso is from a can (think glorified stadium nacho cheese), the salsa is pretty typical to what you get here in the stores and the guac is shelf bought goop as well.  As a Texan, I would have to say it isn't Mexican food but if you put the idea of "Mexican" out of your head its a decent eat.  I've seen the place in Sliema but have not ventured that way myself.  I too would LOVE to find a decent Mexican place!  Sometimes I think I'm just going to have to open one up myself.

I think our favorite places to eat so far is Paparazzi's in Spinola Bay, Gulu (?) a few doors down, upstairs and Pebbles in Gozo <-> best Tuna in all of Malta!

Jennifer

Could not agree with you more on MexiCo.  We were SO excited to have a Mexican place and even more excited that it was in our town.  But your description is spot on.  Their sour cream really seemed to me to be just plain yogurt. The salsa tasted like canned tomatoes with no flavor to it at all.  We did enjoy the Coronas though!

Like you say, if you can go in thinking it won't be true Mexican, than at least it is a little 'different'.  But we won't be going back anytime soon.  We just save up those Mexican cravings for our trips back to the US.  Love lots about living here, but do miss 'real' Mexican!  (sorry toonarmy9752, I really do like living here and definitely don't expect things to be like they are back 'home', but good Mexican is near and dear to my heart!).

Kim

Kim -- absolutely agree about the Coronas!    What part of the States are you from?

Jennifer

KTS wrote:

Jakulin wrote:

Good thread - can't wait to run some of these down.  We haven't eaten out too much but we have tried the Mexi Co. in Mellieha twice and the food is.... ehh.  The place is nice, the service is good and the food is edible but it just is not proper Mexican food.  They can get the tortilla on the quesadilla crispy and that's nice but the veggie filling is more 'pot-pie' than quesadilla.  The queso is from a can (think glorified stadium nacho cheese), the salsa is pretty typical to what you get here in the stores and the guac is shelf bought goop as well.  As a Texan, I would have to say it isn't Mexican food but if you put the idea of "Mexican" out of your head its a decent eat.  I've seen the place in Sliema but have not ventured that way myself.  I too would LOVE to find a decent Mexican place!  Sometimes I think I'm just going to have to open one up myself.

I think our favorite places to eat so far is Paparazzi's in Spinola Bay, Gulu (?) a few doors down, upstairs and Pebbles in Gozo <-> best Tuna in all of Malta!



Jennifer

We were SO excited to have a Mexican place and even more excited that it was in our town.  But your description is spot on.  Their sour cream really seemed to me to be just plain yogurt. The salsa tasted like canned tomatoes with no flavor to it at all.  We did enjoy the Coronas though!

Like you say, if you can go in thinking it won't be true Mexican, than at least it is a little 'different'.  But we won't be going back anytime soon.  We just save up those Mexican cravings for our trips back to the US.  Love lots about living here, but do miss 'real' Mexican!  (sorry toonarmy9752, I really do like living here and definitely don't expect things to be like they are back 'home', but good Mexican is near and dear to my heart!).

Kim

Hey its no problem for me as i dont eat Mexican food at all - dont like it and cant eat it - makes me ill everytime - so its no great shakes to me - in fact a bit of a bonus to know that its not as it appears to be - so wont necessarily mention it again to anyone - I had just noticed it a few months ago as we live in Mellieha too and rarely go into ghadiera..... preferring more central village establsihments...LOl

good luck finding a good one - if it exists.

Id be happy to find a good indian or chinese......