Sartoria

I booked this restaurant after enjoying Francesco Mazzei is food at Corinthia in Malta, and seeing Stanley Tucci also recommend it - I was quite excited. We ordered starters and mains, which were quite good (plating could have been better for the quality you go for...but this was on the servers and not the chefs). The dessert however was disappointing - we ordered a lemon sorbet and a Tiramisu. The tiramisu Francesco makes in Malta is delicious, so this was a dish we looked forward to...however this one was right from the fridge (very cold)...and practically a bunch of cream used - the type you get when you spray it....tiramisu has mascarpone however this had none of that - was barely edible. The lemon sorbet is supposed to be a typical Sicilian creamy sorbet, however this had the majority filled with ice flakes and just not creamy at all. When it comes to the service - this was the most disappointing - starting with basics, we ordered one bottle of water...they decided to just open another and start pouring it, where we had to tell them we didn't request another...they just made the assumption we wanted more even though all our glasses were full. A negroni sbagliato was also ordered, which they confirmed they can do....was a negroni but definitely not a sbagliato (no prosecco added). A room temperature ginger ale was ordered, confirmed they have non cold bottles available...served it and was very cold, when questioned on their previous confirmation, the server stated that is the room temperature they have. Regarding the pasta, two carbonara and one Cacio Pepe was ordered...the Cacio Pepe was very good....carbonara too, however presentation - you get the pasta rolled up with an egg yolk in the centre - one came presented that way...the other the pasta was all over the plate with the yolk broken on the side (apparently the server did that accidentally according to them - which is fine...but also presentation is key in such a restaurant). There was also an issue with the waiters understanding of English, which surprised us...even when requesting basics such as ice cream/sorbet flavours...they described another dessert, and I had to ask about two more times until they understood and I got told the flavours available. Also basic things such as the menus being taped together or with biro marks on them...this restaurant is classy and in a nice area, the upkeep however was lacking. Overall, service was not too good, the restaurant is nicely decorated, the savoury dishes tasted good, and the dessert I do not recommend. Unfortunately not a place I would return to or recommend.