Ed eats

Agliolio
Radisson Blu Resort Golden Sands
Golden Bay
Tel: 2356 1000

Food: 6/10
Service: 9/10
Ambience: 8/10
Value: 9/10
Overall: 7.5/10

I whinge about service at restaurants more often than I let on in this column. I try to keep whining to a minimum because if you read practically anything printed in Malta, you’re bound to have had enough of that.

I’m frustrated that the effort it takes to deliver poor service is practically equivalent to that needed to render excellent service.

All it takes is the will to train and the wish to turn this rare skill into an art. So many restaurants that have decent kitchens are let down by a poor front of house, mainly because they undervalue its importance.

I’m pretty sure there are plenty of diners who will be willing to forgive a slight slip in the kitchen if the service is excellent. I’d also suppose that these outnumber the diners who will forgive sloppy service in exchange for a great dish. Quite why these should sound like they exclude each other eludes me. Why can’t I have both?

There is one other little factor that sneaks into play here. It is a personal preference, an idiosyncrasy or just a silly quirk of mine based on a mixture of past experience and bloody-mindedness.

It is my tendency to avoid having dinner at hotels. I don’t exactly snob hotel restaurants but I’ve been disappointed a few times, so I pick less risky places.

Now the better hotels in Malta – and this includes all the five-star outfits – seem to have snapped up the smartest and best trained front-of-house staff around. The few times I’ve been to restaurants inside hotels, I’ve been very pleasantly surprised to say that the service almost made up for food that wasn’t quite up to scratch.

This could also be the reason for poor service elsewhere. If these massive hotels place the best trained people on their payrolls, they’re leaving the market without good people. To me, this spells opportunity for those who’d bother to become good at their jobs. Head to the Institute of Tourism Studies, get yourself all trained up and then start commanding a higher wage because you, my dear certified front-of-house magician, are in demand. If for a short while, you make the world a better place for the people you grace with your skills, they will be the repeat business that shows you’re doing it all perfectly.

I was recently cornered and this is when my silly notions are clubbed into submission, allowing the more sensible choice to prevail. I was driving past Golden Bay just after 2.30pm and was scared to go any further without food.

One would not want to face uncertainties on an empty stomach. What if the apocalypse struck? The scriptures told us all about damnation without relief and I wasn’t about to face a hungry eternity.

I peeked through the Agliolio windows, expecting the place to be closed at such a late hour but there were people in neat uniforms bustling around the place and food suddenly seemed like it was on the cards. I ran back to the car and was accosted by a man with a badge who told me I could pick a white slot and park in it. I’ll never get over the futility of this endeavour.

Our portions were generous and once again well-presented

We walked in, were greeted politely and shown to a table that enjoyed views of the bay through huge glass panes. This bay looks as beautiful in winter as it is unpleasant in summer.

The menus are presented on a large card that displays all the food available on a single sheet. It might be larger than we’re used to but functions perfectly for this kind of situation. A quick scan reveals that they are focused on pizza, pasta and grills. They’re living up to their slogan then.

Their risotto with beef, porcini mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes sounded like the perfect meal for a windy afternoon while my guest that day wanted a gluten-free pizza. The girl who took our orders was great.

She explained that their gluten-free pizzas had changed to a store-bought base. She explained that this was a safety precaution, ensuring that there is no cross-contamination in the kitchen with wheat-containing ingredients. She knows her job so well that she explained all this in a way that truly assisted our decision.

My guest decided to swap for pasta. This is always a safer option and she picked a seafood-based dish. I was a little worried about the risotto. A proper one takes up to 20 minutes to prepare and I wasn’t sure I’d last that long. A quick look at the antipasti section was all it took to remedy this. A couple of antipasti would bridge the gap nicely.

We opted for the meatballs cooked in a spicy sauce and the grilled courgettes because together they sound like a little main course and its side dish.

Within minutes, we had another member of the team sorting out our glassware, replacing our cutlery to suit our choice of food and making sure we were fine for drinks. What I’d expected to be little more than a beach club was showing exemplary service.

Our starters were served within a very decent time and they were presented pretty neatly. The chilled courgette salad was actually quite refreshing and tasty and we cleaned the plate in minutes.

All was not well with the meatballs unfortunately. The spicy sauce wasn’t in fact spicy and the meatballs had been reheated one time too many, so they were practically rubbery. This didn’t go unnoticed by the girl who saw to removing our nearly empty plates and she asked whether all was fine when spotting the meatballs I’d left. I didn’t complain and I think I made a good impression of a satisfied customer because she smiled and headed off.

We did wait a little while longer for our main course than we’d waited for our starters but the delay was well within reason. We’d both ordered starter portions for our main courses, seeing we’d be starting with an antipasto, but this didn’t deter the kitchen.

Our portions were generous and once again well-presented. My risotto was quite correct, with a shortgrain rice cooked perfectly, so it retained a hint of texture and made for a pleasant mouth presence. The sauce was fine and the meat was what I’d expected. It wasn’t cut that would make it to the grill as a steak, so the thin slices were occasionally a little tough. The dish was enjoyable on the whole though and this time I only left a little behind because I couldn’t eat any more.

I couldn’t bring myself to taste the seafood pasta, so I quizzed my guest about it. Her reaction was very positive and this was evident from the flurry of prawn-peeling activity as she described the dish.

The pasta was spot on and the sauce a little underseasoned. This is almost a compliment from the proponent of simply-cooked fish dishes. She didn’t quite finish the dish either and this was once again down to the portion size.

We had coffee and paid a very reasonable bill for €20 each. I wondered what the service would be like when the place was undoubtedly heaving in summer.

The food wasn’t great and this brings me to my original premise. I walked out feeling like I’d had a very enjoyable lunch. I was treated so well that I practically ignored a couple of issues with the food. If I’m in the area, I’ll surely be back for the service and, while I’m at it, try another few items on the menu.

You can send e-mails about this column to ed.eatson@gmail.com or follow @edeats on Twitter.

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