barnyt2015
Google
I have just spent a week at The Palace. Things got off to a great start but then started going downhill midweek and got gradually worse. The overall rating reflects the fact that this is a 5* hotel and the consequential price premium that it demands.||Let’s start with the positives. On arrival around 01:00 (due to a 5 hour flight delay) the gentleman on reception was very welcoming and helpful and I quickly found my way to an excellent room which matched my expectations, having booked a superior room, in every way. Nice touches (some of which became apparent later on) included filtered water being topped up daily, no tray charge for room service, and all fixtures and fittings working to a high standard, with the one issue I had (a low battery warning on the safe) being fixed within an hour of me having raised it.||Throughout my stay all of the staff were exceptionally - even ingratiatingly - polite, which was great but, in some cases (see below) felt somewhat overdone to the point of being disconcerting.||In the room there was a flier offering a (discounted) Triple Treat Dinner package. I had consciously not booked full board or all inclusive (can’t remember if the latter was offered) as many hotels will skimp on the quality to keep costs down and I wanted to be able to enjoy top quality food and wine to match the quality of the establishment. But being attracted by the offer (see attached picture for details) I booked it on my first morning and made reservations in The Rooftop and The TemptAsian for my third and fourth nights respectively, the first time they had availability. I elected to eat in The Tabloid buffet restaurant on my first night as bookings weren’t required.||My meal in The Tabloid was excellent and fears about quality cutting didn’t come to pass. The wine was basic but they did provide a bottle, against the half bottle in the package, which was a nice touch. ||Unfortunately, things started to go downhill from there.||On my third night I turned up at The Rooftop. Incidentally, I’d asked for both bookings to be at 19:00 but had been booked at 19:30 in The Rooftop and 18:30 in the TemptAsian!||I was shown to a corner table with stunning views and presented with the menu. I was told I had a set starter and a choice of three pasta dishes or three pizzas for my main, with a limited choice of desserts to follow. I wasn’t hugely hungry so went for pasta over pizza as it is normally less filling. I was brought a large starter of bread and dips which I ate whilst drinking my first glass of wine (as part and of the half bottle that came with the meal).||When my main course arrived I asked for my second glass of wine. It didn’t turn up and no staff came to ask how my meal was or if everything was alright. It was around half an hour later when I’d finished my meal that a member of staff came over and I highlighted that I still hadn’t received my wine. To which profuse apologies and I was promptly given a bottle of the house wine I’d been given on my first night rather than a glass of the slightly higher quality wine I’d been poured at the start of my meal!||I would also note that the portion of pasta was huge - I struggled to even get half way through it.||The following night I went to The TemptAsian and was again shown to a table with stunning views. No wine was included and I chose a decent bottle of Amarone Della Valpolicella. I was shown a menu with one starter, one soup and one desert, with three standard main courses and two standard sides.||Again, the starter was large. After the soup I said to the waitress that she hadn’t taken my order for the main course. She replied by saying I would be given everything. I responded by asking for small portions as I was already quite full after a large starter and soup.||When the food arrived I was presented with five full dishes that were enough to feed three people. They consisted of Chicken and Cashew Nuts, Sweet and Sour Pork, Green Thai Vegetable Curry, Jasmine Rice and Singapore Noodles. Basically food you could get in any takeaway or supermarket ready meal in the UK. So much for being tempted by unusual Asian Cuisine! And when I queried the volume, which I’d have challenged any single person to eat, I was told it was for two people. So effectively a ready meal heated up. I managed at best half of three of the dishes and didn’t touch the other two.||The “Asian” dessert was two scoops of sorbet.||I made my concerns quite clear to the staff who sent two successive layers in the management chain to see me. The second said that the receptionist should have made all this clear to me when I booked, which I found disappointing, to say the least. So, effectively I’d paid €46 (before discount) for, with the exception of the soup, what amounted to a (very) large ready meal of standard East Asian faire for two people. It would have been infinitely better if I could have chosen from the menu up to predefined limit and had small portions of unusual and high quality food from Asia, as the name of the restaurant seemed to imply.||Note also my separate review of Grain, posted today, and where I got exactly that (although not Asian) in a restaurant in another AX hotel in Malta for about the same price.||The other point to note about this meal experience (as noted above) was the unusual, indeed unique, reaction of the staff when I went to relieve myself. When I returned and on emerging from the area where the rest rooms were, no less than three of the staff effectively jumped to the side and ushered me through. I am not royalty, have never experienced anything like this before and found it very disconcerting.||One positive point is that when I paid for my wine and water I believe that they had knocked €7.50 or €10.00 off my wine bill. I couldn’t be certain as I couldn’t remember the exact price and, somewhat surprisingly, they didn’t tell me they were doing it.||On my final night I decided to put the mishaps in The Rooftop down to bad luck and try it again, knowing that I would not have to eat a large starter and would have the choice of main course, along with being able to choose a reasonable wine.||As before, the staff were very attentive on arrival and I was shown to the same table as three nights previously.||The waitress also managed to tempt me with the daily special, which was Red Snapper. I didn’t order a starter but just asked for the Red Snapper and selected a bottle of Gavi DOCG to go with my meal. ||After about 5 minutes the waitress arrived with a starter. And it wasn’t an appetiser - it was in fact a slightly smaller version (so medium rather than large) of the starter I’d had three nights previously. I politely declined - twice - before she took it away. I explained in turning it down that I wanted to have room for my main course so that I could enjoy followed by my choice of desert. This was another first as I have never before been deliberately given a starter when I have pointedly not ordered one. I’m not sure if this was more wasted food or it was then given to someone else?||When my main course arrived a few minutes later it was well presented and delicious. Nobody checked on me and I ate it at a gentle pace over the following half hour. I then waited. And waited. My plate was obviously empty. And I was looking forward to a desert.||Approximately 65 minutes after my main course arrived another member of staff walked near by, read something in my body language and asked if everything was alright. I explained how long I had been waiting and that I had been looking forward to a dessert. My waitress turned up a few seconds later, apologising profusely. She also said she was new.||She took my dessert order and brought it over promptly.||I ate it, again at a gentle pace, and with no check-in from the staff. I checked my watch when I had finished and cleared my plate. After 15 minutes had passed I got up and left, knowing that they had my name and room number from the booking so could bill me.||When I checked out the following morning my itemised bill was less than clear but I think they didn’t charge me for the dessert.||As an overall observation, I think they have a high turnover of staff and would say that the vast majority were not Maltese nationals. I also bumped into what seemed like around a dozen new staff being shown around by one of the managerial team on my fifth or sixth day.||I would note that the “standard” response to such a review is to thank me for the positives, note the concerns and say that they will refer them to “the relevant department”. Please note that I have already registered my concerns and would much prefer to hear of specific action being taken.||And finally, I think this is potentially a very good hotel, that in large parts justifies its 5* rating. If actions are taken around the dining experience that reflect my comments above, I would happily return. And that is even though the above review might suggest otherwise!
