Malta: April 2025: Day 4: St. Julian's

Index
Day 1: Flying
Day 2: London
Day 3: St. Julian's
Day 4: St. Julian's
Days 5/6: Valletta
Day 7: Mdina
Day 8: Gzira
Day 9: Gozo
Day 10: Return

Malta

April 2025: Day 4: St. Julian's

Construction is everywhere.

Paranga, IHG's terrible restaurant.

Seemed nice enough at first.

Then the hard sell by the staff began.

Swordfish sashimi tasted a bit odd. Rest was okay.

Spaghetti and lobster was sad. Pasta tasted like it was from a box. 30 minute wait for this.

Poached rockfish took another 30 minutes to come out.

Dessert? Another 15 minutes despite us ordering it right away. Chocolate was like a rock.

Maltese streets are narrow.

Brillace Cafe for coffee.

View from the lobby of the Westin Dragonara towards the ocean, and their pool, lobby patio, etc.

Food at the executive lounge isn't much, but at least it's hot.

View from the executive lounge.

At least there was some vegetable/fruit.

Pasta at the Westin was so much better than the garbage we had at lunch.

Opted not to wander too far on our second full day in Malta, with a terrible lunch at Paranga, the local IHG's on-waterfront restaurant. Service was not only painfully slow but had an attitude we couldn't wrap our heads around, and the food was equally unimpressive, even outright terrible. What should have been a 45 minute meal was instead twice as long, and that left us with just enough time to grab a coffee at nearby Brillace Cafe. Poking around Brillace Cafe, which was basically on the waterfront, actually revealed a larger space than expected, but sadly we did not have time to linger.

Later in the evening, ended up at the Westin's Executive Lounge. Food there isn't much, but there were a few hot and cold options, and the outdoor patio is fully enclosed against the wind that might otherwise render it completely unusable many days. Wrapped up the day with food from the hotel, where the octopus pasta actually tasted fresh-- a massive upgrade from lunch at Paranga (and proof we'd made the right decision to stay at the Westin instead of the IHG?!?).