The Undercroft Ristorante Italiano & Cocktails.

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#106 of 238 Restaurants in VallettaItalian, Cafe, ££ - £££

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The Undercroft Ristorante Italiano & Cocktails.

Review

At a glance

Open until 5:00 PM

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Website

+356 2783 4106Improve this listing

About

The Undercroft, a treasure chest of Southern-Mediterranean cuisine, found in Valletta in the suggestive location of the former warehouses of St. Paul's Pro Cathedral. This meeting place, with its multifaceted nature is predominantly Apulian, reign of Michele Rubino, native of the province of Foggia ( Italy ), tireless researcher of small agricultural productions and promoter of his region abroad. His enogastronomic concept satisfies various needs: from a business lunch to an informal dinner, from an aperitif to a company meeting. Every choice is the constant perfect mix between the quality of the ingredients, the capable hand of the chef, a continuosly evolving wine list and the hospitality of the host. A place with a thousand souls, capable of making anyone feel at ease, where you can breathe a true Italian savoir-faire, also (but not only) expressed in a cuisine made of technique and passion, which invites you to come back for further unique experiences.

Features

CUISINES

Italian, Cafe, Mediterranean, European, Healthy, Southern-Italian

Meal types

Lunch, Dinner, Drinks

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options

FEATURES

Accepts Credit Cards

American Express

BYOB

Family style

Free Wifi

Full Bar

Gift Cards Available

Highchairs Available

Jazz Bar

Live Music

Mastercard

Non-smoking restaurants

Reservations

Seating

Serves Alcohol

Table Service

Takeout

Visa

Wine and Beer

Location

Old Theatre Street West Street, Valletta, Island of Malta VLT 1472 Malta

Does this restaurant serve Sicilian food?

Yes

Unsure

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Hours

Suggest an edit

Open until 5:00 PM

Sunday

12:00 - 17:00

Monday

Closed

Tuesday

12:00 - 15:0018:00 - 22:00

Wednesday

12:00 - 15:0018:00 - 22:00

Thursday

12:00 - 15:0018:00 - 22:00

Friday

12:00 - 15:0018:00 - 22:00

Saturday

12:00 - 15:0018:00 - 22:00

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4.3

155 reviews

Excellent

116

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Average

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Yes

Fabrizio M

1 contribution

Amazed palate and eyes

Aug 2024 • couples

Beautiful place, with a breathtaking view... kindness is at home, from the young waiter to the owner. Fresh fish... we had a raw and a seafood salad .. as main courses a frying and a grilled fish. Everything great as well as the price. We are already thinking of booking again before leaving. Highly recommended... you will eat well and have a unique atmosphere in a spectacular location.

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Written 15 August 2024

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Silvia Dessí

6 contributions

Italian cuisine 🔝

Jul 2023 • family

Excellent Apulian cuisine restaurant, pleasant environment, fast service. We enjoyed some fresh pasta first courses and a truly delicious basket of "bread" with vegetables. We pleasantly chatted with the owner of the restaurant and one of his collaborators. A special nod to the kindness of the Russian girl 😊. Dishes prepared with love for food, fresh and quality ingredients. Absolutely must try!

Written 1 August 2023

InspectorLeStrade

Xaghra106 contributions

Worthy of a detour.

Jul 2022 • none

OK….I live in Gozo and come over regularly to Valletta for an overnight or just for diner as we now have the 45minute fast Cats from Mgarr to Valletta. We heard about this place from other folk who loved it. So, we booked a table for 6pm. On arrival we were greeted by the fantastic Manageress who is Italian but speaks good English. We got to know the history of the restaurant and its owner and what they were trying to achieve in a cut throat restaurant world. Owned by a former Benetton F1 chap, he has created a winery and foodery in a good place in Italy. All the wines served in The Undercroft come from his land. The 21€ Rose they sell is the best Rose I have had in 50 years. I was in the wine trade in London for a number of years and this Single Grape wine walked all over the Roses from France and other producers (Rose D’Anjou) and its ‘taste-a-likes’. The 21€ Rose is the biggest selling Rose currently in New York and they can’t get enough of it. Comments on establishments and food always somehow reflect the type of person and their expectations and willingness to be adventurous or just plain needy or hungry. On reviewer here said that the staff were rude and unhelpful. So, I ask the question, what was your stance when you walked in. Were you ‘engaging, positive, able to take a lead, give out a feeling of confidence and support as a knowledgeable well-travelled customer.?? Did you have a bad day?? I read the negative comments here on TA before we went and actually found a happy, content and tremendous team from the Chefs to the waiting staff. If there was an ‘off’ day for a member of staff then why on earth don’t people have chat with the manager in a calm and diplomatic manner and see what the result is. I know for a fact that the Management of this place do not have their staff come in until the afternoon so that they a rested and calm in readiness for the busy evening traffic. There is normally no lunch served unless it is a private function. I noted that someone had an issue with no pizzas as no power…..but understand that when you come here to our lovely idiosyncratic, different Malta we do have power supply issues as our power comes mainly from Sicily and can be unstable and we are not like London, Berlin, Paris etc, that have NuPwr at a constant rate. It just so happens; we had the costliest item on the menu which was the ‘Charcutier and Cheese’ box which was truly exceptional. No good if you don’t like meat or cheese, so have the excellent pizzas instead or pasta instead. By the time we were ready to go I personally thanked every one of the team for a superb and memorable meal and their response was phenomenal. We will return and return and return as it is ‘that good’. I have read so many of the positive and negative reviews and my conclusion was that I will be coming here for a long time to come.

Written 19 July 2022

beltvalletta

Birkirkara74 contributions

Amateurs

Dec 2024 • friends

The whole experience throughout was amateurish . . . except for the prices. The menu, let’s leave apart the bad English, was boring, limited and presented on a couple of sheets of plain paper. The service was poor. The manager was informed of a garlic allergy yet the sea bream fillet ordered consisted of a couple of small fillets that were topped with potato shavings with garlic granules. There was nothing else served with the fish (€24). The water ordered was eventually served by the manager as the servers must have forgotten all about the order. The linguine with scampi (€23) was pasta in a salty broth and 4 linguine that contained no meat at all so I have no idea why they were added to the dish. It made the experience worse as the scampi had come apart and I had to carefully remove the bits from the pasta which was not always successful. The decent dessert was not enough to save the evening. The bill presented was in A4 size plain paper that looked like a homework exercise of a primary school student. After paying, the place confirmed its amateur status by not bothering to issue a fiscal receipt as dictated by local fiscal laws. I will not bother returning and will make sure my guests will be avoiding this “restaurant”. Thanks for ruining my evening!

Written 1 January 2025

Simon C

9 contributions

Amateur (although staff were friendly)

Feb 2025 • couples

Amateur - sorry to report a similar experience to previous recent reviewers. We had high hopes as the venue is nice - albeit with no ambience - but we were very disappointed with the quality of food. My wife had a vegetarian option, which was at least edible, but the top end Angus beef was anything but: on a cheap layer of lettuce, no potatoes as advertised, tough and rare (asked for medium). The only consolation was that the staff were friendly enough and did not cause a fuss when I refused to pay for the beef. Our advice: employ a decent chef, turn the lights down to create a romantic atmosphere, and start again!

Written 14 February 2025

Silvia B.

10 contributions

Bad night

Dec 2024 • couples

We were at the end of the year dinner. Bad organization!! At 20 we started to dine, the courses were varied but served hastily.Inoltre the various dishes (sea and land) were served in a single dish mixing scents and flavors.The cotechino with lentils, which as tradition wants should be served after midnight, was served at 22. We finished our dinner at 10.30pm. The evening included the DJ but the latter showed up at 23.55, just for the countdown. Evening not enjoyed at all. The restaurant is run by Italians so we expected a brilliant evening, considering the vision we have of the end of year dinner.

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Written 2 January 2025

Margau

3 contributions

It happened by mistake.

Aug 2024 • couples

We came across this restaurant by mistake. The restaurant was empty and unwelcoming. Prices too high compared to the quality of the dishes offered. They pass themselves off a lot as fresh produce but personally I don't think so. Not good service. At 10 pm, while we were finishing dinner, they turned off our lights and fans and feeling uncomfortable we had to get up and leave. Definitely will not return

Automatically translated

Written 22 August 2024

Markos

Chania Town8 contributions

The worst experience I had in my life.

Oct 2023 • business

I'm writing to share my experience at a restaurant in Malta that I visited with my colleagues as part of a company incentive. We had booked dinner for 40 people in advance and we had selected our dishes from their predefined menu. However, when we arrived, we found out that they had not prepared anything for us and they asked us to choose our food again. The tables were not arranged for our group size but for couples. The worst part was that the food was served very late and cold. The portions were tiny, bland, and cold. None of us enjoyed the meal and I was shocked when I saw the bill. They charged me 7 glasses of wine for 280 euros by "mistake". I later learned that this was not the first time they had done this to their customers. This restaurant is definitely not worth visiting. The worst experience I had in my life.

Written 31 October 2023

PenMpar

1 contribution

DO NOT BOOK GROUPS at this restaurant!!!

Oct 2023 • business

They simply cannot handle it. Common sense is that you split a group into big tables. You do NOT split a group into pairs because it’s easier for the restaurant, we are co-workers not couples. Also the food was not prepared in time to serve it fresh and warm, it was cold and bland. And to make matters worse their attitudes were horrible. I don’t know any dissatisfied customer who changed their mind because the manager was rude to them! Maybe they can handle 2 people at a time but clearly they do not know how to plan for groups. We had far better food and service in other places in Valletta, just avoid it altogether.

Written 31 October 2023

Eleftheria M

1 contribution

WORST FOOD EXPERIENCE!!!!!!!

Oct 2023 • business

"Dining" at this restaurant was my worst experience till now in my whole life. I wouldn't even recommend it to my worst enemy. The service and the manager's reactions and responses were so unprofessional,rude and impudent that I couldn't even believe it. The "food" if you can call it like that, came to our table with more than an hour of delay-we have preordered it a week ago-was cold, not fresh and not tasty at all. It wasn't like the delicious food that you can eat in Italy. On top of that they overcharged us as well and we made a big effort to make them admit their mistake. NEVER NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!

Written 31 October 2023

Christos V

1 contribution

Worst end of a great day!

Oct 2023 • business

We were very disappointed with our experience at this restaurant. We had made a reservation for almost 40 people from our company, based on a recommendation, and we had pre-ordered our menu to save time. However, when we arrived, we found the restaurant empty and unwelcoming. They had set up two tables of eight and the rest of us had to sit in pairs. The manager was reluctant to rearrange the tables until we threatened to leave. Then, they gave us menus to order again, even though we had already done so. The food was cold and bland when it finally arrived. We complained, especially about the main course, but the chef was rude and claimed that he serves 150 people a night (not that night, though). To top it off, they tried to overcharge us 280 euros for 7 Prosecco. We caught the mistake, but we saw in other reviews that this was not the first time. We regret that our colleagues had to endure this restaurant during our carefully planned trip. The manager did nothing to appease us, so I do not recommend this place, especially for groups.

Written 31 October 2023

Katerina B

1 contribution

Great expectations were totally disappointed

Oct 2023 • business

The restaurant was booked for dinner during a business trip of our company. The amount of persons and the menu chosen was sent to the restaurant days before. So a restaurant with such good reviews should be more than prepared for us. BUT the opposite! When we arrived there, there were just two tables with 8 seats prepared, the other were just for couples. How logical is this that a business group of almost 40 persons will mostly sit at couple tables? And unfortunately the manager announced from the very beginning and very rude that “this is how it is and I won’t change it for your”. Just after a long discussion and proved by emails that we had sent to him, he condescended to change the tables for us, which was - as we could see then – actually very easy to be fixed. The menu was known before. We had a choice out of 3 for starter, pasta and main. So we had sent a list with what everybody has chosen. But they didn’t print the list and had no clue how to handle this. So we helped them to get the names of everybody at the tables and to connect this with the choice everybody made. After a very long while we got the starters, which have been – benevolently speaking – “okay”, some a bit poor (bresaola bundle), some a bit burnt (bruschettone), but “okay”. After another very long while they brought the pasta, which was “okay” concerning the Scrigni plate, but the Cannelloni were actually a Lasagne and very dry and tasteless. Again after a long while, the main plate came, for which we were waiting excitedly, as we thought there must still coming something as good as they pretend to be. BUT unfortunately this was the worst of all courses. The Prawns have been overcooked so much that it was difficult to taste that this should actually be a prawn, the potatoes were mostly burnt and the Mixed grilled was prepared a long time before and cold when it came to the table. And even – as they offered – if you warm up grilled meat this won’t make it better. I should mention that we know, that it is not easy to server 40 people together at the same time, but we had 4 tables and there have always been between the tables so long time that when the last table got their plates the first table had finished or left their plates already for about 30 minutes. Finishing, some of us actually didn’t want to wait for the dessert, a lemon or mixed fruit Sorbetto, but those who tried it, got here also their final disappointment. It was tasteless and actually like a simple water ice. To be fair, the waitresses actually tried their best and seemed to feel uncomfortable in their situation, but the manager was all the time not very diplomatic or helpful. I could see from other reviews before that the strategy of the manager is, to claim that we are all lying and that nothing of all is true, but there are almost 40 people who all made the same experience. Mistakes do happen, but the point it how you handle it: customer-friendly and making it even worse, by alienating your guests?

Written 2 November 2023

Paul R

Market Harborough21 contributions

A great experience. Tasty food in a lovely setting.

Aug 2022 • couples

A real holiday highlight. We were warmly welcomed when shown to our seats. It’s a lovely restaurant with great ambiance. Attentive and smiling staff served up excellent food. We ordered two pizzas - both of which were beautifully cooked and delicious. Polished off with 2 chocolate ice creams - yum 😋 Very reasonably priced and we got 25% off the food bill due to the Malta Discount Card (well worth getting). Thanks again for the wooden spoon 😃👍🏻

Written 19 August 2022

raynerjosephine

London109 contributions

Nice food, service needs large improvement

Dec 2022 • friends

I went for a meal and the food was nice but the service was not amazing. The waiters didn’t even know what the plates were when bringing them to the table and served plates of pasta at completely different times. Leaving a large gap between. I thought it was also super expensive for what you got and could have got better elsewhere. Maybe as it was busy they couldn’t handle the amount of people.

Written 18 December 2022

Ronald R

Stromness513 contributions

Great food, almost a brilliant experience, service faded at the end.

Nov 2023 • family

One of the hardest reviews to write, such mixed emotions. The starter's and our mains were really very good and the service was first class, some of the best we have had for a long time. However after we had the menus for pudding, somehow we seemed to disappear. The night was quiet and it looked like the very good young lady who was serving us seemed to leave, whether she finished her shift or left early as it was quiet i don't know. After trying to catch someone's attention we gave up, we could have went to the counter but by then we thought we would call it a night.It was a real shame. We even had to go to the counter to pay, it became like we were in the Marie Celeste. people were working in the kitchen still but this was mid evening and the servers had more or less gone. We have never experience such a turnaround in a night. Absolutely perfect start and a surreal end. Hard to rate but the majority of the night was excellent so we went for 4 instead of 3. Moral of the story don't have pudding!

Written 30 November 2023