Reading such stories start me thinking.. Yes the island in general leave a lot to desire when coming to customer service but it makes me angry about the rudeness of some customers too. There is a way to complain too. Plus I feel that like a lot of people are not qualified in what they do, not all customers are qualified food critics. What you dont like it does not mean its wrong. In particular reference to this episode does the customer knows that the food handling licence means u sit in a class for 4 hours and then u given a multichoice test. A piece of paper does not qualify you in anything.
@ Adrian Attard Trevisan
ok you left malta for better service in London??? Like in any place there are good and bad outlets.
Just as a reference I did work in a Michelin Star restaurant my self. The customer is always the customer but no one should disrespect any 1. If you have a genuine complaint do it but in a nice civilised way.

@Adrian

Normally I would agree with you about naming and shaming.

Nonetheless the owner of this place is not known for being nice (which is why his customer service attitude and staff management frankly suck) so why bother getting into some 5-year protracted lawsuit? I have no time to waste and frankly not only am I not paid to do this but I do not have the time to pursue a court case.

Hmmm... agree that page should be checked and complaints replied to promptly (otherwise what sense is there to having such a page in the first place). Does this mean it's ok for clients to themselves be lax in their phrasing or to make claims without basis? Well, in my books neither is this ok.

I have mixed feelings about this article . For a start , living in London for quite some years and being on my way to live in Malta once again ; this stuff serves as a reminder to the main reasons why I left the island in the first place ... However I'm happy that planet mona is around and informs us of this kind of service prior to visiting the place with some foreign guests!!

.... . Well this is not completely true as the name of the place is not listed in the article!

I think places of such a high reputation such as planet mona should list names of the places that are not just ruining the dining experience for the Maltese diners ... But also for those tourists that are unlucky enough to visit such places ( not very good publicity for Malta)

They never learn...but I do. Avoid the place! After all the customer has the power to choose the place.
Once we went to a Valletta pizzeria. The place was OK but not the view...two rubbish bins looking at us lying lazily near the fireplace. On the side a bored waitress looking at us with a "come on just get on with it" attitude.
The verdict: avoided it like the plague and gave my negative account to whoever asked me about it.
Unfortunately we want to open cafe's and restaurant without any sound knowledge on how to greet and treat the customer. Shame, shame, shame.

@zyng
Agreed but that is how people post these days. They chat, not send formal complaints. This is why, when they create facebook profiles etc, admins must check regularly and reply to their customers in a way that solves the situation publicly rather than messes it up in this stratospheric way.

@planetmona I agree with you! The page is public and as such, everyone should have the right to comment. What I meant is that her comment, my opinion of course, was not suitable in tone for a 'public page', it's more the tone you'd use with a friend, chatting over a drink, informally. If I make a complaint to a company/service I've used, I don't do it informally, we're not friends, we're doing business... (Hence my excursus into the barrier breakdowns of social networks and the perils that brings).

@zyng
I don't agree with you on the customer's comment. She was posting on their facebook page, which is public. Companies that set up facebook pages need to realise that communication is two-way. Sometimes you get nice comments. Sometimes you don't. As we all know, you know good customer service not when something goes perfectly but when something goes wrong.

Hmmmm, interesting dilemma. While I believe social networks have contributed immensely to life in general, there is also a definite flip side to them and that, in my opinion, is the false breaking down of barriers between people and the rendering of informality to an Nth degree... case in point, everyone's your 'friend' on FB, seriously people, how many real friends do you have?!

Which brings me to the issue at hand - while of course waiter 1 degenerated with her/his choice of words, puke comment being the number 1 suspect, I also think the client was not correct in posting her comment on a public forum like that accompanied by exclamation marks. Her comment in my opinion wasn't a very constructive one to begin with. By constructive comment I mean something along the lines of: It may be worth investing in some staff training as this will undoubtedly do much for the morale of your girls and guys and lift the overall experience of your restaurant. - You're still making your point without necessarily calling a person shabby...)

What did she honestly think she would accomplish? Had she had the guts to follow up her 'uncomfortable' experience seriously, she would have complained there and then, without the need to 'exclaim'. She also made assumptions with no basis - lack of certification of said staff, how does she know this? It's so easy to be strong from behind a monitor, isn't it?

Having said that, if the owner's reading this, I would seriously consider the suggestion to invest in staff training... And yes, this is still a big problem locally.

Haha what an epic failure! Its both funny and sad at the same time. I'd love to see how they'd react to Ramsay's nitpicking undercover diners a la 'Ramsay's Best Restaurant'. They'd probably kick Davis & Durdin-Robertson out brandishing shotguns and meat cleavers. Tal-misthijja.

I'm not at all surprised, because it's not exactly news that the majority of customer service in Malta is seriously lacking, but I am appalled at the sheer extent of cheek and disrespect from these waiters.

"It's not polite to insult someone who is making her or his best to serve you." So is that to say that we should accept bad service because "oh, poor thing, they are probably doing the best they can"? In my opinion, professionalism means that even if the waiter/waitress is having a terrible day, they should treat paying customers properly.

Was there anything written by the owner/manager? I always wonder how they react to such situations.

On the bright side of all this, at least those restaurants with decent customer service look even better by comparison :)