Quality Assured Seal for Restaurants

The Quality Assured Seal is designed to give due recognition to restaurants that offer high quality standards in service, hospitality, food and general environment. The QA Seal is a guideline for potential customers to assist them in making an informed decision about the best places to eat on the Maltese Islands.
The QA Seal makes no attempt to enforce restrictive criteria that promotes a formal dining experience or style. Different styles of restaurants having different average spends are eligible for the scheme. Assessment of quality takes into account the standards and expectations appropriate to that style of restaurant. It is only natural that these expectations will be very different. For example, the expectations of a restaurant in a 5-star hotel will not be the same as when visiting a bistro-style restaurant.

In the criteria every effort was made to outline all the aspects that are taken into account when making quality assessments. However, due to the variety of the restaurants on offer, it was impossible to cover every individual characteristic that may be encountered during a visit. For this reason, the criteria were designed with both objective and subjective criteria. Whilst the former are clear and self-explanatory, the latter include indicators to consider when awarding points according to a five-point assessment scale.

The method of assessment consists of an annual mystery guest visit and an announced visit every two years.