United

United Bar and Restaurant is a family-run dining room on Triq il-Kbira in Mġarr, tucked behind the parish church in the middle of this farming village in the north-west of Malta. The kitchen keeps to traditional Maltese cooking with Mediterranean dishes alongside, and rabbit is the house speciality. Our page on restaurants in Mġarr has the other places to eat around the square.

A name taken from the village

The parish church has drawn the people of Mġarr together for centuries, and the restaurant's name comes from that sense of unity: a place where locals and visitors sit down together over Maltese food, feast days and festivities. The village festa for Santa Marija, when music, colour and the smell of home cooking fill the streets, is the high point of the year, and United serves the same island flavours in every season.

Inside, the photos show a lofty room with stone walls, a long bar backed by bottles, a mezzanine level reached by a staircase and red and gold banners hanging from a beamed ceiling. Out front, a few tables line the street beside the entrance.

Maltese starters and sharing platters

Recipes handed down through families shape the menu, made with local produce from rabbit and seafood to tomatoes and herbs. Starters cost €12.50 to €18.50 and read like a tour of the Maltese table. Soppa tal-armla, the widow's soup of vegetables, egg and cheese, the fish soup aljotta and kawlata, a pork and vegetable soup, are €13.50 each, as are kusksu, rabbit tortellacci, the four-piece Maltese bruschetta and arancini filled with rabbit, ricotta and cheese. Rabbit liver comes cooked in garlic and gravy in a vol-au-vent, and kirxa, veal tripe with chorizo, is there for the adventurous, both at €13.50.

For €12.50 you can try bebbux, snails served with an arjoli dip of garlic, anchovies and olives, or fried goat's cheese, or fried burrata with a sweet tomato salad. Calamari fritti are €17.50 and marinated octopus with garlic, olives and caponata €18.50. Two platters serve two people: the Maltese platter of sausage, ġbejna, porchetta, bigilla, pickled onions, artichokes, frittata and sun-dried tomatoes at €26.00, and calamari with king prawns and a lemongrass and ginger mayonnaise at €34.50.

Fresh pasta and risotto

Pasta is made in house. Spaghetti with rabbit sauce comes as a starter for €13.50 or a main for €17.50, and a version with pieces of rabbit is €19.50. Seafood lovers can order spaghetti with clams and cherry tomatoes at €18.50, spaghetti marisco with mussels, clams, calamari and king prawns at €20.50, or spaghetti with octopus, olives and red wine at €24.00. Garganelli come four ways, including with Maltese sausage, sun-dried tomatoes and Gorgonzola at €16.50 and with beef strips, porcini, mascarpone and truffle at €17.50.

There are also goat's cheese ravioli in tomato sauce at €16.50, paccheri with lamb ragù baked in a parcel at €17.50, strozzapreti with calamari, chorizo, artichokes and guanciale at €18.50 and gnocchi with prawns, asparagus and Gorgonzola at €19.50. The risottos include vegetable or porcini at €17.50 and a richer liver, truffle and asparagus version at €18.50. Many dishes marked GF can be prepared without gluten.

Rabbit, grills and fish

Rabbit leads the mains. Fried in garlic with a side of gravy it costs €20.50 a portion or €44.50 for a whole rabbit, and the famous rabbit in gravy is €22.50 a portion or €47.00 whole; stewed rabbit is €22.50 too. Other Maltese classics include horse meat stew and veal bragioli, beef rolls filled with gammon and minced meat, at €22.50 each, and traditional stewed quail at €25.00. Every main comes with a choice of homemade fries or roast potatoes and of roast vegetables or salad.

From the featured dishes, the beef tagliata with rosemary, sea salt and roast garlic is €28.50 and the braised duck breast with spring rolls, cabbage, star anise and red wine jus €27.50, and fresh salmon with a herb crust, seasonal vegetables and a citrus glaze €26.50. A grain-fed rib-eye with a sauce of your choice costs €34.00, Moroccan-style lamb tagine with couscous €31.00, and the Big Papa burger with bacon, cheddar and onion rings €18.50. Fish mains run from €26.50 to €35.00: sea bass, whole or filleted, is €26.50, calamari fritti €32.00, stuffed calamari with tuna, shellfish, egg and rice in prawn bisque €27.50, and octopus in garlic, octopus stew and the seafood shack platter €35.00.

Salads, children's plates and desserts

Lighter choices include a goat's cheese salad with fresh ġbejniet or a vegetarian salad at €14.50 each, marinated chicken salad at €16.50 and baked salmon salad at €22.50. Children can have chicken nuggets and fries at €13.50, a beef burger at €11.50 or pasta at €10.50.

The desserts are homemade. Ħelwa tat-Tork, a traditional Maltese sweet, is €6.50, and Maltese trifle, imqaret date pastries with tan-nama ice cream, Sicilian cannoli, Bailey's pannacotta and crème brûlée are €8.50. Chocolate fondant with mint ice cream and apple crumble with cinnamon ice cream cost €9.50, and pistachio semifreddo with coffee ice cream €10.50. Ice cream is €3.00 a scoop. Let the staff know about any allergies.

Beer, cocktails and wine

A pint of Cisk lager costs €5.00, and Kinnie, the bittersweet Maltese soft drink, is €2.80 for 250ml. Homemade sangria is €7.00 a glass or €24.00 a litre, and cocktails such as the Aperol Spritz and Negroni are €8.50, while house creations like the Mġarr Tea and the United Special of ruby port and chocolate ice cream are €9.50. Liqueur coffees are €6.50.

The wine list covers Malta, Italy, France, Spain and the New World. Local bottles include Caravaggio wines at €19.50, the 1919 Chardonnay and rosé at €24.50 and Meridiana's Isis Chardonnay at €32.50. Lost Vines from Spain is the least expensive full bottle at €16.50, several reds come as half bottles at €13.00, and at the top end an Amarone della Valpolicella and Moët & Chandon Brut are €79.00 each.

Set menus for groups

Groups of ten or more can pre-order one of three set menus; they must be arranged in advance, not on the day. Set Menu 1, at €35, offers spaghetti with rabbit sauce, kirxa or fried ġbejna, then rabbit fried, stewed or in gravy, horse meat stew or quail wrapped in bacon, with imqaret or cannoli to finish. Set Menu 2, at €40, brings fried rabbit liver, a mussel, clam and courgette risotto or a Maltese meze, with mains of rabbit, chicken in mushroom sauce or sea bass fillet. Set Menu 3, at €55, moves up to a 400g USDA tagliata, salmon coulibiac or stuffed breast of hen with Maltese sausage and goat's cheese. Mains come with fries, roast or mashed potatoes and grilled vegetables. Book a set menu well ahead of the date. For more choice of style, see our list of Mediterranean restaurants.

Temples and bays near Mġarr

Mġarr sits west of Mosta, a rural village ringed by fields and vineyards where many families still work the land; it had 5,336 residents in July 2024. Its great draw for visitors is prehistory. The Ta' Ħaġrat temples, about 300 metres from United, are part of a UNESCO World Heritage listing, and the larger of the two dates from the Ġgantija phase, between 3600 and 3200 BC. The Skorba temples, about 1.1 km away on the northern edge of Żebbiegħ, were only dug in the early 1960s and have taught archaeologists much about Malta's earliest farmers. The Għajn Tuffieħa Roman Baths, found in 1929 when a spring was being capped, are also about 1.1 km away.

Towards the coast, Lippija Tower above Ġnejna Bay, finished in 1637 as the first of the Lascaris towers, is about 1.6 km away, and the sandy, clay-backed Ġnejna Bay about 2.3 km. The red sand of Għajn Tuffieħa, reached by some 200 steps, is about 2.2 km away, and Golden Bay, with lifeguards in summer, about 2.6 km; our Golden Bay guide and pick of the best beaches in Malta cover both.

Booking a table

Opening hours are not published on the website, but the online booking form offers tables from 12:00 pm to 9:00 pm for up to eight people. Requests are reviewed by the team and confirmed by SMS or WhatsApp. Mġarr pairs well with a morning in Mdina, covered in our Mdina guide, and our guide to where to stay in Malta suggests bases nearby. Close by in the village are Il-Barri and Ta' Ċelita, with Ta' Soldi a little further out. For anything else, use the VisitMalta.co.uk enquiry form on this page and we will pass your message to the restaurant.