Most of the restaurants on the cruise-ship maps are fine. They are also not where Maltese people take someone they actually want to impress. The dating geography of Valletta runs on a different street grid than the tourist one, and once you learn it the city gets considerably better.
Legligin on Saint Lucia Street
Legligin is the answer when a Maltese friend asks where you are taking someone for a date and they nod approvingly. It is in a small basement on Saint Lucia Street, no menu, just a parade of small Maltese plates that the owner Chris brings out one after another. Rabbit, octopus, bigilla, whatever is good that week. The portions are generous, the wine list is thoughtful, and you will spend around forty euros a head. Book at least a week ahead. The room is small enough that you will hear the table next to you, which is part of the appeal.
Trabuxu, but the bistro not the wine bar
The Trabuxu group runs three places on Strait Street. Tourists end up at the wine bar at the bottom; locals book the bistro further up. Same family, similar wine list, but the bistro has actual proper plates and a quieter room. The pumpkin ravioli is the order. Around forty-five euros a head with wine.
Rubino on Old Bakery Street
Rubino has been there since 1906 and the dining room still looks like it. The menu changes daily and is read aloud by the waiter, which sounds like an affectation until you realise it is also how they keep the tourists slightly off balance. Maltese families come here for anniversaries. The cassata is the dessert worth saving room for. Around fifty euros a head.
The wine shops as a pre-dinner ritual
Valletta locals do not go straight to dinner. They go to a wine shop first, have a glass at the counter, and then walk to the restaurant. Vinum on Old Bakery Street and the small bottle shop near Saint Paul's Anglican Cathedral both work for this. A glass costs four to six euros, takes twenty minutes, and resets the rhythm of the evening. It is the small, civilised thing that separates a local night out from a tourist one.
Cafe Society for the daytime version
If the date is during the day, locals choose Cafe Society on St John Street over Caffe Cordina almost every time. Cordina is the historic spectacle and worth doing once; Society is where you actually go when you want a coffee and a quiet ftira sandwich and a view of the cathedral dome from the terrace. Around fifteen euros for two with coffees and something to eat.
The Phoenicia for special occasions
The Phoenicia, the old grand hotel just outside the city gate in Floriana, has a pool bar with a view across the harbour to Sliema that almost nobody who lives elsewhere in Malta knows about. Drinks are not cheap, around fourteen euros for a cocktail, but a sundowner there is the move when you want to skip dinner and go straight to the part of the evening that feels like a film. The gardens behind the hotel are open to the public and worth a walk before or after.
Marsamxett side over Grand Harbour side
Valletta has two waterfronts. The Grand Harbour side, where the cruise ships dock, gets all the attention. The Marsamxett side, facing Sliema, is where locals go for a walk when they want to actually talk. Start at the Hastings Garden, walk along the bastion path with the harbour on your right, and you can do an entire date on this stretch without spending more than the price of two coffees. The light at sunset, with Manoel Island in the foreground and Sliema lit up across the water, is better than the Grand Harbour side most days of the year.
The Sunday morning move
Locals date in the morning here in a way that other cities do not. The Marsaxlokk fish market on Sunday is technically not in Valletta, it is a thirty-minute drive south, but a Sunday morning that starts with coffee at Caffe Cordina and ends with grilled fish on the harbour at Marsaxlokk is one of the more romantic things you can do in Malta. Total cost around fifty euros for two including the drive. If you want to stay in Valletta, the Sunday morning walk down Republic Street before the shops open, ending with brunch at Mint on Saint Lucia Street, is the local version.
Why the local choice tends to be better
The pattern across all of these is the same. Locals pick smaller rooms, slower service, and fewer items on the menu. They build the night around walking between two or three places rather than committing to one. They treat dinner as the middle of the evening rather than the whole thing. If you copy that structure even with restaurants from the tourist map, the date will feel different. If you copy it with the places above, you will have a much better night than you paid for.