Garibaldi

Lets face it, most restaurants use microwaves. (I hesitate to say 'all' as I still have some faith!) But going to a restaurant is like watching a play, there has to be a suspension of disbelief for the illusion to be created and the experience to be fully enjoyed. I love the 'theatre' created by kitchens that are open for the diners to view. For me, it gives me a glimpse of the professional kitchen I long to work in, and gives me faith in the hygiene practises as they are there on display. However, the other night in Garaboldi, when the waiter said our mains wouldn't be long, I could verify this fact by looking at the microwave timer! If I wanted a microwave meal (which NEVER do!) I would have stayed at home. (Or gone to my mums!)
So another Monday, another internet browsing session! B and I both love our Mexican food, B especially! A big consideration in our move was the number of Mexicans restaurants in Edinburgh - a massive step up from the choice of 1 in Brighton!  I have visited many of the ones in Edinburgh over the years and I have decided I prefer Viva Mexico on Cockburn Street, so when we came across a review of Garibaldi which compared it favourably with it - I was hopeful.  There were lots of reviews mentioning good, authentic food and fabulous cocktails - perfect!  In the back of my mind was the one bad review - "avoid at all costs" - everywhere has at least one poor review though, a girl could go hungry looking for somewhere with a perfect record! Oh how I wish I had taken heed!

As promised by the bad review, we were met by a pungent smell of detergent - there is a fine line between clean and toilet!  But, Garibaldi is also a club, so I suppose the over-powering smell of clean is better than stale sweat, beer and vomit!  The seats are covered in a bright and Mexican looking fabric - which is covered with 'authentic' plastic, obviously to protect from the afore mentioned sweat, beer and vomit!  You know what, I am not a snob - I can accept practicality in multi-purpose venues, and I kind of feel bad laying into it in such a big way BUT there were 'bacon bits' on my stuffed potato skins.  This is unacceptable!  If you say bacon on the menu - I expect the bacon to be meat based and not a fake 'salad sprinkle' substitute!  They could have used bits of Frazzles - at least they would have tasted better!  So starter done, the waiter came to clear our table... well not quite!  We were asked to keep our dirty cutlery, apparently a "French thing", well not to my knowledge, and even if it is, we are in a Mexican restaurant in Scotland sooooo.......???!!!

Our mains were fine, standard tex-mex cheesey, tomatoey tortilla based stuff.  B's was a tad on the small side, so being the fabulous person that I am - I shared! (Perhaps that is more of a comment on the food than me!)  We didn't hang around long enough to find out if we were expected to use our knife and fork again for dessert, and in all we were in and out in under an hour!  Oh the table turning powers of microwave cooking - although with just one other table in use - I can't see that being of any benefit!  It wasn't even worth hanging around for the cocktails - they had a extensive collection of spirits - but the cocktail menu was full of gimiky drinks served in one-size fits all glasses and garnished garishly! This translates as no Old Fashioned! Oh well.

This restaurant does not have its own website, so therefore it is not directly responsible for the claims of greatness and authenticity.  I do not understand why there are some who rate this restaurant so highly!  I am not an expert of Mexican cuisine, but I think I know the difference between a Mexican restaurant serving chervice and other seafood dishes; meat dishes and refried beans that still have the texture of beans and a tex-mex restaurant serving microwaved fast food!  The clue to the authenticity is there in the the name of the restaurant: 'Garibaldi', the famous Italian milatry and political figure, or the small flat biscuit with raisins, which I will be eating instead of dinner the night I am ever asked to return to this place!

We all have a bad restaurant experience at some point - one thing that I am thankful for is that they only help to increase the appreciation of the good experiences!  For some reason though, Adam and I have poor luck when it comes to Mexicans - I think that I will play it safe with him and go to Viva Mexico!