Garibaldi's, Oakland, California, Californian Restaurant Details

Food:

Good Cali cuisine, but a tad on the exp side

Food:

After 20 years of patronizing this restaurant, we experienced tonight an unprecedented evening at Garabaldi. We dropped in for burgers at 530 pm on a Sunday. The place was dead, although Marzano's, the hip pizza sister sharing the same entrance and kitchen, was hopping busy. We were seated at the community table by ourselves, being told that that the other 2-tops were all reserved (not to be occupied, however, while we were there (see "average experience" below...they must have had 80% no shows tonite..). Hamburgers ordered, all is well, drinking a nice bourdeaux and sharing a salad. Burgers arrive, and my wife's well-done order is far from the mark....a shade over tartar. It goes back, while I am enjoying my now prematurely served medium burger...and a good 30-40 minutes go by. And go by. And go by. No serving for wife. We flag down server, who goes to check. Minutes go by, and we flag down manager and tell her that our meal is now officially "out of sync" and the evening is a disaster. She takes off, whereupon we are visited by chef with profuse apologies, and the usual mea culpas, etc.....bottom line is that the kitchen failed to realize that this was a refire, and let it wallow around for godknowshow long...all in all, a complete goose egg for an evening, with apologies blah blah all around, but....inexcusable given the fact that there were exactly 8 people eating in the restaurant during prime time.... I'm not sure that this restaurant can function without ownership personnel on site, and I would hope that this evening can be chalked up to their vacation schedules...

By the way, when and if served, the burgers are still exceptional!

Food:

I went to Garibaldi's with a friend tonight for dinner. We made our reservations online for 5:45, with everything else supposedly unavailable until 7:15. When we arrived, the place was nearly empty, and it remained essentially the same the entire time we were there. Where were the 6 pm and 6:30 pm reservations?

Anyway, the prices were steep, as we anticipated, and we were disappointed that the hamburger was not available at dinner (or rather it was not on the menu). After we ordered our food, we asked about that, since the burgers were the reason we were drawn in (rave reviews from a friend). We found out that the burgers are on the bar food menu and are available for lunch or dinner in the dining room if you ask (price $14). So, remember that if you're looking for the burger and don't see it.

We started with the bread, which was delicious. For our meal, we decided to share a 3-course meal, instead of ordering our own servings. We started with steak tartar, which was excellent but a small portion size. Then we had the swordfish with squash and a side order of fries/aioli, which was excellent but again small portion sizes. Then we had the berry shortcake, which was good and normal portion size. All together, with 2 ice teas, we paid $70 (plus tip). That's for 2 people sharing essentially one meal, without any alcohol. I don't want to think about the cost if we had not shared.

The service was about average for an upscale restaurant, with long pauses between courses. I think that most people don't think about the pauses as being part of the meal, and perhaps would complain about the service. The staff was friendly and took care of refilling our drinks and bread when needed.

Overall, it was an average restaurant experience. The food was excellent but overpriced. The ambiance was so-so as the restaurant was long and narrow. My friend and I will likely go there again to try the burgers, but otherwise we can check this one off the list of places to try.