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| I told you it looked like a dodgy dive bar.... |
I had been looking forward to dinner at Garlic & Shots after hearing a close friend raving about how awesome it was. In fact, I planned the dinner to coincide with a Christmas send off for one of my girlfriends because she was returning home for the holidays and I wouldn't be seeing her for a while.
Located on Frith Street, it’s not too difficult to find although I did manage to walk past it twice due to my poor navigational skills. The front is frankly, pretty unremarkable and inside it looks a bit like a dive bar that one’s mother would not approve of one frequenting. Still, I hadn’t been expecting anything particularly glam – it’s marketed as a bar and kitchen and known for its wonderful array of vodka shots and garlic loaded cooking (hence the name, folks). There was loud metal type music going on in the background which I’m usually not a big fan of, but I soaked it in since I figured it was all part of the atmosphere.
Unfortunately this was when our bad service saga began to unravel. Firstly, when I attempted to explain that I had a table booked under my name, I was greeted with a blank stare and then an insistence that my booking did not exist, despite the fact that I assured them repeatedly that I had most definitely made a reservation. I persevered. Attempt two with a different waiter fared somewhat better and upon checking the reservation book myself, I could see that I had indeed been booked in but for the wrong day. This was mildly frustrating because I’d been made to feel like it was somehow my fault and wasn’t even given an apology. Still, I didn’t want things to get off to a bad start, so I sat down and hoped that things would improve.
After my girlfriends arrived, we kicked things off with some shots РI went on the recommendation of the only friendly waiter we encountered and had a Tony Montana, a creamy concoction of vodka, Kahlua, kola and cr̬me de cacao which tasted like deliciously alcoholic liquid butterscotch. The Instant Margarita and the Bloodshot Рa lethal but yummy combination of vodka, tomato, chilli and spices were also major wins.
The food was pretty good too and service was fast. We decided to share a couple of starters before picking our mains and chose the nacho avocado – essentially cheese nachos with a seriously garlicky salsa dip and some guacamole. Overall this was tasty and packed with intense garlic flavours but in the words of one of my dinner companions the cheese distribution was ‘lame,’ meaning that we were left with un-cheesed, and unloved chips at the bottom of the bowl which no one really wanted.
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| Garlicky Nachos and guac, oh yeah. |
The food was pretty good too and service was fast. We decided to share a couple of starters before picking our mains and chose the nacho avocado – essentially cheese nachos with a seriously garlicky salsa dip and some guacamole. Overall this was tasty and packed with intense garlic flavours but in the words of one of my dinner companions the cheese distribution was ‘lame,’ meaning that we were left with un-cheesed, and unloved chips at the bottom of the bowl which no one really wanted.
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| Deep fried Potato Skins and lame Snakebite salsa |
We also munched on deep fried potato skins which were served with a snakebite salsa garlic dip. Potato skins were crispy, not too greasy and lightly salted – perfect. Sadly, the dip had neither the garlicky flavour we were expecting, nor the promised spicy kick which was a tad disappointing. It tasted a bit like watery tomato juice which someone had made a half assed attempt to spice up.
Due to the generous portion size, we felt fairly satisfied after the starters but went on to order mains anyway. I opted for the garlic prawn mini-enchilada as I was feeling pretty full by this point, and it was deliciously filling without being too heavy. The little wheat tortilla was piled high with smooth garlic infused mash and three big skewered prawns which were flavoursome and fresh, which I suspect had been previously subjected to some light immersion in a chilli and garlic marinade. This was all topped with a creamy garlic and herb sauce.
My companions were equally pleased with their orders – the portion size of the garlic and honey roasted baby back ribs was gargantuan and came with sides of a whole roasted garlic and more crispy potato skins and unfortunately, the watery ‘snakebite salsa’ stuff. The sea bass looked pretty decent too – apparently very ‘nosh-able.’ The skin was nicely crisped and perched on the fillet like a perky fascinator, a style favoured by many middle class ladies of a certain age at the races in Ascot.
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| Gruesome...I'm not entirely sure what Yi-Bin's arm was doing there... |
My companions were equally pleased with their orders – the portion size of the garlic and honey roasted baby back ribs was gargantuan and came with sides of a whole roasted garlic and more crispy potato skins and unfortunately, the watery ‘snakebite salsa’ stuff. The sea bass looked pretty decent too – apparently very ‘nosh-able.’ The skin was nicely crisped and perched on the fillet like a perky fascinator, a style favoured by many middle class ladies of a certain age at the races in Ascot.
We decided to skip dessert as we felt that while the omnipresent garlic was a welcome guest where savoury dishes were concerned, none of us felt like embarking on the taste bud adventures presented to us in the form of honey and garlic ice cream or a garlic brownie. It was late, and even though I was only going home afterwards, I wasn’t sure I wanted to return to my abode with the heavy perfume of garlic hanging about me in the same way a gentleman might reek of cheap eau de toilette after frequenting a certain establishment in the early hours of the morning.
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| Enchilaaaaaaaadaaaaa! |
The bill for the food and drink was totally fine- and as per usual, there was a 12.5% service charge, which we had decided we wouldn’t be paying the full amount for due to the stony faced silence I’d received while I was trying to tell them about my reservation and the total lack of any apology from them.
This then led to an awkward five minute confrontation with a particularly irate waitress. Just as my dinner companions and I were about to concede and pay so the aforementioned angry waitress would leave us alone, she let off one final outburst and declared that if we ‘didn’t want to pay for the table service then we should go to Burger King.’ There was an uncomfortable silence, she stormed off and we finally realised enough was enough. We left their establishment.
This then led to an awkward five minute confrontation with a particularly irate waitress. Just as my dinner companions and I were about to concede and pay so the aforementioned angry waitress would leave us alone, she let off one final outburst and declared that if we ‘didn’t want to pay for the table service then we should go to Burger King.’ There was an uncomfortable silence, she stormed off and we finally realised enough was enough. We left their establishment.
I will definitely not be returning and I suggest you don’t either unless they sort out their staffing issues.
In short: Pretty decent bar food, weird atmosphere and frequented by an interesting crowd but certainly doesn’t live up to the hype. Excruciatingly disappointing service – the messed up reservation was forgivable, the rude comment most definitely was not.
I know I mentioned Christmas in this post, but fear not, I am NOT going mad...it's just an archived article from last Christmas' issue which I didn't get a chance to post...I am super behind with posting, hence the bizarre mentioning of special occasions which are most definitely over...Those of you still wearing paper crowns and waving crackers in the air should stop immediately.
Also, a sneaky peek at online reviews suggest that other people have encountered similar problems with bad service *shakes head sadly* :(
And finally....all photography was by yours truly, unless otherwise stated - please ask before using my photos, it's common courtesy! :P
