Summary: it was good, not great. Noisy, crowded. My wife and I went to Garibaldi's last night for a small celebration. There was some delay at the hostess' station: we arrived promptly at 7:30 & they were still seating folks who had arrived for their 7:00 reservations (some of those arrivees were late). We were seated in a large room filled with tables. Not an empty table in the place! Apparently, Tues night (and probably other nights) are busy at this popular restaurant. The waiter deftly persuaded us to upgrade our desire for two glasses of wine into an order for a half-bottle: it was a decent chardonnay. We ordered: since I wasn't too hungry, I ordered the grilled Portobello mushrooms and an organic salad (What would be an inorganic salad? Shards of plastic, sprinkled with glass shavings?) Both appetizers were good, but not exceptional. The salad dressing was a bit oily for my taste & the mushrooms just didn't have that flavor "punch" that I expect from grilled Ports. Dessert was a VERY GOOD frozen tangerine mousse. I'd say the place would be a great place to drop in for dessert, after eating at Nava, which is right down the street (see Tanith's recent review of Nava). Your Rockridge neighbor, Stan Chesnutt
San Francisco, CA
Garibaldi's in Rockridge (Oakland, CA)
Someone wrote: >You had only appetizers and dessert? Not the best basis for a review. > >Stan C. wrote: >> >> We ordered: since I wasn't too hungry, I ordered the grilled Portobello >> mushrooms and an organic salad (What would be an inorganic salad? >> Shards >> of plastic, sprinkled with glass shavings?) >> >> Both appetizers were good, but not exceptional. The salad dressing was >> a bit oily for my taste & the mushrooms just didn't have that flavor >> "punch" that I expect from grilled Ports. >> >> Dessert was a VERY GOOD frozen tangerine mousse. I've eaten at Garibaldi's three times now. It's a very elegant trendy space, but the food could best be described as OK. Nava has way better food.