Gilroy Review

Service reeks worse than garlic at local eatery

With few restaurant choices available in the Exchange District, dining out may be tougher than you think. Few types of cuisine can hold a candle (or nose) to Gilroy Restaurant located at 179A Bannatyne Avenue.

Known to most people as “the garlic restaurant”, Gilroy offers a selection of foods ranging from pasta and pizza to barbecue ribs and seafood. The dining room on Friday and Saturday nights features “Winnipeg’s finest jazz and blues” music. Adorning the walls, hanging from the ceiling, and on barrels located around the restaurant are literally thousands of cloves of garlic. Described by Gilroy as “the miracle clove,” garlic is featured in nearly every dish on the menu.

At first seating, the server lights candles at the dinner table and takes your drink order. Several minutes later returns and gets the beverages incorrect. She can be seen at the bar talking and laughing with a co-worker for several minutes before bringing the proper drinks to the table.

The menu is looked over and closed as the guests wait several more minutes for the server to arrive again. She takes the order and says she will return moments later with the salads for the meal. Ten minutes have gone by and the server is no where to be found. A quick look around the restaurant proves that she isn’t bombarded with other tables to tend to as the restaurant is nearly empty.

Salads are brought to the table and a refill of beverages is needed. The beverage machine is only a few steps away from the table at the bar and the server disappears with the empty glasses. The Caesar salad is made with crisp green lettuce and contains noticeable cloves of garlic chopped up and mixed with a tangy dressing. The server returns several minutes later with the drink refills. By this time the salads are done and the entree should be coming out momentarily.

The empty salad bowls are cleared and the table is prepared for the entree. A candle that has blown out is re-lit and the server makes room for the meal. The trouble is there is no sign of the meal. The restaurant is still next to empty and the server is no where to be found.

Stomachs growl and beverages soon empty again when the meal is delivered.

The pickerel, described as Manitoba pickerel “lightly dusted in flour then tenderly pan-fried and topped with Gilroy’s lemon garlic wine sauce,” is covered with too much of the thick sauce and makes the dish taste nothing like pickerel. The wine taste lingers in the mouth and the generously portioned fillet seems endless to consume. After several sips of water the fish can soon be consumed.

To finally get the bill for the dinner takes almost as long as getting a drink refill. $43 later, two entrees, salads and drinks can easily be bought at a restaurant with much better service and better tasting food. Appetizers like the caesar salad and chicken fingers are tasty. But if your dollar should provide you with quality service AND great tasting food, Gilroy is not the place to go. The service reeks worse than the garlic.

INSTANT UPDATE

JB has visited the restaurant several times since this review was written and the service has improved slightly, and other dishes including chicken, pizza, pasta and appetizers have been excellent.