Galerias

10/14/09

Great Dinner Spot!

by Moebuddy at Citysearch

This place has great mexican food that's different from the usual taco's and burritos fare. While the service can be percieved as a little bit quirky, the reviews that say they have bad service are WAY off base. I'm been many a times and have had nothing but good service. I go to this palce for the food. GREAT stuffed chiliies, steak, and everything else. If you want tacos and a big bean and cheese gut bomb, you'll be dissapointed, but if you want great quality Mexican food that's not typical, go here!

• Pros: The Food is terrific
• Cons: None!

05/12/09

Appalling service!

by zobalee at Citysearch

We had eaten at Galerias on one other occasion when visiting Seattle, and couldn't wait to go back! The food was phenomenal at that time, and we overlooked the 'quirky' service (the waiter said, "I am a busy man" in answer to questions about the menu). On this second visit the HORRIBLE service outweighed the diappointment we had with the food, which did not begin to match the meal we had had before. We were not greeted when we came in. The waiter acted as if he were offended by our questions. The beer was warm. Before bringing our dinner to us, he delivered it to another table where he had been riveted in lengthy discussion. He actually set our plates down in front of them, continuing their discussion while our exposed food cooled, before finally bringing it to us. We regret not refusing the food and leaving at that point. Upon commenting to him regarding what he had just done, he attempted no response. He did not return to our table until we had finished, at which point we each asked for our leftovers to be wrapped to go. He preferred to have them in one container, requiring us to specify that each dinner be wrapped separately to go. We also each ordered desserts to go. He brought our leftovers, overturned, in boxes, but brought one dessert on a plate, the other requiring two long, uneventful trips to the kitchen to discover availability. It was not available. Not surprisingly, the quality of service declined even further when we presented our online coupon, which are offered to entice guests to enjoy your establishment. But this was absolutely the worst service either of us have ever experienced from a restaurant deserving of positive repute. We will not return, nor will we recommend this restaurant again.

• Pros: Excellent variety of choices
• Cons: Waiter was rude/made us uncomfortable

05/01/09

Stupefyingly awful

by sirchad at Citysearch

We got reservations for a birthday dinner and arrived on time @ 8 o'clock. After waiting 10 minutes in line, we were told it would be a 15-20 minute wait.

45 minutes later we were seated at a row of uneven tables that had been shoved together to accommodate us like we were in-laws coming for an unannounced visit. All this while an enormous conference-sized table sat unused in another room. I joked that it was for shady deals because it certainly wasn't for large parties with reservations.

The foil-stamped menus were pretty slick. And the mojito I ordered was generous and tasted good. Of course, it better since I waited almost 30 minutes for it.

A friend ordered an enchilada with vegetables and black beans. The waiter told her they didn't have black beans. "Even though it's right here on the menu?" she said, pointing. "Yes, we're out." He said, matter-of-fact like. Instead she got what everyone else got stuck with: the refried stuff from a can in a tortilla bowl.

Speaking of bowls, another friend ordered an appetizer for a meal. The menu said it had vegetables, fresh peppers, chicken in a fresh avocado dip. What came to the table was a stone bowl with 6 deep-fried taquitos dunked in avocado mush.

My meal was nothing special: enchiladas in chipotle sauce with shredded beef. It was very plain but at least edible. I told my roommate I've had better food at Azteca. He glanced down at his Suiza beef enchilada and told me he'd had better food at Taco Time.

Since they brought out the food around closing time, I'm somewhat surprised they didn't just bring it out in doggie bags. But to their credit, they let us choke down our meals well after close and didn't shoo us out. But by the end of the night we were itching to leave anyway. We won't be coming back.

• Pros: Decent drinks, cool-looking menu
• Cons: Everything else

01/01/09

Weirdly terrible

by avidseattlediner at Citysearch

Party of four entered Galerias on Thursday, Jan 1 2009 at about 6:30. Strangely, while taking our orders, the waiter informed us that we would not have to pay for food we didn't like. We ordered. About fifty minutes passed before he returned -- three times-- to deliver four meals. On his second trip, my daughter engaged him in the following conversation:

Daughter: ?May I ask you a question??

Waiter: ?Yes.?

D:? My dinner is supposed to come with cactus salad. Where is the cactus??

W: ?It is underneath the fish.?

D: (Picking up small piece of fish with her knife and fork) ?Where??

W: (Pointing his finger at some clear red sauce with small bits of parsley and tomato, fifteen inches below her suspended fish,) ?There.?

D: (scrutinizing the plate) ?I don?t see it.?

W: ?Okay, cactus salad on the side.? Whereupon, he swept away her plate and marched toward the kitchen.

He returned with her original plate, now sporting small pieces of cactus around the fish. The cactus was cool?exactly as if it had been plated directly from a can.

My chicken mole consisted of dry cubes of white chicken meat and some sesame seeds submerged in a deep cool pool of dark sauce that tasted of tepid A-1 and cocoa powder.

After we marveled for ten or fifteen minutes over the slow and odd service and the horrible quality of our dinners, (one daughter quipped, ?Maybe their oven is broken.?) the waiter approached me directly and asked with apparent worry whether I liked my dinner. Unable to answer yes, I shook my head. He swept away the plate and said, ?You do not have to pay for it.? By the time we received the bill, he had deducted a second uneaten entree and brought a very large flan with four forks.

This was probably the weirdest restaurant experience and the worst food I have had in the last few decades. We laughed about it the whole way home. We just looked Galerias up on the internet and see wide ranging reviews ? including a number that mention missing cactus.

• Pros: location
• Cons: food and service

06/18/08

Unprofessional

by KimJean at Citysearch

We have been to Galerias several times and have had more or less okay experiences. But then my daughter and her friends made a reservation for a special birthday dinner. They arrived on time for the reservation but were then made to wait for close to an hour and a half before being seated. They received no apologies or explanations. They then had to wait a long time for their food! I emailed the owner after their very upsetting experience but received no response. Not professional, we won't be back.