Garfunkels, Bath

Dear me, I've had a ground breaking experience, a revelation, a gift from God. You see last week I went to Garfunkels in Bath and...it was GOOD!!

Much maligned on Ciao, I had been to Garfunkels in London which seem to be on every corner, looks like a dingy Italian, all red check and brown wood, and staffed by miserable Norwegian students!
But we are talking Bath here, and the council are a bit fussy about what they'll allow ...
...At the mo they are trying to get rid of the McDonalds in the town centre and the Pizza Hut and KFC are only tolerated because they are in side streets.

But Garfunkels in Bath is in the old Empire Hotel, an imposing grandiose building on the rive front. As you walk in its a tad jaw-dropping, enormous vaulted ceilings, gilt mirrors and pot palms everywhere which sets off the perfectly clean, varnished floors and tables. There are two ... more

Dear me, I've had a ground breaking experience, a revelation, a gift from God. You see last week I went to Garfunkels in Bath and...it was GOOD!!

Much maligned on Ciao, I had been to Garfunkels in London which seem to be on every corner, looks like a dingy Italian, all red check and brown wood, and staffed by miserable Norwegian students!
But we are talking Bath here, and the council are a bit fussy about what they'll allow in their city and fast food restaurants are definitely out. At the mo they are trying to get rid of the McDonalds in the town centre and the Pizza Hut and KFC are only tolerated because they are in side streets.

But Garfunkels in Bath is in the old Empire Hotel, an imposing grandiose building on the rive front. As you walk in its a tad jaw-dropping, enormous vaulted ceilings, gilt mirrors and pot palms everywhere which sets off the perfectly clean, varnished floors and tables. There are two different rooms, one for smokers and non-smokers which makes everyone happy, but the huge fans in the smokers room means it stays relatively fresh.

It was quite quiet so we got served straight away by a lovely, cheery girl, who got out drinks but also left us to peruse the menu in peace.
The menu is fairly large with something for everyone, a good range of starters including 2 different soups, loaded potato skins, nachos and the ubiquitous prawn cocktails, all for an extremely reasonable £2.95.
After a bit of deliberation we both the creamy mushroom soup, it came very promptly in under ten minutes. And I have to say I was very impressed, too often mushroom soup is a bit of greasy liquid with a few forlorn looking sliced mushrooms in it, this was hot, thick and creamy (The soup!!), very tasty, with big chunks of mushrooms, it was accompanied by a warm baguette and butter. Absolutely delicious and well worth the money.

By then we had already decided on the main course and it was easy, there was a fair old amount to choose from, steak and chicken, but with different toppings for each, usual for steak but a lot less so for chicken, from mushrooms to sauces to cheese. A mix and match of many proportions There were loads of burgers, toppings like pineapple, mushrooms, blue cheese, egg, etc. Apparently in this Garfunkels they are extremely good, unlike another popular restaurant in Bristol well known for its appalling burgers (not McDonalds or Burger King by the way). There's the ever popular fajhitis that for once I passed over, you can always tell the quality of a place by its fajhitis! Also quite a bit of fish and a fair selection of Veggie food, but being a complete carnivore I didn't really look.

Many of the dished come with a salad, a selection of vegetables, chips, jacket potatoes, boiled potatoes, etc. Or something that is sadly missing from most menus. Something Alan searches for in vain every time we eat out, but his heart was lifted, his mouth waters, he sighed happily at 2 little written word 'Mashed Potato's', its amazing how that gives him a rise.
Main meals range from £5.95 to £15 depending on what you have. There's also a selection of side orders, garlic bread, onion rings, that kind of stuff, there is also the salad bar which looked huge, but was rather green and salady so was well avoided.

So what did Alan choose? Spot on! The mashed potatoes, he would have been quite happy just to have a plate of that stuff, but he would have looked silly so he also went for chicken breast smothered in a B-B-Q sauce, bacon and cheese, with peas. It came piping hot in about 10 minutes, crispy on the top with loads of melted cheese.
And I had 3 pork 5 inchers, oh you dirty minded lot. Pork sausages and very nice they were too!! With plenty of thick rich onion sauce, petit pois and....mashed potato!!

First impression? Damn fine, I have to say, the mash is actually made with real potatoes, not the packet stuff, well seasoned as well by the taste. The food was well cooked and hot, my food has got to be very hot when it arrives, other wise it goes straight back again!
And there's the desserts, my favourite bit, there quite a selection, nothing out of the ordinary but nice anyway, chocolate cake, frozen yoghurt, ice cream apple pie, blackberry and apple crumble, available with custard, ice cream or cream. And they are OK, nothing special. But no skimpy portions here, a big piece of warm chocolate cake with cream and crumble with custard.

OK, food over, what was the service like? Great, very attentive without being annoying, the food and drink came promptly, and my ashtray was emptied frequently, with clean cutlery every time, and she was very nice and polite. Unfortunately she did forget the decaff coffees we ordered at the same time as the desserts. But that's OK, I'm sure she would have got them if we had reminded her.

So all in all, a 3 course meal with soft drinks, cost us £31 which I don't think is too bad at all. In fact I'd give Garfunkels a 9 ½ out of 10 (just being picky about the coffee.) It also has good disabled access with good accessible toilets, excellently equipped baby changing rooms, high chairs and kids menus.

Forget all you prejudices, for get what you've eaten before, forget the scathing reviews on these pages, go and get funked up in Bath. It'll make you feel sooooo good!

 

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