Grabuge — Restaurant in Saint-Gilles - Sint-Gillis

1/5 for the service. It’s not for English speakers or at least our waitress was not having it that night. They dropped the menu on our table and just left. Not what I would expect for a wine bar especially when you don’t offer wine by the glass, a bit of help would have been highly appreciated. We waited 45 minutes to order. They forgot one of our meal (with no apologies). And reading through the comments, I guess they didn’t even bothered presenting us the desserts.

3/5 for the food, the sharing experience is nice and our friend really liked their meals. Though this is more a tapas experience than a restaurant. The kitchen was particularly busy that night so you get one plate of food every 20 minutes and unfortunately for our table, meat arrived first and after 1h, we finally received our first veggie meal (half of us vegetarian), and the last one for the night as the rest of our order was forgotten.

3/5 for the sharing experience. I usually love sharing tables, it’s giving a warm atmosphere and sometimes you get to be seated with great people and share tips on the food. Bad luck for us we had an older French couple that thought it was “appropriate” to openly make fun of our looks and conversation in French (but some of us speak French). A bit homophobic maybe?!

130€ for 4 peoples, including 3 tapas and 2 bottles of wine, way too expensive for what it is. We’re not tourist but we won’t be...

The atmosphere nailed it, offering a warm and inviting setting. But the service couldn’t quite keep up; seeing staff take shots in front of patrons struck a jarring note.

The culinary journey was inconsistent. The warm, herb-infused feta was a promising start—a genuine delight that set high expectations. But what followed simply couldn’t deliver. The “fausse caccia” was bread at its most uninspiring, quite possibly the worst I’ve encountered in a restaurant setting.

As for the subsequent dishes, they all arrived with a disappointing lukewarm temperature and a serious lack of seasoning.

The wine list is heavy on natural selections, which could suggest a commitment to a particular ethos. However, spotting them whip up cocktails with what appeared to be industrial-grade cava was a letdown. It made the natural wine selection seem more like window dressing than a philosophical choice.

In short, this place has the style but lacks the substance. Would I go back? Maybe, but only if they bring their culinary game up to the level of their decor. Until that happens, it’s a place of...

The menu is a fusion of many things, Mexican, Italian, french, asian and it works! Beautifully plated, good portion sizes and the flavours were good and exciting.

The reason why this review only gives 4 ⭐ is due to two things: The food comes out in a random order, we started and finished with fish and had chicken and beef in between. Following a "traditional" structure of service, fish, chicken, meat would simply allow you to enjoy the flavours more.

The service: everyone is nice and attentive, but in their rush some people would explain what we are eating, others wouldn't, lacking consistency. Secondly, while I am fine with a relaxed approach to waiting tables, I was left in a surprise that the person clearing our plates put a pile of other dishes on our table, and scraped our food into that in front of us. It's a small detail, but you can't be a chic place and not have staff trained in table-clearing.

Overall, it's a place perfect for date night, or for catching up with friends. They've nailed the concept and if they pay attention to some smaller details they'll soar...