Ethno Tsiskvili — Restaurant in Tbilisi

I seriously don’t understand how anyone can call this the best Georgian food in Tbilisi. Even the most touristy places in the old town serve much better, tastier food. Everything that we’d ordered here, was either too salty or too spicy or both. One dish - roasted ham - was completely inedible. I specifically asked our waiter what it was and he claimed that these were slices of roasted ham. Instead we were served 6 thick slices of lard with a tiny piece of meat on just one of them - salty as hell and dry as a shoe sole. Pkhali, adjapsandal, even fried suluguni - all were absolutely terrible. Adding fuel to fire, the service was very disappointing as well. First, our waiter brought us a wrong drink and when we pointed this out, he didn’t consider removing it or at least apologizing - he brought the correct one and charged us for both. Then every time we needed him, it would take us 10-15 minutes to get his attention - he was either nowhere to be seen or serving other tables and ignoring us. At the end of the meal my husband ordered some Georgian brandy which the waiter was happy to tell us about, but... the brandy never came (and I’m not even sure it wasn’t included in the final bill as the bill was in Georgian). All in all, the only nice thing about this stadium-sized place is the national singing and dancing show. So if you like to schlep half an hour from the city center to sit among huge groups celebrating birthdays and weddings, eat bad food and pay 20-30% more than it costs elsewhere, then by all means come to Tsiskvili. Otherwise, I’d highly recommend to find an alternative (which are...

Good evening, in Russia. We send greetings from Les Inde. We travelled via Aeroflot, about 10-15 years ago, to an Indian host family in Moskva. We saw the sites, and the nuclear bunker and the Kremlink walk.

After that, we went by train to St. Petersburg, in the summer seeing the White Nights made me ill inside. Of course, I am from a Tropical place, but have known the winter having resided in the Global North on some family income as a student.

After a tour of Kazan, and the walk by the Neva, with our tour guide, Darius, , and the Hermitage Museum, we went for dinner, or this is over two days, to a Georgian place.

I had the Kebab which was excellent. As an Indian, I believe in St. George, and this was a destiny. More the England way, now I am a Japanese. It is an Empire destiny.

My father, is a vegetarian, and there was good food for him, even before the Vegan revolution. Mashita, as they say in Hangug Mal. Or, oishi, umami, and grain, polenta. Swadisht, as our Prime Minister might say.

Of course, St. Petersburg, in Vanilla nights, is the most beautiful place, but in the day, the most striking city of Europe. The Georgian grottos were a secret. We thank the surge of support we had in Russia. May God bless and keep the old. There was Parsley, which tasted like heaven. And Rosemary, somewhere.

Oh, Georgia. For San George!

Love from India, Ser Dhruv.

P.S - We did not have a beetroot but I can make a good Borscht and I have some friends with heritage in the Soviet Union in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

Backdate - 2010 A.D, July....

After three days, this was the only negative dining experience we had in Georgia. We asked our hotel for a typical dinner/show experience and they immediately recommended the Ethno and made the reservation for the next day. Over 25 minutes each way to/from the hotel. We arrived at 7h45pm (15 min in advance). They put us on a table on a far corner, on a service area, in front of a door towards the smoking area. It was the only different table, with no lamp, no napkins. There were nicely set tables available on the same balcony, but away from the door. We politely asked for a change, which the hostess denied, in a rude way. We decided to give it a second chance and ordered some wine and water to start over. Service is ridiculously slow and it took a long time for the drinks to arrive. After having brought the wine and water, the waiter rudely took the menus away without asking for our order and left our table unnatended. That was quite unacceptable. The place is gigantic, terribly noisy, and quite touristry and simply does not care about two unhappy clients, even though sent by a prestigious hotel. Maybe we have been unlucky or otherwise. We paid for the drinks and left without eating, after almost one hour. Apparently, there is not a manager at service, as nobody came to us to see what was going on. Georgians are generally polite and friendly, but not at the Ethno. To make matters worst, it was pouring and we could not get a cab. Nobody at the restaurant to assist. No surprise. My...