Zala Restaurant & Cellar — Restaurant in Tbilisi

And now we have visited “Zala Restaurant & Cellar”! 4th place out of 7 from my list. Review: 27/35 🥳🥳🥳

P.S. Thanks, Ilia, for the service!

Objectively:

1. Answering with the introduction of place, employee name, and correct text (2/3 points)
2. Polite and helpful (1/1 point)
3. Confirmation or not confirmation of reservation (1/1 point)
4. Greet and escort to the table (1/1 point)
5. Menu was delivered in 2 minutes (1/1 point)
6. Menu is clean and proper (1/1 point)
7. Ask for the aperitif before the meal (1/1 point)
8. Taking order at a time (1/1 point)
9. Suggestions and upselling (1/2 points)
10. Ask about the consequences of dishes (0/1 point)
11. Double-check the order (0/1 point)
12. Special table set-up depending on the dishes (if needed) (1/1 point)
13. The food was delivered on time, presentable, hot/cold as it has to be (3/3 points)
14. Feedback (0/1 point)
15. If the order was served as per guest request (1/1 point)
16. Paying attention during the whole dinner period (1/2 points)
17. Bill was delivered in 2 minutes (1/1 point)
18. Farewell the guest in a proper manner (2/2 points)
19. Staff grooming (3/3 points)
20. Staff attitude and behavior (1/2 points)
21. Staff professionalism (2/3 points)
22. Overall atmosphere (2/2 points)

A few moments on top of all:

When talking to the guest on the phone show more hospitality and more “welcome”; The menu is simple and available via QR code, but the picture on the QR code needs to be refreshed otherwise it’s challenging; When positioning as a “Cellar”, the wine glasses on the tables should be nicely cleaned; Folk on the left, knife on the right side of the plate; Avoid showing negative emotions for guest observation;

To summarize: Restaurant "Zala" is where years ago, following a waiter's recommendation, I first discovered the charm of Chateau Mukhrani “Shavkapito” and it remains one of my best choices. It never fails to deliver the same quality as the first printed impression I received that day. It's gratifying to see them continuing their efforts to improve their service. It's an ideal place to have a...

Beautiful interior, very good service, but that is where all the good aspects end. Kind of a pseudo-upscale nouvelle cuisine Georgian restaurant. Take a look at the menu and you will be perplexed about what to order: too many strange concatenations. Many basics like soup kharcho and ostri are apparently déclassé here; you won't find them. Admittedly, however, the fresh baked bread was truly tasty but the portion size was quite laughably miniscule; consumed with the pork ribs, portion also miniscule. I must confess that the cheesy creamy sauce that came with the ribs was not to my taste; the waitress warned me about it but I ignored her warning. (Just could not identify any other item I would want to eat.) As for the pork ribs, to their credit, the meat was soft and easily flaked off the bone; fortunately, however, I had some Chinese chili oil that I painted on these scant ribs to enhance their flavour. Left the cheesy sauce it came with on the plate. Also tried the magrelian kharcho (not soup); I wasn't sure what that was so I looked it up beforehand on georgian recipes.net; online it looked good. What came out differed from the online photo of the finished product with just exiguous outcroppings of meat. In lieu of more meat, there were three balls of something soft, maybe potato-based. Very creamy consistency; practically no taste discernible with respect to this magrelian kharcho. Added black and crushed red pepper flakes but no chance to rescue this plate; it was dead on arrival. Fortunately, I wasn't very hungry on the night I visited. Expensive for what in the end you get. Food is not salvageable. (Burger with saperavi sauce looked good but I personally did not sample it.) Owner should close this restaurant for 2-3 months; replace the chef and rethink the menu from scratch and even the whole...

Zala looks very unassuming from the outside looking in. You will think it is small but once you are inside, you will be surprised that it is actually quite big. It was drizzling when we walked in, but the ambiance with its rustic antique design really washed out what was happening outside. The staff would attend to you, and get you seated (I guess the location depends on whether you have made a prior reservation, since those of us without a reservation were seated up front). Then, there is a live music trio that would serenade you throughout the dinner— accompanied by good food, this, for me, was the cherry on top of the experience.

Skipping the appetizer, our aperitif was the Old friend wine Saperavi bottle (the “dog wine,” as I refer to it)— this was actually a good coincidence as we had the same one just the day prior. The roasted chicken shkmeruli style was a delight! Aside from the tender chicken, there is a certain taste on the cream sauce that is really good. It goes well with their Georgian bread!! If I had to come back to the place, I would have the same order! My companion had the beef and shrimp with sweet potato.

Desert was the Georgian jelly(I forgot what it’s called, the wine was kicking in at this point). My company initially wanted the cheesecake but we ended up having the jelly instead, which turned out to be a good decision (could you even go bad with their food? I’m not sure about that!)

I find the place romantic. Could be nice for family dinner also. Also even when you are alone having a relaxed day from the hustle.

Thanks to the live trio who sang to us the coda of beautiful note— the restaurant was the final verse concluding our wonderful trip in Georgia.

Also, thanks to Hotel British House who recommended to us the place on the first day of...