Gubernators — Restaurant in Daugavpils

I was a bit disappointed by my visit to Gubernators, as I loved the atmosphere and the interior, and the place just seemed nice overall. The cooking didn't quite match the high bar set by all of that, however. Now, my dinner was perfectly serviceable, and nothing was fundamentally wrong with it, but it wasn't especially memorable either.

I ordered ukha for my soup dish. The best thing about ukha is the rich, complex flavour it has when done perfectly. Ukha at Gubernators wasn't quite up to that standard. All the ingredients seemed fresh and good, but it felt like it was the most basic version of the recipe to still count as ukha, and it wasn't impressive on the flavour front.

My main course was beef in cream sauce with a side of potatoes baked under cheese. The beef itself was delicious, and it was easily the best thing about my whole dinner. Unfortunately, the rest of my plate was again in the category of boring and lacking flavour.

As I was driving I had to limit myself to non-alcoholic drinks, but my companion, who's something of a beer connoisseur sampled the local draft beer and proclaimed it... "unremarkable". That describes my whole experience to a T.

Having said all that, my Trusted Sources say it's not easy to find an outstanding dinner in Daugavpils, so Gubernators seems like a very safe bet. You're gonna get good, solid food, and as far as fine culinary experiences are concerned... just seek elsewhere.

On the bright side, the prices here are extremely modest. You can get a full dinner for about 15 EUR per person, and the serving times are reasonably short as well. I also mentioned before that the overall atmosphere of the place is...

No parking, have to pay for parking on the road. There is no staff greeting you at the entrance, no one guides you where to go nor where to sit down. We proceeded to find a table to take a seat, a waitress came from the back and quickly dictated the daily lunch menu before we even managed to sit down, our attention wasn’t focused to absorb this information, we just weren’t ready so we asked to repeat what was said. The waitress raised her voice and spoke with the attitude and was very rude when we asked if this information is printed somewhere so we can have a look at the main menu as well and then decide what to order. The menu was given in Latvian and Russian only so had to find someone to ask for a menu in English. Not even 5 minutes given to have a look at the menu when another waitress comes over to take an order, when my husband asked about the lunch menu again this another waitress said that we have already been told this. She stood there for a bit impatiently until I said we are not ready to order yet. After such greeting we didn’t want to stay there any longer and lost all the interest and appetite so we left the place not making any order. I was very confused how 2 different members of staff can talk to their clients in such manner, it just shows the level of customer service here. Do not recommend! There are more pleasant places to eat where you won’t be spoken...

In the beginning waitress was very friendly. Waiting time was long, but there were many visitors. When I have received my soup, I have found in it piece of plastic. While waitress was finishing serving table next to us, I have asked her to come to me as well. She replied in a rude manner that she will come to our table later, that she is very busy and cannot serve all tables simultaneously. When finally she came to us, she took my soup back, suggested to order same dish or other, but waiting time was too long. Plus to that we have received the wrong tea that we ordered. Also, one ordered dessert was forgotten and we have waited for that extra 15 minutes. Unfortunately, we have not received any polite apology for caused inconvenience. Only that it is so hectic now and mistakes were made on the kitchen, not by waitress. I fully understand that human mistakes are possible, however polite service can be provided...