Dārzā — Restaurant in Ikšķile

We went there for a late dinner for two and although the service was great and atmosphere was decent, the food didn’t really live up to my expectations.

I ordered a plate of deep-fried shrimp, gyoza and other similar delicacies as well as their pork dim sum. The plate was ok. It was what you would expect, although I will have to admit that the dumplings did come off as looking strikingly similar to the dumplings served everywhere else and which can be purchased in bulk. They did not in any shape or form appear to be something that they prepared themselves, which would also explain why they tasted so mediocre.

For the dim sum, well, I can’t really call it dim sum. They took the same gyoza as had been fried on the assorted plate and steamed them. Sure, at least they steamed them, but it only meant that they now even more tasted like the generic gyoza you can get anywhere. The vast majority of dim sum does not look like gyoza and the fact that these did come in that shape makes me very suspicious. Furthermore, they made the crucial mistake of adding so many lime leaves to the dim sum that I could not get the taste of lime leaves out of my mouth for six hours, despite drinking and eating various things in an attempt to get rid of it. I do like lime leaves, but it is very uncomfortable to have the taste be so persistent. They easily used 3 times as many as they should have.

So I went away feeling like I had paid a way too high price for frozen, supermarket dumplings served in a way that really ruined it.

Maybe their other food is better or maybe they make good cocktails, but stay away from anything...

Nice place, terrible food. The restaurant is located outside the capital, but has Riga prices, so I had high expectations. My honey chicken (usually a very popular deep fried chicken with tomato-honey sauce, ginger, onion etc) with noodles and veggies was just chicken fillet pieces with noodles and frozen RIMI veggies covered in honey. It was so sweet I felt bad, even my lemonade was less sweet. This is a meal I could make with an empty fridge from frozen stuff. Please stop using frozen veggies in restaurants, it is only acceptable with much lower prices in lunch bistros. Otherwise very nice interior and fast service, but I could make a much better...

IG worthy interior, if that is all you are looking for, food was Okay, but just okay, nothing extraordinary

Dirty tables, crumbs and leftovers in the mid section of tables, dust in centrepieces, Hot drinks served almost cold, Quite small portions, The Brownie recipe should be looked at, that was not a brownie, Well, for waiting staff.... job not done, spills, mixing up the order and lots of learning to be done

Overall a good example of "expectations vs....