Fiesta Garibaldi

I really wanted to love Fiesta Garibaldi. It’s in a convenient location and the prices are reasonable, but the food was only so-​so. It reminded me of every other mediocre Mexican restaurant I have ever been to. I want to give it a second chance on a weekend to see if my timing was bad, but It certainly wasn’t on my list of top places to go.

Quite possibly the worst Mexican food I have ever had. The enchiladas were terrible. I could not decide which was worse, the steak, pork, or beef. I could barely chew the rubbery substance. On a brighter note, the margaritas were quite tasty, hence the additional star. I rarely leave reviews after a meal, however as I sit here and my stomach is turning inside out, I feel it is my duty to comment.

Honestly, one of the worst mexican food experiences I have ever had. The service was horrible and the food was tastless. We also had drinks from the bar, a bloody mary and margarita, both were horrible. We were not greeted when we entered and no one said anything to us as we were leaving. We complained about our drinks but were still charged and told they’d make us 2 different ones and we could take them togo… yeah, that’s legal. The only positive experience besides leaving was the complimentary dum dum we received with our bill. I will never, ever dine there again and suggest that no one else does either.

We had just recently visited Fiesta Garibaldi’s restaurant out in Brookfield, and we liked it enough that we decided to visit their Bluemound location. Unlike the Brookfield location, Bluemound is a very hard-​to-​miss location, and the brightly painted exterior really stands out, and we were quite pleased to discover a very festive interior, with murals on the walls and fishtanks in the center.
They serve soup with their lunch specials, as in Brookfield, and the chips and salsa were very good as well, and they came out with some sort of Hot-​Pocket-​like deep-​fried seafood item for us to try, which was a nice gesture, except that I really don’t care for most seafood. No exception here, though I could see it would have been interesting if I liked seafood. The kicker was that they kind of came out and rapidly threw them on the table without bothering to really explain what it was, and whatever it was, the innards were thoroughly coated with some sauce, so it wasn’t obvious exactly what it was, so I ended up eating a bite. I appreciate the gesture but not the taste in my mouth…
Our lunches were not bad, but my «lunch fajitas» were merely average, and one of the others in our party ordered something with chicken. When it came out, it didn’t appear to be chicken but rather maybe sausage, and since her GI doctor had forbidden fatty meats, she complained and sent it back. A manager came out a few minutes later with her plate, and a small plate of what turned out to be very finely chopped chicken in a dark sauce, and he explained that the chicken was cut up finely for whatever item it was she had ordered, and that it was cut differently than it was on my fajita plate. I confess that we’re easygoing enough that we really don’t have much experience with sending plates back, but the handling of this definitely left us with a bit of an awkward feeling. On one hand, I can definitely appreciate that the restaurant wanted to point out that nothing was wrong, and to avoid making the plate over, because really nothing was wrong, but on the other hand, there would have been a much better impression left had they maybe remade the dish with non-​finely-​cut chicken, which would still have allowed an opportunity for explanation, but left a diner with a plate that was hot rather than lukewarm. As I said, haven’t seen enough plates sent back to know how restaurants normally handle this.
In any case, the atmosphere is nice, but the food is merely a bit better than average. We’ll probably head out to Brookfield next time.

Okay, here’s the deal. This place has crap food and crap service, however I am willing to put up with that as long as they continue to serve me those Pina Coladas. Hands down the best, creamiest, sweetest tasting Pina Colada you will ever have in your LIFE! I recommend going on hot day and enjoying a slew of these, other wise there is nothing else here worth going for.

I’ve had a lot of bad Mexican in my life but this is one of the worst.
First the service was terrible. We arrive to be looked at by a man on the phone holding up 2 fingers. I shook my head. He threw 2 menus on a table and walked away. Nice.
A nicer waitress arrived to ask about drinks. I went for a margarita on the rocks. What I got was an odd margarita flavored mix that I couldn’t finish. Didn’t even taste any tequila, just an odd chemical concoction.
The chips came with 3 salas — a mild tomato based that tasted like white spanish onions, a hot green one and some canned vegetables (carrot, cauliflower and a pepper). Since all 3 didn’t taste too good we decided to order the queso cheese dip. We got a bowl of proceesed nacho type bright yellow cheese in a can.
Then came the food. My husband got fajitas and I got one of 2 vegetarian dishes, the avacado tostato. His fajitas were very bland, as were my tostados. Most of the avacados on the tostados were rotten so I enjoyed picking those off and barely finished eating.
Oh, our nice waitress disappered so we had to search for silverwear since we couldn’t find any waiters arond to ask. Meanwhile we got to enjoy loud children banging on fish tanks while we ate. Could they ask them not to pound on the glass at least? Very annoying.
She finally came with the bill which I went up to pay and a man asked me if I had a parking voucher. I said I didn’t know I needed one. Again, my only greeting when I arrived came from a busy, annoyed looking man on the phone. The other guy said to him «they never came up and asked me for one» like we weren’t there. I said «I didn’t know the procedure»… I guess I’m supposed to go into the restaurant (parking lot is behind it) and get a parking pass and return to my car and put it in the car. When I’m done eating I’m supposed to go outside to retireve this piece of paper and hand it back in. What? This place was so odd.

Less than enthused with this run of the mill Mexican restaurant. The best thing about our meal was the chips. The Pollo en Chile de Arbol had no flavor other than the spice of the chillies themselves. Service was barely adequate.
The fruit fly in my margarita was a nice touch too. They didn’t bother to offer any remedy other than to fish the fly out. Not a nice way to start dinner.
Even though the prices were a bit high for a Mexican restaurant in Milwaukee, the food was below par. There are many other restaurants of the same genre that offer much better food at the same or better prices.
Sadly disappointed after hearing nice things about this restaurant. Not worth the trip in my opinion.

We had found these guys through
, so tonight enjoyed a fantastic meal there. They make their own horchata (something I’d been missing since Sol Fire shuttered its doors), and deliver their tamales without the pesky corn-​husk wrapping. Everything is cheap and everything we tried was very good… plus all around us we heard people speaking in Spanish, so the «natives» seem to appreciate the festive atmosphere and wide range of available entrees. They seem to specialize in fish dishes; in fact, there is a large tank with large fish and lobsters ready to be plucked for your gustatory pleasure along the back wall in one corner of the restaurant. The main dishes were so good we elected to go for dessert too: Once again the choice came down to Flan… These guys do it perfectly: more custardy than cakey, and with a unique cherry element baked right in.
There are wild under-​sea (think «Finding Nemo») and baseball (including a strange paean to Brewers coaches past) murals along both long walls of the restaurant and the chairs are stenciled with images of fruits and vegetables. In fact, the paint job is so extensive and wildly patterned that it’s almost difficult to find the front door. The restaurant is attached to a bar that apparently does hopping business during the baseball season, but fortunately, the ventilation system is up to dealing with the smoking patrons, so our dinner was not marred by wafting plumes of cigarette toxins. We will definitely be returning!