I was looking forward to trying it. I wanted seafood, a fish taco, and they positioned themselves as Seafood specialists. It looked an interesting place from the outside.
What a disappointment. The thickset man who greeted us glared, and gestured offhandedly at a table. It was beside the jukebox. I asked that, if it was being played, could we move to another table. He snarled sarcastically, "It's not playing now." I looked at the menu. It was tired and limited. Only three seafood options - a piece of fish, a calamari steak, or shrimp.
So we ordered our drinks, they came quickly. The OTR margarita was nothing special. Not awful, but ordinary. The other waiter was also disinterested. No smiles or any interaction beyond a word or two at this stage.
I saw what should have been a tipoff. The lovely Mexican rug for decoration had been visibly stapled several times to the wall to hold it in place.
Now the food. It was boring and lacked authenticity. The guacamole was not as good as the packaged stuff from Trader Joe's. And the waiter put it on our table without a word. In fairness, my wife told me the ice tea was quite nice.
As we were preparing to pay, my wife had counted the meal price in front of her and we were discussing what tip the service (somewhere between indifferent and disdainful) deserved. The surly man who had first brought us to the table tried to grab it from in front of her before we added a tip. We should have let him. So we added a tip and left quickly - we just wanted to get out.
Never, ever again will we go there. You get much, much better service elsewhere - even at Denny's or Ihop! And the food on the limited menu at Gilberts was plain and tired. If you are a local who can walk to Gilbert's, not very discerning, and want a place where your kids can shriek to their heart's content, then this may just be the place for you.
Pros: Access, quick turnaround, great for noisy kids
Cons: Offhanded service, limited menu, uninspired food, cash only
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