Tbilisi Bolt Food Review: Best Ways To Taste Georgian Food
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Bolt Food in Tbilisi is the best way for you to try all the Georgian food at a reasonable price. Being one of the most touristic cities in the Caucasus, Tbilisi is also one of the most expensive cities in the area. The restaurants there are generally more expensive than the ones in Baku or Yerevan.
Although most restaurants in Tbilisi offer Georgian cuisine, only a few of them have detailed descriptions or pictures to give you an idea of what it is. So you may end up eating Khinkali (the big dumplings you see everywhere in Georgia) or Khachapuri (a cheese-filled bread with a runny egg in the middle). Based on my last experience, most of the restaurants just look alike in Tbilisi, some of them even have bad service.
In contrast, I find Bolt Food very useful there for tasting various local cuisines like Ostri (local beef with tomatoes), Mtsvadi (Skewered meat local dishes), Lobio (bean bread), and Shkmeruli (roasted chicken with garlic and cream). Most importantly, you can usually have lower prices and larger portions with Bolt Food.
How to Use Bolt Food In Tbilisi
Similar to Bolt for ride-hailing in Tbilisi, you will also need to register for a Bolt Food account. It is worth mentioning that Bolt Food is also the only food delivery app I am aware of that can send you international SMS for OTP in Tbilisi.
After registration and binding a credit card for payment, you can browse all the restaurants on the interface. I would suggest you go to the filter and choose Georgian food. After all, if you are only staying in Tbilisi for a few days, you should take the chance to taste the local cuisines.
There you can also pick the restaurant according to the rating, food options, price, and delivery time. A local dish could be as long as only 15 (~6 USD) GEL from the apps.
Food Delivery Time
The food delivery time starts at a minimum of 30 minutes and it usually takes longer based on my personal experience. This is because there are several steps for the delivery including “confirmation of order from the restaurant”, “courier assignment”, “order ready to pick up”, “courier picking up the order” and “completion of delivery”. You can track the delivery status on Bolt Food but usually, it takes more than the estimated time.
What If Delivery Get Stuck
During my last visit to Tbilisi, I had a time when the Bolt Food delivery was stuck at “courier on their way to you” for longer than the estimated delivery time. If that happens, you should first check with the courier via the apps. There are chat and call options inside for the courier assigned.
If that doesn’t work, you can contact the Bolt support agent in the apps. They are usually very spontaneous. However, if there is any incident happened during the delivery. The best they could do is to offer a refund. However, you will have to re-order and waste the time for waiting.
Fortunately, it does not usually happen and for me, it only happened once during my stay in Tbilisi. On top of my refund, I also requested the agent to offer me a discount for the next purchase to compensate for the time wasted to be fair . And they did follow suit.
Isn’t It Better To Go Restaurants Directly?
Despite its popularity online, Tbilisi is actually quite overrated. It is a useful city to explore nearby towns like Gori and Gaudauri. However, I don’t find Tbilisi itself very amazing compared to other attractions in the Caucasus like Baku City Center.
Of the local restaurants, roughly more than 50% offer local cuisines. Unfortunately, you can’t quite tell the difference between one and another. And the price is relatively high compared to Baku and Yerevan. I tried several restaurants in Tbilisi but none gave me a superb dining experience . One even insisted on me with a wrong order they had taken (the most ridiculous hospitality).
So, I find it is way better to try out the Georgian cuisines via Bolt Food instead.
Furthermore, the flexibility of Bolt Food would ensure you a hearty meal even if you get back to the city late from the day tours.
