italian garden

hit or miss?. we went in friday night for graduation dinner and had heard wonderful reviews about this place from our friends whose niece was graduating saturday and would also be coming to celebrate saturday. my husband and i came in on friday and were seated quickly but then soon forgot about. granted, therestaurantwas busy but by the time our waitress arrived she was huffing and puffing about how long the friday shift had been. she vocalized how she was tired and they were understaffed. she took our order and did not come back to check on us until our food was ready, she had not even brought our salads or checked our drinks. our food was fabulous though. we had the chicken la la casa and the chicken murphy with pink sauce. the prices are wonderful and the other servers were apparently quick and efficent with their own tables. now here is the funny part, our friends celebrating their neice's law school graduation on saturday had our same little blonde waitress and had the same problems. she seated them with waters and glasses for their wine but never brought menus until half an hour later. she was apparently rude, and was snotty about one of the older adults with a small appetite not being able to order a kids item. then she was heard loudly complaining to her co-workers by the graduating niece. not what i would call professional service. however, they all enjoyed their food as well and say that they will continue to come back but will be requesting another waitress or waiter as they have been before and always recieved good service from them.

i just want to start out by saying that i loved italian garden up until tonight. 

we went to italian garden for my birthday dinner and we had a party of 12. when i told the employee that we had that many people he immediately asked if i had made a reservation. i told him no, but he informed me that he would be able to seat us even though we didn't have a reservation. after we were sat down, we waited for the rest of our party to get there. as soon as they got there, we waited for quite some time for our waiter to get to our table and take our order. i completely understand though because it was busy! anyways, my husband gets their attention and then they take our order. after they took our order, we waited for over an hour and 20 minutes for the entire table to receive their order. half of our table got their food 20 minutes before ours and then the rest of food came out staggered. after this happened, i asked to talk to the manager about the situation. 

i talked to him about the situation and he apologized for the inconvenience that this caused and took ownership for what happened. he also informed me that he would give us a discount. i told him that i appreciated him and went back to eating. sadly, this is not the reason why i'm giving thisrestauranta bad review.
when we arrived to the counter to check out, the same person that seated us was very rude. he apologized for what had happened and informed me that tried his best to get us seated. which he did! but, then he reminded me that i didn't make reservation for my table. honestly, i didn't know. if i knew that i had to make a reservation to get the same service as everyone in the restaurant, i would have called ahead. after he told me that, i apologized to him for being an inconvenience to him. he made it seem that it was my fault that this happened. 

after we check out, my sister and my brother-in-law paid for their ticket, but as soon as they received the receipt for their food, my brother-in-law notices he was overcharged. my brother-in-law informed him that he was overcharged and the cashier gives them a 20. what he said as he was putting down the 20, completely shocked me. as he puts the 20 on the counter he said, "it was just 12 dollars anyways." (he was talking about the other entree he accidentally charged my brother-in-law for.) i'm sorry, but that is so incredibly rude and petty. he made it sound like we were trying to take advantage of the situation. anyways, after that happens he doesn't continue to check the rest of our party, he walks off and leaves another person to finish checking out the rest of the party. i guess were being more of an inconvenience to him. 

i'm not sure if i ever want to come back after the way we were treated.

this place is amazing! to be honest, by the looks of therestaurantand appearance of menus, i expected a typical italian chain experience. boy, was i wrong! i have tasted the lasagna, house salad, bread, calamari, and lobster ravioli. i love lobster ravioli and eat it wherever i can find it. this was by far the best lobster ravioli i've ever had. in fact, when we were asked if the waiter could clear our plates, he was given an emphatic "no!" (my husband wasn't finished soaking up the rest of the pink sauce that was served with my ravioli with his bread. don't judge this book by its cover!!

my first visit was terrific. we had been hearing good things about thisrestaurantover the last few weeks. tonight we went with another couple and had a wonderful meal. our waitress was very attentive and our meal was served promptly. she had the chicken parmesan and i had the lobster ravioli. both entrées were outstanding, though the vodka sauce was just a bit salty. i had the tiramisu for dessert and it was very good. the prices are very reasonable and our waitress (faith) kept our glasses and bread bowl filled. we will definitely be back.

we ate there for the first time a couple of weeks ago.  the food was great and reasonably priced.  everyone was very friendly and the food came out promptly and there was plenty of it. it's a nice littlerestaurantwith good ambiance.  i'm not crazy about the location but it's not bad.

i just had quite the experience at this establishment. my father and i was enjoying dinner when a man around the age of 40 began to choke. not a single employee attempted to check on him or even realized he was choking. i brought it to one of the waitresses attention and she ran away because she didn't want to see him puke. i am a 22 year old and i am the only person who cared enough to make sure this man would live. after the man had to attempt to ask an employee where the bathroom was, then finally someone checked on him. since i work at umc i knew that if they're coughing and puking then they are getting oxygen so they will be okay long enough for an ambulance to arrive. after they did, i as well as one other woman who was eating there made sure he was okay and got ready to leave, i asked to speak to the manager. he stated that there are "legal issues" with touching a customer and that's why he did nothing. i would hope that someone would care more about my life than "legal issues". not one of the employees knew cpr nor had any certifications for this situation. overall, i am very disappointed in italian garden and i pray that i never end up choking there because after tonight i know i would die right there in theirrestaurantand no one would do anything.

first time we visited thisrestaurantat its old location it was pretty good. this time service was terrible. food was ok, but the price has increased significantly. ordered a kids fettuccine alfredo and added shrimp (which was $1.50/shrimp!!) and ordered an adult shrimp scampi. only difference was the size of the plate, portions were the exact same size. waitress tried to charge us $14.99 for the kids meal and then acted like it was a tiny mistake. asked for the ticket and they never brought it. had to wave out server down to get service (which we weren't even sure who our actual server was because we had 3 different people coming to our table.) wouldn't recommend this place to anyone!

for lubbock this is probably the most authentic italian food you will find. they have a good selection of different italian dishes to choose from, i picked the pasta trio and my girlfriend has the chicken parmesan.

the pasta trio tasted great. you can tell it's made in house, and has a lot of flavor. my girlfriend is very picky about chicken parm, since her grandmother is italian and makes it perfect, but she really enjoyed her meal!

i wish therestauranthad a little more decoration, it's kind of bland inside, but all in all it was a good experience.

it's just so good. we are never disappointed. therestaurantis always clean, service is always great and friendly. my personal favorite is the shrimp tortellini. i really enjoy the upfront lemon flavor on the chicken piccata. just go. do it. it's the best. it's such a joy to have such an outstanding familyrestaurantin this town! pink sauce forever!

italian hot spot!!. when pulling up, i saw" oops i mist be at the wrong place", but byob and excellent service set this amzin italianrestaurantapart from the rest. the warm greetings and best of service are what make this place amazing. not to mention the authentic flavor of some of the best dishes :) will definetly be going back!!

2nd review - the pizza. have been really wanting to come back to italian gardens and try their pizza. glad i did. my son and i went and had the large meat lovers for $15.99. gonna hafta do an eyeroll here on the dot ninety nine price. go ahead and bump it to sixteen. i can afford that extra penny!!!

we got there before 7pm and there were a lot of cars outside. i was worried there would be a line. i don't do well in lines. luckily the place was pretty full but there were open tables. we were told we could sit where we want. that is a nice touch i thought. don't you hate places that put you in a bad location like right next to the kitchen or bathroom, or next to someone you think looks weird or strange? or worse yet, next to your ex who left you after 15 years of good marriage who is with her latest bf? haha, that has never happened but i fear it might someday and not sure how i will handle it.

so after much debate, we decided on the meat lovers specialty i think i already said this. sorry. waitress was pretty blonde we got last time. this is a good sign to see same employees and not new ones each time you go to a place.
i drank water and it kind of tasted strange to me. but water is free and one should not complain about something that doesn't cost you any money.

i looked around and there was a young girl with glasses. kind of nerdy looking but cute. i actually think almost all women are pretty and cute. but she was starring at me. or at least it felt like she was. she was probably in her twenties and she was sitting across from some young guy with bushy curly hair. her bf? i don't know and don't care.
this staring continued until we left. every time i looked up she was looking. i thought about taking her pic to see if that would make her stop but i chickened out. my eyesight is not that great so it is possible she wasn't even looking my direction. but to whomever you were, if you were indeed staring...yeah i know i am goofy looking. take a picture it lasts longer. ha ha remember that one from elementary?

pizza got to table and damn it looked good. it was good. it was great. the toppings, the cheese, the sauce all were primofantastic. just made that word up btw. the crust was just ok for me. son thought it was great, but i have had better crust in my day. but i do not want to downplay how good this pizza was. may be the best pizza i have eaten in dirt city. has to be in top three. would eat again. god bless you pizza maker who made this for us.

few things that would make this place the bestrestaurantexperience in dirt city: add some music. you have two tvs going with is fine and there is no sound which is fine. but it seems odd to me that there is no music. maybe some italian music would be nice. keep it low. would be a nice touch. the other thing is how you pay. it is odd and weird like me. we were not given a ticket. girl says to go to register whenever we want. said our ticket would be there. so we go there and no one is there. we wait patiently. wait some more. then the dude shows up and picks up some ticket laying there and ringing it up and i say to him: hey, how you know that is us? he asks where were we sitting. i pointed. he said oh you guys had the pizza right? i said yes. he says did you have anything to drink? i said yeah one coke. this is very awkward to me. anyway he rang stuff up. he knew the numbers as they are in his head. this fine, and i am sure he doesn't cheat anyone. it is just odd and seems inefficient. please just have your waitstaff write out a ticket and bring it to the table. this is literally how 99% of restaurants do it and it has worked for hundred years or more.

this is an official frekview. go to this place. you will like i guarantee it. god bless.

ps: to the girl who was by herself and eating alone. you were very pretty and i admire you. you were too young for me but perfect for my son. he thought you were pretty too. fyi


-----21 aug, 2014-----

good italian food in dirt city. ha ha my imaginary friends who went to tech and live elsewhere refer to lubbock as dirt city and to us homers as dirt monkeys. i suppose it comes from the haboobs we get every spring. i digress. people have been telling me i need to go downtown and try this new italian place. i worked downtown for years and years and only recently moved out to west lubbock. i know downtown well and don't generally go there unless i absolutely have to. been waiting patiently for the mcdougal billionaires to revitalize the area. plus, if you drive around downtown chances are pieces of one of the few skyscrapers owned by some idiot in katy might hit you on your noggin or dent the top of your pick up truck. yes, dirt monkeys for the most part drive trucks.

went with my son who had just completed an als ice bucket challenge at my house. he was soaked and i thought i would buy him some dinner. he's a good kid and i am proud of him. we arrived and the parking was pretty full but we found a place in front on 13th street. this place is right across from asb and city building. easy to find and get to. just go down q and turn east on 13 and look north. you can't miss it. it has been a hundred different restaurants since i have lived here but i don't think i have ever been to any of them.

inside was nice. not too big and not too small. everything was clean and well maintained. i was not crazy about the wall decor. not like i am some interior designer expert but i know what i like and i think they could do a better job of making the place look and feel like italy. candles on the tables would have been nice. there is no bar. they do not have a booze license. you can byob though and many do, and it looked like the wait staff will open your wine bottle and bring you wine glasses. no clue if they charge for this but betting they don't. this did not apply to me because as you know i gave up booze recently. i think i am on day 43!!!!

nice young pretty blonde waitress waited on us. she was way too young for me but my son seemed interested but he didn't try for his digits. too much of a chicken like his old man. we both ordered the same thing. lobster ravioli. actually my son ordered it and i said yeah bring me one of those like he's getting. i think it was like eleven bucks or so. it came with a dinner salad and some rolls. the salad was just a generic iceberg type salad...nothing special but was fresh. she brought us a basket with three rolls. now think about it. there are two of us. 3 is not divisible by 2 or at least it wasn't at tech. how about bringing 2 or 4 rolls to a table of two so there aren't any fights over who gets the extra roll? just a suggestion. the rolls were good but not to die for. i did not dream about them. the rolls at roadhouse are more to my liking. but these are not bad by any stretch.

our entree arrived and my first thought was ......hmmmm that is not very much food. it was four raviolis and they had this pink sauce all over and around them. actually the sauce was orange but the waitress told us it was pink sauce. i was wrong. i was more than full when i finished eating the food and spooning and sopping up all the pink sauce. the meal was absolutely delicious. i enjoyed every single bite. my compliments to the chef. man it was good. i could eat it again but there is a ton of stuff on their menu to try and it is probably all delicious. they even make pizza. i will probably try that next time. prices are high enough to keep me from coming every week but i do plan on coming back often as i can. it is my new favorite italian foodrestaurantfor dirt city.

i guess if i could complain about something because it is my nature to bitch and complain, it would be the way you pay at this place. waitress brought us a ticket that just showed our two entrees listed and no prices. we then took this to a guy at a register at the front and stood in a line of people waiting to pay. this seemed odd and uncomfortable to me. it was finally our turn and the guy took my ticket and did some stuff on the register and handed me a credit card slip with a total price that i was to tip and sign. i had to immediately math up a tip and sign it because others were waiting and the guy looked annoyed like he needed to be doing something else. i may have under tipped blonde and for that i feel bad. it wasn't intentional. i needed to give her 36 cents or so more but i suck at fast math. actually now that i think about it, you did not refill my water glass and you never offered more rolls so it was probably an ok amount.. i feel better now.

shout out to steve k for telling me about this place and to scott for his encouragement on continuing to write these reviews instead of doing my work.

final word: go ahead and go to this place. it's a go
this is an official frekview. thanks and god bless

spotlessly clean, inexspensive, large portions and reasonably good food. i eat at italian garden about once a week. i have eaten a variety of things on the menu but prefer the whole wheat spaghetti marinara. they offer whole wheat or gluten free versions of several menu items. they have even made dairy free rolls for me on request. this is with out a doubt the cleanestrestaurantin san marcos. it is well managed and the wait staff capable and polite. add all that together with the portion sizes and the low cost and you have a winning restaurant.

some reviewers have complained about the authenticity of the food or whatever. if you want to drive 45 minutes out to trattoria lisina and pay three to four times the price, i believe you will get better tasting food. however, this food is just fine and an outstanding value.

on a side note, you can bring your own wine.

tasteless overpriced food. not a pleasant atmosphere, food overpriced and tasteless.
can get better italian food at a chainrestaurantlike carinos or orlandos.
would not go back again.

i love this little gem of a restaurant. it's no frills, everything i've ever tried is tasty, and you cannot beat their lunch specials! (no kidding, under $7 for the entree, salad, bread and a drink?!) i like going during the day for lunch as it's fairly quiet. there's a huge mural in the back dining room, they play italian-style music, and the server (sabia?) is so genuinely kind. it's just inviting overall. the owners are great, and you can tell they love what they do. my favorites so far are the stromboli (it's massive), the meatball parmesan sub (again, huge), the spinach calzone, and the spinach pizza. i've heard the tortellini soup is delicious as well. another thing, their dinner rolls are amazing. crisp and bubbly, with a hint of garlic and herbs. i could get eat my weight in those rolls. when i say it's no frills, i simply mean it's very causal and laid back. what i imagine a familyrestaurantin a small italian town would be. some called it a hole in the wall on here, but that's not giving italian garden the respect it deserves. it's simple, not a "hole in the wall." it's the type of place of enjoy kicking back after my meal with a coffee, just talking with whoever i'm with. very relaxed atmosphere.

thisrestaurantis amazing. the sauces are impeccable. pasta always right on. superb tiramisu and homemade salad dressings. my favorites are the veal piccata and the linguine tuttomare with piccata sauce in place of red sauce. super friendly service by both owner and staff. great prices. absolutely one of the best restaurants in lubbock!