the garage

not sure what all the fuss is about, couldn't even get a stool at the bar. i went here thursday night about 9:30pm to grab a bite to eat. when i pulled into the parking lot, it was so packed i was lucky to find a parking spot. i had no idea how all the people in those cars could possibly fit in that building and the fire code immediately entered my mind. when i walked in, it turns out there was a thunder play-off game on. i stood behind a group of people speaking to an employee, i thought they were trying to work out some type of seating arrangements. so i just stood there and watched the game. i stood there for 5 minutes and finally realized this group of folks in front of me was just chatting with an employee who happened to be their friend. bear in mind, not a single person has approached me or greet me the entire time. i finally walked around the group in front of me and into the dining/bar area and noticed it was so crammed i could barely walk. i asked one of the servers if there was a spot at thebarfor one. she said, i doubt it, but you can go check if you want. i took a walk through the restaurant and every singlebarstool was taken, not even a place to stand. about three quarters of the patrons looked like they were smashed. it was loud, cramped and didn't look like a place i'd want stick around. i walked out and won't be back. great job there hal smith, you finally put together a concept i don't like or care for.

ok food, zero service. my wife got a gift card for the garage, so we headed out from okc to give it a try. we arrived with our 18-month old daughter, placed our orders, and went to find a seat. the restaurant part has booths down one wall, and the rest of the tables are bistro-style tables and chairs, with the table surface about four feet from the ground, and tall chairs, as well. this was not going to work well with a baby, and i did not feel comfortable having her seated that far off the ground. one of the waitstaff stopped by and offered to get a high chair for her, and stacked two high chairs, which made me even more uncomfortable. i decided we'd bide our time and wait for a booth to open up.

i noticed my plastic cup filled with diet coke was cracked almost all the way to the bottom, so i took it to thebarinstead of trying to get through the crowd at the front of the house where the main soda machine is. i asked the bartender if she could help me, and she gave me an empty glass. i would have thought she could at the very least fill the cup with ice and diet coke. i had to go to the front anyway to get my refill.

when a booth finally opened up, i quickly moved to it to save it for my family, as there were a lot of patrons looking for tables. the table was still full of food from the prior customers, and i waited for one of the wait staff to come bus the table. instead, i watched the wait staff wander the dining room aimlessly, not bothering to come by. so i took the prior customer's food and placed it on our previous table. one of the wait staff came by to clean off that table, and, thinking he'd get the hint, i pushed the rest of the trash to the edge of the table for him to clear off. he didn't even come by the table.

so i moved the rest of the cups to the old table, stood up, grabbed some paper towels and started wiping the crumbs and trash onto the floor. still absolutely no response from the wait staff, one of whom was standing five feet away, watching me clean off our table. additionally, the paper towel roll on our table was empty, so i also had to switch that for another table's roll.

someone delivered our food, and we ate it. the burger was fine, but with so many good burger options in oklahoma city, i have no reason to drive out to edmond for it. additionally, they use the cheapest paper towels, so when you grab towels from the roll, they tear in half before it comes off the roll.

nobody ever stopped by our table to ask how anything was, or if we needed refills, but there were always 2-3 people wandering around the dining room looking for things to do.

as we left, i stopped to fill up a to go cup. both diet coke guns at the front of the house were dispensing carbonated water and no syrup. i gave up and left.

i will certainly not bother with giving the garage another shot, despite the fact the food wasn't the problem.

if you enjoy a grease burger this is your place. there is so much grease the bun falls apart in your hands. tasty sweet potato fries. nice atmosphere. customer service is lacking and idiots pretending to workbararea. mcdonalds doesn’t have to be concerned.

i went to the one on may and brittion rd at noon , overlooked the mayo on the menu , got my burger took 3 bites to hit the mayo and put it down, the bartender said he would make it right , never did and stayed on the other side of thebarthe whole time , finally come over to throw my burger away while saying " you really hate mayo don't you " and walked away , needless to say i was charged for the burger and left the place hungry, costumer service is a big fail at this business.

food - good service - awful!. food was good, not great, but much better than most restaurants in edmond. normally i will put up with bad service for good food, as normally the situation is there are too few people working, and generally this is where there is a problem. however there were plenty of workers here, they just didn't seem to be trained or know what they should be doing. it was almost like this was their first week of business.

layout is also confusing, as if they don't know if they want to be abaror a burger joint. too many big screens, all on the same channel and noise level was way too high for lunchtime, even for a bar. it's almost as if they are owned by two people, one wants to have it be a bar, and the other wants it to be a family restaurant and the result is it is neither.

the day i was there the coke dispenser didn't do the proper mix and was spitting out mostly carbonated water with just a slight bit of mix. i should have known something was wrong with the mountain of ice in the dispenser when people dumped their drinks to try another flavor. also they had a tea dispenser labeled "unsweetened". it was the only one, so not sure if there should have also been a sweet tea dispenser also.

plastic cups were wet as they handed them out at the register, and with all the other problems it made me wonder if they were actually clean. also what is with the plastic knife? if you have reusable plastic cups,why disposable knives?

i want to like this place as it has potential, but it just appears to be managed so poorly and the staff although friendly just appear to be clueless as to what they should be doing, again pointing back to poor or inexperienced management. fortunately the kitchen staff seems to know what they are doing, and that can make up for a lot of issues with the people up front.

probably will be back as other than the layout of the place, i'm hoping they were just having an off day, as the place really does have potential with it's simple yet expansive menu.

great place!. we met our daughter and son in law here for a fun dinner and really enjoyed it. everyone was friendly, the service was very efficient and the food was great! i had read some of the reviews but we decided to try it anyway and we were all glad we did. we all tried the bacon jalapeño and cheese burgers - delicious, especially the bison burgers! the noise level was as expected for a sportsbaratmosphere but wasn't a problem for us. we will be back!

onions and beer. fried onion burger and greatbarstaff. enough said? if not, go and check out some of the other items on their menu. order at the counter, and take your seat. remember you pay yourbarstaff on a different tab then the front counter. i don't tip ticket takers...i tip beer bringers. decent selection of beer and friendly staff.

a delicious diner experience. people meander about, catching my eyes. cheering and talking fill my ears. the smell of delicious food overwhelms my senses.

the garage is a well-known restaurant snugly fit into the row of restaurants and shops on main street in norman, oklahoma’s small, historic downtown. since its beginning in 2010, the garage has earned a stellar reputation in the oklahoma city area, including unstoppable word-of-mouth raves and the number four ranking for norman cheap eats on urbanspoon.com.

walking into the restaurant for the first time on a recent weeknight, i saw people enjoying their food in all the booths and half of the tables. families with small children, dating couples, professionals of all ages, sports fans, and college students all seemed to enjoy their food and the energetic environment.

the restaurant has the dark, intimate feel of a sportsbarin the front and, in the back, the family-friendly feel of a diner, including an english-style phone booth for pictures, arcade games, and skee ball. to complete the sportsbartheme, fifteen televisions all over the restaurant show different sports games, news stations, and old movies. because of the restaurant’s long, shotgun construction style, the two different dining sections are separated enough to make it feel like two different restaurants.

as the name would suggest, the garage is themed after cars and highways. walking through the restaurant makes you feel like you are going on a road-trip down route 66. pictures of sleek shelby gt mustangs line the walls. vintage road signs and diner-style decorations hang above each booth. in the back, license plates from all over america cover an entire wall.

now, for the important part, the food arrived quickly. i ordered the fish and chips from the kid’s menu, which came with two pieces of fish each the size of a fist, a fountain drink, and a popsicle for less than six dollars. the fish was deliciously greasy. the well-seasoned french fries filled my basket to the brim and were made perfect with a side of ketchup. the only thing that i was missing was sweet tea instead of regular tea.

all of the menu items are very well priced for college students or families. the most expensive item on the menu is “the big g” burger for $7.50 that comes with two meat patties. the menu includes typical american dishes with a spin. any of the burgers can be made out of angus beef, bison, a garden burger for vegetarians, and a turkey burger. for a gluten-free option, you can simply make it a lettuce wrap burger.

the burger add-on options cost a little more, but they give the burger a unique flavor. for a little extra money, you can add sour cream, salsa, cheese, bacon, avocado, slaw, fried eggs, or hatch green chiles. the tacos have the same protein options and are served with chips and salsa.

if you enjoy eating at chili’s, red robin, or bj’s, you will enjoy the cheaper and equally delicious food at the garage. to fans of cheap, delicious, american food, sportsbaratmospheres, 1950s diner experiences, and good service, i wholeheartedly recommend the garage.

this place has great burgers but a seriously flawed ordering process. on a busy friday or saturday night, it takes way too long to wait just to place an order and then wait again for a spot to sit. plus, there is no oversight or control and huge groups come in and cut the lines to join "friends" already in line. one cashier only to take orders makes this place too tedius. then if you want a drink from the bar, that's a seperate order process and second payment process. get it together, guys.


-----11 sep, 2012-----

great burgers. been passing this place since it opened and it is always packed. we went here last sunday afternoon around 4 and there was no crowd or wait to get in. the atmosphere is great. i agree that the ordering concept is very disjointed and it would be better if you could be seated, look at a menu and then order. but - the buffalo slaw burger was out of this world and the sweet potato fries were amazing. the food we tried outweighed the effort of the awkward ordering. thebarlooked cool but didn't try any beer or drinks. will definitely go back and will root for them to improve the service aspect to equal the food quality. edmond needs more "non-chain" casual dining like this.

wouldn't go back. a group of women tried to go the garage to eat and visit. there were only two handicap parking spaces in the lot, a line to stand in to order (we do that at mcdonalds) and children running around. we wanted to visit, couldn't hear ourselves think over the very loud music and left. our group wouldn't be going back. this is obviously isn't adult dinning, yet they have abarand serve beer. we went somewhere else, had a great lunch and could hear each other talk. and we weren't run over by kids who parents turn them loose....get a grip parents, we didn't go to have to put up with your kids!

great burgers, nasty fries. i've been to the garage twice now with friends. we all had a different entree & were in agreement that the garage is a hit. second visit today, and i tried the beef cheeseburger & asked for a few jalapeños on the side. this seemingly simple request threw a wrench in their day. when said burger was brought to the table it was covered in grilled jalapeños. i scaped 3/4 of them off & it was pure deliciousness. my lunch mate had fish & chips. this consisted of three smallish fried fish pieces on top of some undercooked fries. nothing special there.
my fries must have been sitting on the bottom of the basket for a while. they were cold, over seasoned and extremely soggy. blah. i sent them back & asked for my $$ back. no problems.
no drinks at lunch today, but they have a good full servicebarthat we enjoyed on our first visit. i like the garage and support local always! please continue to work on consistency & those fries.

on my, 1-10 i give it a 0 nastybarfood not worth the wasted time or money
not recommended for kids or family's

nice place, will try again. the good: great food, fast service, great selection of beers, nice atmosphere.

the bad: the whole ordering food in the front/sit down/barkeep comes and takes drink order is way confusing. two different tabs, two different tips... just kind of a cluster.

great place!. this was our second attempt at going to the garage since it opened. the place is very, very busy and rightly so - exceptional burgers, great drinks, fun atmosphere and kid-friendly.

as noted by a few others, the ordering process is a bit off. not as efficient as it could be and a bit confusing for sure - my guess is that the garage will iron this out in the future. we didn't know that there is a full-servicebarin the back, for example. (pleasant surprise!)

the burgers were exceptionally well done - great toppings and simply a wonderful onion burger. my kids had the cheeseburger (very good) and the fish-n-chips (okish). my wife tried one of the the fresh-squeezed grapefruit / orange drinks and thought it was fantastic for a hot ok day.

we'd recommend going to the garage at unusual hours to help beat the crowds. not recommended (at this time) for larger groups due to the seating system and simply how busy the place is now that it's open. thebarlooks to be one of the best options to grab a high-end beer on the west side of edmond .

this place has a lot of potential. the food was good and the environment was great. desert sucked, definetly a frozen box desert. thebarwas awesome, but way to expensive. sweet potato fries were the best i have ever had. the burger was good,(enough) worth $6. i had the ranch avocado burger, it was lacking in any zing it like the restuant has a lot of potential. overall had a good experience, i'll go back. i'm hoping once they have been open a little longer they will realise their potential.