the garlic

what happenened?. this used to be one of my favorite restaurants. last 2 visits left me sad. first...let's turn the lights on after closing and really give the place a good scrub down. second....the service on my last visit was so disappointing. my wine....which should arrive during appetizers or at least before dinner did not arrive until my dinner was just about finished. i promptly returned it. i was offered a free desert however, but declined.

appetizers were good, but once again arrived same time as dinner. meal temperatures were not as expected and would have been returned if we were not already there waiting so long to get served.

please bringbackthe old garlic i remember so well. i hope i am patient enough to give it another try.

please bring snack the garlicnthat i fondly remember.

do not go to this restaurant and bar if you’re self conscious!!! it’ll detrimentally affect your mental health. i have never been “fat-shamed” in my life until this emotionally deteriorating experience by the bartender. i was approached and verbally attacked for my weight. yes!! apparently fat-shaming is a thing. disgusted by the way i was treated by a staff member will surly not keep me from comingbackbecause i respect this business however, i will steer clear from the blue bar which is unfortunate because that is my favorite part of the entire place.

i reached out to management prior to posting this review publicly and the response was the tiniest paragraph, ending with “hope to see you again soon!” which came across as not caring about their ethics of employees. some of the staff here are extremely rude.

review of two halves. i have eaten here on many different occasions. the food is good; some dishes are excellent. it is a lovely setting and i would return. i very much enjoy spending an evening at the garlic!

second half.......

service or lack of ruined a great meal. now again, i have been to the garlic several times and this incident has been a one off. the server was terrible: drinks left empty for the entire meal, no courtesy checkups during the meal, bread was ordered but didn't show up, just a general lack of common courtesy. this particular server did her very best just to avoid doing her job. when confronted about her lack of service she became very defensive and rude. asked for a manager. the manager helped defuse the situation, offered us a free drink. we declined as we just wanted to escape and put the ordeal behind us. it was a shame that a representative of the business could make a meal so miserable.

i think and hope this is just a one off experience as i do enjoy the garlic. like i have stated i will bebackat the garlic, but i cannot say the rest of the party will be return to the garlic, this server has lost them business!

i would have slapped myself if i had of served myself that badly at a buffet.

i don't know how this place could get a bad review, it gets busy so the wait is the only bad thing but it is sooooo worth it. first off the place is so romantic and beautiful and truly unique, go at night and you will never forget this place. the serve roasted garlic to spread on the yummy french bread and it is delish!! the seafood is so good and the portions are perfect. i had the scallops and shrimp scampi and was very happy, scallops were done perfect. my boyfriend had the ribeye cooked in the stone oven and he said it was incredible, i had a bite and the flavor was so good, it wasn't as rare as he wanted but he still devoured it. my girlfriend had the chicken and goat cheese and she said it was amazing. my friend had the seafood stew and i've never seen so much fresh seafood in one bowl i was jealous! this place i will gobackagain, for sure is amazing!!!

my visit was @ july 7,2014. i waited to write this review because i thought my opinion would mellow over time but when it comes down to it a disappointing meal at a local supposed area iconic restaurant needs to be posted. it was a birthday celebration for a friend and reservations were made way in advance so there is no excuse for management to assign only one waiter with what i might say was at best "occasional helpers" to serve @ 16 people (there may have been more) i ordered a glass of wine and an appetizer (which i no longer see on the menu or it may have been a special ) and a mediocre amount of wine in my glass. the complimentary bread with roasted garlic arrived and was quickly drowned in balsamic vinegar which was a shame. salads ordered started coming out so i asked where my appetizer was. will check on it was said. my friends tomato basil bruschetta arrived and as was the roasted garlic drowned in balsamic and in edible with the bread soaked and limp with vinegar. (what is up with the balsamic here!!) it was taken off their check. our cesar salad came out "family style" so since 4 of us next to one another ordered it a friend divided it up into 4 servings. someone at he other end of the table asked where their cesar salad was and the waiter asked us where the salad was. umm here on 4 plates which were not large servings by any means (and are a up charge added to your meal) we were shocked that he thought the plate he brought was supposed to serve 8!! i asked @ my appetizer. "oh how was that?" i said has not arrived ...yet. he camebackshortly with it and said it has been up there but nobody picked it up. i thought would have been the waiter since i asked twice before or do we self serve also?! needless to say it was cold so i quickly shared it around and moved on refusing to wait longer for a new one. geesh. my pork osso buco was the saving grace which was great. it took forever for refills or water so a pitcher of water was left with us i assume easy way out. the check was misplaced for my friend who's birthday it was. i was shocked at such poor service, food arriving that was badly prepared even going unnoticed, bad excuses, and from a supposed iconic pricey famous restaurant. a lesson in how to lose 16 plus customers in one fell swoop. there were other inappropriate comments and poorly prepared food like my friend across from me showing me the watery sauce pour away from his pasta dish but this review is already too long and sad.


-----21 oct, 2014-----

i have to say i was excited when a friend announced he was having his birthday celebration at the garlic since years ago i ate there and it was awesome. this date was july 7, 2014 and the reason i waited so long was i wanted to calmly think about how to rationally state how an iconic restaurant with a fantastic reputation could disappoint and have gone downhill so badly. my earlier visit my family drove and i think used valet, not sure but the parking nightmare was evident upon arrival. well i surrender easily and waited and waited for a valet to show up but when someone pulled out close by i jumped on the opportunity and parked. i found my friends and we proceeded to order, then the complimentary roasted garlic and bread came out and it was drowned in balsamic vinegar, yuck. i waited and waited and waited some more for my appetizer and finally flagged down our one waiter for a large party. said he would check on it, meanwhile salads started coming out. then a plate of cesar came out and dishes dropped near us " here's your cesar " three of us ordered cesar so we divided it up and began eating. meanwhile the other guests at the other end if the table asked where their cesar salads were , waiter came up and asked where the salad went, really? we divided it up by three and there were like 4 more servings needed ?!?! again i asked about appetizer and was told he would check. dinner came out and when i received mine i said just take the appetizer off my check. he asked "was it not good?" ummmm i never got it. he left and camebackwith my fried ravioli barely warm and he said " it was sitting up there, nobody picked it up" umm he was our only waiter so was i at fault for not picking it up? !?!? there was occasional other staff seen but not often by any means. dinner was good which was a saving grace, oso busco. one other thing i noticed was that my friend next to me ordered bruschetta which also came drowned in balsamic vinegar. teach that kitchen staff for crying out loud. it came off the check. to add insult to injury they could not find the check for the friend who's birthday it was. many negative reports from others in our party. reservations for this dinner were weeks in advance so planning was expected and it was a monday !!! go figure. needless to say the garlic turned into the disappointment sorry to say.

even gordon ramsay couldn't save the garlic from it's "manager".... the so called "managing partner" might be missing more than one arm - there's something wrong with this guy. i was with the party of 4 (that drove all the way from tampa) mentioned in "nightmare on e. 3rd ave" on september 20th when this poor excuse for a human being came to our table and reversed every decision the server at our table tried to make to accommodate my family. i felt sorry for her but then i realized she probably helped instigate the manager's decisions by not fully explaining our situation. i tried to get two words out of my mouth when he approached our table and couldn't before he cut me off before i could ask:

"why doesn't the hostess taking names explain to customers who ask for the first available table that if you are seated outside the main building and closer to the other bar where the entertainers are that there is a different and separate menu?"

he wouldn't let me say anything and immediately cut me off and said "if you aren't happy with the table, the menu, or anything else you can just leave because he has 700 other customers that would be happy with their wonderful selections from this menu." it was almost rehearsed...as if he's heard it all before. well if he has - then why doesn't the owner address the issue and fix the problem rather than let the fugitive drag the restaurant down with him. he basically said they "don't have time" to tell every customer there are two menus. really? - then put a sign up explaining the menu / seating situation and provide an explanation on their web site about their menus. is it really that difficult to explain how your restaurant works? even bahama breeze tells you with signs and their servers that there's a limited menu when you sit outside after 4 pm. i saw only one menu on their website, found what i wanted to order and was disappointed to learn after we were seated and had menus that if we wanted the other menu we would have to gobackon the waiting list to sit at the other part of the restaurant. the hostess even offered to put us at the top of the list but the "managing partner" as he described himself said that wasn't going to happen. (we've been told by other locals that he's not even close to being a partner) who would assume when dining out that any restaurant has two menus? unless you're a local and have been to the garlic how would you know unless you found out the hard way like we did.

as explained in the previous review, we were seated in a small u shaped booth with very little room for drinks let alone the plates. we got the same lame type of excuse when he made the same ridiculous defense of the inadequate table we were seated at by over compensating - explaining how wonderful the entertainment is, the entree selections in the (outside dining) menu and he sounded like he was doing us a favor by being seated in such a fine dining establishment and his presence. after putting up with his rudeness and disrespect toward my elderly parents and family, we decided to order as it was too late to go anywhere else on a rainy saturday night. i ordered the salmon dish (not my first choice - it was on the "other" menu) which was dried out, bland, and mediocre at best. unknown to my parents and myself at the time, profanity was used in an encounter away from our table but after the way he disrespected my family it was well deserved.

it's a shame that a restaurant with such a good reputation has to be shackled with the mediocrity of mismanagement. as long as that "manager" is employed there i will never return and could not recommend it to anyone i know. i've never been thrown out of a restaurant before but it was certainly an eye opening experience that yes, there are people that have jobs that should not be in them. finally, even gordon ramsay could not save this kitchen nightmare. i hope the owners wake up and can this one armed bandit because he's robbing the reputation of this establishment. judging from other reviews i've read - i'm not alone in what we experienced.

nightmare on e. 3rd avenue. the owner should be ashamed of his behavior if he has any shame.
we had taken my boyfriend's elderly parents out for their 56th anniversary. having experienced this restaurant on one prior occasion i thought "what a perfect place".
however; what we experienced is unfathomable.
to begin; i would add that on the poor health of both parents, mom having battled cancer 3 times (most recent lung cancer with a lobe removed, dad having a recent previous stroke). each are on incredible amounts of necessary medications. with this we reviewed their menu at home on line having our choices already planned including calling ahead to see if we could make reservations which we were told no only parties of 10. i then asked when is the best time to arrive to avoid a long wait explaining our circumstance. we were told by 6 and we did, we arrived by 6 coming from ormond beach.
after waiting over an hour in a packed standing room only (fire marshal would have closed the place) we were taken to our table which was outside in a section i did not know exist and were seated at a very small inadequate table for 4 adults next to a bar.
our server brought us menus and asked if we needed drinks. we ordered waters and had to shuffle things off the table to make room for them.
already feeling somewhat confused, annoyed at the long wait, small table and lack of ambiance i said to the server, is this the right menu? something about it was not like my first experience which was a few months back. she said that there was a different menu on this side and proceeded to bring us the full menu from the other. this smaller version lacked what we had already chosen at home. we then asked to order from this menu and was told we could not as they have 2 kitchens that are separate. annoyed even further we sat in disbelief and disgust at what our options now were. we were told that we could leave the table and again be placed on the waiting list. well this was not an option as it is now nearing 7:30 parents need to eat and take their meds. mom asked; well then could we at least move to a larger table which 2 were open on each side to us. our server said sure, i'll get it cleaned. btw, we did order 2 glasses of wine and 2 iced teas for the parents which were on the table our glasses of water had to be placed behind us on a shelf to make room. as we were reviewing the new and much smaller menu the next thing we knew we were being greeted by a one-armed man who came over and said "i hear there is a problem"? as we were trying to explain he kept rudely interrupting and it was clear we were not going to have our say. he ranted and was on the defense as if rehearsed while continuing to verbally assault and insult us, tossing the menu around saying how wonderful this menu is and if we don't like it we could have our 2 glasses of wine on him and find another restaurant as he has 150 customers backed up waiting for a table and walked away. our server returned taking our order and we asked again could we please move. she now said her manager told her no, the tables were for parties of 6. prior there were 4 seated and after there was a party of 5 at one and 4 at the other. now we all are completely fumed.
our dinners arrived and certainly lacked appeal. i had to excuse myself to the ladies room. as i headed out i arrived at a narrow walkway having to wait for another person to pass and standing next to me was the one-armed so called manager / managing partner as he so boldly informed us earlier.
in a very crass tone he said to me i know you must be thoroughly enjoying your meal tonight. i replied; (can't use profanity) i have never been so rudely treated and embarrassed and that you have ruined our evening to just leave us alone and i proceeded on. comingbacki requested to speak to perhaps a manager above him only to be told that this one-armed jerk tossed us out. he sent 4 servers to our table and told them they had to go. they began grabbing our food, drinks everything. one grabbed mom's iced tea and she said to stop and that she needed that as she had to take her medication, he replied; you have your water. next i understand the one armed bully was back, grabbed dad's plate of food and they both had a match of who would win. dad said let go of my food, he would not so he tossed it.
i was speechless. never and i mean never have i nor should anyone ever be treated with such disrespect. this manager/managing partner (cannot even say "man") should be reported. this was elderly abuse denying an ill person and tossing them out.
i dare anyone reading who may contemplate dining here attempt to complain. i am considering contacting the news journal and anyone else who will listen as i have read other reviews like mine. he is a bully, and the fire marshal should be placed on notice as i am confident this night was in clear violation and certainly a potential danger to the patrons.
also upon our arrival and observing our surroundings it was clear that if you are a regular from nsb you get special treatment. this was very obvious...
happily mark and i were able to turn a horrible experience into a wonderful celebration by taking his parents to saint augustine the next day to the columbia. hats off to them as they are truly professionals and we cannot express enough about the food and service we received. let this be a lesson to those at the garlic...
it should be noted; this all may have been avoided had we been informed that where we were being seated has a different menu.
shame on you

june 13, 2014 dining experience. this was one of our favorite places to dine, however....the last few times we ate here, the food was below acceptable. we came to the restaurant on friday to celebrate our friends birthday. we ordered 2 bottles of wine, appetizers, drinks, our meals and dessert. two of us ordered the filet oscar, which was one of our favorites. the food came out not even warm, but cold!!! one bite and the potatoes tasted like someone scooped them out of the refrigerator and plunked the barely warm steak on top! it took a while for our waiter to come back, he did and then not even 5 minutes later (you cannot cook a new steak that fast), the second round was delivered. barely warm again!!
this time, i got up and asked to speak to the manager. well....that in itself was an experience. where on earth did the owners find this guy? he came up to me with an arrogant attitude. i explained that we are regulars and what happened.
he went on to say...."well, this steak in orlando would be $45.00!" who's talking price here? what part of cold food didn't he understand? if i was the owner of the garlic, this guy would be out! my one friend ate his meal even though cold....i was so turned off by then, i didn't want to eat. they brought me a veal oscar in place of my steak. they adjusted the bill by one meal! really????

give me a break! we still paid almost $200 for everything and i never ate. being a former restaurant owner, this is very alarming to me. not only was this a terrible experience getting cold food, but the manager was an arrogant ass! he's too busy trying to sing "happy birthday," to customers, rather than making sure the food is coming out of the kitchen correctly.

i'll probably comebacksome day...but for now...i've had my fill of expensive cold food!

all about the experience. your experience at the garlic starts before you are even seated as you walk through the entryway into the restaurant. otherwise, your experience is all about the ambiance, which is very neat and creates a unique atmosphere that is very enjoyable. the food and prices of the food, however, do not quite measure up. the prices, given the quality and quantity of the food you get, are a bit overpriced. all in all, the garlic is still a solid dining option in nsb and i'll continue to gobackon occasion.

they've lost that lovin feeling. ok, so there aren't many places for a great meal in nsb, so the first time at garlic was certainly a welcome dining experience. but they definitely need to learn a thing or two about customer service. i've beenback3-4 times -- as i said, there are few good restaurants in nsb, and i'm traveling from outside the state -- and each time was a seating nightmare. last time our party waited for nearly an hour, after being told it would only be a 30 minute wait. this despite knowing that my party had two people with disabilities. then i recently tried to buy and ship some of their ceramics, and you would have thought that i was asking them to break into the federal reserve. they were utterly and completely unaccommodating, rude and dismissive. so buy it when you see it (despite the ridiculously high prices) because there's no hope of getting anything shipped. i give them a d -- damned good garlicky food if you don't mind detestable service and despicable treatment.

love this place!. i'm so surprised to see some bad reviews on this place. maybe a bad server that night for them, but we drive from melbourne just to come here for dinner. it's got a great atmosphere, love the live music, cindy was our server and she rocked! made the experience even better, and love oil and vinegar on the salad that people are bitchin' about.....and love the garlic they serve. very busy place because it is so good, but we will certainly bebackagain and again! food is great!

great choice. this was our first visit to the garlic on a recommendation from a long time lover of the restaurant. it did not disappoint. love the ambiance - live music that was playing - service. we will definitely gobackfor the filet mignon meatball :) p.s. if you don't like oil and vinegar as your dressing choice - you might not like the salad, however, we loved it. this is one of our new nsb favorites and we will go back.

ugh! i took a friend of mine to eat tonight and well all i can say is this. our server was horrible, the temp inside was very warm and it smelled. our server ever camebackto check in us after our dinner was served, he spilled the wine on the table which okay fine but then he left without cleaning then up. we ordered the garlic soup which should have just been called potato soup. the garlic earned their name years ago but instead of trying to do everything possible to keep high standards they just counted on their reputation. i'll never go back.

very touristy. service reflects that. we had eight people in our party. they told us ut woykd be 45 minutes to an hour wait. we decided to wait in parking lot just ourside front entrance due to no seating available in waiting area and extreme heat. we cameback20 min later to check on progress , only to find out that they already gave our table away! we waited again for about twenty min. i ordered a mefium rare filet mignon. it was cold when i received my dish. i asked waiter to make another( in the meantime everyone else was almost done eating) he camebackwith same steak well done.... i declined. very dissapointing, this place is a goldmine due to many tourists but they do not care about individual:(

over priced. a co-worker ranted and raved about this restaurant, so i decided to take a friend there for his birthday. the name "the garlic" should have said it all! while, i do like garlic, and enjoy the flavor when used in moderation, the food was so loaded with garlic that we both were literally sick to our stomachs from the smell. i ordered the salmon, which was tasty, and not too og'd, he ordered two different meals, the first was some type of fish with a sauce over it (can't remember the name of the dish) but he said it was disgusting, so i decided to try it...it really was disgusting. then he ordered the sea bass, which was highly recommended by the waitress....well, by the time his food arrived, i had already eaten mine. he proceeded to eat his sea bass...the look on his face was priceless! it was so loaded with garlic, and was sitting on a bed of garlic mashed potatoes, which were also loaded with garlic!! he started gagging!! so, needless to say, we had the waitress take thatbackalso, and he decided not to try another dish. i paid for my meal, and we left. on the up side, the bread that they give you on the table was fresh (minus that big hunk of garlic to dip it in)-- overall, the garlic was overpriced, and not worth the money. if you just love garlic, then i guess it's the place to be, if not.....beware!!!