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....theserviceon 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 bring back the 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.

go somewhere else.. a few friends and i recently went here for the first time because another friend raved about it. the experience was definitely not worth the money. management has packed way, way, way too many seats into the area and the crowd makes it almost impossible to sit comfortably. we requested inside seating but instead ended up getting seated outside where half of the table was facing due west and couldn't see the other half because the sun was in out eyes, and one side of the table was sitting on a wall where the other side was in chairs that skirted the very activeservicelane. we asked to be re-seated and instead one of the waiters just said to get some sunglasses. eventually we managed to convince the older lady working in front to re-seat us, but she was pretty rude about it. since it's a popular place to eat with the snowbirds and out-of-towners, my guess is that they can get away with being rude because they are going to get clients anyway. the food was way, way overpriced ($30+ for grouper and some mashed potatoes with veggies?) and wasn't really good. after talking with a few other people about it afterwards, they had comparable experiences as well. definitely not a re-visit for me.

best patio dining. food is good, bread and famous garlic probably a bit better, but the patio makes it all worthwhile. great place if you are in the mood for italian and the weather is nice.serviceis always friendly. only negative is the house red wine, you're probably better off ordering one of the lesser priced bottles than a full carafe of the montepulciano.

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 ofserviceshe 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 be back at 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 am one of the pickiest eaters on the planet. i cannot recommend this place enough! great atmosphere, great wait staff, greatserviceand delicious food!

after hearing good things about this place we finally stopped by for dinner on a weekday night. atmosphere was great andservicewas strong. but this place fell short on the food portions, flavors, and prices. having grown up in ny i'm used to a nice size bowl of pasta with just about anything! chicken parm had 1 small breast on top of an oregano drowned tomato pasta sauce with a small serving of linguine. we also ordered a puttanesca that was nearly inedible due to the salt content from all the olives and capers. very disappointing considering the bill was $50 for the 2 of us with no drinks.

we are snowbirds and travel throughout florida for the 4 bad winter months.  we get to the garlic at least 4 times each year.  we love the place even before we eat.  the food is ok.  i read several coments complaining that theservicewas slow.  everywhere we go we like it when theserviceis slow.  as long as we have a martini we are not in a big hurry. we usually sit at the bar.  i advise those complainers: slow down and smell the vodka.

best ambiance and great food!. i do not understand the 78% 'like' as the ambiance is incredible and the food andservicewas great! their wood fired freestanding oven gives a nice smokey flavor to the dishes cooked in the oven. in addition to pasta, they had some great specialty dishes that you rarely see not see in this area:
- the oven cooked bacon wrapped peppercorn filet with burgundy sauce was out of this world!!
- my wife had the very lightly breaded chilean sea bass and again it was out of this world, perhaps the best sea bass ever!
- the oven roasted veggies were the best ever!
- the oven roasted olives and garlic was a unique appetizer
- they served very good loaves of crusty italian bread and baked garlic as a free appetizer
- the dinners included a garden salad and for a small uncharge a fantastic caesar salad!

it should be rated 100%!!

great setting.serviceand food are subpar.. folks say this is a good italian restaurant for the u.s. perhaps if you have never been to nyc, san francisco, philly, or st st louis you might think so. perhaps if your benchmark is cheap chain food that purports to be italian.
this is based on three visits as a guest of others who rave about this place.

while the atmosphere is lovely, theservicelacks decency let alone dignity and knowledge. the food, like chain food, focuses on quantity rather than fresh simple food that is the hallmark of u.s. italian food.

while the oven roasted vegetables and garlic are quite good, the remainder of the food is not. the beef is priced like prime, but it is grocery store quality. given that nsb is a fishing town, it is disappointing that the seafood is not fresh and local. as for the red sauce, you are better off opening a bottle of rao's or a can of san marzano.

while the restaurant is popular, so is mcdonalds and dennys. pass.

a must eat at place. had a great meal at the garlic and theservicewas great . the price of some items are a little high but worth it in the end.. and the food was to die for.

rude rude rude. everyone working there is rude . slowserviceand they make you feel like you're inconviencing them anytime you ask for something . not child friendly . they have a kids menu and highchairs but very obviously don't like children there . tables are so close together you may as well talk to your neighbor in the seat next to you . not worth the headache .

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. coming back i 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 andservicewe 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

great food poor service. i live in nsb and love the food and ambiance of the garlic. i also recommend it to friends and folks from out of town. two things that i feel i need to express my opinion about are your rude and pompous manager who almost knocked me down at the hostess stand when i was there on mother's day with my daughter and we overheard him speaking loudly and roughly to other costumes as well as servers. he might manage well but definitely is not a people person. the other complaint i have is with the service, both in the bar where they seem to think they're doing you a favor to wait on you and you have to practiacally wave them down for a drink and the servers who are not very attentive, do not check to see if you need anything like water or wine or cheese for your food. putting the specials on a lasagna noodle is cute but impossible to read in the dark.( we had no candle on our table the last time i was there) and i was embarrassed about theservicein front of my friend from out of town. you have a wonderful resturant, don't let it go down the drain due to these things. a local resident

general manager?. love the atmosphere, and the food andservicewas not bad, but whats up with the one armed man who is the general manager? he loudly berated and cursed at a waiter near our table. when the meal was over a girl in our party mentioned it to him and he basically gave her a lecture that went on and on, and then loudly complained about her to a group of other customers standing near by, with her still standing there. he repeated himself to this captive audience loudly, saying things like "haven't they heard the f-bomb before, or seen "goodfellas"?, -three times. on the way out she mentioned the incident to some others waiting for a table. these people were regulars and said that we should complain because this guy pulls this crap frequently.

food has been amazing each time my boyfriend and i have been.servicehas always been exceptional. andy is a splendid server and bartender. fried chicken marsala is to die for. it isn't on the menu, but it came highly recommended and was amazing!!