the garlic

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 thetablewas facing due west and couldn't see the other half because the sun was in out eyes, and one side of thetablewas sitting on a wall where the other side was in chairs that skirted the very active service lane. 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.

garlic (allium sativum) had been used since the beginning of recorded human history.  in the middle ages the church used garlic to conduct ceremonies in order to keep away evil spirits, which included fighting off demonic possession, werewolves, and yes vampires. 

the garlic is a small family owned restaurant between daytona and cocoa beach florida that will provide you with an authentic taste of the tuscan countryside that gives large pieces of roasted garlic and bread as a starter to everytablefrom their il forno wood fired oven. they go through 1000 pounds of garlic each month. complementary valet, large patio seating, and an impeccable old and new world wine list. as a fun fact, china accounts for 20% of the worlds supply of garlic.

feature dishes: roasted il forno garlic, harlot’s cheese, bocce balls, pretzel brownie
read more here

this place sucks....period. they told us 45 minutes for atableand we at 1 hour and 15 minutes. the food is okay but not worth the wait. there are plenty of other options in the area. do not waste your time!!!!

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 thetableasked 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 came back shortly 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 thetableasked 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 came back with 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 ourtableand reversed every decision the server at ourtabletried 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 ourtableand 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 availabletablethat 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 go back on 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 inadequatetablewe 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 ourtablebut 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 ourtablewhich was outside in a section i did not know exist and were seated at a very small inadequatetablefor 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 thetableto make room for them.
already feeling somewhat confused, annoyed at the long wait, smalltableand 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 thetableand 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 largertablewhich 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 thetableour 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 atableand 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 ourtableand 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

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 ourtablethe last time i was there) and i was embarrassed about the service in 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

disappointed. i've never written a review of any kind before but i feel my story needs to be told. if for anything just so this won't happen to anyone else that visits this restaurant.

just some background...i work in a restaurant. i cook in one six days a week. i know how hard they are to operate and control. the owner or manager cannot fix every problem on a busy night, and sometimes the staff can get overwhelmed. all you can hope for is consistency.

maybe it is just me. i have bad luck with restaurants. it rained on my birthday there. every person i came in contact with had nothing but rave reviews for this place. i was always told you have three levels of italian: olive garden, carabba's, and the garlic. this was the place to be.

i went to celebrate my birthday on the first saturday i have had off in over a year. after calling to make a reservation i was told we needed a party of 10 or more and that normally their policy is first come, first serve. i understood that. we wanted to eat outside and enjoy the ambiance. that is why you go to the garlic-for the atmosphere. we were told to wait an hour so we did quietly and patiently.

forty-five minutes to an hour later we were finally told ourtablewas ready. it was 3 feet away from where we were currently waiting in a high traffic area. the previous family sitting there got soaking wet from the rain and had to abandon it. we asked if we could sit anywhere else. the hostess told us to either take thetableor wait another 45 minutes. we chose to wait and watched as the next party sat down only to abandon it five minutes later from the downpour of rain. a gutter was overflowing adjacent to the table-a lovely spot to enjoy a meal.

finally one of us walked over to the staff and let them know our current situation. they listened and agreed with us but nothing more was done. we said we would take anything, inside or out. at this point we didn't care. we just wanted to sit down.

table aftertablewas sat while we waited directly in the line of vision of the hostess behind her stand. eventually the other hostess saw our party and realized she had forgotten about us. she walked over and told us that we needed to "keep showing our face so they wouldn't forget about us." this is the best part. she actually motioned her hand around her face while telling us this in a patronizing manner. we were dumbfounded. then someone else told us atablewas opening after they had dessert. we were 6 hungry people waiting on a 7th person. we were then told if ourtablewas for 7 and that member did not show up they would forfeit our table. unbelievable. we called the 7th and told her not to show up. finally as we made our way inside the hostess told us to hurry and follow her incase they changed their mind. who are "they"? why would "they" change their mind? it is our fault we waited quietly for over 2 hours to be abused by the wait staff?

no restaurant is that good. no one should be treated like that. i don't care if you restaurant has 3 michelin stars. no one should have to beg to be seated.

when the waiter asked how we were we sat defeated and shocked that something like this could happen to us. he had no idea what we went through. eventually things got better. the server was upbeat and attentive. the cioppino was phenomenal in a saffron broth. we joked about our experience as we dipped our bread in roasted garlic and devoured our meals.

keep in mind the garlic is expensive. we spent over $500 between the six of us. it's a place to enjoy a special occasion outside with family and friends. i wish i had that same experience. at least it ended on a high note. maybe i'll give this restaurant another chance if i ever have another day off but for now i won't be going back. i can always go to carabba's. they give you a beeper while you wait. you don't have to continually "show them your face."

poor management. we went to the garlic on a whim. we were on a bike ride and decided to stop because the outdoor dining area was beautiful. our server was very nice but seemed like he had too many tables. the roasted garlic and salads were boring but edible. the real problem began when our entrees took 45+ minutes to arrive and while my veggie pomodoro was average, my husband's filet oscar was lukewarm and just not good. the steak was ordered rare, so yes, the center should be cool, but he did not order the crab topping, sauce, mashed potatoes and asparagus rare. when i alerted the manager to the problem he asked if he could "heat it up" for us: are you kidding me?!
1. the only way to "heat up" a filled steak is in the microwave. disgusting. 2. the steak was rare so to heat it up in any way would leave you with a steak that is no longer rare. i worked my way through college in one of the finest steak houses in orlando and if i had ever suggested to atablethat i would fix their improperly cooked steak by "heating it up" for them, i would have been fired or at least chewed out on the spot. the server was very apologetic but the management clearly does not care if they churn out sub-par, yet overpriced food because there are just enough tourists and weekenders to keep them in business. this local will not be back.

i went to this restaurant with a large party the other night. the ambiance was very nice and the musician playing was very good. everyone had high hopes since we had heard great things about the food. the food overall was very bland. there were dishes that friends didn't even eat because it was not good (seafood scampi, chicken marsala, and another seafood dish). the service is what made the experience worse though... our waitress, cristin p. was not attentive and had an attitude the entire night. i ordered water which was empty after bread, and never refilled after that. there were a couple others at our party who had the same problem. when we looked to see where she was, she was sitting at atableacross the room. she also told us salads were included, then added an upcharge for caesars. she did not state they were extra. a 20% gratuity charge was included on our bills which explains why she didn't seem to care about her service. many people from our group have worked or still work in the food industry and agreed that this was probably the case. the manager was equally rude (peter), stating the waitress was not in the wrong for not telling us about the salad upcharge. besides the ambiance, do not go here if you are interested in good food or even just decent customer service!

our experience at the garlic. we ate at the garlic on recommendation from a friend. went for the early bird special as the reviews gave us notice of high prices. we chose to sit outside despite the shower that had passed a half hour before. my son's seat was still wet when he sat down. had he noticed he would have taken a different side of the table. as it turns out, that would have been the thing to do. shortly after our meals came, a waiter came by ourtableand proceeded to unwind the canopy above us to let the sun in. well, as he did that, my son (and his food) was showered with not only water, but plenty of dead little bugs. it was absolutely disgusting. the fellow did apologize and said he was only doing what he was told to do. our waitress came over and offered to get my son a new meal, which of course he accepted. i think the right thing would have been for a manager to come over and apologize and perhaps offer to comp his meal. we really could have made a scene. i know after that i lost my appetite. on top of it, i was charged full price for an early bird meal, but to her defense our waitress did make good on that. as far as the food goes, we all thought the meals we ordered were delicious. the crushed garlic with the bread went nice with the salad. my husband had the filet minon, i had the eggplant parm and my son had the bocce ball. have nothing bad to say about the meals, except the prices are definitely too high. will we go back? probably not. the image of dead bugs in and around my sons meal is one we won't soon forget.

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 came back to check in us after our dinner was served, he spilled the wine on thetablewhich 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.

great place in nsb. i have been to the garlic several times. i love the atmosphere out on the patio on a nice night. great place for date night or with a small group of friends.

only watch out is do not order the salad as entree. its basically some lettuce with olives and your only choice of dressing is the oil/vinegar that is on thetable(or they will charge you extra to bring some ceasar dressing)....... huh? that is just weird to me.... how bout some italian dressing, balsamic vinegarette, blue cheese, ranch... c'mon.... they were nice enough to remove it from the bill because it was very apparent that we were not happy with that selection. so they did make it right. but do yourself a favor and just don't order it. unless of course you like boring oil/vinegar....8)

good happy hour monday-fri till 7pm

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 came back 20 min later to check on progress , only to find out that they already gave ourtableaway! 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 came back with same steak well done.... i declined. very dissapointing, this place is a goldmine due to many tourists but they do not care about individual:(

good food but no to the atmosphere /noise level. the food is fantastic, but if you want to talk to those at yourtablebe prepared to scream. very loud, not a good date place.