Garlic Clove Italian Eatery

The food is very good, although not hot enough, coffee lukewarm. Our servers were excellent, it’s quiet, prices are good and I like entrees with a choice of full size or half size. I would give it at least four stars except for one thing. I ordered a glass of «house» Cabernet and when the bill came, the cab was $ 10.95!!! Absurd to call that the house brand. That’s deceptive and we probably won’t go back.

Great portions and very welcoming ambience. The food tasted great and came out fairly quickly. The service was quick with bread and drinks. I loved the garlic in the olive oil for dipping the bread… yummy! My order was «Taste of Italy» and consisted of lasagna, eggplant parm, and fettuccine which will easily become another meal for me tomorrow. We all ended our meals with various desserts ranging from tiramisu to blueberry velvet cake to peach cobbler. Smiles all around!

We have ordered take out before and it was amazing. We stopped in last night for dinner and was very disappointed. Horrible service– the waiter was slow to get drinks and refills and was slow to check back after we got our food. Food– cold and incorrect. We even sent food back and was never asked if we wanted a fresh meal or if we wanted something in place of. Management– Seemed to be non existent. Will not be back, such a disappointment.

I called on Chef Jeff and the outstanding staff at The Garlic Clove to prepare a large order to feed over 100 students and adults at our Sunday night youth group. The salad, bread, Chicken Alfredo and spaghetti were a huge hit. Everyone loved it. If you need to satisfy a large group with a great meal this is the place you need to go.

This is definitely an «meh» kind of restaurant. It has a hole in the wall, small family owned sort of feel and I feel like it could be on one of those restaurant makeover type shows. The staff eats at the bar, talks loud enough the entire dining room can hear and lacks ambiance.
We were greeted at the door by a server wearing latex gloves and seated at an table with crumbs on the seats and a sticky table top. We’d never been to this restaurant so it could well been an oversight. The salad bar looked like it had seen better days and I stayed clear of that and the soup staton altogether. Pasta salad station in lukewarm holding temperatures is never good for anyone’s tummy.
Our server was the highlight of our meal. She’d been there for only 4 days but was on top of her game and very cordial. The food came out in record time (as I’d expect since we were the only table at 6:00 pm.)
Food wise, it was terribly disappointing. The veal separated from the breading and lacked flavor. The Varona Chicken is reminiscent of bad wedding food. I don’t mean to be insulting but perhaps this is not a recipe that the chef has created himself because I’ve had this at numerous bad country club weddings. There was nothing garlicky about it! Garlic cream is supposed to be creamy. What I got was a milky scampi mixed in with chicken strips made from rib meat. I took a few bites and wrapped up the rest to not make it so apparent that I was disappointed. I took it home and made my own Alfredo sauce to help boost the thickness.
Yuck. I have to mention we also didn’t take advantage of the Unilocal check-​in discount or 50% gift certificate offered. My husband felt they needed every penny they got to make improvements. We loved our server though! Joy was absolutely lovely and the only saving grace.

We came in before dinner and were the only ones in there at the time. I ordered the butter spaghetti smaller portion size and it was plenty. My friend tried the soup and salad bar. The bread was good and our food that we ordered came out fine. The food was great yet the service wasn’t so great. If we had a great server the experience would have been wonderful!!!

So I tried this place for lunch today because I heard they had a buffet. I went down there and when I saw the buffet I was disappointed. I did sit and try to give them the benefit of the doubt but as soon as I learned that the buffet was just 1 pasta and 3 different sauces to chose from I felt the sadness overcoming my excitement. The antipasto’s lacked seasoning and the basics like cheese and pepper. The pasta was missing flavor. The wait staff was good but seemed a bit snobby when they found out we were having the «buffet» and the cannoli’s were delicious.

I’ve eaten several times at the Garlic Clove, even before they moved. My last experience was okay, not exemplary. My beggar’s pouches with salmon was very good, as was my wife’s italian sampler (which I stole from). The only problems I had were the calimari were overcooked and rubbery. I understand this is not Greece where they slap the squid on rocks to rupture the cell membranes and then sun dry them for hours before they are ready to batter and fry. I’m sure they were frozen as were are a good drive from the ocean but could tell they were just plain over fried. I love calimari as you can tell. The tiramisu was very good, but they only had one slice left which I shared with my daughter. It’s a good decent resturant with a nice staff. You should try them out. Try the Beggars pouches!

Possibly the worst Italian food I’ve ever had. The ambiance is very poor & the location doesn’t lend itself to going there unless by accident.

Oh how I remember my days in Augusta and was glad I recently got to visit!
I decided to check this place out on my way to getting my hair done. The good– The place is actually owned by a chef who is also a pastor. I’m pretty sure that portions of his profits do go to the church, so I really just wanted to adore this place.
The bad: The place lacks quality. When it comes to Italian food, I would rather choose quality over quantity. The noodles actually tasted bad. How bad do you ask? It tasted like a box of boxed noodles were stashed in the back of the restaurant! The place is your typical strip mall set up. The Alfredo sause was also too thick! Have you ever tasted Alfredo sauce that actually resembles gravy?
The cannoli’s that I got for desert were a bit disappointing too.
I could also hear the staff talking in the back and they did not sound too thrilled about being at their place of employment. I don’t know what’s up with that and I know that not a lot of people like restaurant work, but there is a time and a place to talk about it. That time and place is not anywhere in the restaurant! When I hear and see a staff member that doesn’t want to be there, it kills my appetite.
Maybe if they stopped using boxed noodles and started making fresh noodles and moved into a place with a more room in the dining area, it would make the situation a lot better. But until then, there are a lot of other great options in the area. The Olive Garden is actually right down the street so I’ll be going there from now on.

Marsala was awesome. The bread sticks were delicious. The seating could be better, it feels a bit tight packed. So food is great, seating… Not so great.

Very good! Enjoyed our family dinner. Lots of food. Taking leftovers home for later.

One of the best restaurants in town considering «service», and the food was GREAT! It was obvious that the ingredients were fresh and it was not previously frozen (as some chain Italian restaurants). Excellent wine, as well.

Seated us as soon as we arrived. Friendly staff.
Calamari was good. Small portion was compatible to the price.
A little slow to bring bread and garlic oil. Waters were immediate, wine was forgotten until mentioned it a few times.
Dishes were well prepared. Sausage rustics and chicken and spinach with beggars pouches.
Food is always good.
Service is slow at best.

Our first experience here was pretty good. Veal parmesan and a pasta dish for myself. it wasn’t bad. Decided to grab some today to go for boyfriend, when we were in the restaurant to dine it took 20 mins for food. When I called for takeout said ready in 10 min. OK i got there, no one in the place except employees, and flies at the bar driving me nuts. Got the food, went straight home and fixed the plate. It was the toughest piece of veal ever! My boyfriend just pushed it away and said sorry. I can see why it was empty. So disappointed.

We have tasted the food of this place three times; once, treated by our neighbors, once, treated by our church, and once via their catering at an event. I want it said that I am grateful for the generosity of our good friends and community. The first experience was my best; I had their salad bar. To be truthful, though, Ruby Tuesday has them beat. Let that sink in and take it for what it is.
My second experience was with a group. I understand that in a small business, the quality of what you provide, especially in a time-​sensitive scenario, decreases as volume of distribution increases. It’s just the nature of the beast. However, I would not have expected the standards to dip as low as I witnessed. I very simply ordered this: Ceasar Salad with Salmon Fillet. A standard offering at any restaurant that ever wrote a menu in English since the invention of the Caesar Salad. Here’s what I got: A Caesar Salad. Oh, and my salmon? It came out separately. On a cheesy silver platter, like it was John the Baptist’s severed head. Problem was; it was puddled in a pool of cool water. First clue of a microwaved or inadequately seared piece of fish. I cut into it. Raw. Raw, raw, raw.
I cook salmon all the time. Truth be told, it’s not hard; that’s why I ordered it. It cooks quickly. It cooks predictably. It cooks well when well-​seasoned, seared at an appropriate temperature, and finished in an oven or gently on a pan hob. And it’s very easy to avoid overcooking or undercooking it in the hands of a somewhat-​skilled cook. What I received was a seared fillet of Salmon meat with an ice-​cold core. I mean frigid. It was colder than raw salmon I had eaten next door at Toki. I’m not even kidding. Hot, seared on the outside, frozen in the middle. This says one thing to me: «NOT FRESH.» Well, it actually says two things: «Not fresh,» and «our fish is frozen solid until you eat it, and our staff isn’t trained adequately.»
I sent it back to the kitchen, with the server making absolutely no secret of being quite annoyed, thankyouverymuch. It quickly came back out on the same platter, clearly microwaved until done, still soaked in a pool of its own microwave juice. It was the worst salmon I have ever had in my life; it was rubbery, flavorless and tasted of freezer burn. This happened in front of twenty or so of my friends. So while said friends cautiously chowed down on their entrees, I went to the bathroom, which was littered with the Beowulf-​style worship of the restaurant’s «Executive Chef» via clips of various local (and I stress local) newspaper articles featuring him as some sort of hero. Fair enough. A chef deserves his accolades… as long as his proverbial walk matches his equally proverbial talk.
Obviously intrigued in the most skeptical way imaginable, I decided to inspect this chef’s culinary domain, as I had noticed the open kitchen on my way to the restroom. What I saw was something out of the Beavis and Butthead textbook. No less than four people, three of which could not have even graduated high-​school, stood slapping each other on the asses with wet towels as though service had been finished for two and a half hours and the patrons had long gone home. The only problem is that it was 7:30PM and the restaurant was full! And I swear to the nine (sorry…eight) planets of this solar system, that in a restaurant with over fifty (and yes, I counted) guests, not a single member of the kitchen staff was standing at a hob. Not a single ass was in front of a stove or a prep station. The lead «chef,» (not the aforementioned ‘Executive Chef,’) was dressed in red, and he was the one I observed smacking his staff on the bums with his apron towel. It’s simple math: no fresh cooking happening = no fresh food. This means Garlic Glove kitchen = fake food. Microwaved food. No chopping. No stirring. No tossing. Lots of horseplay. Raw salmon. It all makes sense now. And we haven’t even gotten to the worst bit.
My third experience was of a catering nature, where my church catered in Garlic Clove’s services for a Valentine’s Dinner. I tried many things, but let me get straight to the OMG portion: Chicken Marsala. I was unfortunate enough to cut into an entire cutlet of unbelievably raw chicken breast. Completely raw. And this, again, was in the presence of an entire table of onlookers, all of whom had to examine their own bites to ensure that their slices of chicken weren’t undercooked.
Obviously, I know that one experience does not damn an establishment. As I always maintain, everyone gets a mulligan. But three times. Three consecutive experiences ranging from mediocrity to outright dangerous culinary negligence, two of which were consecutive, leads me to believe that the standards of this restaurant are highly suspect.
I don’t want to see a local business fail; I want to see a local business improve. Raise our standards!

We walked in with a group of 15 on Saturday night. We were immediately seated together with two wonderful servers. Food and service was excellent!

This was my first time ever walking out of a restaurant! We all (two couples) arrived at 6:30pm on a Sunday evening. The place did not appear busy and we were seated right away. We ordered waters and our meals before the server brought bread with the garlic/​olive oil mix. After that point, the meal took a negative turn. We did enjoy the bread, but ran out of olive oil quickly. She said several times that she would bring more over but that took at least 15 minutes and several requests. And then we waited… and waited… and waited some more. We were seated not far from the kitchen and could see that food was being made, but unfortunately it wasn’t ours. The server didn’t come back until we had been waiting over 45 minutes for our pasta dishes. She said that a large party had come in which was causing the delay, and our food should be up soon. The couple seated near us, came in and ordered after us (with a different server) and received both their appetizer and entrees before we got anything. After an hour of waiting and only the one update, I left $ 5 on the table and we walked out.
The few times the server checked on our table, she was very nice. But that did little to make up for the incredibly slow service. There was many things that could have been said or done to make up for the wait time… an offer of more bread with olive oil, an apology for the slow service. It would have been easy for someone to say, «We’re so sorry for the wait time. Could I offer you something from the soup/​salad bar in the mean time?» At that point, any attention would have been better than what we received.
The only reason Garlic Clove received 2 stars instead of 1 is because the bread and garlic/​olive oil was very good. I just wish I could have reviewed the rest of the food.
Luckily the sushi place next door was very accommodating so the night was not all bad.

Good was great. Our first visit and I think our waiter was fairly new. But he was trying hard.
We were dressed very casual and we think they weren’t seating people in the dining room, so we were seated at the back next to the kitchen and bathrooms.
Cheese sticks were normal. Chicken Picatta was outstanding. Penne with broccoli and chicken was fantastic. The bread served with olive oil and roasted garlic — yum! Hard not to fill up on the bread alone!
We will come back. Convenient location but you would miss it if you didn’t know it was in the little strip center.

I’ve been here many times and the pizza never disappoints! I always get plain cheese, because if it’s good enough, you don’t need toppings. The crust is perfect, always crunchy and never soggy. I could sing praises about the pizza all day, but I’ll move on.
When you order anything, they bring you fresh bread and olive oil with roasted garlic to dip it in — SO good!
On the few occasions that I have ordered a pasta dish, the noodles always seem to be overcooked. Besides that disappointment, the sauces and other ingredients are all very good.
I must also mention the ranch dressing is sooo good. I’m pretty sure they make all of their dressings in house and they are delicious.
Overall, I really love this place and the service is always great. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone who is looking for excellent pizza.