Joey Garlic’s

To make good Italian food you have to have great sauce and the sauce here is amazing. So many Italian places fail at this simple but beautiful foundation of Italian cuisine. The menu is extensive and everything I’ve tried has been great. You must start with eggplant fries. Perfection. My other faves are the chicken parmigiana and the pork cutlet grinder (get half with peppers and half with broccoli rabe). Also the pizza can compete with anyone’s. Great casual dining experience. And yes the portions are generous. Enjoy!

Absolutely amazing! They are so nice here, Dan is the manager and he is the nicest guy ever and Patty was our waitress and was a doll, she took the time to give us recommendations. The food is fabulous. The portions are gigantic, either come very very hungry or bring extra people! We will be regulars from now on even though it’s a 40 minute drive.

Ambiance is great. Service was good. The garlic rolls were delicious. I’m not a fan of the small pepperoni but this pizza was delicious. Definitely would like to come back and try more dishes

Bring the BIG pants. The food is tremendous, and the portions are huge! Must try’s are the eggplant fries, any of the grinders, pizza, and quesadilla! I haven’t had anything bad!

Wear your stretch pants when visiting Joey’s. House salad impressively fresh with onions, shredded carrots, tomatoes-​a little heavy on the purple cabbage. Their Gorgonzola dressing is obviously home made creamy goodness with large chunks of cheese in it.
Crazy Alfredo with your choice of pasta over the top. Chicken, sausage, salami, peppers dished up with an amazingly rich sauce; I finished about ¹⁄₅^th of the enormous platter.

If you are looking for a quick meal with huuuuge portions, that is reasonably priced then look no further. There is something on the menu for everyone. The food is decent and the alcoholic beverages aren’t bad either. This is my go to place when I want to eat out but I’m not sure what I’m in the mood for. I always come here and leave satisfied, full and with a ton of leftovers. If you are looking for five star dining then this is not the place. But if you are looking for a hot filling meal, laid back atmosphere and good service, you have found your spot.

First time here and it was great. The wife, me and our son for a early Mother’s Day dinner. The service was awesome, we got our drinks in minutes and I suggest the Long Island ice tea the food was good and the portions were huge. We will definitely be back. Nick our server great job!

What can I say, I love Joey Garlic’s! I have never had a bad experience here — except not having a stomach big enough to fit more of their delicious food into my mouth. The service has always been great and the food scrumptious.
This is always a fail-​safe for dinner because they have just enough of everything to make it seem like you’re not there for Italian — even if you are. I have had their pasta Bolognese; awesome and it gave me two full size dinners. The burgers are great; lots of topping options and a good price for the size. Salads are always a win there; the gorgonzola dressing is so good — they use it for their wings too which are outstanding. I have only had pizza there once and it was super flavorful. Spinach and eggplant with just enough gooey, melty mozzarella round it out — add a dash or two of red pepper flake and I’m set!
They also have these ricotta donuts — I die! A couple we were sitting at the bar with were nice enough to share the huge order (it comes in a pyramid of little ricotta dough balls) and they were good enough to almost make me want to get an order myself but at that point I was three slices and a dinner salad deep… wasn’t happening.
I would say it’s a win no matter what you choose.

I challenge you to leave here without a doggie bag! Huge portions. Fantastic meatballs, pasta dishes, grinders, pizza… hell, everything here is awesome. This place is always packed for a reason.

I wanted to like this place. Based on the reviews and my fiancé’s past experience I really thought that I would.
We went on a Saturday night and the wait was an hour long but not horrible. (We grabbed ice cream from the Dairy Queen across the street while we waited for a text letting us know our table was ready.)
The menu was extensive; enough so that I struggled to pick an entrée. (I was torn between pizza, a burger, shrimp scampi and chicken Alfredo.) I ended up going with the Alfredo and we ordered a small pepperoni on the side. My entrée came with a standard house salad that was average. At the risk of sounding nit picky, the lettuce was extremely cold– like it had just been taken out of a freezer.
My fiancé asked for bread for the table. The waiter told us that they don’t have complementary bread but that both of our meals came with bread. So we got our meals and let me say, the portion was huge but that sad piece of bread on the side was not enough. If you’re gonna go big, go all the way!
My chicken Alfredo was just ok and what made it so was the lack of flavor. Between the chicken, the sauce and the pasta, there was NONE! I barely made a dent in it, I was so mad.
The pizza on the other hand was good and deserved four stars but I can’t in good conscious give this place four stars when they don’t season their chicken!
Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t throw out my pasta. I went home, seasoned it with some Cajun flavor and DAMN– it was good. I’ve rationed it out over the last three days and it’s been hitting the spot. Maybe next time I’ll just go and bring my own seasoning?
But seriously, I’m down to come back and try something else on the menu.

My chicken was cold for my penne a la vodka. when i said it was cold she offered to heat it up but I was scared itd just get microwaved or something so i ate just the pasta… left the chicken. oh & my boyfriend & I reeked of garlic for 2 days

Great food and huge portions! The chicken parm grinder is my favorite. Pasta dishes are great as well, they give you so much that you can take it home and still eat the rest for another 3 days.
Clean environment and friendly staff. I definitely recommend trying this restaurant out!

Awesome penne with oil & garlic. I added chicken — very moist chicken breasts. The garlic pasta rocked. One of the best I’ve had. Spiced to perfection.
Just wish the place had more «garlic» things on the menu i.e. garlic fries, garlic dipping oil/​bread, garlic burgers etc

Ahh, Joey Garlic’s, Newington’s shining beacon of New Jersey-​style Italian food.
The food is good, but the whole thing about Joey Garlic’s is the portions. The ridiculous portions. A pasta dish will feed your family, and a calzone will feed you for 4 days. You just can’t beat that kind of value.
The building itself is an enormous space, yet they always seem to be near-​capacity, even on weeknights. They love their customers and give them what they want. I’ve never had a bad meal here, and certainly never left unsatisfied.
The milkshakes are worth a look, and you can combine flavors. So yes, if you’ve been craving an outrageously large, chocolate & peanut butter milkshake — this is the place for you.

In town visiting. looked up this resturant and decided to give it a try. Found it to be very friendly with great table setvice. Food came out in a very reasonable timeframe not to mention delicious food and cold tap brews.

There were seven in our party. We were seated at a table comfortable. Our server, Justine, had a smile on the entire time we were there. Answered any question we had and had patience with us when we couldn’t decide quickly. The food was wonderful but the server made it even better. Justine rocked! Thank you!
Kahtleen

DAM you Joey Garlics! Your so delicious, and affordable and those portions. HUGE. I have once again left there with my button undone, a smile on my face and lunch for tomorrow and possibly dinner. Those freaking donuts for dessert are so good I need to discuss with my therapist because they may be my addiction. I keep trying to convince my husband that I don’t
have a boyfriend named Joey Garlic.

I really just don’t like Joey Garlic’s all that much. Our recent trip was an unfortunate result of having received a $ 50 gift card that we felt too guilty to re-​gift. We spent most of our 40 minute wait shopping at Party City, checked back in with the host when we came back, he said we still had to wait. But then when he buzzed us, he chastised us for «leaving the property.» So I think our table may have been ready earlier, but not sure why he didn’t tell us when we first checked back with him.
Our server, Spencer, was SUPER AWESOME. He’s the only reason I can even give 2 stars. He was right on point, always there to offer drink refills or provide anything we needed. I thought chicken parm was a safe item to order but it obviously was not a smart choice. The chicken was overcooked and the pasta was beyond dry. I had to ask for a side of sauce and used the whole thing (and I only ate about 6 bites of pasta), and then Spencer loaded me up with more for my take home bag. My husband ordered chicken picatta and it was not very flavorful.
If you like an enormous portion of mediocre food, then this is the place for you. I prefer a smaller portion of quality food. I had enough leftovers for an additional 2.5 meals, but I ate it not because I liked it, but because I didn’t want to waste it. I’m fine with a more «fast food» approach to Italian food, Joey Garlic’s just misses the mark for me. I’d prefer to go to Olive Garden… and I don’t even like Olive Garden.

My friend introduced me to Joey Garlics sometime last year, and I love it. I have almost nothing bad to say about it, although I do wish they had some happy hour specials. However, I guess if they did the restaurant would probably ALWAYS be really crowded, so maybe it’s better this way.
I love their mussels (cooked in a spicy tomato sauce) and their warm goat cheese salad. They also have a meatball salad, which doesn’t sound appetizing but it is! My favorite pizza is Mary and Gary’s Garden pizza– pretty much any other veggie pizza I’ve gotten anywhere else is a disappointment after having this one. They have a nice variety of martinis on the drink menu. They also have awesome milkshakes and some good dessert options. I had the chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream last time I went, which is definitely a great choice for chocolate lovers. They apparently make their own donuts there and I haven’t tried those yet, but will have to next time because I hear great things.
I’m going to have to start branching out to get a taste for some of the other menu options– my friend and I always share either the mussels and a salad or the veggie pizza. It’s hard to branch away from those delicious staples, but I’m sure I’ll be pleased with anything I try there.

Since my last review I have been here several more times and think it at this point it deserves the extra star I held out on last time.
Why — well we arrived on a Friday night at prime dinner time. Was told that the wait was an hour. No problem — I brought a book, camped out on a chair and waited for my buzzer to sound off. Pleasantly surprised when it came to life after 40 minutes. Seated in a booth in the bar area and our waitress quickly came over, took our drink order and soon after came over and took our order. Despite the fact that the restaurant was jamming — our food was brought out in a reasonable amount of time and as with all the other times I have been there — the food was on point!
Kudos to the entire staff at Joey Garlic’s for not only pushing out food but not making patron’s feel like they had to eat and run.
Although with three locations I guess it is considered a «chain» but I love the fact that it still retains a local feel whether you are in their Newington, West Hartford or Bristol locations