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    Garlic City Cafe

    4.0 (874 reviews)
    ModerateAmerican, Diners, Italian
    Closed 8:00 am - 7:00 pm

    Garlic City Cafe Photos

    Business Info

    GARLIC CITY CAFE ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Moderate noise
    Dogs allowed
    Outdoor seating

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    Recommended Reviews - Garlic City Cafe

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    Condiments at table
    Ms. Wong ..

    Street parking available in front. It is cold near the door so take a table further back if you get cold easily. One bathroom for customers only. You can see the cooking done also if you sit further back. Music playing so there isn't dead silence and it isn't too loud so you can still talk to people. They serve breakfast 8am-noon. They have lunch after noon. Place looks clean. Located in downtown Gilroy. Coffee shop nearby. Food is good and portion size is nice. There is parking in the back and an entrance into the cafe also.

    Garlic Chicken Sandwich
    Jason S.

    I am starting off this review by saying wow!!!!!! Garlic soup is a full 10 service is good but the soup is so good that it don't matter lol Burger was just a burger nothing special Garlic chicken sandwich was pretty solid as well Hot pastrami really good Our server, Abraham was amazing

    Menu
    Khang V.

    Garlic City is a cute restaurant with interspersed sky-like ceiling tiles and fabric paintings of some famous Europe destinations hanging in the wall to trick your mind into thinking you're outdoors. Parking was easy for us. We came as a group around noon for lunch and all were able to find free street parkings (2-hour limit) almost right in front of the restaurant. Service was attentive and accommodating. Our server swiftly took our orders and frequently checked on our water and utensils' needs, such as extra bowls or dishes. I ordered the Garlic Chicken and Grilled Eggplant Panini with garlic fries. My friend ordered Penne Pasta and Prawn Florentine with clam chowder soup. My panini was a bit too garlicky for my taste. It has unexplainable bitterness to it. The chicken was moist and flavorful with a hint of ginger though. Garlic fries again didn't meet my expectations. Their breads, both the panini and the garlic bread, are the highlight of our meals. The breads have the right amount of garlic, buttery, crunchy and melt in your mouth. The portion was very generous and priced reasonably. Overall, a good experience for our group!

    Ariel L.

    I came here with my friend today. I had never been here but had been wanting to try it. I'm glad I came because it'll be my first and last time. They have limited seating and only one server. It was lunch time & pretty full so I understand why it'd take so long. However, they brought my friend's coke, took our order and still had not brought out my coffee. I had to ask for my coffee and they told us they had to brew the coffee. I continued to wait. When my tiny cup of coffee arrived, she asked if I wanted flavored creamer and I said yes. She brought me creamer with some open containers. My first impression upon seeing this is they are not throwing away the empty creamers after they clean the tables. Second thought was this is unsanitary and disgusting. Someone else touched this and they didn't bother to clean it or throw it away. When she came to take our order, I asked her what she recommended from several items. I asked her if the onions were grilled, she didn't know and turned around to ask the gentleman, and walked away. She didn't answer my question; she just walked away. When my sandwich arrived, it didn't have any onions. The chicken was super chewy and semi cold. It was supposed to have chipotle but all I could taste was bbq- I am not a huge fan of bbq sauce. My mug was so small, I needed more coffee, but the server wasn't coming over to our table. I placed the mug at the edge of the table so she could see it. We had to leave since we were on lunch, my friend went up to the counter to pay. The server wanted us to split it in half. My friend explained she wanted to pay for her food and I'd pay for mine. My friend and I left feeling so disappointed, especially after paying $17 for a dissatisfying sandwich.

    Philly Steak Sandwich
    Amanda N.

    Yummmmmmyyyy garlic! That burger was deee-licious. Inside smells like garlic too so be prepared. Parking can be difficult to find, but there's a lot in the back. I loved the portion sizes. It was delicious and I'd come back again.

    Rigatoni, Alla Siciliana
    Missy M.

    Phenomenal atmosphere! Very clean restaurant. Service was excellent, the food was made fresh to order, well worth the twenty minute wait for the food! I highly recommend eating here! There are so many options for food. Sandwiches, salads, pastas, soups, etc. Their breakfast menu was absolutely fantastic as well! Must try place!!!

    Garlic burger and fries
    Sherie K.

    I was actually kind of excited to try the The Garlic City cafe -- when in the garlic capital of the world, try their garlic!! I was surprised at how robust their menu was, sooo many options packed onto the menu, there's probably something for everyone. I ended up going with the garlic burger with garlic Parmesan fries and asked for the garlic pesto instead of the garlic aioli because I really dislike mayonnaise. They said it was no problem, but unfortunately they have a garlic pesto aioli AND and garlic pesto and I ended up with the aioli on my burger. I didn't want to send it back and cause a scene so I asked for the real pesto on the side and gave it to me and one of the managers *I presume* told me I should have parked for the pesto, not the "garlic pesto sauce." You don't know what you don't know though and since it was my first time, I didn't realize they had two spreads with similar names. Anyway, I scraped off the aioli and dunked the burger in the pesto and it was good. The fries were pretty good too and they refilled my iced tea a few times and gave me one for the road. All in all it was okay! The inside was small and not too flashy, but it was an okay place to stop.

    Mary N.

    There's not many restaurants in the area that stood out to us, but this one caught our eye when we were scrolling. We decided to go here for lunch on a weekday and to our surprise, it was quite packed! The staff are very nice and sweet. The food was good but not super spectacular. Considering the options around here, I would say this is a great spot to stop by if you're in Gilroy.

    Tidy Table corner
    Lau P.

    They deserve at least 4.5 stars Outside: outdoor dining available Nice surroundings, street parking Inside: nice and warm decoration. Tidy and clean. Background music. Menu: good arrangement. No photos. Food: very good quality, delicious and tasty Customer Service: professional and friendly Cash only Highly recommended

    Trevor the dog in front of Garlic City Cafe
    Greg R.

    The best food and service in Gilroy. The outside tables were full of patrons. So Margarita had a table and chairs inside the restaurant pulled outside for us and our dog Trevor! The food is outstanding! Cobb Salad with the best grilled chicken breast perfectly cooked and the Contadina Salad with salmon had a perfectly cooked salmon on it. I couldn't ask for better service or better tasting food. 5 stars all around. Best of Gilroy!

    Coq Au Vin

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    7 days ago

    Food is outstanding with large portions. Service was top notch too. Waitress was friendly and cheerful and polite. I really enjoyed the meal

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    4 months ago

    Their food is amazing. The servings are large enough to feed two people. The service and ambiance were very pleasant. I will be going back.

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    3 months ago

    Excellent service. Excelllent fresh food. You could taste everything fresh. The ambience was excellent and very clean.

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    Page 1 of 22

    Ask the Community - Garlic City Cafe

    Is there a long wait in Sunday around lunchtime?

    I was there on a Sunday and the wait was an hour long. I imagine it is like that on the weekends.

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    Maurizio's - Burrata con Prosciutto

    Maurizio's

    4.5(1k reviews)
    9.6 mi
    $$

    I am writing to share how much I enjoy dining at this restaurant. I am never disappointed with my…read moreexperience; the staff is consistently friendly and professional, regardless of how busy it is. While I occasionally try other new Italian restaurants in South County, I always find myself comparing them to Maurizio's and concluding that the food and service are far superior. The quality of the food is always consistent, and I especially appreciate the variety offered through your different specials. I will continue to highly recommend your restaurant to others.

    Definitely a nice dining experience. I love how this place has a traditional and authentic Italian…read morerestaurant feel. The food is delicious and the service is good as well. I really love how they play Italian old fashioned music, it really adds to the romantic dining experience. The indoor decor is very classic/traditional hardwood tables and chairs with lovely + colorful paintings on the wall that add a lot of character to the room. We were so excited to come to an authentic Italian restaurant. We decided to start with the Burrata con Prosciutto as an appetizer and it was lovely. The flavor is great and it is definitely pretty feeling and satisfying. For my main course, I ordered the Fettuccine al Pescatore it was delicious. The seafood was cooked perfectly and added a great taste to the pasta. The fettuccini pasta is definitely super filling it's so thick and hearty. (I wish they would also have thin noodles available for this dish as well because the thick noodles can be a bit much.) We also got another dish (can't remember the name sorry) but it was SO YUMMY and packed with tons of flavor. We especially loved the sauce omg! The taste of the sauce is unexplainable, but it paired amazingly with the bread + cheese from our Burrata con Prosciutto appetizer. Highly recommend. Overall I would definitely suggest Maurizios as a lovely romantic dinner spot, or a great quality authentic Italian meal for your family. The quality of food is great and the prices are pretty reasonable. I will say one thing that they could improve upon is, the host stand is right behind the door in the restaurant and its placement is very awkward/strange. While checking in with the hostess, the door almost got us! lol. This should definitely be moved/changed. Other than the host stand being too close to the door, I will say the restaurant is also very small so it may feel cramped when there's a lot of people dining in. (not something fixable but definitely worth noting.) Still highly recommend. :)

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    Maurizio's - Indoor decor

    Indoor decor

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    Mama Mia Italian Restaurant - Bread with olive oil and garlic

    Mama Mia Italian Restaurant

    3.3(454 reviews)
    9.3 mi
    $$

    Went here on a Saturday to celebrate family member's birthday. We called to make a reservation and…read moreit was pretty vacant so it felt like we had the entire indoor dining area to ourselves!! The waitress was like "Hey, she booked out the restaurant for you guys!" LOL There was a private event going on outdoors so we didn't venture into the garden but would love to check it out next time. This is one of the few places that does happy hour on the weekends! Their prices are amazing for the large portions and flavor. TERIYAKI MEATBALLS: juicy and saucey meatballs. came with 3 large shareable meatballs MOZZARELLA GARLIC BREAD: came with dipping marinara. pretty standard comfort food CALABRESE: good ratio of meat to pasta. my family are meat lovers so we loved it! red sauce was good level of acidity, not too sharp AGLIO OLIO SUPREME: ordered this with prawns when it already came with bacon so she was LOADEDDDD!! so yummy and split it into two so i could have lunch the next day Overall such a wonderful experience and felt very welcomed here.

    Here's a polished review you can post:…read more Working out of town and decided to stop here for happy hour. Unfortunately, the experience was disappointing. We ordered from the happy hour menu and our pizza sat there for about 15 minutes before it finally made it to our table -- and by then it was completely cold. We asked for a new one, but the server forgot to put the replacement order in altogether. Service was very inattentive and overall not a great experience.

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    Mama Mia Italian Restaurant - Ambience

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    Garlic City Cafe - tradamerican - Updated May 2026

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