GARLIC - bites&tales — Restaurant in Cluj Metropolitan Area

Today I went out with my girlfriend and wanted to finally get to experience the food at Garlic. Unfortunately I was left quite disappointed with the food and the service. We had a matcha lemonade, the burnt garlic cream soup and two burgers, one was the panko chicken burger and the other the counts burger also for desert we had the sweet bites and the count's chocolate delight. The lemonade was good, definitely an interesting combination with matcha, and the soup was quite tasty, those were the good parts, we had our order taken fast and the food was also delivered fast. But the bad parts were the burgers and the deserts, mostly the wait time which made the food taste bad and it made out experience unpleasant and not worth the money spent. We have waited 1 hour for the burgers to be delivered to us, they were cold and the fries got dry and tasteless since they were cold, also due to the burgers waiting so long they were soggy and the buns were falling apart, which made the burger be difficult to eat and messy, also the burnt garlic sauce really did not have a garlicky taste, it was plain mayonnaise. Now for the next bad part the deserts, somehow this was even worse, after the burgers the deserts were delivered pretty fast but without any cutlery to eat it with and we waited almost 10-15 minutes to get a spoon and a fork with a knife, in this time the count's chocolate delight, a lava cake basically, got cold , the ice cream was more than half melted and it mixed with everything else on the plate also the chocolate and ice cream were lower quality ingredients. The sweet bites were nothing extraordinary since the supposed vanilla cream was tasteless. The servers were not properly trained as one guy did not know which table had what food. At some point when we finally received our cutlery we asked to get a change for the ice cream that melted because of the staffs fault and the server said they are sorry but they are full and and apologize but they can't do anything else. At least when you are fully booked and busy just don't bring cold food to the table and make me sit and look at the desert as it melts away. I am sorry but I expected something else and will not recommend this restaurant to other people. Definitely not worth the money...

Came here again with my wife. Two months have passed since my original review, which I'll leave up, but I'll deduct one star because of our recent experience: Booked a table outside, but we were sat indoors. Not the end of the world. No napkins provided with our starter. It's ok, mistakes can happen. My wife ordered a vegan salad, but they forgot the lentils, chickpeas and pomegranate - they basically brought her leaves only. Granted, they were good leaves according to her, as she only noticed all the protein was missing half way through - hence why we didn't complain. We ordered two lemonades, different types. Apparently both have 400ml, but my wife got a glass with half the amount that was in mine. So either i got more than normal or she got less. It's a small detail and I believe we'll survive this, but yeah.. Overall the food was still very good (tho, I have noticed a small decline in the quality of the ingredients, but very marginal). But it was slightly disappointing, considering our original amazing experience. I'd still recommend this place though.

Original review 5/5: Truly exceptional food. Fresh, rich in flavours and cooked with passion. We ended up here for breakfast because nearby Eggcetera had a bigger line than socialism's glorious bread lines. We're glad we did. We liked it so much, we ended up making a reservation for dinner too. Amazing service too - our waitress was super lovely and attentive. If dinner ends up being poopy, I'll come back and modify this review. I doubt it though..

Update: we had dinner. Amazing. Everything said above stands. The papanași and the homemade poppyseed crepe...

I wasn't sure between 3 or 4 stars. We went here for a late lunch/early dinner, and because we wanted to try something new, we went 'against' google recommendations for us (but based on the overall score and other reviews).

We found a free table inside, but they also have a space outside (open-air - great for smokers or covered). The interior design is really nice and the staff was generally friendly, even though we could never tell for sure if someone was working there or not, since they had no specific clothing, badges or anything like that. At the beginning they seemed a bit disoriented, which was funny (even though unfortunately I don't recall any smile from them at all). 😅

The menu looks and sounds delicious, but it's also pricey. Not really sure the whole experience is worth the $$ more than once, but of course that's a matter of taste. I loved the sweet potatoes fries, but the halloumi wrap not so much (that big chunk of halloumi can also be sliced, you know 🙃). The normal fries were not as good as the sweet potatoes, but my partner was happy with his burger. The space inside is rather small and if it's full, everyone can hear what everyone is talking. I didn't feel the feeling of privacy I usually enjoy when eating out.

As a friendly suggestion, not every customer appreciates the staff members always watching them and asking if they want anything else - it feels like an unwanted pressure.

Overall, google was right and it wasn't a great match for us. But you might love it, it all depends on what you're looking for. Thanks for reading, I hope it helps. 🙌

Good luck to the staff & owners, keep getting...