Garlic and Chives — Restaurant in Garden Grove

I stumbled upon this restaurant while scrolling through Instagram, and it immediately caught my attention. It’s pretty rare to find Vietnamese restaurants featured on the Michelin Guide, but this spot has earned a place on the OC Michelin Guide for several years. I’ve been obsessed with Vietnamese food lately so I’ve been making quite a few trips to the Little Saigon area and this visit did not disappoint.

Garlic and Chives is tucked inside the Mall of Fortune, alongside other well-known spots like OC Lau2, Pholover, and 85°C. Unfortunately, many smaller shops in the mall have closed, so it’s not as lively as it once was, but these popular restaurants and bakeries still manage to draw a crowd.

As soon as we were seated and started to look the menu, the first thing I noticed was their special selection of dishes featured on the Michelin Guide in 2019, 2021, and 2022, a pretty impressive feat. I also browsed through the menu while scrolling IG for recommendations and came across the Heo Quay Porchetta with Fine Rice Vermicelli. I tried to order it, but the server called out the chef to explain that this dish requires four hours of preparation and needs to be pre-ordered. Of course, I had unknowingly chosen something that wasn’t even available.

What We Ordered: House Special Pork Chops $16 One of their Michelin Guide dishes! The pork chops are marinated in a unique house-made sauce that’s a perfect balance of salty and sweet. For my taste, it leaned a little salty, but pairing it with the white rice made every bite just right.

Salmon Belly Chien Gion $12 This appetizer features crispy fried salmon belly served over a bed of fresh salad. The portion isn’t huge, but the fish is perfectly fried and pairs beautifully with the dipping sauce.

Grilled Blood Clams (So Long Nu Ong Mo Hanh) $15 Served sizzling on a hot plate, these blood clams are chewy and packed with flavor.

Black Tiger Garlic Noodles (Mi To I Tom Xu Nuong) $16 I’ve had a similar dish at Vox Kitchen before, and this version was just as good. The shrimp was plump and juicy, while the noodles had a rich garlic flavor and came in a generous portion, super satisfying.

Hot Tea $2 (each person) Simple, comforting, and a nice balance to the richer dishes.

From the ambiance to the flavors and service, Garlic and Chives delivered a solid dining experience and I will come back and try some more.

📍 Garlic and Chives 9892 Westminster Blvd. #311, Garden...

I never write review but I must do it this time because it was very disappointing and bad experience we had with this restaurant. I took my 2 daughters there yesterday because of their ad. The snail and baked scallop dishes are just ok. My youngest daughter ordered a rotisserie chicken with baked rice (com chay ga roti). She waited for 25 minutes for her foods to come out. There were two pieces of chicken but both were still frozen inside (icy cold). The waiter brought it in and reordered her the same dish. This time it took 40 minutes for it to come out but the insides of the two pieces of chicken were less frozen but were still cold to the touch. I asked to speak to the manager and she offered to redo the dish without charging but I told her no and asked her to take the order of the check. My daughter left there still hungry. I'd rather buy food at another restaurant for my daughter than waiting again after 1 hour and 15 minutes of how long we had been there. Who knew how much longer we had to wait for AGAIN and what kind of food my daughter would get AGAIN. The service here was bad too. When we first sat down at our table, the server dropped 2 meus on our table then walked away. I let my daughters look at the menus and I asked another waiter to provide me 1 more. Instead of giving it to me, he put it at a corner of the table opposite from me and walked away as well. The restaurant had only 5 tables filled at that time and they have lots of servers. They also messed up the orders of the table next to us. The waitress brought food that customers ordered to-go out for customers to eat there and one gentleman waited for 1 hour for his dish Bun Cha Ca Thang Long (grilled fish with noodles). He got so mad, kept cursing while eating. He left half of his food and told his friend that the servers did not...

Garlic & Chives is a charming new addition to the Garden Grove Mall of Fortune which delivers a modern spin to Vietnamese - South East Asian Cuisine that is tasty, garlicky but also very affordable at the same time.

The decor is very warm & inviting as well; the service is very attentive compared to other restaurants in this area.

This restaurant is family owned & ran by the the owner Kristin, also owns Binh Dan Restaurant which has been opened for more than 20 years.

Kristin listens to customers' feedback about the food because her passion for food transfers to keeping her customers happy & this is why customers continue to come to this quaint little restaurant.

Papaya Salad with Octopus: 5 stars

If you like papaya salad then you will enjoy this dish, this salad is drizzled with fish sauce & a touch of lime. Chopped Thai basil is mixed with the papaya & a topping of fried onions perfectly compliments this dish. 5 stars

Salmon Belly: 5 stars

This dish is a customer favorite because the salmon belly is very soft & tender with a crispy outer batter that is lightly salty which fully compliments the dipping sauce. 5 stars

Salmon Clay-pot w/ Broken Rice: 4 stars

This dish is similar to the salmon belly except it was on a sizzling plate with vegetables & garlic & had a side of broken rice. I think a thick sauce drizzled on top of this dish would have made it better rather than just a light dipping sauce that was on the side. Overall, this...