Garlic Mike's — Restaurant in Gunnison

I need to preface this review with the fact that we had read many reviews before venturing into Garlic Mike’s so our group of four’s expectations had already been tempered. The common themes seemed to be good, but not great food that took too long to arrive with sub-par service for the price. The location was close and we wanted to check out their river side patio so we set out prepared to overspend, enjoy a couple drinks and an appetizer or two while waiting far too long for our dinner. What followed was the worst two and half-hour restaurant experience any of us have ever had and we still can’t tell you how any of the main dishes taste.

We settled on an Monday, July 3rd, 8:00 PM reservation. We arrived at 7:45 and immediately went to the river side patio. It is a nice relaxing low key shady area filled with mismatched outdoor furniture where you can order drinks from a small bar shack, watch rafters go by, and wait on your table. We ordered a round of drinks and slowly made our way to the front of the restaurant to check in 5 minutes before our reservation. The host informed us that 8 was not going to happen and they would need 30 more minutes to get a table ready. At 8:20 the host asked us if an outdoor table would be okay and we said that would be perfect. At 8:30 we watched the host seat the only open outdoor table so we asked her if our table was almost ready and she said “I lied about the patio table, we have a table or both open inside, I just need to go inside and reorganize!” as she spun around and disappeared into the restaurant. As we were seated at 8:40 for our 8:00 reservation I overheard the waiter at the adjacent table apologizing for their long wait on the food. The signs were there but the sangria was good and we were still determined to eat some Italian food so we powered on.

Our waiter said “Hi, I’m your waiter, I’ll be right back” as he flew by our table. We quickly interjected and asked if we could have some of the menu’s he was clutching in his hands and he reluctantly turned to give them up (one of the reviews mentioned shortages of menus and we were determined to speed this process along). We placed our order at 8:57 after changing it a couple times (they were out of veal parmigiana and lasagna). Over the next hour and twenty minutes we had to ask the waiter for bread three times before giving up and asking the bus-boy for bread. He brought us bread and even updated us on our order status (something our waiter wasn’t doing). The bread is not fresh and not good. We asked our waiter three times for napkins and we finally got 3 cloth napkins and a stack of paper bar napkins (the drink coaster paper things). During this time we also got a look at what was happening around us. Almost everyone looked pissed off and they were either waiting for food or waiting for for the checkout process. We overheard the table next to us complain they never received their french fries while going over the check only to have the manager laugh at them and say “It’s a busy night!” while she walked away. The table finally flipped when someone tried to give them t-shirts...I saw them give them a $50 gift certificate after that. We also heard over and over as an excuse that they had an “unexpected 29 top” that day and that’s why everything was “backed up a little bit.”

Shortly before 10:00 I surveyed google maps and came to the conclusion that all the fast food joints would be closed at 11. I made a mental note that if we did not have food by 10:30 (two and a half hours after our reservation) we were going to give up and salvage the night by getting fast food and retreating to our cabin. At 10:17 we were approached by a manager and waiter to inform us that they were out of marinara sauce and we would have to re-order a couple of our dishes. I simply stated “No, we are done here” and got up to leave. The managers very first reaction was “Don’t put this on Facebook!” So that will be the first place I post...

“Garlic” Mikes may be a misnomer as the food lacked flavor and was highly underwhelming. My wife and I have eaten Italian cuisine in Boston, NY, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and overseas along with both being very capable home chefs. Whenever I try a new Italian restaurant I always order the Spaghetti and meatballs. If you can’t do a good job preparing this then everything else doesn’t matter. In fact, Garlic Mike has a placard at their hostess station bragging about their meatballs and house made sausage so I ordered it. My wife ordered the Lasagne.

We were seated in an outdoor event tent with faux chandeliers. Gave us the feeling like we were at a wedding. I had made a reservation requesting a seat near the river. The recording said if there was a problem they would call back. They never did so I assumed everything was in order. However, upon arrival we were informed these seats had been taken. So much for the reservation. Now onto the service and food.

Our waiter was friendly but could not accommodate my request for dining near the river. He said these were for Happy Hour customers only. Our hostess failed to explain this. We decided to stay because they are the only “Italian” restaurant for miles around.

We ordered and waited. The salads were good. The bread came with butter and no oil and I don’t think they baked it. They were dinner rolls. The main courses came out and I was excited to taste Garlic Mikes world-famous meatballs and house made sausage. My wife’s Lasagne looked good as well but taste is everything.

The meatballs were very tender but that is because they did not contain meat. They were mostly bread as evidenced by the internal white color of the ball. They did not have the slightest bit of garlic, oregano, or basil flavoring which most have come to expect from Italian cuisine. I let my wife try a piece and she agreed.

The pasta was cooked al dente but it was swimming in a pool of water in the bottom of my plate. It was not spaghetti as well. It was a thinner version of fettuccine. The marinara sauce was bland. Chef Boy-At-Dee’s spaghetti and meatballs in a can has more flavor and better texture. The sausage was severely under seasoned. Not much of that Italian flavor you would expect if you ever have eaten real sausage.

I understand that seasoning changes to suit the majority of patrons and looking around at the tables near us it gave me that retirement community vibe if you know what I mean. The food was on par with nursing home fare including my wife’s Lasagne. The kicker is they charge prices on par with better restaurants.

Do yourself a favor and go to the Olive Garden or a pizza parlor instead. You will get a better tasting meal for less money. “Garlic” Mikes needs to change their name to “Flavorless” Mikes. I informed my waiter of my disdain and to his credit he offered to bring me something else but it was too late. The damage had already been done. However, I never punish the wait staff for bad food. Only bad service. His service was excellent considering the number of large tables he had....

Went here on a BUSY Friday night, it was even hard to find a parking spot. However, once we got in it was not that long to get a table for my party of 3. We only had maybe a 15min wait without a reservation. During that time we did walk outside to checkout their Riverview bar, and it was really nice. Very busy with all tables filled (and no standing room due to COVID), but the view and setup was really nice. They also had a band there which was a nice touch.

Once we got seated, it was pretty quick for someone to come and fill up our waters, but this person never even took our drink orders. Our actual server came and greeted us, but said she had multiple tables all sat at the same time and she would be right back. It then took a while to have anyone come back to our table to take any kind of order. Eventually, a different waiter took our drink order. One of my friends ordered a vodka with a splash of ginger ale. The waiter asked “one glass” to which we were kind of confused. When the drinks eventually came, the vodka was in one glass, and another glass came with ginger ale, it was quite comical. Usually when one orders a spirit with a splash of anything, it always comes in the same glass. When my friend re-ordered his drink, the same thing happened.

Finally our server comes back and takes our appetizer order, which we got the calamari, however she did not take or meal order. The appetizer came out and was very good, and we were also offered some bread, which was also good. However, in all this time we were never able to place our main meal order. Finally, after we finished the appetizer, we were able to order our mains. We wanted to get the prime rib, but by the time we ordered it was sold out. Not sure if our delay in being able to order led to that, or getting seated at around 7 we were already done for. Anyway one of my friends got the seafood pasta special (the last one left) and I got the filet mignon lombardi (spelling). Once we got the main dishes they were all very good! The food all around was excellent. We also finished our meal off with the cannoli, which were also good, but seemed like were missing some filling once you bit into them. We also tried to split up the checks, which led to some confusion which had to be figured out.

Overall, I would say the food was very good to excellent. The ambiance of the place was pretty nice too. The prices were decent given the area and portion sizes. The service was very lacking. Everyone there seemed to be running around like chickens with their heads cut off. I think us being there for a little over two hours was a little unacceptable. While they were very busy still seemed pretty excessive. They would easily get 4 if not 5 stars if they can provide better service. The drink think was also pretty funny, I can’t imagine how the bartender did not question it, but whatever, it’s...