Ford's Garage Utica — Restaurant in Utica

In a word: OVER-HYPED

SUMMARY: Akin to a Texas Roadhouse type restaurant with wonderful staff, good mains, disappointing sides (with 1 exception), and a loud atmosphere.

WAIT TIMES: This is 3 months past opening on a Tuesday evening, and this place is still unreasonably packed. Upon arrival and after checking in for our reservation, the host informed us that our wait might be up to 45 minutes, which alone is ridiculous. Come to find out that the party before us had chosen not to vacate their table, which had the staff clearly irate. Some people, amirite? No fault to the staff and they were handing it very professionally. The wait ended up only being 17 minutes.

ATMOSPHERE: Take a Texas Roadhouse and theme it like an automotive service shop. It's loud when busy, so loud I had to yell to talk to my group. This was during the busy dinner time, but the place could definitely benefit from some strategically places soundproofing. They take the theming to a cheezy level; instead of napkins you get shop rags that are clasped by a hose clamp. Charming.

FOOD: The entrees themselves were above average. The Chicken Henry was a standout, with juicy well seasoned chicken topped generously with goat cheese and not enough tomato. Mama Ford's meatloaf was also above average, although slightly bland to my palette. All the sides were fairly plain and miserable. Fries were fries. Mashed potatoes were there. The green beans and broccoli were utterly disappointing, which seems pretty standard nowadays. One notable surprise was the Mac and Cheese was very much not Stouffer's mush-in-a-bag. The cheese was creamy and the noodles intact.

PRICING: Competitive with other similar restaurants. I would like this again to a Texas Roadhouse, Applebee's, or Rainforest Cafe. You're not paying for the most amazing food, you're paying for... the "experience." And the service too.

SERVICE: The one shining beacon here is that Ford's Garage did not skimp on the staff like so many places are these days. On top of the quantity is also quality, these guys were attentive, helpful, and pleasant. The very loud atmosphere of the restaurant however often times made it hard for me...

We tried it for the first time. We were able to walk right in, no wait. Just before the dinner crowd because it was busy on our way out!

Cool aesthetic and little touches everywhere. Our server was great. Helped us make up our minds on what to try first. I also tried a cocktail (MAI TAI'R) Unfortunately, I wasn't thrilled with it but our server did not hesitate to take it away & have me choose something else. I went with the Strawberry Margarita (frozen) instead. I wasn't really thrilled with that one either, it's not your typical strawberry Margarita. But, I told our Server it was good & I just sucked it up... or down... literally, the best I could lol. To me, both drinks were VERY citrusy (my fault for not being too familiar with Cointreau) but as I recall, most all of their drinks were either some sort of Lemon or Lime. I'm just not into tart/acidic, gin, or mules. If you're looking for just a nice sweet, fruity basic bit.. drink, it's not on the menu here. The draft beer though... so good and oh so cold! Highly recommend that!

The food was really good. Hubs got the Monte Cristo & fries. I tried the Jiffy Burger (peanut butter in a burger! ) I was a little iffy about the Jiffy....BUT I love me some peanut butter. Well, it did NOT disappoint. My only complaint was the bacon was squishy. A manager had just come by asking how things were &we asked if I could get some well done bacon. She said absolutely & scooped the plate of squishy piggy strips away & came back with nice crisp, crunchy bacon. It was so good!

We were too stuffed this time around to try dessert but we will definitely be back to hopefully have room next time!

They also have a little "gift shop" area in the front of the restaurant where you can find an assortment of T-shirts, hats & drinking glasses.

Check out the bathrooms. You should really wash your hands before you eat, anyway.

Be sure to get the app to earn point for free rewards...

Me and my husband were really looking forward to coming to this location, as we’ve been to the Dearborn location and this one is way closer to us. The hosting staff did a phenomenal job, they were courteous and friendly. We were greeted relatively quickly and I had high hopes. Our onion rings came fairly quickly, I’m not sure if it’s the norm there to bring app plates out but in my opinion it should be because we didn’t get any, not the biggest issue as we did request and get some. We ordered our food, my husband ordered his burger with no lettuce onion or tomato Medium well, I ordered the chopped chicken salad with no onions and bleu cheese dressing. The food comes, my husbands burger came with about 5 fries, and there was a random burnt piece of broccoli under one of the fries? He took a bite of his burger and took a look at the inside and it was so pink and red it was almost mooing - no where near medium well, as well as that there was lettuce and tomatoes on it, and the fries were soggy. My salad was completely coated in onions which I requested prior to take off, and ranch dressing? The chicken was cooked pretty decently. But, I tried to eat it and realizing there was onions in it and the incorrect dressing on it I was completely turned off - I have a really bad aversion to onions. The waitress did bring me another one, with ranch again but no onions. After waiting for it (wasn’t more than 5 mins) I lost my appetite To be honest I’ve had a better salad from a Coney Island. In total, when you go to a upscale themed restaurant in my opinion you’d get to get more than 5 fries with your $20 burger and I wouldn’t recommend any of there salads. I honestly don’t think I’ll go to this location again, super disappointed as it was supposed to be a celebratory night for my Husband. I took photos I was so taken aback. I’m really not trying to be a Karen but I hope this location steps it up. The service was decent, the...