We have eaten here several times over the years. I have noticed a steady decline in service. When we go, the side dining room is rarely open which means everyone is crammed into the small front section. With the TV and bar area so it's loud. And it's tight. Last few time was have been sitting right by the front door. The orders have been wrong and took a really long time to get them out to us so we just took what they gave us. And there weren't that many people there. I hate leaving this review because I really like the food and like supporting local restaurants, but I'm hoping they are going through a transition and are working on some of these issues. It will be a while until we are back there. read more

My wife's favorite place for Italian food. We love to go a couple of times a month. She loves the tortellini in their "rosa" sauce, and I have enjoyed their subs and pizza (both their style and flavor) ! Service has been good, even getting attention from the owners at our table. read more

This place makes money in spite of themselves. They could have 10 or 50 people in there & they still act like there's 50 people all the time. Not enough wait staff & the ones they do have are....We tried so hard to make this our go to for pizza/pasta but last straw was tonight. Now back to looking for a new pizza place. read more

Too high a price for low quality food. You might as well go to dominos and save the money.

Went in to help them price out some shirts. The manager came out & literally YELLED at the waitress right in front of me for not finding out who I was & what company I was with. Made her get him again from the kitchen & then she proceeded to tell me that he made her tell me to get out of his restaurant. My friends & I had just spent $100 total on our table that weekend before & I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to help them. Not mad at all about not being able to help them, but we will NOT be back if that is how they treat their staff. We will also make sure people go to a different place. Never again. read more

Why hasn't Yelp created a zero-star option for their rating system yet? We have had some bad restaurant experiences, but have never been physically accosted by the owner of the place when we sent the food back! Until we visited Garofola's! Not only was the food utterly inedible (eggplant parmesan tasted literally like vomit... the fettucine alfredo tasted worse than high school cafeteria food -- most DEFINITELY powdered sauce, and the salads made with pre-packaged, stale croutons and bittericeberg lettuce that tastes like it has never been washed...), but when we sent the alfredo back due to the inedibility, the owner started screaming at our waiter in the kitchen! I went to the bathroom while my husband paid the check and as I was walking out the door, I pulled up Google Maps on my smart phone to get directions to drive back home. (We live 50 miles away and had been visiting Charlotte for the evening) As I was leaving the place with phone in hand, the owner of the place bolts out of the kitchen door and accosts me. He pulls me by the shoulder as I walk out the door and shines the light from his camera phone in my face. He starts screaming at me that he is video taping me since he knows I am gonna put some "bullshit about my restaurant on the internet" and he wants a record of who I am. I tell him he can do whatever the hell he wants with his camera, and that I wasn't afraid of his stupid threat. I also ask him if he thinks that harassing unsatisfied customers is the most effective way to fulfill on his commitment to excellence in the restaurant business. He cursed me out, over and over, telling me never to come back to his restaurant, and I told him he didn't have to worry about THAT ever happening again. I hadn't necessarily planned on posting a review about this horrid experience until this despicable man gave me the idea. And added insult to injury by his disgusting behavior. I only wish I had been carrying pepper spray so I could give this man the lesson he seems to begging for. I can only imagine how many other people he will be harassing every time they experience their terrible excuse for food. I also really wish I could report his behavior to Robert Irvine of Restaurant Impossible. I would love to see him get his ass chewed out by that guy! As I got in my car and drove off, I rolled down the window and strongly suggested that this asshole find an AA meeting and a good therapist. He seems to really need it. It'd help him to hire a trained chef as well, but this guy clearly only knows how to screw up his life -- not how to do it right. read more

Yuck!.... If you're ever in Concord and in the mood for some decent Italian fare,do yourself a favor and go elsewhere. To be fair, their pizzas aren't half bad and it's what I'd advise sticking to. Their actual pasta dishes and subs are a whole other story. I've eaten here many times in hopes that they'll "get it together " but with dry over processed Italian Sausage and overcooked pasta, they've remained sub-par. My most recent meal was a dish of Fettuccine noodles in a garlic/olive oil sauce(can't handle Alfredo) with Italian Sausage. This is clearly a menu item but when I called in my order it took several minutes of explaining to the staff what I wanted. She kept telling me how she was going to have to adjust the charge for this "special" order until I finally pointed out that it in fact was listed on their menu. Now, to the actual meal, the noodles were drowning in Olive oil so badly that I actually had to strain it out of the plate. I'm not quite sure what they did to the sausage because it came sliced lengthwise and partially diced???? It was so dry and flavorless that I actually think they cooked it this way. This was my last attempt to eat their pasta dishes here. From now on I will only eat their pizzas (if Brooklyn's or Rosario's is closed) and go to Olive Garden for Pasta. Yes, I said Olive Garden. read more

Food is good but normally takes a while to come out. Servers are very nice but the manager has horrible customer service and was not friendly at all. Won't be going back. It's a shame because the food is good. read more

I am new to the area and trying out different venues. I order a 16: Pizza with all the fixin;s. Changed out the olives and green peppers for pineapple and jalapeno's Wasn't told till billed that you could take items off the pizza but there is a charge per item to put others back. Stupid. The pizza was adequate but sparse considering the cost. Not on my return list. read more

The menu says-- NEW NEW Gluten Free Pasta...........................................$10.99, but if you order it, it is an additional $5.99 for gluten free pasta, making it almost $17.00. Does this make sense? I had an extensive conversation with the waiter and he talked to the owner and this is their policy. I instead ordered the gluten free chicken parmesan from the gluten free menu --the salad came with croutons and the dinner came with regular pasta. You guessed it, it would be an additional $5.99 for GF pasta, making it almost $19.00! I expect confusion from most places, but not someone who offers GF options on their menu! read more

I'm surprised at some of the negative reviews of this place. The food is always excellent. I usually get the meatball Parmesan with a side of fettuccine alfredo, both fresh and delicious. The pizza is above average, the wings are great, and the garlic knots are superb and filling. They have zeppolis and canolis too! The menu is extensive with huge portion sizes, the price is very reasonable and the service is up to par. The wine menu could be a little bigger and I wouldn't say the service is EXCELLENT**, but for a casual Italian meal in this area, it doesn't get better than Garfola's. **We've had one bad experience in our 20+ visits to Garafola's in 3+ years. The pizza took way too long and it was obviously the girl's first night on the floor (she forgot to enter the order). We asked for a discount on the pizza because it took so long, and the manager was happy to do so. That was three years ago and the girl doesn't work there anymore. Don't let a couple negative reviews shy you away from this place, its excellent. read more

This place is great! Good atmosphere and great service. The wings are awesome....great hot sauce! I also tried the Stromboli which wasn't too bready like usual... It was perfect. Although they support the Pittsburgh Steelers (Bills fan here!) I would most definitely come here again. They are super friendly and well drinks are only $3.00! read more

I agree! If there were an option for no stars, I would take it! The wife and I took our boys here a few weeks ago. We had just purchased a certificate from restaurant.com for this place that day so we decided to try it out. when we get there, we're informed that the restaurant.com certificate is no longer valid. We explained to the waitress that we had literally jsut purchased it that afternoon and she started going on about litigation with the website, blah, blah, blah. But, we were there, so we decided to try it out anyway. First the postives...The value for the kid's pizzas was good. It included their drinks and the pizza was the largest "kids" pizza I had ever seen and the boys seemed to enjoy it. They brought out some garlic knots, "on the house", which I thought was a nice gesture, but when we got the bill, they had actually charged us a penny for them. I know it's just a penny, but really? Unfortunately, that's as nice as I can get. The service was slow. I ordered the steak calzone and they brought me out a steak stromboli. I wouldn't have cared, accept the stomboli is made with ricotta cheese and the calzone isn't, and I don't care for ricotta, so I sent it back. The wife's spinach log comes out and it's frozen in the middle - not cold, FROZEN! So much for fresh! So we wait another 30 minutes or so for our food on top of the 20 we had waited initially and my wife realizes that the sausage they use is a processed sausage - gross! my "steak" is nothing more that steak-ums sliced up. I thought these two facts were very interesting considering the waitress had been very proud that the owners were itialian and took a lot of pride in their food. Really? I've never known a self-resepcting italian cook to use processed meats. So despite the fact that they screwed up both our orders, no effort is made to apologize or try to make good on the fact that we had waited almost an hour to eat sub-par food at best. On a side note, I'd liek to point out to the owners that your restaurant is locted in CONCORD, NC...NOT PITTSBURGH! Being an avid Panther's fan, I certainly knwo where I won't be going to watch my games. If you aren't a Steeler fan, prepare to feel alienated. I guess it doesn't matter, beacuse you couldn't pay me to go back. This was the worst experience ever and that includes the time I had a tray full of food dumped on me at Bob Evans! read more

I'll start with the positives. The garlic knots were delicious, and my Stromboli tasted good. My friend was also pleased with her pizza. The hostess also seated us quickly and was very nice. The negatives far outweigh those positives, unfortunately. To start off with, the service was terrible. Our waitress took forever to get to our table, so she took our drink/appetizer/food order all at once (because we'd had a good twenty minutes to look over the menu before she got there). It was not a busy night (2 other tables were full, and one was finished eating and just waiting on their check). Anyways, our waitress took our order and we did not see her again for a long time. Our drinks came out with one missing, but the guy who dropped them off left too quickly for us to tell him. Then our appetizers came, and despite my sister clearly stating that she was ordering the stuffed mushrooms as her entry and would like them then (since she was not very hungry), they came out with the garlic knots. We shrugged, whatever. However, what was annoying was that the person who brought them out again left immediately, and didn't ask if we needed anything. We did not have enough silverware to go around, and no one would check on us, so eventually my friend just jumped up and grabbed silverware from 2 other tables. My sister thought the stuffed mushrooms tasted disgusting, so my friend who also enjoys mushrooms tried them and agreed (I find mushrooms disgusting in general, so I didn't try them). When our food arrives, before the person setting it down can run off, we quickly asked for refills on our drinks and my sister mentioned that the mushrooms tasted really bad. They apologized, and we did get drink refills at this point (because we asked). The food was okay. I've had a better stromboli, but there was nothing terrible about it. What wasn't good was when I got my bill a *very* long time later I was charged about $6 extra for getting ham, bacon, and onion on it (I asked if I could substitute out all of the meat that came on it for just those 3 things and was told I could). Again, our waitress was not the one to drop it off. We flagged down another waitress and politely asked to speak to the manager. Much to our chagrin, our original waitress (who we have not seen since she took our orders) comes to our table and asks what the problem is. We explain about the mushrooms and my stromboli, and mention how long we've been waiting. She says okay and she'll be right back. She comes back and tells my sister that they've comped the mushrooms, but that they'll still have to charge me for the bacon because it "they" won't let her because it "costs more than all of the other meats that would have been on the stromboli." I asked why I wasn't told that before, and who "they" were and she hedges, and then says, "Oh, you know, the manager." In slight exasperation I responded, "So *you're* not the manager? Can we please speak to the manager?" She tells me that he doesn't really like to come out of the back, but she'll check. She comes back and tells me that he refuses to come. I'm not paying yet, as I'd like to talk to the manager, but she takes my friend's and brother's checks/money and they *both* specify that they'd like change, but neither receive any. At this point, my sister is angry. My friend and brother decide to go to the shop next door since they've paid, while my sister and I stay at the table. To talk to the manager, my sister had to actually CALL the restaurant to speak to him (and got hung up on once before actually talking to him). Turns out the manager is also the owner, and tells us that he basically doesn't care about the poor service (because they have a "team" waitstaff, but he says he'll check the security cameras to see how often we were checked on), doesn't care about the mushrooms because they're a frozen thing they buy (and because they comped them anyways), and he doesn't care that we're not happy. I paid because I ate my food, but I left a very small tip. Needless to say, Garofola's will not be receiving business from me again, and I've made sure to tell all of my friends about how awful the service is. read more

I agree with all the others about a zero star rating! This place is bad! I've eaten here several times, and I've actually had a few bad experiences. I live 5 minutes down the street, and I could walk there if I really wanted to - which would be great because I don't have time to cook a lot. One time I placed a To-Go order on a week night, and they said it would take 20-25 minutes. 45 minutes later I call to see if everything is okay, and no one answers (which I thought was strange). I called again - no one answered the second time. Finally, I decided to try with another phone. Magically, someone answers the phone! I got really frustrated that they were screening my phone calls. The food finally showed up over an hour later. Another time we decided to go with some friends and actually dine-in. This was during the daytime on a weekend. We walked in and waited for someone to seat us... After we were seated we waited 20 minutes for someone to take our drink order! After waiting and waiting we decided to leave. We were so upset with the service that we went somewhere else. Do NOT go here. Terrible service & sub-par food. Not worth your time or money. read more

My husband and I just happened to find this place by chance. We were going to PNC Music Pavillion for concert and wanted to get dinner before. This is 5 miles from there. We sat on the Bar side of restaurant. Great atmosphere, big TV's, high and low top chairs. We started with a beer which came in a frosted pint glass, so I knew this was going to be great!! I ordered the Bruschetta pizza and my husband ordered the chicken parm dinner. The pizza was the best pizza I have ever had in my life!!!! The crust was thin, a touch crispy and flavor was amazing!! My husband loved his chicken parm. Our waitress was super friendly and gave exceptional service. I can't wait to try their other pizzas. Definitely going back. Oh, and great prices. Excellent experience !!! read more

This used to be the best Italian in Concord. Always fresh. Courteous staff. The whole nine yards. Now its worse than Olive Garden. A friend got a Stromboli and it was cold in the middle. She asked for it to be fixed. They put it back in the oven and it got really dry. The waitress said she would talk to the owner. Well nothing happened. So she asked to speak with him. The owner finally came out and was blaming her for not telling anyone. Um hello? Then he said there was too much cheese. He tried to say he would only take half off because she ate half of it. Finally he took it off of her bill. I refuse to return and encourage you not to go there. read more

Delicious food in big portions and great service!

My family tried this location because it is so close to our house. I truly wish we had just left when we found out they no longer take the Restaurant.com certificate we had just recently purchased. The bar, dining room and party room are nice enough, however the food leaves a lot to be desired. The waitress came out with an order of Garlic Knots and said it was compliments of the chef. We really thought this was great. They were pretty good and were gobbled up by the family right away. My kids ordered the Kids pizza and they were quite content. I did think that was a great value because the pizza was a good size and drinks were included in the meal. My husband and I did not have as good of luck with our orders. The kids were finishing up their order as ours came out. He ordered a steak stromboli and I ordered the spinach roll. His steak stromboli came out a calzone (the main difference for him was that one had ricotta cheese which he does not like and the other did not) My spinach roll was COLD on the inside. Not just room temp, but actually cold. They took ours back to the kitchen to fix it. We had to wait another 15-20 minutes. We eventually asked for the check and told them to make our order to go. Once home neither one of us enjoyed what we ordered at all. The sausage in the spinach roll did not taste good at all. It was obviously processed. The steak in the Stromboli was steak ums and really not the quality you would expect. When the check came we did find it comical that we were charged .01 for the Garlic Knots that were not asked for and "compliments of the chef". It was only a penny so we did not say anything, but it was pretty funny. This is not a restaurant we will be back to. Next time we will drive a little further for significantly better food for the same price. read more

Garofola's is a great Italian place from days gone by. You are greated in a frendly way that is more like going to visit friends than going out to a restaurant. The food is always great and the servers are friendly. This truly is a family restaurant run by a family to serve our family. Do they get slammed once in a while and the service backs upo? Yup, it can happen but so what. We really arn't in a hurry anyway. If you want fast, hit a place with a drive up window. If you want good food and friendly service, Garofola's could become your home place. read more

We've ordered Togo from here a few times and a handful of those times something was missing or something was wrong with our order. But every time we have dined in with them it has been great! We are not a fan of there salad dressing but I liked the fettuccine Alfredo and the pizza is good! read more

Mixed feelings. The sauce and cheese on the chicken parm were great. But the chicken was overcooked and stringy. The wings were fantastic. The salad had a lot of stuff, olives, cukes, tomatoes, but wasn't ice cold and lacked presentation. Service was great. Like another reviewer mentioned, my angel hair had quite a bit of water in it. My brother said the meatballs are awesome. read more

Great food and service!!!! Love the garlic knots so buttery and full of garlic. What's better than a fresh made pizza or calzone. Great portion size for the price. read more

Awesome service, The food is great. Pete (the owner) great guy. The Cajun chicken pasta, the garlic knots, and the hot garlic wings are my favorite. read more

We've been there many times, usually without any issues. Tonight however, was totally different. Our server was not attentive at all. Never offered to refill our drinks, but refilled the drinks of others around us. Never stopped by to ask if things were OK. We were not given utensils, and had to ask for napkins. It was 10-15 minutes AFTER we finished eating that we finally got our check, and only then by requesting it. We were thoroughly disappointed tonight, and more than likely will not go back. read more

Great pizza and Italian dishes. A little on the pricey side if you are accustomed to paying Dominos prices but well worth it. Love the coupon included with the large pizzas. read more

Every time we come here the service and food is amazing. The fried ravioli is so savory and they have the best new York style pizza I've had in the charlotte area. Their pasta and seafood is flavorful and rich. The wait staff is friendly and your glass stays full. They always have great recommendations and treat you like old friends. I always leave happy! read more

If you are a Steelers fan and like Italian food. Then this is the place to go. .60 cent wings and $1 daft beer!

I consider myself a pizza freak/connoisseur and try to eat at every pizza restaurant in my area; at least once. Imo it doesn't get any better than Garofola's. The only places in the same ballpark would be Brooklyn's off of Hwy 601 but the dining room proper is pretty small. It is great NY style pizza. Several times I've gone there wanting to try something else but the pizza is so darn good I can't do it most of the time :) However, I have had the spaghetti & meatballs which is mouthwatering and it's the only spaghetti my kids will eat. Literally. They won't eat spaghetti anywhere else. I have seen some reviews commenting on bad service. I have had great service 99% of the time. There was one instance when we were leaving that I heard the former owner's wife say under her breath, "I'm glad they're finally leaving!" I have 3 younger kids and they act like kids sometimes and were probably a little rowdy that day, I can't remember. I probably wouldn't have gone back but I heard they sold to new owners a couple years ago so I gave them another go and I haven't had any issues since. One last comment...they do like the garlic at Garofola's which may be too much for some. I love lots of garlic so it doesn't bother me, but I'm pretty sure they will tone it down for you if you ask. Thanks for reading, hope this helps! read more

Great food, decent prices. They do get a little funny with charges for extra sauces etc. Great wings and pizza for gamedays.

We ordered three pizzas for super bowl and they all were excellent. I always like a lot of cheese and they didn't skimp on the cheese or any other ingredients. read more

Love this place awesome food I go with my family at least once a week. Somtimes it can be slow but the food makes up for it. Great food at fair prices awesome garlic knots highly recommended this to my friends. Never had a problem here with the workers I don't know why other people had issues with them the owners are very nice read more

Best pizza and pasta in Harrisburg/ Concord!! Come here twice a month! Good job guys! read more

This was by far our best dining experience in Charlotte/Concord. The food is piping hot, fresh and made with quality ingredients. The pizza, the primanti sandwich, the wedding soup, the calzone, the mushrooms, the cannoli everything we had was unbelievable. We were stuffed for two days. Best part is the owner is there watching everything. Great people, great food, great service!! Make this place a priority when you get to town. read more

Pete and the staff do a fantastic job. Their food is by far the best Italian food in the state of NC. The pizza is excellent. On Steeler Sundays, we get their chicken wings, and they are to die for. Thanks for the wonderful dining experiences. read more

The amount of salt content was over the top. My bread rolls, lasagna and the stuffed mushrooms all were to salty. Change of ingredients would help. My wife thought it was decent, but wasn't impressed. We were impressed with the quantity of food, just not the quality. Feb 15, 2014 read more

My husband and I have been dining here for a couple of years. The food has always been excellent. We go at least once every two weeks. Whenever we have family gatherings, we head to Garofola's. Owner Pete is friendly, visits with us now and then. And the salads are the freshest anywhere. read more

Agree with the comments that say we need a 'no star' rating. The food at this place is only average, but the rudeness of the waitstaff and the owners (?) is what merits the low rating. These people treat you like they do not want or need you or your business. I went there because a friend suggested I try it. Never again. I will never understand how a business this rude remains open. If you want excellent Italian food, I would suggest Rosario's, as these people do not deserve hard earned money. read more

Fantastic Italian food. We loved the pizza, knots, and wedding soup. I don't know how they make their dough, but it's very light. Delicious!

My husband and i went in for lunch 2 days ago at about 3:30. I ordered a meatball hero and my husband ordered rigatoni and meatballs. My husbands meal came with soup. The waitress brought my food to the table and said my husbands food would be out soon. About 5 minutes later she brought his soup which was so hot he burned himself. About 5 minutes later she came back and apoligized that his order was taking so long but the owner was having problems sending something on the computer and he said to offer my husband a drink. My husband advised he doesn't drink alcohol and that it was only 4:oopm My husbands food finally arrived and was absolutely disgusting. The pasta was so overcooked that it all broke apart on the plate when you treid to pick it up with a fork and the sauce was oily and once again, boiling hot so he burned his mouth again. The waitress never came back to ask how everything was and we even had to get up and go to the register to get our check. They didnt even comp my husbands soda and when i told the waitress how gross the food was, she didnt even respond to. And the sad thing is...we were the only people there. It wasnt even busy!!!!! I will NEVER go back! Bad food AND bad service!! And i do believe it isnt homemade either as someone came from the kitchen wearing a SYSCO shirt!! read more