Great location. Arrived about 5 on Friday night. We got seated immediately. Our waitress was personable Food was good. Felt the meat to bread ratio was not what it use to be. My grinder roll was huge and my meat portion (pastrami) was small in comparison. Overall my sandwich was great tasting. I will stick with steak and cheese next time. read more

Hi, I'm writing this review with a a heavy heart. My fiancé and I frequent this particular location quite often. This particular Saturday night we decided to sit at the bar and have dinner with some drinks. First, we walk to the bar area and there are about 4 of the waitstaff staring at us as and whispering. The only one that greeted us was the bartender. The others were loud and obnoxious during our entire stay. They were counting out their tips and at the bar at 8:30 pm, the establishment does not close until 9:30 pm on Saturdays. At this point one of the off duty waitstaff made a statement about everyone counting out their tips at the bar and the other waitstaff said loudly " We're practically closed! No one is at the bar!" . This just wasn't a pleasant experience at all. We felt as if we were bothering them by being here, like it was an inconvenience. I can honestly say, I won't be back to this location. We heard conversations that we shouldn't have been privy to. The waitstaff was at the bar talking about how they were closing and shouldn't be opening the next day. Another staff was sitting at the bar yelling at someone on their phone. It was a complete shit show. Meanwhile there is a manager or supervisor on duty and he was not saying anything! The food was great but I will never come back after having this experience. Also for the record, I haven't written a review here in a while so this says a lot about my experience. read more

First time I was there it was absolutely delicious. I had the muscles in the red sauce, the sauce was so good I couldn't resist eating at all. Thank you to our waiter Ashton B! Awesome guy! read more

Joey Garlic's - It was so good I had to drink the rest of the sauce - Italian Near Me - Manchester, Connecticut

Order the chicken Parmesan and the chicken was hard. Best chicken Parmesan is Bella family own restaurant south windsor Ct. my sister always get hers at the Newington Ct spot..... read more

I think it was Benjamin Franklin who said, "We should not eat to live, but live to eat!" ...or maybe he had it the other way around. Either way, with massive portions and delicious pasta, I'd consider living in Joey Garlic's dining room full-time! Fiancé and I were scouting the opening day like red on sauce and boy, we were not disappointed. Started with some quality mozzarella sticks and then dived into a treasure chest of linguini with clams while she batted my paws away from slices of her vodka tomato pizza. Everything was pretty much spot on delicious, and c'mon, who could even imagine complaining about the ten tons of food they give you for the price? It's like getting three meals in one. Will definitely be back, and looking forward greatly to grabbing some take out soon. read more

Joey Garlic's - Linguini Clam Sauce - Italian Near Me - Manchester, Connecticut

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Good pasta cooked al dente. Pizza had a crisp crust with a slight chewiness which is perfection. I was unaware that ordering from lunch menu does not include salad as I was accustomed. Waited quite a while to have our drink order taken, yet there were five waitstaff chatting at the back of the dining area. Nice addition to Buckland area. read more

Joey Garlic's - Pasta carbonara (lunch size) four meals for me. - Italian Near Me - Manchester, Connecticut

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We ordered take out and we're disappointed. We ordered garlic bread and it did not come with sauce. My meatball grinder had 2 tiny meatballs on it and tons of bread. Food was just like warm. Will not be ordering again read more

My family and I visited this Joey Garlic's location for the second time last night and once again, left as very happy customers with doggie bags and full stomachs. Service was fantastic and our waiter was friendly and very helpful despite having a lot of tables. Any pasta entree at JG's is delicious and can easily be shared by two people. My husband's carbonara was fantastic. I ordered a delicious calzone that was also large enough for two. Can't beat that! Definitely visit this location and you will NOT be disappointed. Pro tip: Call ahead and put your name in ahead of time as they have call ahead seating or go online to their web site to put your name in and track your wait time. read more

I came to Joey Garlic's in Manchester prepared to eat and I was not disappointed. Party of 4 a few weeks back, arrived on a Saturday evening. After a short wait (shorter than quoted), we were seated. Started with eggplant fries to split - we had asked for cheese on the side because of a dairy sensitivity and they came out with cheese on top. They immediately replaced and apologized with no further questions. And they were so good. I had a special pizza which was a new menu item being tested. A bit garlicky, but a delicious pan pizza with thick, bready, pillowy crust. Would eat again. Great they're carefully introducing items. Great service this visit and great good. Will probably visit next time we want to see a movie or are just craving eggplant fries. read more

Joey Garlic's - Special Square Pizza - Italian Near Me - Manchester, Connecticut

I am leaving this poor review because of the garbage all over the building exterior. Please clean up your property--it is IMPORTANT! Garbage on your property blows around and becomes garbage on your neighbor's property and vice versa. It will have a life until someone picks it up. read more

Joey Garlic's is worth a visit if you're looking for some large portion Italian dinners. The dinner portions are huge and lasted me multiple meals. The chicken parm dinner comes with large pieces of chicken that are tender and tasty. The chicken Marsala may be the best I've had. The carbonara is different than the classic I'm use to. It was quite oily and didn't seem to have the typical egg creamy sauce I've gotten other places (including around Italy) - wouldn't recommend this dish. For an appetizer we got the calamari. It was good, but the pieces were very small like it was the bottom crumbs in a potato chip bag small. Also this portion is not on same caliper as dinner portions. It comes with hot fried peppers which appear to be used to get the "filled up plate" look rather than giving more calamari. I debated ordering bread with my meal but the waitress said each came with a large piece of bread. Either i got the runt of the bread litter or they don't give much. If I were to order again I'd buy the garlic bread too. Overall the food, service, and atmosphere were good. Highly recommend chicken Marsala. Tip: Do the online waitlist to save yourself waiting time! read more

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My boyfriend and I were originally gonna go to Texas Roadhouse for dinner but then last minute we decided to try something new. We found a lot of good options and had a hard time deciding what to get. In the end he got the Pizza a la Carbonara and I got the Chicken Marsala. The chicken Marsala was bigger than I expected! The chicken was tender and juicy. The pizza was delicious! I highly recommend that flavor! **Side note: I have a bad tomato allergy and I am very thankful they have so many white pizza options! Overall, we had a great dinner and we will return! However, I will say the only bad thing I can say is that the service was slow. It took awhile to get our food and drinks. read more

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My husband and I and another couple chose Joey Garlic because it is a 2 minute walk from the movie theater. So, convenient location. The servers were attentive and friendly. What Joey Garlic needs to do is cut back on the portion size and use the savings to improve the quality of the food. Don't get me wrong, I love leftovers. But it's a little ridiculous to come home with enough food for 3 more dinners!! I had the Chicken Piccata. VERY bland. Today I added to my leftovers: 1 large onion, sautéed; 3 large cloves of garlic; 1/3 cup lemon juice, and some freshly ground pepper. Not bad! My husband enjoyed his Buffalo Chicken Calzone. The other couple shared an order of Chicken Marsala (and ended up bringing home at least half of it). The wife liked it a lot and said she would order it again; the husband thought it was too sweet. I tried a taste and agreed with the husband, too sweet AND also too bland. A choice of soup of salad accompanies each entree. The garden salad was OK, with fresh lettuce, a couple of cherry tomatoes, a couple of olives, and some chopped onion. The other couple shared a salad - their only complaint was that initially the server brought out plain vinegar for the dressing (NOT vinaigrette). But they brought out another serving of a dressing after they complained. read more

Great portion size. I ordered the chicken pesto penne and I was amazed that it tasted the same as I remember from Rome, Italy! Not sure who their chef is but kudos for getting the authentic taste!! read more

A disaster of a restaurant!! Don't waste your time ! They don't want you to know about happy hour!! Well at least the Manager and the inexperienced bartender who looked like she was under aged!! First time going, and it will be the last time!! read more

I had the ricotta donuts and can't stop thinking about them. I don't eat sweets, but these are the exception. WOW!

The food was really good. Got the blackened salmon and Marsala. The service was not that great. It wasn't even that busy and it took over 5 minutes after we sat for the server to even come to our table. The food was very slow to come out and my mother got her soup when the meals came out instead of with the rest of our salads. read more

Ok so I must say I was waiting to try this place out, I heard so many great things, and it was right! I had a vegetable pizza, it was amazeeee! It took a rather long time to get out, and the manager actually comped me and my boss for the wait our pizza was on the house, he came over personally and apologized which I was so impressed by! Overall a really good experience and I can't wait to go back! read more

A friend had said it was her favorite restaurant. Ordered the carbonara. Awful. It was like dry noodles with nondescript meat that may have been bacon and tasteless sausage. None of that delicious creamy carbonara feel. Would not recommend. read more

All I can say is WOW! The customer service at Joey Garlic's was amazing! Not only is there a delicious aroma of garlic floating outside of the building which drew us in, but the service and delicious food made it hard to leave! While we were a little bit larger of a party (7) it was not a long wait to be seated. Our waiter Chris was extremely accommodating and friendly and made us feel welcome from the moment we sat down. The margaritas were extremely tasty and prepared us for the rest of the tasty meal. We had the mozzarella sticks, calamari and garlic bread to start (all were amazing and quickly demolished). The main course included various dishes. When chicken was forgotten on one of the dishes, our waiter Chris was extremely quick to correct the problem. He was very much on top of it and the chicken was brought out quickly and he also offered congratulatory shots as a member of our party recently picked out her wedding dress and we had just been bridesmaid dress shopping. The mood was perfect, the food was perfect. 13/10 will be back and hopefully Chris is our waiter again because he is a joy! read more

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My favorite restaurant in CT!!! The portions are HUGE can last you about 2 leftover meals! Broccoli rabe & sausage pasta is my all time favorite but everything from this restaurant is amazing especially the eggplant fries!! read more

Joey Garlic's - Penne Alla Vodka - Italian Near Me - Manchester, Connecticut

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Ended up here completely unplanned. And I have to say it did not disappoint! Service was a little slow but restaurants deserve a little slack these days. Hubs had crazy Alfredo, I had chicken pesto penne, and our friends had the hot honey pepperoni pie. All great dishes, massive portions. The pizza in particular was delicious and I cant wait to go back and try more! read more

Food is great most of the time I have been a few times throughout the years and 75% of the time the food is kept to a good standard and tastes great. But unfortunately the times the food isn't, overshadows the time it is good. The quality significantly drops when they are somewhat crowded and do not hold the same standard for the quality of the food. read more

This is what Olive Garden wishes it could be. An Italian chain that serves decent food that is a notch above chain-y. Sure, Olive Garden totally smokes Bertucci's, but that's not saying much because Bertucci's is pretty lame. Joeys elevates chain cuisine further than simply talking about their 'brick oven', they do a reasonable facsimile of mom and pop-ness. You know mom and pop, normal folk who live around here and own little Italian hole in the walls. There are a zillion of em in the northeast, and the best of the bunch are here in CT, so Joey has some serious competition, but they hold up alright. (Please hold. Just got a memo from Joey Garlic rep Allison A. who says Joeys is not really a chain. So I guess its not some mega-corporate owned, franchisey type, something or other, but it does have multiple locations. And based on the theme-y decor, and the very user friendly menu, these guys could start their own franchise business.) Penne with vodka sauce with just the right amount of zing. A huge eggplant parmesan that you can share with your dog when you get home cus you're not gonna finish it here unless you put on your snout. Yah, somebody out back was rolling meatballs by hand, were they wearing gloves? Gordon Ramsey wouldn't be, you just have to have faith that the crew has been washing their hands, but the things are pretty good... for a sorta almost chain. The place can get noisy as hell when the crowd is there and they are downing drinks, but if you stick some cigarette filters in your ears, everythings alright. Friendly, ultra efficient crew will hook you up with what you need pretty quick, don't expect a free plate of rolls, but you can get your garlic bread fix for five bucks. Appears they do take large party reservations Monday-Thursday and also offer an online waitlist Don't sweat it, they got this down. read more

Made a return trip after having not so steller service (but the quality of the food more than made up for it). Samantha B was EXCELLENT tonight. The kitchen ran out of both specials (not faulting Samantha) but the pizza we had was excellent. We drive down from Chicopee and have found our new favorite pizza place. read more

I love Joey's and I was so glad they opened east of the river and close by but all my excitement was burnt to the ground, somehow at this location everything went wrong. Soon after we were seated we placed our orders and when the waiter bought out our food he literally dropped the food on the table and walked away didn't even apologize. The food as well I didn't order my usual pizza we tried a bunch of new things we hadn't tried at Joeys before ... the buffalo cauliflower (usually batter fired and tossed in buffalo sauce at most other places was served fried but tasted like steamed florets tossed in buffalo sauce) wasn't great, we had the eggplant parm grinder for entrees(first off it's huge, second it was so bad and greasy we couldn't eat more than 1/4 of it), the crispy onion rings(again super ultra greasy), sweet potato wedges were good,a bit thick but good, the pomegranate shake was weak. Overall I donno if it was a bad choice of food or if they were having a bad day but the waiters behavior made the whole experience worse. I will come back just once more to give my usual pizza a try and then decide for real if I like it or not. But for this time I can't rate it more than 2 stars. read more

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Food was great, cauliflower crusted pizza was thee best I've ever had!!! service was horrible & we got there shortly after opening, only couple sitting at the bar...bartender gave me my high noon without wiping down the top, there was a bug, not opening it, I showed her & requested another one, same thing dirty, at that point I just cleaned and opened it myself read more

Very excited to see Joey Garlic's east of the river. I feel like all we have are chain restaurants, so it's great to have this as a go to option. I brought my mom, wife and 2 kids and we went all in. Our eyes got the better of us so please forgive. Also, the only pic I remembered to get was of the outside- my bad. Here we go. We started with eggplant fries (love these) and a bowl of marinara, garlic parm wings, and garlic cheesey bread. The wings were crispy, the way they are supposed to be IMO, and were very good. The cheesey was just what you would expect and didn't disappoint. But the star of this round, was definitely the eggplant fries. Damn, as I write this, I am craving those now. Round 2 - we ordered a large pepperoni pizza for the table and obviously some to go. You will see. I ordered a chicken parm grinder, wife had shrimp scampi, mom as always got "The Meatball Salad", 8yo had a bacon cheeseburger, and the 6yo had the house salad with grilled chicken. He's a rare one and always eats salads. I really like that they put spinach my chicken parm grinder-so underrated. I'm a sucker for good chicken cutlets and they do it right. The pizza was on point also. They serve a New York style thinner pie. I indulged on the burger bexause it was way too much for my kid to take Don so I happily obliged. I wss surprised to see that it was hand pressed. Kudos for that and the generous amount of bacon! I would definitely order a burger from here, but it might be hard not to get the chicken again. I picked at every dish and it was all pretty good. We can't wait to go back, but it might be a couple of days for us to eat all the leftovers we took home. -Thank you Joey Garlic, whoever you are. read more

Joey Garlic's - Italian Near Me - Manchester, Connecticut

Update: Original review below, however, I need to mention that only a day after the event we have been in constant communication about our experience with the Joey G team and I wanted to make sure it is noted that there has been significant effort to make up for our bad experience, including a refund. Even though we didn't have a good experience at the restaurant itself, I have to give credit for the effort afterwards. Not every restaurant would be receptive to the feedback and bother fixing it. _________________________________________________ Unfortunately I can't give it 0 stars... We had been to another Joey Garlic's years ago and were looking forward to trying this location that is close to home. Unfortunately this was the worst dining experience that I can recall. I'll explain what happened: Once our party was called we were directed to a table which had not been cleaned up yet. The staff kept us standing awkwardly around the nearby tables while they took multiple trips to clear the mess. We then sat down and waited over 10 minutes with no attention before I had to go up to the host station to request a server. Things appeared to be back on track as a waitress quickly responded and took our entire order since we had plenty of time to decide what we wanted. The drinks arrived and she said she would be back with lemons for the drinks....that was pretty much the last time we saw her.... We waited patiently for the lemons when suddenly the manager came by with our entrees....we told him we hadn't even had our salads yet. He took the entrees back to the kitchen and said he would be back with salads. We continued to wait...still no sign of the waitress or the lemons... It was at this point that we had enough and decided that when the salads did arrive, we would ask for our meals to be packed up and we would bring them home to eat them. The manager dropped off the salads and we asked him to wrap the meals. From that point on, suddenly our waitress was back and she brought the wrapped meals, dropped off a check, and left (still never saw those lemons). I would have expected at this point perhaps the manager would stop by to apologize about our experience, or perhaps offer us some consolation by way of a complimentary meal or something.... Not only did it not happen, it was almost like they were avoiding us because they knew they screwed up. There was no acknowledgement and we quietly settled up...paying full price for a meal that was hardly worth the gas money we spent driving to the restaurant... read more

Over hyped place and not impressed with their food at all. Drinks weren't that yummy either. The only thing that was good was the meatball app. read more

I have been to this location two Times now, both times with parties of 8 or more. they do not take reservations on the weekend so if you're going with a large group send somebody about an hour early to put your name in at the door because they won't even let you do call ahead seating with a large party! If you go Sunday through Thursday though you can make a reservation. Their appetizers are terrific, but they are not very big. if you order mozzarella sticks only expect about three people to get enough. my favorite appetizer is the garlic bread with cheese. We also enjoyed the meatballs the first time, but the restaurant switch the recipe the second time instead of using only beef now use their pork beef blend. The pork beef blend is used in many of their dishes, but there's a lot of people in my family that don't want to eat any pork for health reasons or religious reasons so we steered clear of almost every dish with meat sauce. The chicken parmesan was a big hit with almost everybody that tried it everyone else actually like their dishes quite a lot as well. Of the 16 meals Different people ordered the two different times I came to the restaurant 14 of them were delivered correctly. One dish that was not light was a chicken piccata, which had to be the worst chicken piccata I have ever tried in my life. The secondary order to that was a calzone which was delivered in charred black condition. the waitress took one look at the calzone and apologize immediately. Other than that everybody love their food. Dessert choices are very limited so if you're looking for great desserts this is not the place. This location is right by the movie theater. now that the movie theater has less seats I recommend stopping in to reserve your tickets first before you come to dinner. I will probably go back to Joey Garlic's but I can't say that it is the end-all and be-all of Italian restaurants read more

Highly recommend this place. I think the Crazy Alfredo is one of the best Italian dishes I have had in a long time. Service was excellent, considering the fact this place is a new location. Prices on the lunch menu were very very reasonable. I will be returning for sure. read more

Had a pizza pie from this joint and it was not too bad. A pretty good pizza overall. It is better than several other places in the area but when it comes to pizza what's good can differ from person to person. It comes down to opinion. I will frequent this establishment again as it did taste like an authentic Italian pizza pie. read more

Crowded on a Tuesday night when we went out to dinner to celebrate my girlfriend's birthday. We hungrily eyed the enticing menu while we waited for a table. I don't know if we chose wrong or the food is just poorly executed. Calamari appetizer undercooked and very chewy to the point of being inedible. Server said it would be taken off the bill but alas when it came out the unacceptable calamari was still charged. Bolognese entree soupy and lacking the traditional rich flavor I was hoping for. Girlfriend ordered a pizza and lost her appetite after a few slices when she found a stray hair embedded in the toppings. Server was very busy and didn't have enough time to devote to her many tables. She was friendly and enthusiastic just seemed to have too many tables or too many sections to provide quality service. After having to send the calamari back, having to ask for drink refills etc we just discarded the rest of the pizza, boxed the mediocre bolognese and went to a neighboring establishment for dessert and drinks. Overall a pretty disappointing experience. I would compare the entrees to Olive Garden quality wise. Next time we're in the mood for Italian cuisine or celebrating a special occasion it certainly won't be here. read more

If you're in town try this place out! Huge portions and yummy food. I ordered vodka pasta and burgers, yummy!!!!! read more

Ordered on NYE which was probably not the best idea. Waited 44 mins in the parking lot and the food was cold, dry and not as good as it usually is. The pasta carbonara was so dry and had very little meat which it is usually so good. read more

We have had takeout from numerous area restaurants, but our dinner last night from JG's was definitely the best "delicious" read more

We just had dinner here for the first time & we'll definitely be coming back. It's always nice to have a new place to try out! The place is nice and clean, the atmosphere was casual (great for our toddler) & the food was great! We shared a calzone & the onion strings. Everything was good!! Our son had no complaints about his Mac and cheese & our waitress Kelly even made him a nice little sundae, he was in heaven!! service was excellent & we'll be back! If you're in the area, check out Joey Garlic's! read more

Joey Garlic's - Italian Near Me - Manchester, Connecticut

If you are looking for a NY pizza in Ct, you must stop into Joey Garlics. We sat at the bar and Kelly and Ian totally rocked the bar!! We took 2 of Ian's suggestion and went for the buffalo cauliflower bites and the hot honey salami bronx pie. Delish!! He also recommended the white pizza that we did not try. Fun night with good times playing!! . read more

Great food! Huge portions... Our waitress (Tiffany A) was top notch. Would go back in a second. read more