Johnny Garlic's

Location: Dublin, CA

Cuisine type: American, modern

Atmosphere:  casual 

Meal: lunch

Price range: $15-$20 (entrees)

Overall grade: 7.25

Ben 

Probably like many of the patrons, we saw the name Guy Fieri and decided to check this place out. After about a 20 minute wait at lunchtime, we got a table in a booth across from the kitchen. The cool part about the atmosphere is that the kitchen is entirely open and you can see the cooks preparing the food and handing it to the waiters and waitresses. The restaurant gave me an almost warehouse-like vibe, with a very open, high ceiling feel. The service was a little frantic, but the menus were fascinating. A lot of unusual and creative dishes were available. As an appetizer we had "Ahi wanton tacos" or raw ahi meat in a salad / salsa wrapped with a crisp wonton. This was a tasty, attractive dish and a nice spin on tacos. As a main dish we ordered a shrimp chorizo pizza, an interesting combination. The pizza was tasty though left a little to be desired as the toppings were a bit scant and the crust was a bit darkened. The pricing wasn't too bad (~10 for appetizer, 17 for pizza). The overall feel was a little uncohesive, with the frantic waiters, calm hosts, and a mash of decoration flair with the overall highly open / cold feel of the place. It's a decent place with good food, though it probably rests on the big name endorsement.

Food             8

Drinks           7

Atmosphere   6

Service          6 

Value            6

Nina

This morning we made the early morning drive to Livermore (from San Jose) to practice for Ben's commute and get a better idea of the real amount of time spent on the road. The down side of making an early morning commute against rush hour traffic is that, at the end of it, the return trip would take place in the midst of rush hour traffic into the Bay Area... thus, we decided to stop for some shopping to weather the traffic storm and eat some early lunch/late breakfast. We spotted a restaurant with a familiar name scribbled across it - Guy Fieri (the crazy guy on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on Food Network). It was called Johnny Garlic's and it was the type of American restaurant with modern flare that we've seen before. 

Many of the recipes on the menu were twists on classics, whether it was a new twist on a classic Southwestern dish (like the chorizo and shrimp pizza with lime and salsa that we shared) or a East-meets-West creation (such as the wonton ahi tuna tacos). Both dishes were very flavorful and well executed, though I really preferred the tuna tacos - in part due to my love of sushi and all things seafood, but also because the large amount of cheese on the pizza as well as the chorizo resulted in a fairly greasy end product which was not as appealing as it could have been. In all, the food was a little overpriced (which is not entirely surprising for a restaurant owned by a famous TV star chef), though original and delicious. Not sure I would pay the premium for dinner at this place, but it's a good place for a quick, unique lunch.

Food             9

Drinks           8

Atmosphere   6

Service          7 

Value            7