We got the soup, which is not on the menu, but it is soo good!

Looking to take pops out to lunch today, I broke out the ol Yelp app and found this place. We got there at 11:15, found a handicap parking space right across the street, and was able to get seated right away at one of the three tables outside with umbrellas. “The outside temp was a Beautiful 75° with a slight breeze just wonderful” The Waitress took our order right away I opted for the El Paso burger “med rare” that comes with cheese, bacon, Ortega chiles, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pineapple and avocado. I added the garlic fries for an extra $1.50. Pops got the cowboy steak that comes with wedge cut fries, salsa, two slices of bread, and butter, two eggs of your choice, and pineapple. We waited almost an hour to get our food but when it arrived we were served 2 stunning dishes. (Pro tip) if you want your food fast don’t come here, McDonald’s is down the street. But if you want a Delicious meal then it’s definitely worth the wait Burger: oh my gosh, so many subtle flavor, Tex-Mex meets Mexico meets Gilroy meets the USA. The first bite came in at so many levels. 1st the taste of The perfectly cooked medium rare burger, and a hint of salt, then the sweetness of the Ortega chili melded with the perfectly crisp bacon. Honestly there was nothing in this burger that stood out it was just so beautifully put together in its flavors. 5 stars Garlic fries: oh yah baby these are the real deal, with chunks of minced garlic the garlic flavor shined through. “Garlic lovers this is a must” 4 stars. The cowboy steak: pops liked it but for him it was a little spicy, the steak comes smothered with salsa. Bottom line: this is a book mark place for everyone to enjoy.

good service outside during these corona times. Sandwich was juicy and flavorful. Omelet is made from whole eggs only using whites (not from carton) However, note that it is a little wet from the tomatoes, in case that is off-putting to some. Would return here and order the same things again.

The food is delicious, the garlic soup sounds nasty, but oh no!, it's very good, lick my lips. I usually lick my lips for another thing, but I'm rating this restaurant at this time. Service however needs to shift into 2nd or even 3rd gear. But I will be back. So try it yourself and you won't be disappointed with the food

Nathan

Avg atmosphere, no music or anything and it’s kind of condensed into a wide halfway. Food is good, it’s definitely garlic themed and we really liked it. That said, food is pretty heavy on the greasy grill style. And the fry portions are not large. Service is nice, they’re just under-staffed. We went during late lunch and the hostess/owner was the only person running about 5-7 tables (20 people)

Kyttie Smith

Followed a garlic truck into town and wasn’t disappointed. The garlic chicken sandwich came on delicious flakey French bread and the garlic cream soup was AMAZING. The garlic was so fragrant. The soup before the sandwich made me wish for a smidgen of salt on the chicken. My husband had the garlic burger which came fully loaded!!! The Gorgonzola mayo is funky but yummy. Garlic fries were lack luster and needed salt since they were just frozen crinkle fries with with delicious crumbled garlic n dry parm. Lots of lighter more Mediterranean options. Atmosphere was definitely old time Greek/tuscan diner. Price was appropriate for atmosphere but the food was worth more.

+3

Edward Van Deventer

Food was great! Service was good. Seems to be family owned and operated. Not really welcoming/inviting, but not rude at all. Just kinda matter of fact. Again the food was really good, give it a try, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Update December 2023: California Omelet and Joe's Scramble were both delicious. Denver Omelet was very good as well, to go on that one. Past visit I tried the Corned Beef and Hash with Eggs. It was okay but not really to my liking. Castroville Own Omelet was fantastic. I really liked the California Turkey Club Sandwich a lot. El Paso Cheeseburger is outstanding. A lot to like here for sure.

+2

Krish Vitaldevara

Good food. Small cafe so if you go during busy hour it's a bit of wait to get food but friendly service. Vegetarian options are great as well. Overall recommend the place.

Glow

Their meals were all right. Customer service was decent and the waiter was attentive. The meals were decent but their garlic soup was plain and somewhat salty. Now the Shrimp Alfredo pasta and wraps were okay. Not the best I have tasted, but overall good meal.

Nunya Bizzness

Great food and great service. Nice small family owned business in a nice part of town. The portions are big. The only reason I give it 4 stars is because I think the garlic in the garlic soup could've been cooked a little longer. Good soup, but had to much of a garlic burn like raw garlic.

Matthew Daniel

It was just a diner style setup with limited seating and the kitchen was open to the dining area so it had both odor and grease in the air. The french fries were undercooked and the veggie wrap was 50% lettuce which wasn't very satisfying. I was sorry that we went there

Koshu Takatsuji

Honestly was a bit disappointed at this place. I came to Gilroy looking for a very garlic heavy meal....and to be honest the food lacked garlic flavor. My wife and I ordered a chicken sandwich and the garlic burger with garlic fries but the burger was dry, the fries had little garlic, and the chicken sandwich was only okay. The server was also a bit rude when we asked for extra utensils which wasn't exactly helpful. Will definitely not recommend coming here or to others.

Clare Lin

On our way traveling past Gilroy, we decided to sample their famed garlic at some local establishment. "Garlic City Cafe" proudly proclaims the theme in its name, so we headed there for lunch. Unfortunately, we all found our meals rather lacking. I ordered a Crab Melt Sandwich with their homemade Cream of Garlic soup on the side, my husband got a Calamari Steak Sandwich with a side of Garlic Fries ($1.50 extra to the meal cost), and several of our friends ordered the Garlic City Burger. Each entrée came with two slices of watermelon, which were a nice addition. Crab Melt Sandwich - this was just alright. The crab cake was nothing to write home about and in general, the flavors were mild and not standout. I wouldn't order this again. Calamari Steak Sandwich - this was REALLY bizarre. Somehow, the calamari was sliced into a thin "steak" shape and sandwiched along with some lettuce and tomatoes, all seasoned with chipotle mayo. The textures really did NOT work well- namely, the wet squish of the calamari with the bright tomatoes and crisp lettuces... it was just all a bit of a confused mess. Do NOT get this, unless they change how they make it in the future... Cream of Garlic Soup - this was really strong, and not in an appetizing way. It has herbs and potatoes in it (as well as some penne pasta, for some odd reason), which is fine, but the overall effect was just overwhelmingly garlic-musk-heavy. My husband LOVES garlic as a general rule, and even he thought this was funky and didn't like it. :( Garlic Fries - these were pretty "meh". Crinkle-cut fries (which could easily have been frozen before) sprinkled with a mix of garlic and herbs. It was pretty bland tasting and the textures weren't standout, either. Garlic City Burger - the "garlic" component of this dish is just a few cloves of roasted garlic plopped onto a fairly thin charbroiled patty. One of our friends ordered it "medium" while the others ordered "medium-rare", and none of them could see a difference between their patties (i.e. all of them were pretty darn cooked through). The rest of the dish is pretty simple with some slices of cheese, lettuce, and tomato. It overall felt like a bit of a disappointment given the price tag (I could have easily made this at home). That said, a couple of our friends were fans of the Strawberry & Banana smoothie (one of them curiously reported seeing the owners throw some tangerines into the mix) and declared that this ended up being their favorite part of the meal. One of my friends ordered a Chicken & Prawns Fettuccine and was the only one who seemed to thoroughly appreciate her entrée. Additionally, our receipt was incomprehensible. The itemized list had everything listed strangely as "Item A" (or something like this) all the way down. There were over a dozen lines of "Item A"! It was impossible to tell who had ordered what (for the purposes of splitting the bill). Whereas this café provides good portion sizes and fresh ingredients, their cooking (textures and flavors) could use some serious work. Also, although we were the only ones in the restaurant at the time (it was a late lunch for us), some of us had to ask for water 4 times before it arrived. I would not recommend coming here, given other options. While researching places to try, I had noticed multiple BBQ joints in the area. I would personally look into a meal at one of those instead, if given another day around Gilroy.

Areli Lopez

I came here with my friend today. I had never been here but had been wanting to try it. I’m glad I came because it’ll be my first and last time. They have limited seating and only one server. It was lunch time & pretty full so I understand why it’d take so long. However, they brought my friend’s coke, took our order and still had not brought out my coffee. I had to ask for my coffee and they told us they had to brew the coffee. I continued to wait. When my tiny cup of coffee arrived, she asked if I wanted flavored creamer and I said yes. She brought me creamer with some open containers. My first impression upon seeing this is they are not throwing away the empty creamers after they clean the tables. Second thought was this is unsanitary and disgusting. Someone else touched this and they didn’t bother to clean it or throw it away. When she came to take our order, I asked her what she recommended from several items. I asked her if the onions were grilled, she didn’t know and turned around to ask the gentleman, and walked away. She didn’t answer my question; she just walked away. When my sandwich arrived, it didn’t have any onions. The chicken was super chewy and semi cold. It was supposed to have chipotle but all I could taste was bbq- I am not a huge fan of bbq sauce. My mug was so small, I needed more coffee, but the server wasn’t coming over to our table. I placed the mug at the edge of the table so she could see it. We had to leave since we were on lunch, my friend went up to the counter to pay. The server wanted us to split it in half. My friend explained she wanted to pay for her food and I’d pay for mine. My friend and I left feeling so disappointed, especially after paying $17 for a dissatisfying sandwich.

+8