Garlic and Chives is one of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants in the OC area.Restaurant, including the restrooms is clean. Service is prompt and courteous. Lots of parking available in the plaza lot. We have been lucky to come at times when they are not that busy, but I imagine that they would get pretty packed during peak hours.As for the food, everything on their menu is great. We only wish that they also served pho, simply because we love pho and thats literally the only thing that they are missing! Yes, there are tons of pho places in the area, but if they added it to their menu, it would be heaven as all our favorite Vietnamese dishes would be served in one restaurant!Only reason for subtracting one star is due to the price compared to the size of the dishes. You can actually see how the prices keep being increased as there are price stickers stacked on top of each other on their menu. *Cries in California*
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Garlic Noodles with Grilled Shrimp, Shaken Beef
Troy W
Awesome food and you must get the garlic rice! We had no idea it has 2 Michelin Stars, but now we know why!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
M Tran
Serving size was not as big as I thought. The food was okay. We ordered 8 dishes for 6 people and were barely full.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
Tiomara A
Wonderful impulse dinner. Clay pots are worth it more than I'd say the noodle dish I got. The pork belly is tender and delicious. The sauce was perfect, and the rice had a nice crisp to it.The noodle dish was a bit on the dry side and lighter in flavor, but tasty and filling none the less.Service was on point even with a language barrier and even helped us with the name pronunciation.If I had to rate out of ten, I'd say 8.5 for the noodles and 9 for the pork.Definitely stop in.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
jean liu
Group of us went out to eat and shared some food. Food was ok. I was expecting great things. Oh well.
definitely will use yelp for reservation. we had to wait for over 40 minutes but it was worth it. authentic and very tasty dishes with a lot of garlics and chives, especially the com chay’s. highly recommended for taking special guests to this place for excellent authentic food and outstanding service, cleanliness and high quality every thing.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Nghia Nguyen
This place is not a bad place to go if you want a twist on your traditional Vietnamese dishes. I tried the salmon kho to which is usually made with catfish. It’s pretty good with the crispy rice in clay pot.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Kitty Antix
I Don't know WHO THE COOKS ARE TODAY BUT IT WAS BAAAAD ! OUR GARLIC NOODLE WAS BLAND AND THE COLOR OF THE NOODLES WERE WHITE OR LIGHT YELLOW!ITS NOT GOLDEN AND COLORFUL LIKE HOW THE PHOTOS LOOK ON SOME OF THESE REVIEWS!THERE WAS 3 TINY LITTLE PIECES OF BEEF .. ABOUT AN INCH SIZE FOR MY MI XAO DON. (CRUNCY NOODLES)IT WAS SOOOO BAD! IM SOOO FRUSTRATED AND DISAPPOINTED!DO NOT COME HERE!I SAW THE COOK AND IY WAS A YOUNG ASIAN MAN COOKING IN THE BACK WITH A HAT ON. I NEED TO GET THE NAMES OF THE COOK TODAY SO I DONT EVERRRR COME WHEN THEY ARE COOKING!THIS PLACE USE TO BE SO GOOD AND NOW ITS BLAND .. UNDER COOKED !MY BROCCOLI AND CAULIFLOWER AND CARROTS / STIR FRIED VEGGIE WERE HARD!!!THAT MEANS IT WAS COOKED!WHAT IS GOING ON?!
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 2
Bryan Le
Good spot for the family after an event
Gordon Kwong
A nice clean restaurant competing with OC and Lau next door. The grilled scallops were tasty but very small scallops so fairly pricey. The vegetable on choy with pork belly and snail was a disappointment as the snail was over cooked and very chewy and there was not very much fat pork and the shrimp paste was not good with the snail slices. The fried toothpick lamb was well seasoned with a nice cumin taste but was also a bit too overfried taking away tenderness and moisture, but a good portion. View my pictures
The food was very delicious. Ordered the bun cha Ha Noi. It tasted like it came from the motherland.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Angelica Le
Overall: 3.8/5 (dine in)Garlic & Chives had a few features so we were excited to try this place but it ended up being disappointing. Their menu is pretty extensive so maybe we didn't get the 'right' items.Toothpick Lamb Skewers ($14): This was good at first but then the meat got drier as time went by. It also got annoying taking the lamb off the toothpicks halfway through.Caramelized Peppered Pork Belly ($15): Would not get again. The pork belly was mostly fat and it was not caramelized. The rice was good with the sauce so we mixed them together. The side pickled vegetables were not good so we didn't eat them.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 3
Javier Bustamante
The food here never disappoints, by far the best basil clams. The fried calamari spectacular. The decor and service does not compare to the other two locations.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 3
Happy Pham
The food was honestly rather disappointing. The food was not plated well nor did it look appetizing. We ordered a dish with Salmon, some stir fried noodles, and garlic fries. The garlic fries were overpriced at $8 for a small amount that looked nothing like the menu image (ft. slender fries doused in garlic and spices). Instead we received what looked and tasted like trader Joe's frozen French fries with a minimal amount of seasoning. The stir fried dish was the one with shrimp and crab, it was BLAND and the salmon from the salmon dish did not look fresh.Would not eat here again and recommend avoiding it if you're thinking of stopping by out of curiosity. While the restaurant may look nice at a glance after sitting and eating here it was an absolute disappointment.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 4
Dee Jay
We use to like to come here but this last time would probably the last time. The food quality has gone way down and the food is longer as good as before. The service isn’t any better.
Garlic and Chives is one of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants in the OC area.Restaurant, including the restrooms is clean. Service is prompt and courteous. Lots of parking available in the plaza lot. We have been lucky to come at times when they are not that busy, but I imagine that they would get pretty packed during peak hours.As for the food, everything on their menu is great. We only wish that they also served pho, simply because we love pho and thats literally the only thing that they are missing! Yes, there are tons of pho places in the area, but if they added it to their menu, it would be heaven as all our favorite Vietnamese dishes would be served in one restaurant!Only reason for subtracting one star is due to the price compared to the size of the dishes. You can actually see how the prices keep being increased as there are price stickers stacked on top of each other on their menu. *Cries in California*
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Garlic Noodles with Grilled Shrimp, Shaken Beef
Awesome food and you must get the garlic rice! We had no idea it has 2 Michelin Stars, but now we know why!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Serving size was not as big as I thought. The food was okay. We ordered 8 dishes for 6 people and were barely full.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
Wonderful impulse dinner. Clay pots are worth it more than I'd say the noodle dish I got. The pork belly is tender and delicious. The sauce was perfect, and the rice had a nice crisp to it.The noodle dish was a bit on the dry side and lighter in flavor, but tasty and filling none the less.Service was on point even with a language barrier and even helped us with the name pronunciation.If I had to rate out of ten, I'd say 8.5 for the noodles and 9 for the pork.Definitely stop in.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Group of us went out to eat and shared some food. Food was ok. I was expecting great things. Oh well.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Fried Egg Rolls, Thai Beef Salad, Papaya Salad
definitely will use yelp for reservation. we had to wait for over 40 minutes but it was worth it. authentic and very tasty dishes with a lot of garlics and chives, especially the com chay’s. highly recommended for taking special guests to this place for excellent authentic food and outstanding service, cleanliness and high quality every thing.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
This place is not a bad place to go if you want a twist on your traditional Vietnamese dishes. I tried the salmon kho to which is usually made with catfish. It’s pretty good with the crispy rice in clay pot.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
I Don't know WHO THE COOKS ARE TODAY BUT IT WAS BAAAAD ! OUR GARLIC NOODLE WAS BLAND AND THE COLOR OF THE NOODLES WERE WHITE OR LIGHT YELLOW!ITS NOT GOLDEN AND COLORFUL LIKE HOW THE PHOTOS LOOK ON SOME OF THESE REVIEWS!THERE WAS 3 TINY LITTLE PIECES OF BEEF .. ABOUT AN INCH SIZE FOR MY MI XAO DON. (CRUNCY NOODLES)IT WAS SOOOO BAD! IM SOOO FRUSTRATED AND DISAPPOINTED!DO NOT COME HERE!I SAW THE COOK AND IY WAS A YOUNG ASIAN MAN COOKING IN THE BACK WITH A HAT ON. I NEED TO GET THE NAMES OF THE COOK TODAY SO I DONT EVERRRR COME WHEN THEY ARE COOKING!THIS PLACE USE TO BE SO GOOD AND NOW ITS BLAND .. UNDER COOKED !MY BROCCOLI AND CAULIFLOWER AND CARROTS / STIR FRIED VEGGIE WERE HARD!!!THAT MEANS IT WAS COOKED!WHAT IS GOING ON?!
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 2
Good spot for the family after an event
A nice clean restaurant competing with OC and Lau next door. The grilled scallops were tasty but very small scallops so fairly pricey. The vegetable on choy with pork belly and snail was a disappointment as the snail was over cooked and very chewy and there was not very much fat pork and the shrimp paste was not good with the snail slices. The fried toothpick lamb was well seasoned with a nice cumin taste but was also a bit too overfried taking away tenderness and moisture, but a good portion. View my pictures
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
The food was very delicious. Ordered the bun cha Ha Noi. It tasted like it came from the motherland.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Overall: 3.8/5 (dine in)Garlic & Chives had a few features so we were excited to try this place but it ended up being disappointing. Their menu is pretty extensive so maybe we didn't get the 'right' items.Toothpick Lamb Skewers ($14): This was good at first but then the meat got drier as time went by. It also got annoying taking the lamb off the toothpicks halfway through.Caramelized Peppered Pork Belly ($15): Would not get again. The pork belly was mostly fat and it was not caramelized. The rice was good with the sauce so we mixed them together. The side pickled vegetables were not good so we didn't eat them.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 3
The food here never disappoints, by far the best basil clams. The fried calamari spectacular. The decor and service does not compare to the other two locations.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 3
The food was honestly rather disappointing. The food was not plated well nor did it look appetizing. We ordered a dish with Salmon, some stir fried noodles, and garlic fries. The garlic fries were overpriced at $8 for a small amount that looked nothing like the menu image (ft. slender fries doused in garlic and spices). Instead we received what looked and tasted like trader Joe's frozen French fries with a minimal amount of seasoning. The stir fried dish was the one with shrimp and crab, it was BLAND and the salmon from the salmon dish did not look fresh.Would not eat here again and recommend avoiding it if you're thinking of stopping by out of curiosity. While the restaurant may look nice at a glance after sitting and eating here it was an absolute disappointment.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 4
We use to like to come here but this last time would probably the last time. The food quality has gone way down and the food is longer as good as before. The service isn’t any better.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1