Garlic Clove - Kingman

I passed through Kingman, AZ in March 2017 and was on the lookout for an Italian restaurant. I stumbled upon the Garlic Clove and walked in at 8:55 PM, only to find myself as the only customer. I asked if they were closing, and they mentioned they still had quite a bit of closing work left to do. I ordered the trio and was blown away by the Chicken Parmesan—it was the best I've ever had. I often find myself thinking about it, and I’ll definitely stop by again if I ever return to Kingman, AZ. Posted September 2020.

After sitting for 30 minutes, we still had not received any bread or salad. We watched as several other customers were seated and saw the waitress taking phone orders. Salads and bread were served to other tables, and takeout orders were fulfilled. Even those who arrived after us received their meals first. We finally approached the waitress, who was in tears, to ask about our food. She assured us it would be ready in four minutes. We waited again, but still, no salad or bread arrived. I paid for my glass of wine and my son's iced tea. It turned out that the staff had been trying to reach the owner for two hours, but he had neither answered nor returned. Jessica, our waitress, was lovely and clearly upset, but I felt she could have at least brought us the salad and bread to alleviate our wait. Waiting for an hour is quite challenging for me, especially given my background in managing resort restaurants, camps, airport eateries, and my own catering service. It seems like there is a disconnect between the owner and the staff, which really affected our experience.

We had a fantastic lunch at The Garlic Clove! We both ordered the bow tie pasta with the house specialty roasted garlic cream sauce, and it was absolutely DELICIOUS! We discovered this restaurant during our walking tour of Route 66, as the aroma of garlic wafted down the street. We decided to check it out today, and we're so glad we did!