Goomba’s

As mentioned in the other reviews this restaurant has been built in a converted church. I liked how that gave the place high ceilings and thus an open feel. We went there for a very late lunch and pretty much had the place to ourselves and parking was no issue. With that in mind our service was excellent (prompt, friendly and got the details of our little ordering idiosyncrasies exactly right). I think the lunch menu is rather limited. Nevertheless I found an entrée I liked A LOT i.e. the stuffed shells with meatballs. They were outstanding. Goomba’s marinara sauce is exactly how I like it and the meal comes with these amazing garlic rolls that are covered in parmesan cheese. The restaurant was reasonably clean and well kept though the seat of our booth was worn through. I personally am not so picky about stuff like that given that this was a family owned business which provided evening music and dancing. I would also note that the bathrooms were clean and fully stocked and smelled nice — always a good thing. Oh and the prices were reasonable so overall l I would say eating here is a good value.

OMG!!! The lobster bisque was super! The chicken parm & the linguini with clam sauce was sooo delicious. We ate here for the first time today but we can’t wait to go back! We highly recommend it! We are asking ourselves why we wasted all that time! We should have gone there before! But we will go back again & again!

Service was decent. The atmosphere is nice but the lady they had singing on Friday night was awful. It was so loud and the music didn’t match the atmosphere. The food was OK for the most part. We had the escargot, a goomboli, and the penne al a vodka. The garlic rolls had so much garlic on top it was almost unbearable. The meatballs on my penne pasta tasted like frozen ones — OK flavor just not anything spectacular. Good prices for house wines. We would probably try this place again but it wouldn’t be in our top choices.

I’ve been to Goomba’s a few times in the last 2 months and have had a very nice evening. The service can be mixed depending on the entertainment and the crown capacity. The food is tasty and always comes out hot. The soups and salads are also good. We usually go with other friends, so our time there is always fun. Usually the entertainment keeps us dancing and having a good time. Parking could be dodgy depending on the time of the evening.

Good restaurant the pizza is so fresh enjoy it every time I have one. The waitstaff is good too lots of option with seasonal menu that change often. Will go back.

I come from Jersey so my standard of pizza is pretty high.
This place is easy to miss as the building is shaped like an old Protestant chapel. It is very unique in that the interior hasn’t really been changed and you can envision where the pews and pulpit could have been. It’s since been redecorated with your standard Tuscan fare — vineyards, wine and Sambuco bottles, the works. Wait staff was friendly and attentive.
The quality of the food we got here was atrocious. We ordered stuffed peppers, a chicken pasta dish and a cheese pie. Everything came out lukewarm and the cheese on the pizza wasn’t even melted enough. The pizza dough was wet and didn’t even hint of that crispy goodness you usually find with pizza crust.
The bathrooms were sloppy at best too, floors wet with something I don’t really want to even imagine. They were hidden in a strange alcove that the building has created.
Maybe it was an off night, but it was enough to strike this place from the rotation completely. Pizza isn’t exactly hard to find in the area, but good pizza is a much rarer beast. This didn’t even come close.

Attentive, friendly service and decent food. Generous portions. Love that it’s in an old church.

Excellent food! Beat shrimp scampi in Florida also try the Tomato sauce with meatballs you won’t be disappointed… the pizza is excellent too

Originally we had planned to go to Corelli’s but they were closed for vacation. My nephew recommended Goombas even though he had never been there. Reading through the Unilocal reviews, I knew I had to try the garlic knots. We actually all agreed on a pizza and ordered a 20′ meat monster. OmG! The sauce was excellent and the crust was not too thin or thick. It held up to the buttload of meats on it. I wanted so much to try other Italian dishes here but just did not have room. They were busy and our server must have been part owner. They were up front with us going in saying they were short handed and it would be 20 minutes before we could be waited on. They brought beer and wine so no hurry there. It was more like 10 minutes. It was a great experience. The old church atmosphere was beautiful!

I wanted to like it. I got take out from there one day and out was decent– went in for dinner and was totally disappointed. The waitress was good but that was it. The pizza was super soggy– I asked for crispy. The cheese had a garlic topping on the pizza– not your typical plain cheese. I did like the fried meatball things– but other than that– nothing else. The soup was also not very good.
Probably won’t go back.

The garlic knots should be criminal they were that good. Service was excellent. Old church building was a beautiful setting for this amazing Italian restaurant. We will be back.

Goomba’s is such a unique gem in Clermont, and it is such a worthwhile venture if you are a fan of Italian food! Located in a former church, which adds to its unique charm, this restaurant features some truly fantastic dishes!
I highly recommend the Eggplant Parmesan, pizzas, chicken Parmesan. Ah, you know what, just try everything here, you can’t go wrong!

We just found out new favourite restaurant! The service was great, very friendly staff and the food was delicious. I would highly recommend this exquisite restaurant for all occasions.

OMG the garlic knots are the featured star here! Fluffy, buttery, garlicky rolls… Sooo delicious! Went here with a group of friends and we were still talking about the rolls the next day. Granted, you have to be a garlic lover to enjoy these. There is chopped garlic and garlic powder sprinkled on these rolls. Ok, begrudgingly moving on from the rolls.
I posted pics of the various dishes we all ordered. As you can probably see, the serving sizes are huge. All of us ended up taking half of our dinners home, including a couple with hearty appetites.
Most of the dinners also came with a side salad with several dressing options. The salads were tasty and plentiful. Chopped lettuce, bell peppers, red onions, tomatoes and egg, shredded cheese and carrots. I savored the garlic parmesan dressing, others at the table enjoyed ranch and house italian dressings on their salads.
The chicken parmesan (and the veal version) were both crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The sauce was very good and the pasta was perfectly cooked. You can switch out the pasta shape if desired. Penne instead of spaghetti, angel hair instead of linguini, etc.
The supreme calzone was stuffed with meats and cheese. They also have a few choices of goombolis. My friend ordered and enjoyed the chicken cordon blue goomboli. These are basically strombolis with a twist on the name.
I had the chicken marsala. It was okay but after listening to the rave reviews of everyone else’s dishes, I was regretting my choice. There just wasn’t a lot of flavor in the dish for my taste. The meat was tender and the pasta was perfectly cooked so that was a plus.
Note to owner… there is a half booth that is positioned directly under an AC unit/​vent. The condensation drips on the heads of those seated below. We had to move our group to avoid the drops. Consider some kind of catch tray below it to prevent that.
A couple other points: service was prompt, friendly and attentive. There is also a full bar in the place. As others mentioned, it is a bit dark in there. Some like that, there may be others that won’t.
This was my first time here after driving by for a few years and we will be back for the delicious food. I would absolutely recommend this place to others.

The food was good the service was horrible we went on a Wednesday night it was not busy it took our waitress 30 minutes to get our drinks and take our order. When we did order I ordered mozzarella sticks and never received them when she brought our dinner I told her to take them off our bill since we never received them she was like ohhh im sorry. My brother goes there alot and said it was his worst service ever. I may try this place again if I am visiting him but I will not go out of my way to eat there again. Saw no manager to talk to about this.

So I’ve eaten at Goomba’s twice now. The atmosphere leaves more to be desired and the hostess stand looks like a filing cabinet exploded. The Tables and chairs are cheap and not too comfortable. The first time we ate there was to celebrate a birthday. We had a party of 14 and the food turned out great, and the service was up to par. I got the large calzone and it was more than enough for me and the wife to share. They have really cheap brews on tap and during happy hour a yuengling only cost $ 2. I was sold on my first visit. It was my second visit where everything went wrong. We sat down at about 8 pm on a Thursday night. They weren’t particularly busy. Maybe 3 servers on the floor between 5 tables. We ordered the large calzone again. When it got to the table it was completely raw dough on the bottom and the inside was cool and the cheese hadn’t been melted. After getting the waitress’ attention we show her and she happily took it back and said that they would get another one started. After returning from the kitchen she asked if we wanted an appetizer while we waited. We ordered fried mozzarella. When it came out me and my wife began to eat it. It had no salt and it tasted like raw calamari. That was the final straw and I told the waitress I couldn’t do it any more.

Try their signature Goombolis. Portions are generous. Food is bursting with robust flavor and let’s not forget those garlic rolls. #Garlicbreathheaven

OMG this is the most authentic Italian food restuarant I have found in central Florida. We ate two different appetizers, I had eggplant and chicken for dinner. Their tomato sauce is so robust and not watery at all. For dessert I had their apple turn over which was baked to perfection. Also they had a live singer so entertaining!!!

First trip got the special chicken salad. Very good. fair service. I loved the décor, warm and inviting. Second trip good food not quite as the first but server Juan made up for it. Third trip brought mother-​in-​law who was visiting. Food tasted like it was leftovers from the night before. service was bad. May or may not try again. Really disappointed because we were excited to maybe have found a great dining place close to home.

THE GOOD:
They are family owned and operated. The prices are reasonable. Some of their food is pretty good.
THE BAD:
Everything seems to be in disarray. The service isn’t great but it isn’t bad in the traditional way. I get the feeling that everyone who works there is trying very hard and cares but they simply don’t know how to run a restaurant properly. There are a few too many tables for the space in some areas and I found myself bumping chairs with patrons behind me.
THE UGLY:
I have had some good dishes here (lasagna, fried meatball app, garlic rolls) but have also been disappointed more than once. The gnocchi was not good at all and the caesar salad looks just plain sad; tiny, sh*tty croutons and all.
CONCLUSION:
I wouldn’t protest coming here if someone wanted to go but I don’t see myself proposing it as an option either. I love to support local family run businesses and hope they make some changes (specifically with management).
GOOMBA’S, IF YOU’RE READING:
Whoever your captain is, needs to run a tighter ship. I would get rid of the cheesy bright colored drink special signs plastered on the bar (they take away from the homey feel of your restaurant) and also look at trimming the menu up a bit, focusing only on what you absolutely excel at. It’s good to have unique and different options than some of your competitors but if you can’t execute them at a high level, it is pointless.