Golden Garlic

Just had lunch for the second time @ Golden Garlic. Ordered 3 dishes ahead of time: Pork Shoulder; Spicy Crab; Hot Pot (fresh catfish.) The food is outstanding, service was very attentive and the place is clean. I am not familiar with Tianjin cuisine, I’m a fan now.

Definitely the best Sichuan food in San Jose I’ve had and I’ve looked all over the place. There’s comparable places in Easy Bay or San Fran but despite the huge Chinese population I can’t seem to find another good restaurant with all the Sichuan classics. It is a bit oily so I don’t recommend ordering out, you’ll want to eat it while it’s blazing hot.

I love Szechuan food but I feel like it isn’t as common in the South Bay as other types of chinese are so I rarely get to eat it :(My friend Cindy and I were on a mission to get dan dan noodles (among other things) at a Szechuan place in the area and we found one! Coming on a Friday for dinner, we didn’t have to wait.
Everything was spicy but not KILLER spicy, so I enjoyed it a lot. I was so hungry and excited that when I slurped my noodles some broth ended up in my wind pipe and ended up coughing (silly me). We also ordered twice cooked pork and eggplant in garlic sauce, the eggplant was fried which was surprising but I’m guessing that’s because it’s tianjin style. I enjoyed all of it and we ended up with leftovers.
If anyone has other szechuan recommendations please let me know!!!

Food is ok… Service is good though! Got their tianjin style food, not impressed… ordered traditional green onion egg crape. 煎饼果子the sauce inside is off, taste nothing but salty… they recommended the steak with garlic, looks good on the menu, but unfortunately the garlicky are all raw… Imagine you just have a plate of over cooked streak and under cooked garlic… Good luck!

Sweet sour fish, spicy boiled fish, and the beef with tripe cold dish are excellent! Mouth watering goodness with a spicy finish. Liked the lunch specials as well. Waiter is good at recommendations.
A must try!

This place has a confusing mixing of tianjing and Sichuan food. I came here for the tianjing part but turns out the pancake is disappointing, the noodle is average. Moreover, the Sichuan food is way too hot. Don’t think 90% of people can take that level of spiciness. Wtf

Pretty solid Chinese joint with actually good tasting Chinese food. This place is Muslim so you won’t find any pork dishes here. Instead they focus on lamb and beef, and they are quite good at making those dishes.

A friend brought me here after a half day hike at Saratoga. The food is very tasty. It only took a few mins to have our dishes served. Thumbs up on service. My favorite dish is the fish in a pot served with fried bread. The string bean veggie dish is also very authentic. Looking forward to trying their other dishes next time.

I have a high expectation for spicy and hot Chinese food and Golden Garlic meets my standard. I went there with my family and ordered mostly spicy and hot dishes on a Saturday night. The services were attentive and welcoming. Please Ignoring the overly simple decoration in the restaurant and out-​dated-​background-​Chinese-​pop music. Other than that, the food we ordered was amazingly flavorful and authentic. My family all loved the dinner, and we’ll definitely go back.

Strange experience, went for lunch on a Friday at 1:00 PM and the waiter said no more lunch specials. When asked why, he said no lunch specials on Saturday and Sunday. We reminded him it was a Friday. The tea was lukewarm and when told so, the waiter said they don’t serve cold tea. He brought hot tea soon after. When taking orders, the waiter was steering us to certain dishes and we had to point to the menu what we wanted. We ordered the mongolian beef and shredded pork with garlic sauce. the Mongolian beef was a bit chewy and the garlic pork was floating in oil. The white rice served was cold. When paying the bill, the waiter said that they don’t accept credit cards for less than $ 30.00. Neither did their menu display this credit card minimum nor was it displayed anywhere in the restaurant. I told the waiter so and he just shrugged.
I get the feeling this restaurant is struggling. That said, it’s not right of them to attempt to nickel and dime the customer to make up. Instead they should give stellar service and build their reputation. The food was meh. Wont be going back.

This place is actually pretty good. It’s a little «off the beaten path» and somewhat tucked away from the main street but it might be worth trying out.
The restaurant is clean and the staff there are pretty friendly, when we went it was a little later and there weren’t that many people there. We weren’t rushed to order and took our time picking the right foods. Everything came quickly and hot, everything was fresh and wasn’t stale. The beef was tender, the chicken was delicious and the wood fungus crunchy.
One thing to note, the food can get spicy, if you want to tone it down, just let the waiter know and they can vary the spices or even go completely mild. I would definitely get rice to go with whatever spicy dish you get to kind of offset it.
All in all, I’d say this place is probably deviant from what we normally have and with friendly staff and good food, we’ll definitely be coming back.

I guess it’s been a long time since I’ve had Szechuan style food because my mouth is still burning from last week. This restaurant is located off De Anza Blvd and the restaurant is quite big actually. There are plenty of photos on the menu and service was well what you would expect, quiet and to the point.
We tried the Dan Dan Noodles, Fried chicken (with bones) literally covered and drowned in dried chilis, and the dry fried green beans. The first two dishes were so hot I had to regularly pause to wipe the perspiration and rest in between bites. Normally, I like to think I can handle my spicy food but this will hurt you. So be warned. The green beans were actually very good and this was the only dish we finished completely.
All in all, I probably would recommend this restaurant to those that enjoy their spicy szechuan food but I don’t think I can stomach it again. Their menu is pretty extensive so I might be back to try their other non flammable menu items.

food is good, a lil pricy though, big roomy spot.

My wife, son, and I stopped here for lunch on Sunday afternoon. I had heard about Golden Garlic in an advertisement on the Chinese radio. When I entered, I instantly knew I had made the right decision. The interior décor was a pleasant surprise from the dull exterior. The room felt very spacious, and the marble tables were a nice touch. It was not very crowded, so we got seated right away.
We were originally going to order four dishes: Fish in Tomato Sauce, Garlic Beef, Wood Ear & Yam, and Tianjing Style Pancake. At the urging of my wife, we ordered two more spicy dishes: Spit Chicken (there’s no actual spit in it), and Pig Blood with Chili Sauce.
The food came very fast, and was very reasonably priced for its quality. All of the dishes were more or less authentic. The Tianjiang Style Pancake was both crunchy and soft at the same time, and the sauce in the middle further complemented the dish. The Fish in Tomato Sauce would’ve been good if the sauce was less sweet. The Garlic Beef was extremely tender, and the sauce was amazing. The Wood Ear & Yam had a refreshing taste. The Spit Chicken was average, as its taste was quite bland and not fresh. Finally, the Pig Blood with Chili Sauce was very good and authentic.
Overall, the staff was friendly and the restaurant is clean. They accept cash and credit cards.

Golden Garlic is very authentic Sichuan restaurant in the bay area. Basically you got what you pay for. Also, their hidden dishes (the one that you have to pre order it) are AWESOME!!!
The owner has good taste on the store decoration and that makes a great atmosphere for friends to have gathering there.
Highly recommended!!!

I would give 3.5 stars, but no half stars on Unilocal :/​Anyhow, the food is pretty good and service isn’t too bad for a Chinese restaurant, but several of the dishes are on the pricier side without enough to show for it. Also, I’ve been here 3 – 4 times now, but on the last two times I tried to visit, one time the entire store had been rented out by some group (and I only found out when I showed up and saw a sign on the door), the other time, another group had taken over half the restaurant, leaving only a handful of tables for regular patrons (thus making the wait exponentially longer). Both times, this happened on weekend evenings.
Also FYI, they don’t keep a waiting list near the entrance (one lady keeps it with her), so make sure you check in with someone you arrive, and be mindful of which party is being called — there was an interesting mishap where one group wasn’t here when they were called (then showed up again later) and another group sat down and refused to get back up even though the waitress told them that she hadn’t called them yet (they «mistakenly» heard their name). Anyway, I came again at lunch and there wasn’t a wait, so we didn’t have to worry that.
They do have a lunch set menu and specials (I believe only on weekdays), but I have only been on weekends, so I can’t speak for those. Of the regular menu dishes, there are few that I would recommend.
RECOMMENDED:
— fish ball in tomato sauce (茄汁魚花): this is a deep fried fish in tomato sauce, with sliced cucumbers on the side. This dish is a work of art (it’s beautifully crafted) because the fish has been de-​boned, de-​skinned (and whatever else they do to clean up fish) without cutting the fish into pieces. It comes out looking like an entire fish which has been deep fried, then covered in tomato sauce. The batter outside is crispy and the fish on the inside is tender and goes well with the sweet tomato sauce. Definitely a recommended dish for $ 12.95!
— steamed spare ribs in lotus leaf (荷葉粉蒸排骨): with a hint of spiciness, the ribs are flavorful and tender. There’s also quite a few ribs in the dish, so I don’t feel ripped off. A solid dish for $ 12.95 and one of my favorites.
— kung pao chicken (宮保雞丁): also slightly spicy, but a solid dish that I thoroughly enjoyed. I believe this same dish is cheaper as part of the lunch special/​menu, but we were told that didn’t apply on weekends, so it was $ 9.95 for the dish. There was a solid amount of chicken, with diced cucumber and peanuts. Flavor was on point and portion size was alright. I would recommend this if you can get the lunch special pricing, but it’s still good either way.
OTHERS:
— I have also tried the Diced Beef with Garlic (津蒜子牛肉) which was pretty good because the meat was tender and flavorful and it came with a lot of garlic cloves, but I thought it was kind of expensive for $ 15.95 for the amount we got. But it was very good, so worth a try at least once!
— I’ve also had the House Made Jelly Noodle with Garlic Sauce (麻辣涼粉) which is good, but very spicy. The jelly is pretty tasteless by itself, but perfect when drenched in the spicy garlic sauce. Also, the Sliced Pork Belly with Garlic Sauce (蒜泥白肉) is also really good (the pork belly is thinly sliced and comes over a bed of cucumbers). The sauce is essentially the same as the one for the jelly noodles. Pro tip — for both of these, you can ask for them to give the sauce separately, so you can adjust to your own tolerance of spiciness (plus you’ll likely then have plenty of sauce to take home and then you can use it on rice or anything else too: P).
Overall, food is pretty good (especially if you love spicy food), though a little expensive for me, and service is acceptable. Their ability to properly seat guests in order could do with some improvement. Spicy food isn’t my forte, so I only come here on occasion for specific dishes only.

The food was tasty and the portions are fairly generous. However, the ambiance is not anything special. Credit card (Visa and Master Card) accepted for orders over $ 30. Otherwise, bring cash!

Ordered through DoorDash! I tried the dan Dan noodles, the beef with garlic, and spicy eggplant dish. It was perfect for my lazy self that day.
I loved how spicy everything was! Everything was so delicious. My only complaint is that the noodles in the dan dan noodle dish was super mushy but maybe it was because of the way it was packaged to go? The beef dish had chunks of roasted garlic cloves… sooo good! I am a garlic lover so I think I ate more of the garlic than the beef (the beef was super tender, really good… I just prefer the garlic).
I’ll have to go to the restaurant itself to try more dishes!

In town and wanted hot. This place is kinda hot for those who eat hot all the time. But, they have non-​hot too like the Braised Pork w/​Preserved Vegetable, noodles with paste or gravy or Crispy Baby Croaker (wished they had fried them longer allowing more crunch all the way thru).
On the hot size, the Fried Chicken with dry Chili and the Fish Fillet with hot Chili sauce was hot enough for me.
Service was attentive and friendly. Prices, humm, a tad high overall but good for the area there. All in all a good experience.

The restaurant had a clean and nice interior. The seating arrangement for some of the tables are too close, making conversations a bit weird. However, the waiter was attentive and food was prepared pretty quickly.
I tried the Dan Dan Noodles, cold chicken with their house sauce, hot and sour soup, and walnut shrimp. The noodles and walnut shrimp was on point. Some of the dishes can use a lot less hot chili oil in my opinion. The food I ordered also did not have too much salt.

Don’t get me wrong, the food was really delicious, but way too spicy, even after we asked them to tone it down. We ordered the popular garlic and beef and the fried chicken with dried chili, along with ground pork and green beans, some rice, and the braised pocket tofu. All of it was good, and the garlic beef definitely delivered. I took home all that extra garlic, diced it up, and made another dish out of it. The fried chicken however, I didn’t particularly like. There was way more whole chili peppers than I could find chicken. Once you dug one up, the chicken was chopped up and then fried, so there were chunks of bone everywhere. We didn’t have enough to take home, but my mom took home the chilis to make another dish as well. Service was a little hit or miss, but the rest of the food was good.

I think it’s a 3.5 stars.
Exceptional good deal for lunch sets (8.99 $, well cooked, large portion, free soup, free rice). Food was slightly over-​salted but it wasn’t too bad.
Place is clean, service is pleasant and efficient.
However, for the genuine ‘szechuan taste’, I’d recommend another restaurant next door in the small mall across the street. I feel Golden Garlic is slightly Americanized and I prefer much more original szechuan style taste.
I’ll try and go more of their dishes, especially the spicy Dan Dan mian and the garlic beef.
A special mention to that green bean crêpe Tianjin Style. My first time to see this dish in USA. it did taste very much like the traditional dish. The crêpe itself was excellent.

I was very under impressed of the service. I was there during lunch and there was only four tables present, and we got very little service to the point where I had
to get up and ask for water later for the Abill. The waiter seemed indifferent and not wanting to serve. I would not choose to go here again. The food was OK, not great. I would’ve left no tip if they didn’t do a mandatory 15%.

Came here for dinner on Sunday evening at around 5:30pm. Came with my family so it was a party of 6 and they had nice large tables for big groups.
Pros: The food is so good!
— Golden Garlic diced beef: one of the best dishes we got! Garlic lovers make sure you order this! It’s so flavorful.
— Tofu Pockets: I thought these were OK.
— Fish with Wood Ear Mushroom: I really liked this one! It’s really light but flavorful at the same time.
— Fried Fish: Thought this was good, but not a huge fan of fried food.
— Cucumber appetizer: Didn’t like this. It was too crunchy for my taste (more like an undercooked crunchy) and also not flavored enough.
— Egg bing with fried thing in the middle and sauce (idk what it’s called): Didn’t like this one. The sauce and the egg bing and the fried thing in the middle did not complement each other well imo.
— Da Lu Mein: I REALLY liked this one! Light but flavorful. Not too much flavor, just the right amount. Chewy noodles!
— Shrimp: I loved the shrimp in this dish! It was cooked perfectly with perfect flavor, but still light!
Cons: Service was OK, although they did top off our water sometimes without asking! They were slow with the bill and took forever to get us to-​go boxes. Not sure about the individual pricing of each dish (my parents paid) but all those dishes came out to ~$ 100 total.
Overall: I think this will become one of our new go-​to spots to eat when in the area!

Everything we ordered was delicious–
Fried chicken with chilies Szechwan style was VERY spicy but had great flavor.
Garlic beef was awesome as was the combo chowmein. Won Tons in Hot Sauce was also crazy spicy but yummy.
Dumplings were good. String bean very good. Honey walnuts also very good.
We’ll order from here again.

A pretty average Szechuan restaurant. We had the string beans which were fried and pretty tasty. The Dan Dan noodles were really oily and not what I was used to. The twice cooked pork belly had a lot of meat slices, but the pieces were super thin. The best dish was the chicken that comes with a lot of chili peppers in an aluminum foil, but it was really spicy. I could only eat a few pieces before my mouth was numb.

This will be my second favorite Szechuan restaurant (Sichuan Chili across the street wins by a small margin). Kind of weird that it’s Szechuan and Tianjin (no where near each other, and very different style) But hey, tasty food is tasty food.
What we ordered:
fried chicken with dry chili — best around, lots and I mean lots of chile and Szechuan peppercorn, fried to crispy perfection. yum!
steam spare ribs in lotus leave — disappointed it wasn’t steamed IN lotus leave, the lotus leave was more presentation. But the ribs were tender and tasty.
Tofu with beef in stone pot — Spicy broth, tender beef, very tasty.
won ton in spicy sauce — more like spicy broth, the won ton was pretty good, not great.
stir fried A-​choy — a leafy green in garlic, nicely done.
The restaurant itself is very spacious, clean, simple but comfortable. Servers are very nice and helpful. For the non-​chinese speakers, menu is in English (no separate one for Chinese), some dishes have pictures, and the servers are more than happy to help with question or off suggestions.

Came here after being told by a friend that a new restaurant near us had recently opened and served basically all spicy food. I was sold immediately! (I have an unhealthy obsession with all things spicy.)
Came here and ordered the spicy wontons, spicy beef tendon, and the garlic diced beef. Although the main entrée was on the pricier side, it was unlike anything I’ve had, and I would definitely recommend it.
Everything was delicious, and I would highly recommend this if you can handle your spicy foods. Hoping this will stay a hidden gem!

**3.5 Stars**
This is the second location for Golden Garlic after their well received location near Milpitas and replaces the little known Chinjin Eastern House restaurant I had visited once to try their beef roll and beef noodle soup.
Both the exterior signage and interior décor is a step up from the prior minimalist décor and I found several patrons enjoying their meal as I made a to-​go order just before their closing time. Service was friendly and the order was ready very quickly. My order:
Golden Garlic Dice Beef — $ 15.95. Their signature dish and high quality chunks of beef are stir fried with plentiful minced and whole clovers of garlic. For garlic fans, this is heaven. I loved the flavor of the beef and love garlic, although honestly one third of the dish is whole clovers of garlic. I had no problem eating the garlic cloves but it’s a bit excessive. I was a touch surprised at the higher price given all the cloves but that may be due to popularity versus actual costs.
Won Ton in Hot Sauce — $ 6.95. A generous number (7 – 8?) won tons are doused in a numbing hot sauce. The won tons see standard fare (no freshly made corn filled versions like nearby Sichuan Chili) but the sauce is good albeit a touch one noted.
Dan Dan Noodles — $ 8.95. A soup based version with delicious noodles, a spicy broth, and topped with ground beef. The beef is flavorful but the dish is notably absent of any other ingredients. I’d have appreciated more vegetables. Served to go, they didn’t separate the broth from the noodles so the noodles expanded and absorbed all the broth. I’m sure this effected my rating.
Green Bean Crêpe Tianjin Style — $ 6.95. I believe this is a typo and they mean green onion (ie: scallion) pancake. They asked if I wanted extra egg and I said yes and it’s a crêpe that is spread with a mix of fermented bean and chili paste. It’s a bit of an acquired taste but I ate it to go and didn’t find the crêpe as light or savory as I was hoping. My guess: probably best eaten fresh and hot only.
Overall, it was a good meal. I think the price point is great for ordering a lot of dishes although the signature was priced a touch high with mainly albeit delicious garlic cloves (I can buy pounds at Costco). I’ll try to come back for a sit down meal but I’d give the nod to nearby Sichuan Chili unless you want harder to find Tinjin cuisine.
Golden Garlic accepts credit cards but not American Express.

Lovveeee this place! My husband and I were THRILLED to learn that they opened a location closer to us than their Milpitas location. This a clean, modernized, and larger location with a mix of booths, large group round tables, and smaller tables.
We always get the sure shot winners: fried chicken with dry chili, dry fried green beans, eggplant with garlic sauce, and the diced beef with golden garlic. Let’s just say our hearts are happy and our breath smells amazing! :) The spices and flavors of their food are delectable.
We’ve sampled other dishes like their fried rice and chow mein and those are yummy.
Shhh! Keep this place a secret since I’m pretty sure the wait will increase once people know this awesome place exists. Smell ya later, Golden Garlic!

Ive been to the other locale and had a good meal. However i split between the Sichuan and Tianjin dishes. There are plenty of Sichuan places in the area so i went straight Tianjin this time. Spicy beef tendon, Golden Garlic pork stomach and the Tianjin mixed stir fry. I then realized i went all offal. The mix was kidney, liver, and many other goodies. Flavors were all solid and tasty. Service was good and i think it was the exact same team from the other locale. Worth checking out for the dishes that you’d not see in many other restos. I ate at Chinjin Eastern house when they were back in Fremont way back when so theyll be missed. But i guess the guy retired after going for years. So GG is a fitting replacement

This location of Golden Garlic replaced the homely Chinjin Eastern House restaurant.
Completely different menu from Chinjin. The menu is a little bit all over the place but has some serious highlights:
1. Diced beef with Garlic. super peppery beef with whole garlic cloves
2. Noodles with soy bean paste
Other tables had some yummy looking eats. Will be back to try.