Chef T's Garden Grill - Italian restaurant in Lakeland - 1525 E Gary Rd, USA

My wife and I enjoyed our anniversary dinner at chef Ts. Everything was perfect, best food in lakeland for sure. My wife and I both cleaned every plate. Not sure how I’m just finding out about the hidden gem, but it will definitely be a regular dinner for us.

Our party of 12 dined here for New Year’s Eve dinner. The space is small and I was pleasantly surprised by the how warm, charming and relaxing the ambience was. The before-dinner bread was tasty as was the Brie fruit combo. The wait staff, Jessica an Sam were friendly, accommodating and always available for assistance. I enjoyed the Riesling Jessica suggested and it went perfect with the salad, prime rib and mashed potatoes I ordered as well. The key lime pie was tasty and I left feeling too stuffed to eat all my meal.

My girlfriend and I decided to come here and celebrate our anniversary and our experience was nothing short of amazing. The food was delicious and the service was great. They made it a very personal experience! To start we shared the calamari which was the best I have ever had. After my girlfriend had the filet medallions with mushroom sauce on it. It was cooked to perfection and was extremely tender with a satisfying crust on it. I had the scallops and I was very pleased with the flavor and tenderness of them, every thing was perfect. I would highly recommend to anyone. Thank you to the host Paul, the server Jennie and of course to Chef Terry.

I give this review in the hopes of improvement because I believe there is potential. First, I loved the atmosphere. The homelike setting was fantastic. However, upon entering, there was no one at the front counter for several minutes. We stood around and finally gave a loud cough before someone finally came up and sat us. We were seated in a tight corner. Service was fantastic and the waitress was very attentive. Atmosphere and Service: 9/10 Let's get to the food. The menu looked and sounded amazing. Food presentation was also great. But that was about the extent of it. We tried several items and I'll give my reviews for each. 1st picture: Cheese Tortellini 4/10 : included ham chunks and peas with a sprig of rosemary. Overall a decent flavor and enough to share around. The rosemary left a lasting taste though after each bite. Also disappointing is that they do not make the tortellini themselves. Could grab a bag of the same at Walmart and make my own with ham and peas. 2nd picture: Escargot 2/10: we were very excited to have this appetizer. When it came out, it looked more like a bowl of mushroom soup with a stack of mushrooms piled high above. You couldn't even see the escargot. Menu says it includes chorizo, white wine and garlic. The sauce was not seasoned and there was absolutely NO taste of garlic, which always adds a big boost to the flavor of escargot. I could not taste any chorizo and the white wine was the main flavor of the sauce. No taste of any butter either and overall was very bland. Very disappointed. 3rd picture: French Onion Soup 9/10 This was the absolute highlight of the night. The soup was amazing! Very flavorful and onions done perfectly! If you decide to come here, this is a must have. 4th picture: Filet with Marsala sauce: 1/10 (also pictured was a leg of lamb which I'll give a 6/10): When the dish came out, the filet was completely buried under the stack of mushrooms. Moving them aside and cutting into the filet, it was cooked a perfect medium rare. I took the first bite and was shocked to taste that there was absolutely NO seasoning on the steak whatsoever. The marsala was also bland with no seasoning. When I brought it up to the waitress, she said that the chef leaves it up to the people to season it themselves out of fear of over seasoning it himself. For a $48, 8 oz filet, I had to use basic table salt and table pepper to add my own seasoning. This should have had a course kosher salt or sea-salt added prior to cooking. Never in my life have I had to season a steak myself and with table salt. That didn't do anything and I have to say that this was the worst and most bland filet I have ever eaten out at. Very disappointing to say the least. Don't even begin to think that the marsala sauce will add flavor because it's not seasoned either. I have to say that I enjoyed the mashed potatoes. The leg of lamb was cooked well and had a decent flavor. I was actually hoping to try one of their veal dishes, but they were out of veal. Our reservation was set at 6:30p and they open at 5p. They are also only open 4 days a week, so there really should be no reason of being out of one of their most advertised proteins on the menu. Beverages: Everything is bottled or canned, except the water. If you want an iced tea, expect it to be a bottled one you get at a convenience store. Same for sodas. For what is to be an upscale place, this is not acceptable. Overall, my experience was as if we were starring in an episode of Kitchen Nightmares. We weren't greeted at the entrance and no one was around for several minutes. After being seated, the service was great. The menu sounded amazing but the food failed to deliver. For that alone, I would not return here. What was supposed to be the hope of having a fancy restaurant with great food turned out to be lackluster and dull. I seriously hope this review is read and taken to heart by the chef. I hope that steps are taken for improvement. Patrons were 65+ years old.. no young couples

My better half and I decided to try Chef T's for our anniversary and were very happy we did. We tried the baked brie appetizer and very much enjoyed it; on top of tasting great, it was a very good amount of food for an appetizer. Made it so we weren't starving any longer but didn't fill us up. I had the tortellini primavera and my wife had the veal, shrimp, and scallops. I loved the tortellini, and she enjoyed her dish too. All of her proteins were tasty and perfectly cooked, and my tortellini was packed with flavor, the sauce especially. We also had pieces of the chocolate cake as well as the limoncillo cake for dessert. Both were excellent, but if I had to choose one I think it'd be the limoncillo. We will definitely be back.

What an amazing gem off the beaten path. The restaurant looks like you are visiting someone's home. Very cool. The food, atmosphere, and service were all 5 stars. We'll definitely be back. Not one bad word.

Me and my wife dined at Chef Ts for New Year’s Eve, so glad to see it open. The food as always was amazing. We have never had a bad meal. The grouper had so much taste it was the best I have ever had. But the escargot WOW. No other words can explain it. Beautiful atmosphere and a extensive wine selection. Thanks to Paul for being our server you were great.

Best French onion soup ever. Have been here several times and always had excellent food. Atmosphere is very pleasant and, overall, Chef T's has a special, unique ambiance. Love the southern mansion that it was and the fine dining restaurant that it has become. Save room for their desserts.