Johnny Garlic’s restaurant, which is owned by Food Network chef and star of “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” Guy Fieri, recently opened its new location in Bakersfield on Feb. 24, right behind CSU Bakersfield in The Marketplace, in the old Coldwater Creek location. I could tell that it was busy upon learning about the 45-minute wait time for lunch.
  During this wait, which turned out to be more like 30 minutes, I explored the interior setup of the restaurant, which looked like a Fieri hall of fame. His pictures adorned the walls, his famous bowling shirt hung from the open ceiling and a loop of Triple D was playing on the TV screen at the main entrance, next to a shelf where you can buy some of his cookbooks, sauces and shirts.
 The interior seemed crammed throughout the restaurant, and the table I sat at was small, especially compared to the large plates the food is served on. There is an unfinished outdoor patio in front of the building, and right behind that is the bar with TV screens surrounding it. The back corner of the restaurant was the kitchen, which was open so the customers could see the chaos that occurs inside.
  At first glance of the menu, there was no beverage listing, which was a little disappointing. Also, the prices were high,  at about $15 to $25 for lunch entrees, which is definitely not geared toward the broke college crowd. Despite the busy atmosphere and all the employees working around us, the waitress was very courteous and was alert at all times.
  The food began with the garlic fries, which had great flavor, a reoccurring theme throughout the meal, and the garlic was not overpowering at all and had an even coat of parmesan cheese.
  The second appetizer was the sashimi won tacos, which were wontons shaped as taco shells filled with ahi, a mango salsa, and wasabi sauce. Again the tacos were delicious and worked very well, as they tasted like a high quality sushi roll minus the seaweed. The taco portion, four mini tacos, did not justify the $14.50 price tag attached to it, especially for an appetizer.
  After the appetizer, the Caesar salad was brought out, and again the dressing and seasoning on the salad gave it a great flavor and caused it to stand out among other Caesar salads I’ve had in my life.
  Next came the main entrees. First was the Cajun chicken fettuccine, which my lunch companion enjoyed but felt was a bit too spicy.
  Second was the applewood bacon wrapped shrimp. As Fieri would say, the sauce was money, and gave it a fantastic mildly spicy barbecue taste that left me wanting to eat more. The six bacon-wrapped shrimp were on skewers which rested upon a mound of creamy garlic mashed potatoes, and on top of the shrimp was a mountain of onion straws. The portion of shrimp might have been small, but the flavor alone made the $20 price tag worth it.
  The only drawback was that I mostly ate with my head down, because if I lifted it up, I would see multiple Guy Fieri’s looking back right at me which made me somewhat uneasy.
  Lastly was dessert, which was a breath mint pie. The pie consisted of Oreo cookie crust with mint ice cream and Junior Mints inside of it. Secondly was a s’mores pizza, which was flatbread with a dark chocolate spread and melted marshmallows, graham cracker crumble and toasted almonds on top. Both desserts were a perfect ending to a delicious sampling of Flavor Town.
  The wait time was long for lunch, and the atmosphere a little conceited due to all the pictures of Fieri on the wall, but understandable.
  However, the food was fantastic, despite the high price tag attached to it. There were other foods there such as flatbread pizzas and mountainous burgers that would fit a college student’s price range a little better, but not by much.
  Go here and enjoy the flavors dancing around in your mouth for a special occasion, or for a celebration, but it’s not meant for everyday meals. Even though it had a high expense, I would say that Johnny Garlic’s is a winner winner, chicken dinner.